www.musiclimerick.com

Ultan Conlon will release his second single The Universe Tune on February 8th. from the critically acclaimed debut album, Bless Your Heart. The Galway-based singer/songwriter has crafted the perfect ‘make-up after a break-up’ tune … “Please push me, I love it, you could never be too cruel” …. “But I would never say I would never do anything to harm you”. Ultan’s sound is influenced by Ryan Adams and Ron Sexsmith and the album is a mellow affair dealing with love lost and found. With songs as strong as the title track and ‘Better Life’, we will certainly be hearing a lot more of Ultan Conlon in 2010.

He will be playing in Limerick as part of his upcoming tour in march with venue to be confirmed. Ultan also had one of his songs recorded by the late John Martyn, the track ‘Really Gone’ was sadly Martyn’s final release. Check out the new single and footage of the recording session for ‘Really Gone’.

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All aspiring songwriters are invited to attend SongWriter Sessions@The Locke Bar and play their songs in front of a live audience. All types of music and singers are welcome and a limited amount of instruments will be available for use on the night. Performances will be recorded and broadcast as a Podcast at a later date. Host for the sessions are songwriters Brian Connolly, Chris Wood and Sean Macleod. Plans have been made to invite recording artists, producers, managers and publishers and anyone who may be looking for fresh new songs to the SongWriter Sessions@The Locke Bar taking place every 2nd, 3rd and 4th Thursday of the month. Contact Brian Connolly at limericksongwriters@gmail.com to book a spot or just turn up on the night. Admission is free and all players and listeners are welcome.

Last May, when The Department of Sociology and The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick convened a one-day symposium on Morrissey, These Charming Men played to an ecstatic bunch of Mozzer fans at a sold out show in Dolans. Now on February 6th they return once more to Limerick to play the music of Morrissey and The Smiths”.
These Charming Men have been playing live shows at the Annual Smiths/Morrissey Convention in Los Angeles since 2001 and with musicianship this tight and accurate this is a great opportunity for guitarists to see how one of the most influential musicians of recent decades, Johnny Marr, created the perfect backdrop for Morrissey’s poetry.

Here is the real thing with the classic, This Charming Man:

Meteor Awards long-list nominees, Brad Pitt Light Orchestra will play the “Shout For Sean – The Haiti Appeal’ in Dolans this Saturday, January 30th along with Brendan Markham and band, The O’Malleys and Sarah Dolan and band followed by Termights. A minimum donation of 5 Euro will get you in the door.
On Monday, January 4th 2010, Irishman Sean McGowan left his family in Limerick to take on his life’s ambition, to row single-handedly as a participant in “One of the World’s Toughest Rowing Races” organized by Woodvale, The Atlantic Rowing Race 2009. Starting from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, he will cover 2,500 nautical miles and finish in Antigua in the Caribbean. His friends and family hope to raise money for the Haiti victims in his absence.

Shortlisted for The XFM New Music Award and now also one of 10 nominees for The Choice Music award for their eponymously titled debut album, And So I Watch You From Afar, hail from Belfast and have been playing together for the last four years. Rory “The Chip” Friers and Tony “The Grounded Pounder” Wright on guitars, Jonathan “The Bearded Dragon” Adger on bass and Chris “The Bigs” Wee on drums released this monster in April 2009. From the album opener ‘Set Guitars to Kill’, this is ferocious stuff, layers and layers of noise and melody. To these ears this is the most thrilling racket to come out of the north since first hearing Therapy? play ‘Meat Abstract’. As a live show this will be mindblowing and it’s coming to Limerick on Thursday 11th Feb with guests Maslow and Hope is Noise. Their motto: “We are the bull, you are the china shop” . Their new EP, ‘Letters’ will be released on 08/02/10 featuring ‘S Is For Salamander’. See them play ‘Set Guitars to Kill’ here on the blog limerickpost.ie/music

The race is now on to find the Meteor Awards most promising New Artist 2010, at this point in the competition the public vote will decide which acts/bands progress to the next round. There is plenty of Limerick based representation looking for your votes at this stage with Brad Pitt Light Orchestra, Supermodel Twins, Seneca, Walter Mitty & The Realists all in the bands category and Theme Tune Boy fighting the good fight in the solo category. The closing date for Round 1 is this Thursday 28th January and you can make your choices by clicking on to http://meteormusicawards.meteor.ie/competitions/complist/#band.

