The Dublin Castle

MONDAY 11TH MAY

THE KING HATS- Spiky guitars and driving drums bit Sonic Youth in that the vocals are insistent and edgy with an underlying malevolence reminiscentof early Idlewild via Fugazi , fizzing post-punk indie with loads of conviction and tunes to match...

INDIAN RED LOPEZ- Indie/electro/rock/psych... Kasabian via The Killers via Bloc Party... strong vocals and clever dynamics... good stuff. Friendly Fires!!! That's who they remind me of!

FOOLED BY CHANCE - Funeral for a friend. Emo without the screamo ... some Foo Fighters elements in here too to get you on more pop friendly terrain but always based around metallic distorted guitars and a Led Zep blues edge.

REMAIN ON- Japanese power pop indie.

WEDNESDAY 13TH MAY

CANCELLED

THURSDAY 14TH MAY

THE GUTTER BRAVADOS- Pulsing post Americana rocknroll with some cutely delivered femme vox and a sticky fingered rock out vibe that works a treat. Like The Replacements with a rocking chick at the mic.

THE RED ZOIDS- The Red Zoids take the Artic Monkeys guitars and set them on metal mode and indeed the lyrics  are sung in French…. snotty brattish and a bit of a righteous racket of barrow-boy pop punk.

SHAKE!- Glam rock gets it on with a Marilyn Manson like dark underbelly and shimmies a tail feather at some Deftones like grooves. Speedy dynamic positive rocknroll.

ELECTRIC RIVER- Sassy if shouty pub rock/ punk metal. An Eddie and the Hot Rods via Slaughter and The Dogs type scenario. Not taking it too seriously at all , and vividly entertaining at that.

FRIDAY 15TH MAY

THE SOUND MOVEMENT- Shimmering post shoegaze pop with elements of My Bloody Valentine and Curve and some sugar spun staccato guitar runs reminiscent of The Church.

THE 66- Rock/Psychedelic/Indie. Sounds like The Vines. Some vociferous rock outs via ice cool delivery.

RAY- Windswept , theatrical soundscapes with an existential bent alongside some blistering guitar work…like Scott Walker getting on one with Mercury Rev as Echo and the Bunnymen don their shades.

THE GRAMS- Brighton band doing an intensified Doves meets Bloc Party via Kasabian thing. Editors too. It's very emotionally delivered with plenty of fizz and decent tunes. A bit of CSN and Y in the strummy summery harmonies dept too.

FOUR HOURS- Hard Fi meets The Primals Or MC5 meets Blur... riffage galore and an amazing drummer!

OIL ON CANVAS- Prog tinged melodic rock/pop with some funky b lines and plenty of songcraft.

MLINI- Post rock with elements of folk, but the guitars are defiantly from a Sonic Youth angle and there's a Slint aspect to the rhythm section. Also Explosions In The Sky in terms of light-and-shade and Low in their quieter moments, so yeah, lots going on here.

SAFEHOUSE THEORY- A British take on Deftones via Linkin Park with heaps of Muse added to the mix.

BIG CAPTAIN ORGAN- Big bollocked metal meets swinging dick punk for a genially testosteroned full on rawk out featuring perhaps the largest singer on the circuit since Meatloaf got sliced into quiche.

SUNDAY 17TH MAY

SHAG NASTY- Original UK Punks from 1976-79 who've reformed. (So who remembers them ? Well, John Peel used to play them!) Sounds like the Menace, Cockney Rejects , Angellic Upstarts pre oi school of punk rock and especially puts us in mind of The Anti Nowhere League , but hey you flower pressers, not as nasty.

UK VOMIT- ‘We're hell bent on spreading the infectious and sickeningly enjoyable music that gave us the name UK Vomit’ say UK Vomit….yes yes yes old school punk with [ even to these jaded old liberal ears] what could be deemed offensive lyrics , but let’s face it they are having a larf….uber punky and very well done too.

