Two weeks ago I posted a blog entry about how Google had, all of a sudden, dramatically reduced the number of CLUAS.com pages it crawls in a day (it dropped from an average of thousand pages a day to about 25 a day, see the graph below). 

I put this down to be something to do with the fact that CLUAS stopped running Google ads for 3 weeks in April. I predicted that once the Google ads were back up and running (as they were two and a bit weeks ago) all would return to normal. A quick check earlier today in CLUAS.com's Google "Webmaster Tools" account and I saw that (for once!) a prediction of mine was on the money. Google is once again crawling a daily average of 1000 pages on CLUAS. Check out the graph below for the evidence that Google is still all chummy-wummy with us.

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Battles (live in Vicar St, Dublin)

Review Snapshot: More boring than bawlah.

The Cluas Verdict? 5 out of 10

Full Review:
Last night, apparently, Vicar St. was the place to be; three bands, a sell out show, and more people than I’ve ever seen packed into this venue. The Red Neck Manifesto took to the stage shortly after nine o’clock, an expectant crowd wound up… and waited.

The Manifesto are a hard band to pin point, they play a super tight no nonsense style of instrumental indie jazz that is easy to appreciate, but apparently a good deal harder to enjoy. I can’t explain why - all the ingredients are there - but it just ain’t funky. Somehow, amidst all the finesse, between the precise licks and subtle changes, life is lost. The gig, and the tunes, never kick off, never pull in the audience, never really get under your skin and make you wanna get up offa your thing.

A packed venue, a crowd in the mood to party, an electric, expectant, atmosphere and most were left merely nodding their heads in appreciation. It's good music, technically flawless, but without the spark to grab you its nothing more than quirky background music, unsuited to the stage.

Battles I had never seen before, but had heard good, good things. Their name alone drew excitement, and from the crowd’s reaction it is evident that they have tapped into something. What that something is though, beats me. A few weeks ago, my most cynical friend described them as “a bunch of indie blokes with too much time and technology on their hands, trying to sound different.” After last night, I couldn’t agree more. There were good moments, sure, where everything meshed, the band tapped into the energy of the crowd, and it all somehow, miraculously, worked. Those were the good times.

The rest of the time was spent on loopers and style. Exaggerated emotion, tossed scarves, and sweaty, meaningful stares. Some people see the beats as something amazing, something new, something primal. But this seems to be a band trying to slavishly recreate the sound of a rave DJ. Except a DJ has all the tools at his hand, can meld the beats, and tweak them in any direction the mood points to. Battles are stuck in replication. They never seem to make the music their own, to add spark, or flare, and just go with it. Music at its most primal, is simple, an effortless mastery of sound that infects. The technology, or the rhythms themselves need not be simple, but they do have to be intrinsic, elemental to the player, to really allow them come to life. This just didn’t happen last night, it was as if the technology took centre stage; instead of being the medium, it became the message.

Passing the bouncer on the way for a pint, he tossed his head inside, raised an eyebrow and said “what the f**k is that?” Well, who the f**k knows. There is something there, when it hits, it works. Quite nicely. When it doesn’t it seems boring, forced and, well, just a little bit pointless.

Daragh Murray

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It's rare that alternative music makes any page of French newspapers, let alone the front page. But that's what's happening with Justice (below).

The video for 'Stress', directed by Romain Gavras, has provoked a storm in France. The seven-minute promo features a gang of teenage boys on a rampage of violence through a typical Paris suburb.

Wearing hoodies and leather jackets with the Justice crucifix on their back, the gang terrorise everyone they cross. They mug an old lady, tourists, geeks, whoever. They harrass a young lady in a metro station and beat up the man who tries to save her. They loot a bar, kick and spray-paint everything in reach, and burn out their stolen car.

For many, the most controversial image is when the gang attacks a lone police officer, kicking him on the ground (4 mins 10 secs).

Why exactly are people shocked by this video? Well, it depends on what kind of people you are. Moral custodians and right-wing politicians, no doubt with an eye on easy media exposure, denounce the video as an incitement to violence.

Meanwhile, defenders of free speech praise the video for putting the issue of urban tension and deprivation back in the headlines.

Interestingly, some representatives of minority support associations criticise the video - the youths featured are either black or north African, playing on a stereotype of young people from ethnic backgrounds.

