This year Foggy Notions has played host to some of the most memorable shows of 2006, from artists such as Final Fantasy, Camera Obscura, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy & Harem Scarem, Johnny Moynihan's Moonshine, The Russian Futurists, Modeselektor, The Essex Green, and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. For the festive season we decided to focus our attentions homeward, to two of the most essential young artists working in the field of modern music in Ireland today, Si Schroeder and Jape. We suspect these shows will match, if not surpass, the efforts of their international peers. Anyone who saw Jape blow the roof off Whelan's supporting The Russian Futurists or rocking the Foggy tent at the Electric Picnic will know what we're talking about. And if you haven't had the opportunity to catch one of Si Schroeder's extremely rare live performances, well now is your chance.

Si Schroeder
Whelan's, Dublin
Thursday December 14
w/ special guest: Chequerboard
Tickets on sale from WAV [1890 200 078], City Discs & Road Records

Wading through the musical debris of 2006, certain records have risen to the surface. Back in May Simon Kenny renamed himself Si Schroeder (previously Schroeder's cat and Schroedersound) and released the record of his life. Coping Mechanisms is a dense and beautiful recording that reveals layers of ideas and years of work, maybe a lifetime. At the heart of each track is a simple 'classic' song, but each is inhabited with ghosts of old archived recordings, obscure orchestras, growling basslines, strange faint alien choirs, singing gremlins. Throughout these rich, tactile atmospheres Si's voice whispers about love, machines, social crutches and the claustrophobia of Dublin city.

His live shows, previously just solo electronics, then accompanied by the mythical Bryan O'Connell on drums, have now expanded to encompass a full rock band line-up, featuring Kevin Brew of Headgear and Jimmy Eadie and Brian Mooney (both ex-The Idiots & Into Paradise). In various guises Si Schroeder has appeared at London's influential Kosmische club, PopKomm Berlin, New York's IntelFest, Chicago, and from time to time, Dublin City. Expect toy pianos and toy planes, bleeps and beats (and bleats...) bells and chimes, drones and choirs... and expect to think differently about music, and the world, when you leave.

Special guest tonight is Chequerboard, Dublin based guitarist / producer John Lambert whose performances have graduated from lap-top electronics to live layered guitar passages built up on guitar pedals and loop stations.
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Jape
Whelan's, Dublin
Thursday December 28
w/ special guest: The French Letter A
Tickets on sale from WAV [1890 200 078], City Discs & Road Records

Richard Egan is, quite simply, an unstoppable force in Irish music. Despite his essential presence as bassist with much-loved instrumental rockers The Redneck Manifesto and his role with David Kitt's live band, it is wonderful to final see his own music as Jape take precedence. His debut album Cosmosphere was a formative and naive experiment in balancing electronics with raw emotion. Its follow-up, The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me, went some way to revealing a unique voice with its clever song structures, blossoming voice and oddly poetic words. The last year, however, has been crucial for Richie. His full band live show has now transcended the clumsy japery of old into an edgy sonic experience with Richie projecting himself like the true star he is. The songs of his current set are undoubtedly his best yet, a perfect synthesis of succinct melody, personality and electro-innovation. 2007 is set to be the year of Jape.

Special guest tonight is The French Letter A, the work of former Joan of Arse and Groundswell song-smith Ross Hackett who returns tentatively to the world of live music with his most melodic work yet.