www.limerickpost.ie/music

Having spent the 60s and 70s singing folk music and playing guitar with such traditional Irish groups as the Johnstons and Planxty, Paul Brady surprised many when his first rock album ‘Hard Station‘ came out in 1981 featuring exhilarating and angry tracks ‘Busted Loose’ and ‘Nothing but the same old story’ and of course the anthemic ‘Crazy Dreams’. Since then Brady’s music has been covered by the likes of Cher, Tina Turner, Dave Edmunds, Santana, Bonnie Raitt and a host of Irish acts making him enduringly popular and the pre-eminent Irish singer-songwriter of his generation. Paul Brady’s new album ‘Hooba Dooba’ demonstrates the distinctive Brady style of strong melodies, thought-provoking lyrics and contemporary rhythms all led by his warm, distinctive voice which has lost none of it’s intensity over the years. And what of the songs? .. well number one in my top 10 ways to find happiness is to Count your blessings and that is what Brady’s ‘Money to Burn‘ recalls to mind as we are introduced today to a stressed out celtic tiger success story “the money markets are wrecking your head, you should have bought commodities instead” The song asks “When you gonna realise how lucky you are? You could be an infant junkie screaming for more. Or clinging to a refugee boat waiting offshore” the song concludes that “All I hear is one white male with money to burn. And a whole lot to learn”. The album’s most enduring moment arrives with the heart-warming, plaintive ‘One more today’ a sentimental but never schmaltzy love song. “One more today. With your kiss the perfect start” It is the perfect companion track to Elbow’s ‘On a day like this’ with it’s simple piano and subtle string arrangements and a refrain that will stay with you for many days to come. Other stand out tracks are the Lennon/McCartney cover of ‘You won’t see me’ and the Brady / Ronan Keating co-written ‘The price of fame’ a song of love now lost and a breakup that is impossible to explain. Paul Brady plays the University Concert Hall, Limerick on 29th April 2010. It promises to be enigmatic and impassioned performance from an artist with one of the best back catalogues in Irish music.
Paul Brady – Money to Burn

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Shane MacGowan & Friends release ‘I Put a Spell on You’ in aid of Concern’s work in Haiti featuring… Nick Cave, Bobby Gillespie, Chrissie Hynde, Mick Jones, Cait O’Riordan, Glen Matlock, Paloma Faith, Eliza Doolittle a ripping guitar solo from Johnny Depp!
It’s raw and very brilliant. You can order the single from www.concern.net/song

The Lightning Seeds will play in Dolans Warehouse on Saturday 8th of May. Fronted by main songwriter Ian Broudie, The Lightning Seeds had a top 20 hit with the debut single ‘Pure’ from the album Cloudcuckooland in 1989, and went on to more success through the 90s with pop classics like ‘The Life of Riley’, ‘Lucky You’, ‘Change’, ‘Perfect’, ‘Sugar Coated Iceberg’ and ‘Three Lions’(With Skinner and Baddiel) which went to Number 1 twice in 1996 and ‘98. The band released their sixth studio album ‘Four Winds’ in May 2009 featuring the singles ‘Ghosts’ and ‘Don’t Walk On By’. The band are undertaking a short tour this April/May coming to Dolans on May 8th.

The JD Set, Ireland’s longest running unsigned band competition, comes to Limerick’s leading music venue, Dolan’s on Friday 5th March for the third heat in The JD Set 2010 (doors open 8.30pm, bands on stage at 9.00pm). Among the four bands who will take to the stage on the night is Limerick’s own, Liz Is Evil. The winning band will go on to compete against the other four heat winners in The JD Set final in The Village on Thursday 29th April for the coveted title of winners of The JD Set 2010.
The confirmed line up for the Limerick heat is:
Liz Is Evil (www.myspace.com/lizisevil)
Redtwelve (www.myspace.com/redtwelve)
Macrogrizzly (www.myspace.com/macrog)
Henrietta Game (www.myspace.com/henriettagame)

The SongWriter Sessions continue to attract great interest and the next session is set for Thursday March 11th at 9pm. The special guest will be Donnacha Toomey, an accomplished singer-songwriter / guitarist originally from County Limerick. His debut album ‘Carnival of Colours’, has received much praise for its “warm sounding earthy rhythms” and “judiciously crafted songs”. Songs from the album are regularly featured on RTE and BBC radio channels. Donnacha has also received extensive airplay on well established US radio stations. The SongWriter Sessions will  features songwriters doing short sets of two or three songs. All types of music and singers are welcome and a limited amount of instruments will be available for use on the night at The Locke Bar venue. Further details can be got at www.myspace.com/songwritersessions.

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Donnacha Toomey – Emilia

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Donnacha Toomey – Early One

Eugene Donegan is currently embarking on a national tour to coincide with the release of his 3rd single ‘Tonight is the night’ and plays Dolans on Friday March 12th
The single comes from Eugene’s debut album “Little Apples” out now and available for download on iTunes and from 7 Digital. The album was recorded in Kinvarra, Co Galway produced by Declan O’Rourke, the album draws on Donegan’s hopes and experiences and delivers open, honest and quite love songs like ‘Tonight is the night’, and kick-ass country rockers like ‘Heaven is a place inside’ revealing an artist at the top of his game. More info on www.eugenedonegan.com

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Eugene Donegan – Tonight is the night

music4you.ie is the newly launched website by Limerick based music therapist, Jack O’Leary, which aims  to promote and support access to musical experience in Ireland.The site offers a free space for people to advertise the various musical products and services.If your a band, a shop, a teacher or therapist it is a place to create a post.If you just want to discuss your musical experiences, from review a gig to a new drum kit, the forum provides you with the means.
The idea for music4you.ie came about says Jack, “when I wanted to buy a second hand guitar and spent a number of months searching for it on various Irish websites. I found the fact that there was no specific site dedicated to the sale of musical products and services frustrating and so, the idea was born. Why not put together a site that was committed to advertising music products? A one stop shop so to speak that will meet all your musical needs, a site that would hit all the right notes! The idea  to create a community that would make musical experience more accessible to people in Ireland was born.”

London’s Scouting for Girl’s million selling number 1 debut album connected with a huge audience and reaped multiple sold-out tours with contagious piano-led pop anthems She’s So Lovely, Heartbeat, It’s Not About You and Elvis Ain’t Dead. They have just made the video for forthcoming single ‘This Aint A Love Song’ to be released on 26th March with their album, ‘Everybody Wants to Be On TV’ following on April 9th. The play Dolans Warehouse on Tuesday 20th April

The Rubberbandits have uploaded their new video, ‘Wiliie O’Dea’ Filmed and edited by Dryad’s Saddle on location in Shannon.

Limerick’s echoshell (namely Kieran Calvert and Al Sheahan) with a little help from Fergal Lawler(drums), Billy Mullqueen(bass) and Mike hogan(bass), have been combining their original music and film to create innovative atmospheric landscapes and regularly make their work available on YouTube. Their new release is called “doves” featuring poet and spoken word artist Stephen Murray over a melancholy backing track and flickering images of dance clubs and all-night parties, “and if you were up for it and if you have taken enough drugs and were young and fit enough and not yet dead you could finish off with a bang and party on till the early hours of Monday morning”. It’s stunning work and very worthy of your attention.
Echoshell’s music also features in the opening credits of new Irish/UK movie, “Spiderhole” written and directed by Daniel Simpson which was screened at The Dingle Film Festival last September and will be represented at EFM (European Film Market) in Berlin shortly and achieve international distribution in the near future. You can check out the trailer on spiderhole.com