THE HEAD[1977]- Even I was slightly too young to appreciate a good Head session in 1977…. Comedic punk which straddles the mock yobbishness of The Notsensibles, early Mekons etc with trashy organed pop punk de garage a la 60s. I say it has a rough hewn charm. Good tunes - The Piranhas and early Madness too...lovely innocent mod/ska/punk pop of a 79 vintage.

KISMETIK- Punk/rock/psychobilly band from London. Raucously recommended by and for anyone who digs The Damned, Motorhead ,The Ramones and The Cramps …

THE SPURTS- ‘Love comes in spurts’ sang Richard Hell in 1977, and there’s a lot of love in this raw ramshackle punk of the thorouhly old school …The Ramones via UK Subs?

MONDAY 18TH MAY

SKUNKRICE- Outta Tokyo, Japan and featuring an electro popped out take on post emo rock alterno wise. The punch of N.I.N, the airy melodics of Klaxons, the club cultured hard beats of The Prodigy.

THE SMOKING HEARTS- Solid sounding band with a "hardcore punk" influence. The likes of Gallows meets The Bronx. Featuring some really great fast, intricate guitar riffs accompanied with even faster tight ass drumming!

CHARLIE INDESTRUCTIBLE- At The Drive In and emo stuff and cool old 90s Brit things like Cable combined to make an intense heart on sleeve indie rock with nice light n shade. The hard rocking bits work particularly well.

PANZ AGENDA- American shaped stadium rock with heaps of Feeder and a some Incubus and a bit of Idlewild. Done a million times you might say but this is an excellent reading…and when it aint broke….

JIVESTICK- Queens of the Stone Age, Sonic youth and The Subways. Intense voice and nice noises to behold with yer logholes

THE LASTING DAYS- Bright Eyes meets Ryan Adams meets the softer , more in touch with his feminine side side of Dave Ghrol. This is predominantly acoustic, just a bit grittier and tough hewn.

BRASSNECK- Summery, harmless indie pop with big folky elements, so think The Beautiful South, Magic Numbers, Beatles …Good stuff.

BRITISH BROKEN CLASS- Morrissey/old school indie vibes....a touch of NewOrder/The Cure too. Anyone recall the work of pre Stereolab Tim Gane band McCarthy?…..this has a similar melodic cool.

THURSDAY 21ST MAY

THE DHARMA- Sleazy narco rockin’ combo from Leeds … a wah-wah driven stoner rock thing with a blues wailing vocalist.

BEING JO FRANCIS- Indie schmindie of the kind we love... Pigeon Detectives via Franz Ferdinand and a tad of Mystery Jets.... lots of We Are Scientists in here... good tunes and mega radio friendly.

MAÑANA- Radiohead/Sigur Ros style atmospherics meets 80s pop.. There's definitely some Arcade Fire in here as well, and this Swiss quintet are something you really don't want to miss...

HALF LIGHT- Acoustic rock, with some influences of The Kinks via Travis and Razorlight. Nicely nice.

FRIDAY 22ND MAY

SOCIAL REFORM- 4 piece band based in North London. Punk/rock They compare themselves to Joy Division …I would pip much more for the Sex Pistols for most of their work. Big passionate stuff.

ROGUE RADIO- They say: Streets add a pinch of punk/ska, a glug of funk, a twist of decks and general rock'n'roll good time vibe. Hilltop Hoods via Linkin Park. Exciting actually...

HONEY SPIDERS- The Kinks via The Small Faces.

ASLEEP IN THE PARK- Australian Pop/Rock with a ska infusion. Pretty good sound at that…

SATURDAY 23RD MAY

THE KUBRICKS- This is a great mix of indie, ska, rocknroll..touches of swing too..very good! Loads of energy, fast paced and lots of fun. Enjoy it me droogies.