And other local groups, trying to forget 'La Haine', are angry at another less-than-favourable portrayal of the Paris suburbs as an urban warzone.

Regardless of these positions, the video is a fantastic piece of work. Your blogger notes a scene on the steps of Sacré-Coeur where the young hoodlums jump on two buskers and smash their acoustic guitar (2 mins 10 secs). Not that we feel incited to carry out copycat attacks, but just don't call us tonight because we'll be out.

Judge for yourselves: here's the panic-inducing 'Stress' by Justice:

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Key Notes, you may be surprised to hear, doesn't actually get paid for his endless hours slaving away for CLUAS, and has to commute to and from work just like the rest of you.  4 years ago Key Notes took a decision to accept a job in location A (lets just call it 'Somewhere near the South Coast of Dublin but not quite Wicklow') and then he made the spectacularly naive decision 3 years ago to purchase a property with Mrs. Key Notes in location B (lets just call this 'West Dublin, but the nice part, not the part where they eat each others children').  This decision was naive because it was made in full knowledge of how rubbish Dublin Bus and DART are at actually getting passengers to their destination in time. 

However, 3 years of listening to Usher or Kylie blaring from some kids Nokia was more than enough and in January of this year Key Notes started driving to and from work and, with the absence of MP3 facilities in his car, he was forced to listen to the radio, something he hadn't done in quite a while. 

Now, writing as he does an Irish music blog, and facing the prospect of the M50 everyday, Key Notes turned to Phantom as his source of 'More new music than any radio station in Dublin, more new Irish music than any radio station in the World.'   The reason Key Notes can tell you this is because they repeat that statement after every new Irish song is played.  Every.  Single.  Time.  Please don't misunderstand your curmudgeonly blogger, Key Notes is well aware of what Phantom is trying to achieve, but in fact, its effect is quite the opposite.  Every time Key Notes hears this phrase, it makes him want to physically harm both his radio and the DJ.

The main culprit; Mr. Sinister Pete but, in fairness, this is because Pure Morning and Heavy Traffic are the only two shows Key Notes gets to listen to, as that's when he's driving.  His show is, for the most part, as predictable as REM releasing a 'could this be the comeback' album and, therefore, boring.  As Key Notes is going to a gig (....Trail of Dead if you're asking) today he didn't hear the show this morning (don't drink and drive kids) but this blog is willing to bet that tomorrow you will hear at least three of the following: 1) The Pigeon Detectives - This is an Emergency; 2) The Ting Tings - That's not my Name; 3) Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma; 4) The Aftermath - Are you not Wanting me Yet and 5) Anything by one of The Rolling Stones, Iggy & The Stooges or AC/DC.  

It all just gets a little bit boring.  Key Notes realises that Phantom is a commercial venture and has certain targets it probably has to meet but surely there is enough new, and indeed GOOD new music out there to ensure that you never have to play the same song more than twice in a week.  Maybe Key Notes is wrong, maybe Phantom's other shows and presenters make up for this lack of diversity, but Key Notes can only comment on what he hears.  Heavy Traffic, for example, doesn't have the same predictability because it throws in some curve balls Key Notes wouldn't expect to hear, and that makes it a more enjoyable listening experience.

To those of you able to listen to your radios during working hours, and who listen to Phantom, is there any more diversity in the playlist during the day/night, or is Phantom, as Ian suggested in his opinion piece, in danger of becoming utterly irrelevant for listeners hoping to hear new and exciting Irish and international music. 

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A review of the album Pleasant Squares by Robotnik

Review Snapshot:  Pleasant Square is a sonic walkabout that takes in influences as diverse as Radiohead and The Flaming Lips without ever losing its own sense of identity or purpose. 

The Cluas Verdict? 8 out of 10

Full Review:
It must be very difficult being a musician and having a wide range of influences and yet being forced to stick to one particular genre for a record just so people like myself can put you away in a nice little box marked 'sounds like...'.  Not so for Robotnik, known to the passport office as 27 year old Dubliner Chris Morrin.  On his debut album, Pleasant Square, Robotnik has managed to take all those influences, merge them together and produce a work that is as unique as it is enjoyable.

