Photos: K-Fest Launch @ Whelan's feat. ROE, Vulpynes, Cinema, JyellowL & Cathal Dowd

All photos: Remy Connolly

Info: Whelan's opened its main stage for the first time ever on a Good Friday last night with the launch and showcase of acts for K-Fest Arts & Music Festival, 2018. The Killorglin festival will take place over the June Bank Holiday weekend in Co. Kerry with a wide array of spoken word, drama, comedy, short films, and of course, a solid line-up of musicians. In addition to the performers last night, Vulpynes, Cathal Dowd, JYellowL, ROE and Cinema, this summer's roster includes Fangclub, LE BOOM, Katie Laffan, Vernon Jane, Alien She, Junior Brother, Emma Langford and many more.

Kerry native Cathal Dowd opened proceedings and humorously announced that he was the first musician ever to play the main stage at Whelan's on a Good Friday. The singer-songwriter set the mood nicely and interspersed songs with quick-witted anecdotes, he also raised the tempo of his set with a rousing finale using loop pedals, incorporating some quick-fire rn'b vocals, and even throwing the chorus for Blackstreet's 'No Diggity' into the mix with the audience willingly joining in.

It was interesting to note the different genres on show last night, no two acts coming from the same background, with singer-songwriter, punk rock, rap, electronic and experimental alt-pop. Vulpynes were up next and they gave the public what the public wanted to paraphrase Paul Weller's 'That's Entertainment', playing all the hits from their first ever single (and big favourite of mine) 'Terry Said' to 'Silica' and, via a request from the crowd, 'OCD'. New material from their latest EP was also on display and it sounded amazing, it looked effortless but the duo have become such a tight unit at this stage.

It was my first time, and such a treat, to see Derry multi-instrumentalist and electro-pop act ROE perform, multi in every sense of the word, drum pad, guitar, synths and vocals, she had it all in check. The lasting memory for me will be the times she drove a full soul vocal home that made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, ROE's singing is equal measures vulnerable but brave and somehow always directed to the centre of the heart. 

Another act cutting his way through the scene at the moment is Dublin's JYellowL, proclaimed as one to watch by respected music websites such as The Thin Air and GoldenPlec for 2018, his position of strength comes from the fact that he can easily appeal to hardcore Irish hip-hop fans as well as those with a casual interest in the genre. 

A great night was brought to a close by Kildare electronic artist Peter Fleming, aka Cinema. After seeing him perform a while back in The Bello Bar and highly enjoying his set back then I was looking forward to his performance very much. Once again he moulded a dream-like and escapist atmosphere carefully from the very beginning, as the set progressed you were more and more submerged in the alternate state his music aims for.

Additional photos: 

Tim Clifford of K-Fest 

News: 'The New Music' - A Film About Young Onset Parkinson's

Info: 'The New Music' follows the struggles of Adrian, a young classical musician with extraordinary talent, who discovers he has Young Onset Parkinson's, a rare form of Parkinson's Disease affecting sufferers under fifty. Despite this debilitating condition, Adrian( played by Dublin actor Cilléin Mc Evoy) joins a punk band as a keyboard player and rediscovers his life through music and love. 

Filming was completed at the end of 2017 and the production team have launched a crowd-funding campaign to reach out to the public to donate what they can in order to raise money for the post production expenses of the film- editing, sound, music, marketing and festival entries. 20% of all funds raised will go directly to Young Parkinson's Ireland in addition to all future income from the film. Young Parkinson's Ireland is heavily involved with the film itself, having consulted on the initial script and they will also have the opportunity to approve the final cut of the film.

Italian writer/director Chiara Viale was inspired to write the story after her father passed away having suffering from Multiple System Atrophy, a rare degenerative neurological disorder with symptoms similar to Parkinson's.

It is her aim that The New Music will help to dispel the stigma around Young Onset Parkinson's. It is believed that there may be as many as five hundred unaccounted for sufferers in Ireland.

Donations can be made here on Gofundme: www.gofundme.com/thenewmusic  and regular updates will be posted on the following social platforms.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thenewmusicfeature/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/thenewmusicfeaturefilm/
Twitter: twitter.com/thenewmusicfilm
YouTube: The New Music on You Tube

Photos: Gary Numan @ The Olympia Theatre, Dublin

All Photos: Remy Connolly

Info: Electronic icon Gary Numan closed off his European Tour for latest album Savage (Songs From a Broken World) last night in a fitting venue, The Olympia Theatre in Dublin. As always, the display, performance and vibrancy of Numan and bands set reflected the theme of the current tour, the album is his post-apocalyptic vision of a world devastated by human excesses, climate change, a lost and collapsed world society. In Numan's own words; "The songs are about the things that people do in such a harsh and terrifying environment. It's about a desperate need to survive and they do awful things in order to do so, and some are haunted by what they've done. That desire to be forgiven, along with some discovered remnants of an old religious book, ultimately encourages religion to resurface, and it really goes downhill from there."

The thought did cross my mind during the performance, that in this glimpse of a not so unrealistic future, there would be no gathering of people to witness any type of artistic performance under the same conditions as we take for granted like last nights setting. For now we can just continue to enjoy Numanoids assembling and taking in the new music that is being created by Gary Numan. Support on the night came from the excellent Los Angeles trio Nightmare Air, do check them out, I became an instant fan after the first song.

(REMY would like to note a very special thanks to Michelle Griffin and Tim Muddiman).

News: VINYL Festival - Royal Hospital Kilmainham (5th - 7th May)

Info: This coming May Bank Holiday Weekend sees a unique music culture event taking place at The Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin 8. There will be a star-studded list of personalities from the music world and the arts appearing over the weekend to discuss the timeless music medium which refuses to die. Despite the digital age of streaming, the oldest format of listening to recorded music is enjoying yet another revival well into the 21st century. Record sales increased again in 2017 according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) with a year on year growth of 26.8%, experiencing levels not seen since the release of Nirvana's Nevermind in 1991.