THE GRAVE ARCHITECTS- We all fell over in amazement on first hearing this incredible new act- and I was actually already reclined so dunno how that occurred. I think I actually stood up in a falling down way. Any rate , the offbeat humour of a Jonathon Richman,  the kookiness of early Pavement, the tunefulness of Loaded era Velvets , yet very English and eccentric ….The ghost of Syd Barret’s also in the house, there's psychedelic passages with kind of posh rapping over the top.  Which bizarrely sounds a bit like Caravan in places! So this is really quite interesting, but more importantly great fun!  Their opus about bikes [er, 'Bike'] is kind of Queen by The Monks via De La Soul. A single out on Fortuna Pop. Buy/steal/blag- but see them play now!

VICTOR TALKING MACHINE- Indie/lo-fi sort of stuff, à la Arctic Monkeys, but a slightly fuller and quirkier sound like Franz Ferdinand. 

TONIC- The new look Tonic line-up has been furiously gigging around the south-west since original singer Debbie left. They've got a real groove to them with jazz, funk soul and hip hop influences. a good measure of blues is also thrown in for added taste... Each musician is clearly capable of changing their styles to suit the atmosphere and because they're so tight they prove to be a real delight live... a must see before they take over the world….

SUNDAY 24TH

SEVERENTH- Cradle of Filth, Sepultura and Marilyn Manson spring to mind...Sludge meets Thrash metal. We recommend your parents stay at home. They have just won the Playmusic.com award for the best unsigned metal band for 2009.We are suitably delighted to support this decision. Proper metal!

SIC-   After having a successful UK tour in January 2008, SIC hereby are shaking some action on their May 2009 UK tour …even better still with more high profile media exposure (Kerrang, MTV, Hollywood Music TV UK, Metal Hammer), an extensive tour featuring new songs, and powerfully slick live performances. Bristlingly powerful e.g of the genre with proggy but melodic passages strengthening the full on assault elsewhere, very good band!

OLD SCHOOL TIE- Talk Talk like emotive prog pop passages melded to great slabs of funky rock and jazz tinged interplay that take you down into the dirt and the daisies for some meaty four to the floor Glasto dance tent moments. But always the sassy searching pop voice, the naggingly neat tune….

BRITISH INDIA- Australian Indie rock... The Rapture and the upbeat chirpiness of The Pigeon Detectives... There's a John Lydon element to the vox, although much cleaner...  The Wombats, Cage The Elephant... The Hives definitely in here... punky, garagey... the tunes are just fucking amazing and these fellas fill 1500 capacity venues back home .. Playing The Great Escape festival... and i'm in love with music again...

THE CHAMBERS- Oasis, Kings of Leon and Rolling Stones influences reigned together to create loud, catchy, and commercial to boot.

MONDAY 25TH MAY

BOHEMIA- Sarf London based scally rock supreme, rocking some real gutsy vocals and some nice Cult-like riffage.

DRAW ME STORIES- It's a progressively oriented alt rock that recall bands like Rage against the machine, Queens of the Stone age and some hints of Jeff Buckley.

MISSION 5- Impressively powerful take on early 70s Who- in fact their 'Underneath the wing' could be a long lost Who song- the playing is impeccable, the tunes are good- what can I say? ...Storming rockers with breathy vocals..nice...

THE ZOO- Rock influenced by 70's band like Led Zeppelin and the Who with some hints of Guns'n'roses.

WEDNESDAY 27TH MAY

THE RIFF RAFF- Collegiate rock pop scallywags.

THE GOODMEN- Danced up party pop vibes.

DWARFORBITAL- The stature challenged fellow of Rock goes around the sun of Roll.

BOXER- Indie rock/pop.

THURSDAY 28TH MAY

ALTURO- There's a nice freakbeat riff culture in here. Stone Roses meets The Libs and loads of other cool ass indo stuff.

ARROWS- Fusing searing guitars with razor sharp beats and big bold bass lines - Underworld, Primal Scream, Interpol. Grrreat…

NATIVE SOULS- Pearl Jam and Sound Garden shaped rocknroll grooves with some bouncy funk pop touches to keep it sweet.

