Im listening to some Guggenheim Grotto at the moment and it aint bad. A bit too close to ricer at times though. But good all the same. One of my own personal favourites would be Fairuza. Kind of placebo-ish. Quality live performance. I really enjoyed rulers of the planet at oxegen. I missed the urges but ive seen them before and was impressed

Extraordinary. I've been out of the country two months, and with the exception of The Things, I don't recognise any of the bands on the 'best upcoming band' list. Just goes to show the staying-power of the Dublin music 'scene' in my book. What happened, by the way, to Listo, The 'Mouse' and all the other assorted nonces who were crowding this forum persisently shouting how wonderful they were? They got jobs working for mobile phone companies, one supposes.

I forgot to mention Neosupervital and Gary Dunne. Both quality acts as well. Yeah, where have listo gone...

Going to see Neosupervital live for the first time later this month, he's supporting Senor Coconut in the Opera House Blue Room in Cork. At the very least, it should be an interesting gig.

Listo broke up ages ago and have morphed into Humanzie, a killer band if you like the Rapture crossed with Radio4...as for the comments on mobile phones...yeah that's very witty, must have taken all day to think that one up. Vandala while you've been out of the country for two months you may have missed what's been going on but you haven't managed to let go off the persistent bitterness that also frequents this board...'assorted nonces'...where is that coming from??? let it go....let it go...

Neosupervital is well worth checkin out, he's deadly! This week I'll be mostly watching Andalusia, One Hundred Bullets and Grum.

Do the Guggenheim Grotto have an Ep? Are The Chapters as good as everybody claims they are? Any other impressive acts? Jenny Lindfors, Mike Got Spiked, Beautiful Losers, Ciara Allen are all decent.

'Tis nothing to do with bitterness, Dromed. I'm all for seeing bands becoming successful, or even just making a go of things. The point I was trying to make is it seems that so few actually do. It appears that every few months there's a rake of 'exciting new Dublin bands' on the scene, and within a year most of them disappear into the ether, having played a few triumphant gigs in Whelans, and maybe even put out a self-released CD which gets three stars in the Ticket from Tony Clayton Lea. 'Nonces' was indeed a flippant remark, but other than that, the point should be taken as read. The whole Damien Rice/Bell X1 thing is a case in point. While I'm not a fan of either artist, you have to respect their persistence. It's only five years ago, remember, that Juniper were, quite literally, the laughing-stock of Dublin. I remember Kevin Courtney doing a review in the Irish Times for a Juniper single, the entirety of which read "Please don't send me any more Juniper singles". Damien Rice, right now, however is perceived as a "fully formed artist" and after ONE ALBUM (!???!) is now finding himself into Top 10s of best Irish records of all time. In my book, Rice is still an "upcoming" artist. I suppose it's about how you measure these things, isn't it?

One of the reasons I think this site and others, are great, there are no Kevin bloody Courtneys or Barry Egans etc, all of them trying to be smarterer than each other brandishing knowledge and usually just trying to get into the "i told you so" position and destroying anything that looks like its not a certain success.

I hate, actually, I despise Barry Egan. He has to be the worst music critic ever. He hasn't a clue. He's now writing for that "celebrity" watch thing in the sunday indo. How could anyone lower themselves to do that? Sad ba5tard.

I reckon the best up and coming bands I've heard on the Irish music scene have to be the dudley corporation and the republic of loose. They both bring something completely new to a scene that can get bogged down with alot of very similar acts. The republic of loose are not the finished article yet but judging by their first album, there's alot of potential there. The point about staying power is a very good one. There is alot of coming and going in the Irish music scene but I think that's just the nature of the beast. Some acts will capture the imagination of the record buying public straight away where as other, equally fine acts, don't hit it off straight away. It's very hard to keep plugging away at it when bills are piling up and you don't seem to be reaping any reward for your endeavour. Curse these everyday realities but they can't be avoided

bands are in competition with alot of other mediums of entertainment, playsations(throw em away! according to mick pyro,,..), more blockbuster cinema releases, digital tv etc, music is not as important as it had been to "the ordinary people" (insert man or dude where appropriate!), plus the price of drink and entry to gigs (8euro mid week? feck off the cinema is 8.50 and is more of a safe bet to be entertaining!) and not the smoking ban has driven alot of potential gig goers to the offie instead, (well me for one at least) personally, i think rep of loose should be massive, they're touring the uk now, hopefully the america loving thing wont affect their appeal in the uk considering most english people i know are pretty pi55ed off with america(or bush) right now and wish to distance themselves, dont know if that runs as deep as cultural issues, pretty sure i could though...(would explain the lack of us musical imports recently...?)