From the ambient beginnings of the Flaming Lips like Test 16:9 , through to the Weezer-esque harmonies of Puddlestarter, this album is an atmospheric acoustic adventure for the listener with - especially on first listen - each track serving up something new and exciting to discover.   Repeated listens, however, provide you with an opportunity to enjoy the range of instrumentation and skill that has gone into recording this album which allows it to sound - and I mean this in a good way - like Morrin woke up one morning and decided to record it on a whim.

Album highlights vary on each listen but People Walk Away with its infectiously catchy beat and Dog with no Tail, where Robotnik allows a glimpse at the life of Chris Morrin for one of the few times on the album, are consistently on repeat at the moment, along with Vinedresser which sees Robotnik return, briefly, to his troubadour roots. 

Not once did I find this mix of genres and musical styles irritating and, indeed, the only criticism I can have of Pleasant Square is that it's possibly 12-15 minutes too long; however, in an age where musicians are releasing albums that don't even hit 30 minutes, it's a minor complaint.

Overall, Robotnik has a bright future ahead of him, especially if he can continue to reference his vast array of influences without ever sounding like he is trying to imitate them. 

Steven O'Rourke

 To buy a new or (very reasonably priced) 2nd hand copy of this album on Amazon just click here.

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The Swell Season (live in the Uptown Theater, Kansas)

Review Snapshot: The music was great, the stories were not. Glen and The Frames were as remarkable as ever in their performance and still have what it takes to wow new audiences. Marketa added texture and a breath of fresh air to to the proceedings. Unfortunately Glen's involved stories and self indulgent ramblings detracted from what was otherwise a stellar Frames performance.

The Cluas Verdict? 7.5 out of 10

Full Review: I’m a long-time Frames fan, I admit it. I first saw them in Dolans in Limerick, circa 1995, during my halcyon college days. I’ve interviewed Glen and Colm and been to my fair share of Frames gigs in the intervening years. My slavish following has waned in recent times, so it was an unusual pleasure to find myself in Kansas City, Missouri on a Monday night with tickets to see Glen and Marketa, aka The Swell Season.

Upon walking into the Uptown Theater in Kansas the brawny voice of Damien Dempsey was echoing around the auditorium. I only caught his last two songs but he seemed to get a warm reception. The Uptown Theater is something like The Olympia after a colour explosion; embossed orange wallpaper, Grecian statues and urns and an almost Mexican feel to it. The crowd was diverse, plenty of soccer moms and dads, and every age from babes in arms to Grandma and Grandpa.

The show opened with ‘Say it to me now’ with Glen at his acoustic best, all alone on the edge of the stage, no need of a microphone. He went on to introduce Marketa and the two of them launched into, ‘All the Way down’. I have to admit I had goose bumps; their voices combined produce a hauntingly beautiful sound. Glen invited the guys from The Frames out on stage and then characteristically got a little carried away with a shout of “Yeah F*ck Yeah” which shocked  the politically correct American massive. But he recovered and explained the inspiration for their song ‘This Low’. It involved finding and reading a self-help book left behind after the breakup of a relationship. They seem to enjoy his talking here; maybe it’s the lilting Irish accent. It’s a stunning love song and built up to a crescendo of heartfelt emotion, with Marketa harmonising during the chorus.

Next up was ‘Drown Out', again preceded by a long and rambling introduction, far too long to go into here. Suffice to say it’s inspired by a story of religious persecution in the 1400s and a ghost speaking through the husband of a reiki healer that Glen knows. I’m not sure even the Americans were getting it. The song sounded good though, with Colm’s fiddle adding power as did the piano accompaniment.

Finally some beats and energy. The whole band got involved on ‘When Your Minds Made Up’and the place rocked to the strong drum beat. Colm was sterling as ever on the fiddle. This was much nearer to The Frames magic of old. Marketa adds sparkle and lightness to their overall sound and she sounds so charming with her Irish accent. For her next melodic offering, possibly entitled ‘Forgive me lover’, she introduced Graham Hopkins (Therapy? and Halite) as her accompaniment on drums.

‘Falling Slowly’, Glen and Marketa’s Oscar winning song got a great reception. Typically Glen expanded on his Oscar glory. He used a metaphor of kicking a ball which goes way beyond where you expected it to. “You just wanted it to go over the wall but it kept going and now you want your ball back”. He told how he was sad because of everything he’d been for 20 years (in The Frames) and now he’s singled out as the “successful guy”. His language throughout the evening was smattered with expletives and his excuse? He blamed the 800 years that the English had beaten our language out of us, so he believes it’s now our job to corrupt the English language. At this point I was almost ready to leave.