THE LAURELS- The Libertines pause to stare slightly vacantly at the Arctic monkeys Darby hat prior to squashing it under foot. Later they find themselves with a bucket full of ice cold water pulled down their shabby pants by The Who... all good...

FRIDAY 29TH MAY

NATCCU- Pop female solo artist outta Japan who performs with a sympathetically rocking band. Her sound is quite artfully edgy and there's definitely an element of grimy, gutsy grunge to it all. Nice voice too…..

CENTURY MAN- Experimental end of indie rock...a big rushing, gushing intense sound..Hard Fi meets Kasabian, sort of... Sound in part like a grunged up REM...plenty of pop zen-ness here.

PARKE DAVIS- Well executed indie rock. Very melodic and bloody catchy. Who the freak do they remind me of? Can't think. Anyhow, sort of anthemic singalong songs that are stacked chocka easy to remember choruses, with some nice backing vocals.

THE ELECTRIC RIOT- Lairy, Skank, Hypnotic, Downbeat Disco Trouble Rock with no money and no rules! Groovy baby……

SATURDAY 30TH MAY

EUREKA MACHINE-Industrial grungin’ tecnoid punk returneth….

SHUSH- Describe themselves as a "fusion of rock pop songs with dark, catchy melodies."Female led rock/pop band.  Standard pop/rock sound with a few hooks but is very well done. Good musicianship and great vocals.

THE LOYALTIES- Punk/Rock. Ramones, The Clash, Rancid, Supersuckers, Dead Boys, Rolling Stones, etc influences. Intense ashy male voice. Shaking-head dynamic punk. Well played. Goodness they’re good.

SCARAMANGA 6- Edgy arthouse pop.

JOANNA AND THE WOLF-Darkly dealt post Sonic Yothly rumblings with fetching KaTe Bush on PCP vocal gymnastics/antics from front woman J.

A BOY CRIED WOLF- The some time Manic Street Preacher at the helm here has songs to more than rival his employers and a brilliantly pulsing band of brothers to back it up.

A CHILD RASPUTIN- Fantastically eery voiced talent with spacy/spooky Floyd go post punk song structures.

BLEECH- Clean the floor, indeed clean the very plaque of your teeth will this eminent three piece with pop oriented post grunge/punk numbers to die for…could well be massive…

THE CHASERS- Surfabilly garage deluxe.

MONDAY 1ST JUNE

ARABELLA-  Led Zeppelin via Cream era Eric Clapton guitar moves. Big bold n bluesy sound with some pretty good songs that stretch the genre.

THE ARTISAN QUARTER- The crafted artistry of Rock inhabits the ethnic cultural boundaries of Roll.

SIMON FAGAN- Taking the Talking Heads template and rendering it raw edged and blues infused via not a little anthemic power.

WEDNESDAY 3RD JUNE

ROCK TILL YOU DROP presents-

THE GREAT OUTDOOR EXPERIENCE- The Great Outdoor Experience is a 3-piece led by Phil Ram formerly with a short-lived incarnation of punk band The Vibrators who scored a Top 40 hit with Disco in Moscow, a song he co-wrote. Promoting here their album ‘Time To Go Wild’ on the Maddish record label.

24 CARAT GRAPEFRUIT- The story goes that they were originally formed at school in the late 1970s and somehow missed the chance to ally themselves to both the Punk and New Wave movements. Prepare to be amused and offended if you are in anyway politically correct or uptight.

SPIRIT OF PLAY-  Spirit of Play confess to a “fondness for vocal harmonies, foolish lyrics and joy-inducing beats” ….

+DIPSTICKS

Plus DJ Dog-Headed Men playing his usual eclectic mix of ‘independent’ sounds, form punk to present day.

THURSDAY 4TH JUNE

THE McTAGGARTS- Play an indie rock that recall the sounds of Artic Monkeys and The Kooks, but with some hints of ska and jazz (with the delightfully fruity saxophone located here).