Amongst those discussing this beautiful medium over the weekend are Shane MacGowan, Chrissie Hynde, Snow Patrol (performance), Bob Geldof, actors Cillian Murphy and Martin Freeman, Tim Burgess, Billy Bragg, Huw Stephens and Gruff Rhys.

Exclusive exhibitions at VINYL will include James Lavelle’s 'Daydreaming With UNKLE', Vaughan Oliver’s 'Walking Backwards', Peter Boettcher’s ‘Photographing Kraftwerk', and Rory Gallagher’s vinyl collection as assembled by the guitarist’s brother, Donal.

Across the three days of VINYL there will also be a Tower Records pop-up store stocked with the back catalogues of our various attendees along with hard-to-source special editions and books, whilst long established Irish hi-fi store,Cloney Audio, will be onsite showcasing their specialist audiophile systems.

The first festival of its kind anywhere in the world, VINYL will present the people who made the records that would define not just a number of eras but also their respective cultures. It runs from Saturday, 5 May to Monday, 7 May and will take place in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin.

More additions to VINYL will be announced over the coming weeks, and tickets go on sale this Thursday, 29th of March at 9am via Ticketmaster.

Visit http://vinyl-dublin.com/ for more details.

International Playlist #019: Hannah Epperson, UNBLOOM, PD Liddle, Kraków Loves Adana & NEWMEN

UNBLOOM - Photo: Moses Monterroza

Info: On the latest international independent playlist here on REMY we have a decidedly German & Canadian flavour via Frankfurt's NEWMEN who first featured here towards the end of last year, and Hamburg-based favourites Kraków Loves Adana whose latest LP Songs After Blue is due for release in two weeks' time on the 6th of April. We also have a fantastic futuristic single from Canada's Hannah Epperson, and Onatario act UNBLOOM's new single 'Chance', plus a great single from London's PD Liddle. 

1. Hannah Epperson - 'We Will Host a Party (Amelia)'

Epperson creates quite a startling industrial and vivid futuristic dystopia that is laden with doom on 'We Will Host a Party (Amelia)', when she begins to sing it's like an image of a new flower trying to bloom through winter snow or on an ashen post-apocalyptic terrain. The strings are dramatic and equally foreboding, again, beauty in the quagmire, the electronic sounds and percussion come from many sources, chaos shouldn't sound this calming.

2. UNBLOOM - 'Chances'

Does lavish electro-pop come more enjoyable than this? Irish fans of St. Bishop will really enjoy UNBLOOM's 'Chances', the groovy hip-swinging dancefloor beats and shuddering synths are full-frontal. First listen your interest is more than piqued, second one and it's bang in your head and demanding more listens, uplifting glitch-pop at its finest.

3. PD Liddle - 'You Shouldn't Have Called'

It's funny because there was a time in the not so distant past where people (myself included) were a bit weary of acoustic guitar based song-writing, due to overload and sameness. Now it has turned on its head, it's a very, very difficult genre to reside in, hard to stand out in and rise above the somewhat generic ocean before you. PD Liddle's 'You Shouldn't Have Called' is gorgeous, his vocal approach and those background strings throw forth Nico's Chelsea Girl, and Tim Buckley's sel-titled debut, a vulnerable vocal tremor that draws you straight inside.

4. Kraków Loves Adana - 'The Day the Internet Died'

During the week Kraków Loves Adana decided to release two singles simultaneously ahead of the launch of their new album, 'Hamburg', an ode to their home city, and 'The Day The Internet Died' (above video). Deniz Cicek's vocal has been a companion of mine now for the last few months, and now feels like a friend, the deep musing tone of her voice triggers you to think about her words and listen beyond the music. The line "What we lack in empathy we'll make up with apathy" is a clever summation of the modern malaise. Are we really surrounded by unprecedented catastrophe and human tragedy? Or is it just reaching us more often as a result of our constant consumption via the online world? Whether it's the former or the latter, the end result is the same, desensitisation, we've become numb to shock and the plight of others.

5. NEWMEN - 'Delay'

NEWMEN's double A-Side release last November, 'Electric Eel / Humanin' was an exciting introduction for me to their music, it was a perfect 21st century reflection of 80's German electro-pop. 'Delay' takes a more passive demeanour, but is no less enjoyable. From that humming fuzz behind the music in the intro, to the gloriously shrieking synths at 1:19, guitar at 1:50, NEWMEN blur everything with noise, it's so well executed, and then the drop at 2:23. Like all of their singles, there's well-thought out intricacy, which makes them so listenable.

To listen to our last Spotify Independent International Playlist #018 head over here https://thebestofmusicandfilm.blogspot.ie/2018/02/playlist-kidsmoke-DYLYN-Nilufer-Yanya-Mamas-Gun-Bilk.html

Track: Jon Dots - Favourite Thing (Plant Food Remix)

Jon Dots - Favourite Thing (Plant Food Remix)

Info: Love Jon Dots, Love Plant Food, put the two together, bling soundz. Dublin electronic and hip-hop hauptmeister Plant Food has done a very lovely job of sticking contemporary pop act Jon Dots' 'Favourite Thing' into his beat-bullet to feed our ears full of aural nutrients. The remix sees Dots' vocals get bended and warped above and below the original's range, truth be told, much of his work is ripe for remixing, but only in the right hands. Listen to both of their catalogues below, be happy.

Jon Dots: https://jondots.bandcamp.com/

Plant Food: https://soundcloud.com/plantfoodmusic