I didn't, and next up, appropriately enough, was ‘Leave’. It’s a heart wrenchingly, aching love song. Glen sang it alone and built it up until he was almost spitting out the words. You could feel the genuine heartache on it. This was followed by ‘What happens when the heart just stops’, another sad relationship song.

Marketa took to the stage again and they delivered one of their favourite busking songs ‘Just wishing that I had just something you were’ by the Pixies. The glorious ‘Your Face’ was all Glen with gentle backing music and harmonies; it brought me right back to all those nights in dark, packed venues around Ireland, mesmerised by the songs and overflowing emotions. To finish the show it was Marketa with ‘If you want me’. It’s almost a Lisa / Damien phenomenon. The rapt audience barely exhaled as Marketa’s poignant voice filled the theatre. She sounded so strong with Glen on backing duties.

The encore started with ‘The Blue Shoes’ Colm Mac Con Iomaire’s masterpiece on the fiddle. Some people started to leave but he entranced the remaining spectators. The whole band came back and Glen commented that it was his favourite night of the tour. Then into ‘Fitzcarraldo’, I couldn’t believe I knew all the words and even found myself singing along. It’s hard to beat the Frames fan out of me. Next up the strummed opening bars signalled the start of the tender ‘Star, star’ which, as always, moved into ‘Pure Imagination’. Glen gave Joe his time in the limelight.

If there’s one thing you can say about The Frames they never stop giving, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a lacklustre performance from them. Next another ‘Frames’ classic and one of my favourites ‘Red Cord’. I’m lost to them again. All the talking and throwaway comments from Glen forgotten in the passion of their performance.

I ended the night with mixed emotions, varying from pride at the positive reaction they got from the crowd to embarrassment at some of the comments made during the evening. But I’m a lifelong fan so it’s hard to detach myself. This may be the time to really introduce the music of The Frames to the wider world, I just hope Glen manages to let the music speak for itself.

Celine O'Malley

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A read of the government website www.antifraud.gov.cn suggests China is awash with fraud and scams. Typical is a report from a recent copy of the China Youth Daily detailing a scam by a school claiming to be affiliated to the China Little Journalist Association which recruits provincial high school students for their RMB1,480 (abut EUR150) journalism courses with the promise that the brightest will be sent to conduct interviews at the Olympics. The Ministry of Education and police eventually caught up with the school when several hundred angry parents began demanding a refund after repeated requests for Olympic plans were met with silence.

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A review of the album 'The Age Of The Understatement' by The Last Shadow Puppets

Review Snapshot: So here's Alex Turner's side project: a fairly unoriginal Scott Walker pastiche, with Duran Duran-esque lyrics. Of course, this must be down to that bloody Miles Kane, right?

The Cluas Verdict? 5 out of 10

Full Review:
Comparing The Last Shadow Puppets with The Raconteurs is obvious, but it's still worth our while:

Both Jack White and Alex Turner have won extravagant acclaim in their day-job groups (The White Stripes and The Arctic Monkeys respectively) for little other than flogging retro-rock to nostalgic middle-aged music hacks and twentysomethings who are prematurely nostalgic and middle-aged.

However, White's side-project made the daring leap from '70s rock to... '60s rock, that of The Small Faces and George's songs on 'Rubber Soul' and 'Revolver'. And what do you know? Turner's time machine has followed a similar flight path. He's gone from cleaned-up punk and post-punk back to, of all things, eccentric late-'60s English symphonic pop. This doesn't make him any less unambitious or unimaginative than White, indie rock's greatest chancer.

Comparing 'The Age Of The Understatement' with Scott Walker is obvious too. But if Turner can be unoriginal then so can we. Those swooping strings and tenement-drama tales of tragic starlets, patent Walker, have already been used threadbare by Tindersticks, Marc Almond and The Divine Comedy amongst others. By now these sounds are familiar references, English indie-pop code for "Look! I'm hip, intellectual and sensitive! I've watched 'Billy Liar', read 'Brideshead Revisited' and listened to, well, Scott Walker!"

But it would be unfair and inaccurate of us to dismiss this album as 100% recycled Scott. The middle section of the title track sounds exactly like the middle section of a Northern Soul classic called 'The Night' by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Your reviewer knows the song from a cover by Saint Etienne-esque Manchester group Intastella - and it's also been done by Soft Cell and, apparently, Klaxons. See what we mean by unoriginal?