FIRE FALL DOWN- The Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ grooves get twisted into a pleasurably  gone wrong n wonky form. Elements of Jimmy Eat World and Dinosaur Jr  too,
 
MDMA- London/Kent hiphop rocknroll outfit…..samples and sounds with raps of a socially aware nature all good to go.

PANDORA- Melodic rock with some Incubus type vibes.

FRIDAY 5TH JUNE

THE FEDERALS- Fast and furious garage punk a la Stooges via the Sonics...

LOSTAURA- Muse check their chakra as Sigur Ros get out the ordnance survey map and Interpol make an impromptu bivouac. Meanwhile Coldplay ponder their navels in the rain….OR…Alt-rock. Some nicely structured stuff!

SUPERBIA- Pop lorn Oasis shimmerings...well, The Beatles , Byrds, CSN and Y and Beach Boys are certainly influences...plus Hooky Joy Div basslines... Jokey lyrics melded to 'classic' 60s pop moves. 'Bob Dylan spilt my pint' anyone? Apparently Mr Zimmerman put his hand down the songwriter's trousers...he will do that old Bob, he’s a pro testicle singer…

THE WHEELS- Funk and soul textures explored...Ocan Colour Scene and solo Weller via Curtis Mayfield and the like... very well executed indeed!

SATURDAY 6TH JUNE

THE BUTTERFLY EXPERIMENT- A fusion of classic rock and a hip hop in which the lead singer goes back and forth with some well placed singing and rapping. Similarities to Led Zepplin and Cream in the old school rock throb that is the bedrock here. But lushly contemporary…

GAMBLING HEARTS- The zing of chiming 60 thru 70s pop guitars and loved up 90s indie songcraft.

DEAD NEXT DOOR- Interesting pop noir delvings. Athlete don their frock coats as Coldplay ponder the propensity of milk bottles on the doorstep. Meanwhile Nirvana contest the will because Kasabian were unaware of The Stranglers blood ties….. Dark but uplifting…..

SUNDAY 7TH JUNE

STELLA LUCE- Kooky violin playing chick and rhythm section from Colorado USA. Semi spoken word with a bit of an arabesque element. Or klezma....Lydia Lunch meets Stefan Grapelli....an amazingly different approach to rocking out.

CONSTANTS- This is like the most epic side of Linkin Park via The Arcade Fire through a filter of Muse... if there's such a thing as a wall of sound this is it... like when you get that feeling that there must be 150 people onstage playing copious amounts of instruments... picture Radiohead gone metal, or the Foo Fighters gone epic rock... stadiums, that's all i'm thinking of. In a good way y’all.

IRHOA- Ambient mesmeric alt-metal, somewhere between Swans and Mars Volta what with the big swathes of textured noise n all…features ex-members of brummie noise-core exponents Final as well as an ex-member of Napalm Death , Godflesh and Jehu and a current member of Jehu for that matter, and this is bloody good stuff.

MONDAY 8TH JUNE

BLEECH- Cocksure mega rockin’ 3 piece featuring 2 singing swinging sisters at the bass and the guitar and the bare chested half boy half octopus at the drums… a grinding gritty Pixies thru Hole attack. If you see what I mean…

THE STUNS- Rather jaunty 80'S sounding indie, attempting an oft times elegant Killers/Strokes graft.

JENNER'S FIELD- Arctic Monkeys style indie rock.

WEDNESDAY 10TH JUNE

GOODBYE WIRES- GW rock a very youthful take on what General Fiasco are triumphing with at present... a bit more in a melodic punk setting though.. So yeah, I suppose you can also say Green Day...

SOULSMITH- It's a cross between Interpol (at their most serious) and the Libertines (at their jauntiest!). Some Blur in here  too, and a few interesting experimentalist transgressions.

THE ARKANES- Souped up sure fire dynamic rocknroll troupe outta Liverpool who manage most ably to straddle the post Oasoid scally pop vibe and loud n proud Stoogecore.