Up for grabs for the winners are live performances on the New Band Stage3 at Oxegen 2010 and on Pop 4 on TG4 plus CD design, mastering and radio/PR distribution. Vote soon and vote often.

IMRO (Irish Music Rights Organisation) have announced the call for entries for the 2010 IMRO Showcase Tour. Since 1992, Ireland’s most established new band showcase has provided a live platform for scores of up and coming Irish acts over the years. Recent acts to have featured include O Emperor, Fight Like Apes, Dirty Epics, Disconnect 4 and Delorentos to name but a few. Bands and solo artists across all genres of music are invited to apply for a place on the IMRO Showcase Tour 2010. Just send a website or MySpace link to showcase@imro.ie before Friday February 12th, 2010. Successful acts will be notified in early March. The gigs will run through March and April. The Limerick leg of the tour will happen in Dolans on Sat April 24th.

A number of artists will be chosen from the tour to perform in a ‘Best of Showcase’ gig which will take place in Dublin venue The Academy on April 30th.

South Wind Blows Productions have announced that the eighth series of acclaimed music programme Other Voices will begin its weekly broadcast on RTE 2 from Wednesday February 3rd. The recordings for this year’s series took place in St. James’ Church in Dingle, Co. Kerry in early December and those lucky enough to bag a much coveted ticket were treated to a myriad of intimate performances from some of the biggest names in music including Snow Patrol, The xx, Richard Hawley, Suede front man Brett Anderson, Mercury Music prize winner Speech Debelle, Temper Trap and Imelda May. The line-up for each show is:

Wednesday 3rd February                        
Snow Patrol                                                                     
Speech Debelle                                                        
Adrian Crowley                   
IMRO Other Room – Low Mountain

Wednesday 10th February
Imelda May
The Lost Brothers
The xx
IMRO Other Room – O Emperor

Wednesday 17th February
Florence & the Machine                         
Brett Anderson                      
The Antlers       
IMRO Other Room – Valerie Francis         

Wednesday 24th February
Bell X1
Megafaun
Jesca Hoop
IMRO Other Room – The Chakras

Wednesday 3rd March
Temper Trap                                
Magic Numbers                
Fionn Reagan                                       
Lisa Hannigan                            
IMRO Other Room – 202s

Wednesday 10th March  
IMRO Other Room – James Vincent McMorrow
Richard Hawley
The Brothers Movement
Villagers

Donnacha Toomey is an accomplished singer-songwriter / guitarist originally from County Limerick. Having played in a number of bands primarily as a songwriter/guitarist he has adopted a solo approach in recent years. “Carnival of Colours”, his debut album release, is an 11 track studio recording which serves as great introduction to Toomey’s roots based material. Timeless warm sounding earthy rhythms and Donnacha’s deep rich timbre make this music as easy-going and welcome as a sun-drenched stroll on golden sand. Songs from the album are regularly featured on RTE Radio 1, BBC Ulster, BBC Scotland and RTE Raidió na Gaeltachta. It has also received extensive airplay on well established US radio stations. Expect to hear a lot more from Toomey in 2010.
Check out three tracks from the ‘Carnival of Colours’ album here.
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“Carnival of Colours” is now available on-line from iTunes, Amazon & CDbaby For further information www.donnachatoomey.com or www.myspace.com/donnachatoomey

DUBLIN outfit Zealots will headline the first Live 95FM Green and Live Sessions gig of 2010 with support from kick-ass Limerick bands Secret Police and Labatts.
Zealots have been compared to Depeche Mode, Interpol and Wire although it is difficult to pinpoint a direct influence, as theirs is an undeniably unique concoction. Ruth Kennington’s angelic vocals drape over soundscapes that can shift from expansively liberating to claustrophobically paranoid. The quartet’s debut EP, ‘Flowers For My Broken Head’ captures both vulnerability and bombastic grace in a vice like grip. Zealots have had rapturous responses from the growing crowds at home and away and are steadily building a loyal fan base. Their gigs are intense, energetic, vibrant and above all else loud as hell! Don’t miss them when they headline Green and Live Sessions 22 on Thursday January 28. Doors open at 8pm and admission is free. Check out two tracks from the ‘Flowers For My Broken Head’ EP here.
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