Turner's one innovation here, if we presume it's by him and not Kane, is in the lyrics. He's replaced the unconvincing Costello-esque sneering of The Arctic Monkeys with pretentious my-first-poetry-kit nonsense as in 'Calm Like You': "Burglary and fireworks / The skies they were alighting / Accidents and toffee drops / And thinking on the train." So were the skies alighting from the same train, then?

And 'Only The Truth' is worthy of Duran Duran: "The girl with many different strategies / Wakes the wolves to curse them to their knees / She's the one by the riverbank so it's easier for her to drown you." This, remember, is co-credited to a songwriter venerated by today's music press (you know, those nostalgic, middle-aged types.) as a lyricist extraordinaire.

We assume that this will be the last of The Last Shadow Puppets. But then again, there was a second Raconteurs album. And a second Arctic Monkeys album too, and a few by the White Stripes...

Aidan Curran

 To buy a new or (very reasonably priced) 2nd hand copy of this album on Amazon just click here.

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A review of the album Dog House Music by Seasick Steve

Review Snapshot: The roughly recorded Dog House Music is a refreshing change from contemporary studio production. Its raw sounds are soaked in mud, sweat and clothed in hobo lyrics that grip you tightly with their simplicity. 

The Cluas Verdict? 8 out of 10

Full Review:
There's something cuddly about Seasick Steve.

Complete with fluffy white beard, baseball cap and worn dungarees, Seasick could easily be Santa disguised as a hobo. The lyrics on his first solo album, Dog House Music, betray Seasick's rough wandering lifestyle though - one spent living in over fifty houses worldwide as well as on the streets, beating out blues on his personalised guitar, the 'Three Stringed Tranz Wonder.'

The stomping, rootsy simplicity of Seasick Steve has attracted attention across a variety of media. There has not been a more passionate blues act to recently be covered in magazines, most of them generally associated with rock or indie. Seasick won the MOJO Award for Best Breakthrough Artist, has been covered in Hot Press and NME, and also appeared on RTE's Other Voices.

Dog House Music is a sliding, bustling blues affair with tracks that are raw, rough and caked in mud. Each song is ragged around the edges, from the howling and growling in 'Dog House Boogie' to the lazy drawling guitar on 'Shirley Lou.' The crude production on the album as well as its simple artwork reflect Seasick's hobo lifestyle.

The best thing about the album is that it captures the kind of live, street setting you only get in summertime with a busker and his miniature amp. Seasick combines his singing with chatting, mumbling, jamming, tapping and strumming. The first track 'Yellow Dog' hits you with deep, penetrating riffs and lasts just sixty seconds long.  Just before the second track there's a short sniff and then we hear Seasick's amp being plugged in. The harsh rawness of the album, including coughs, laughs, cigarettes being lit, phone-calls and tributes, really brings you in tune with Seasick's life as a bluesman and a hobo.

His lyrics are often autobiographical and run on from the spoken stories that are dotted throughout the album:  'All my life I been in the dog house... that's just the way the dice rolls' (Dog House Boogie).

Though some of Seasick's tracks contain the self-pitying, sentimental element that is usually associated with blues, he manages to bring us closer to him with a touch of light humour and irony. The real stand-out track for me is 'Cut My Wings', played on a customised three string guitar that Seasick calls 'The Three Stringed Tranz Wonder.' Seasick got a positive response to his performance of this on the Jools Holland Show. Customised instruments are a quirk of his - on 'Save Me' he plays what he calls a 'One String Diddly Bo,' which sounds like a bell being bounced on a trampoline.

This album made me wish I was sitting on a rocking chair, wrinkling my brow in the scorching heat, listening to some crickets singing and chewing on a long bit of straw. Seasick is an honest guitarist, storyteller and songwriter whose simple truths resonate from beginning to end in Dog House Music.

Niamh Madden

 To buy a new or (very reasonably priced) 2nd hand copy of this album on Amazon just click here.

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A review of the album 'Rain' by Joe Jackson Review Snapshot: Classic-hits MOR jazz-pop craftsmanship. Classic-hits MOR jazz-pop craftsmanship. Classic-hits MOR jazz-pop craftsmanship. (rep...

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