THE IDLE LOVERS- Light cool breezy indie. Sweeter tangs of Bloc Party in places with a tint of The Wannadies. Wafer thin guitars and creamy harmonies almost make this an ice cream fit for a Beach Boy.

THURSDAY 11TH JUNE

MISS SCARLETT- She may well have done it in the library with the lead piping but if so it was New Order who put her up to it….. – dark, sparse, electro pop is the killer blow here. Also we detect the fingerprints of early Charlatans, second album stylee M’Lud.

EVERYBODY BE COOL- Pure pop with totally top trashy guitars atop. Never mind that former Blur svengali Andy Ross likened them to the musical equivillent of posh TV hunk Ben Fogle- he meant it as a compliment! Clean lines and a rugged jaw….

THE RUBBER BAND- Picture this …The Beatles’ mail gets redirected to The Meat Puppets’ place where Keane have taken up residence in order to lie in wait for The Small Faces.

GRAVEDALE- Alice Cooper via The Misfits slock rock.

FRIDAY 12TH JUNE

THE OPERATION- Very well executed uplifting melodic rock. Has a hard rockin' AC/DC thru Deep Purple element but with skipping funky pop touches all over the shop. Big powerful lurching rock and roll.

IVY BRIDGE- I was moved to describe their understated and decidedly filmic existential rock as a kind of detestosteroned grunge- this is a thoroughly good thing- if only The Stone Temple Pilots had been in touch with their feminine side….lovely stuff worth taking time with- the missing link between Nirvana and Love?

HARRY LEE- Ex Dash Reflex fella, here with an urgent sounding Wedding Present sorta sound via some clattering intense pop and agreeably cool space synth action. This is good. Bits of Bowie, Keane go space rock...U2 get kidnapped by aliens on 'Sirens' and it does them the power of good! Artful stuff.

SATURDAY 13TH JUNE

M.O.T- Madness meets The Members and tunes tunes tunes is the order of the day. Don’t ya know these ace Tottenham urchins didn’t go to Eton [oi!] but did attend to the punk pop equivalent of a finishing school.

THE INTERVENTIONS- Radiohead influences well and truly withstand a more popped out approach.

SUNDAY 14TH JUNE

THE WOW SIGNAL- Storming guitars set to zzzzzzippp indie rock with a Bowie / Pete Murphy alike vocal in the quiet bits. They thrash it out most convincingly and go in for a fair bit of light and shade in the playing. and yes... they do it well.

BABY GRAVY- Well groovy stuttery style modern indie urban vocals rubbed up goodtime alongside grime meets electro mash up music.

NEDRY- Emotronic they say- which is a nice route in for this charming indie electronica…early Arab Strap nuances thru Lamb, Underworld and a lickle dubstep delirium. The old Bristol axis of Tricky, Underworld etc is certainly in here too as is Bjork. Good stuff.

MONDAY 15TH JUNE

..MY-UM LAUNCH PARTY..

With HELLA CHOLLA- Skiffly jazzbo acoustic strumming as a chick does a warm warblesome Winehouse thru Furtado vocal. Add trumpet and stuff, tis a jazz vibe fo sho Daddio...reminds an old get such as I of Carmel, who remembers her? Contemporariliy you're in Kooks/ Macabees territory....great stuff.

THE AMAZING ROLO- So you get  plinky plonky electronica cooked up on gameboys and wotnot- The Amazing Rolo is sound designer, musician, and digital artist Yann Seznec. He is based in Edinburgh, and is currently Artist in Residence at the University of Abertay Dundee. He specializes in interactive installations, ragtime piano, Wii music software, and sound art. Some of it is delicate folky stuff with aocustic guitar and the loopy stuff as background colour, elsewhere you get odd little repetitive Zappa like instrumentals, a high jazz quotient therein...indeed he samples old Dixieland tunes at times, adds beats, loops etc...very good musicianship and very entertaining for sure.

 Plus guest bands from www.my-um.com to be announced shortly.
An event to introduce you all to My-UM a brand new online record label run by the community.
Come and find out more and be a part right from the very start.