What do you mean about lack of US musical imports Mutch? Are you talking about records or US bands playing here? In terms of records that are relatively popular in Europe, there seems to be tons of well loved US acts doing the rounds; Felix da Housecat (DJed several times in Ireland recently), LCD Soundsystem, the Rapture (played Oxegen), The Killers, Modest Mouse, The Strokes(?!) etc.

I totally disagree with you Mutch. Music will never die out and I do still think that it is important to the 'ordinary person'. While I respect your opinion and acknowledge that computers, cinema etc are rivalling music, I do not think that music is not as popular. Look at the Oxegen Festival selling out, look at the numerous festivals around Ireland this summer (Heinken Green Enegry, Bud Rising, Woodstock, Source, Killarney etc). I don't know the stats but I'm sure cd sales are still on the up. And the cinema is a rip off compared to gigs. Even student prices seem to be rising. There is great value at some venues like every tuesday in Doyle's there are acoustic sessions where you get see at least three acts for €5. Ok, Ticketmaster do rip the consumer off but if you buy from places like Road Records, when they have tickets for certain gigs, you won't pay as much. Lack of American bands? What? At Oxegen, I saw The Strokes, The Rapture, Kings Of Leon and Scissor Sisters. Currently doing their rounds in the charts are The Killers, Maroon 5 and then alot of pop acts for your so called 'ordinary' person. And with the Republic Of Loose having that americanised sound, so what. Anyone who sees them live will be blown away. Their debut album is great and I don't think that their americanised influences will affect cd sales.

I think what Mutch is refering to here is the fact that American bands are not as big business as they used to be, which I think is a fair enough point. Back in the 80s and 90s it seemed like pretty much all the popular music was coming from America. This plainly is not the case today. However, I think this owes more to the fact that American mainstream music is increasingly moving away from the whole band idea. Hip hop is the be all and end all in the states presently and has been for just under 10 years. No one can deny that there are new bands coming from the states but they are not making the huge impact they used to over here because they aren't coming over on the back of huge success in the states. Take the strokes for example. This may have changed recently so I could be wrong but last I heard they were virtual unknowns in America. The goal posts have definitely shifted but as any football pundit worth his salt will tell you, it's all swings and roundabouts. (I do hope the Strokes find success at home though. With a bit of luck maybe they'll stay there. Maybe they could take the Hives et al with them too. Happy days indeed)

Hear hear!!

I don't get the point you're trying to make El Duderino. Basically you seem to be saying that most of the music coming out of the US is Hip Hop. Ummm...and? ..Hip Hops popularity is global, so its not unusual that Hip Hop is getting more attention. You seem to be stuck in an guitar band centred mindset conveniently ignoring the diverse range of non rock-centric acts coming out of the US. Anyway, when you examine it closely, guitar based rock is in no danger of dying out in the US, its just that most of the rock bands that get in the US charts are mostly crap whiney sub-nirvana "alternative" (alternative to what exactly? a decent tune, perhaps?) rock bands, hence less likely to make an impact outside their home country. The Strokes are hardly "unknowns" in the states as anyone who reads US sites like pitchforkmedia will know. Anyway, how many records has a band gotta sell before they can be regarded as successful or making an impact? Sonic Youth have made a huge impact on modern music over the years despite never really ever having mainstream success. What are you expecting? a return to Bruce Springsteen style stadium filling rock acts? Truth is, very few acts have that kind of massive long-term success anymore, the day of the massive MTV superstars like Madonna or U2 is over. Is that a good or a bad thing? Neither I reckon, just different.