parish notes volume 2

I should mention my trip to last weekends Farmleigh Affair which was held as usual in Farmeigh in the Phoenix Park. I ventured over for the two days and had a thoroughly ripping time. There were a few showers on the first day and the only act that I can remember was Carmen Souza from Cape Verde. She was doing her best to get the crowd into a singalong but had very limited success. I tried to help her out but it was just me and Carmen against the rest of the crowd. Bad buzzers. Sunday saw much better weather, a bigger crowd an increase in the alcohol intake. Everything came up roses. I missed the first two acts, so the first entertainment of the day came from Lo Cor de la Plana, a bunch of dudes from Marseille. They belted out a few tunes a capella, accompanied by what looked like fun-size bodhráns. It was great craic for about 15 minutes and then I got bored. Next up was Iarla O Lionaird who I've seen with the Afro Celt Sound System many years ago. This set was completely different and I had a bit of a snooze during it perhaps due to the imbibement of much wine. Finishing the whole affair was Grupo Fantasma. They managed to get quite a crowd of people into their groove. Good buzz.

Elsewhere, the Analogue magazine launch takes place this Friday the 8th of August in the bar in Crawdaddy. There will apparently be special guest DJ's and a live set from Storkboy Choons.

The annual Ronty Cup 2008 takes place in Dalymount Park on Saturday 9th August. Kick-Off is at 3pm. This event celebrates the life of an old friend who passed away a few years back and it sees his mates from Bristol play his mates from Dublin. With any luck we'll retain the trophy on home soil. When I say we, in truth my efforts will most likely be limited to about five minutes on the pitch. Still for an old boy like me I reckon thats pretty good. Come down for a gander if you're in the Phibsboro area.

Then on Sunday August 10th 2008 at 4pm in the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield there's The Best Of The West. This event in The Lighthouse intends to showcase a number of award-winning Short Films from the Galway Film Fleadh. Amongst these shorts is one by me aul mucker and longtime whisker grower, Luke Mc Manus. It's called 'Danger High Voltage' and it managed to claim first prize in the Best First Irish Short Film category. The whole thing sounds like a great buzz and will also give the uninitiated amongst you a chance to check out the new Lighthouse. I've been down and I think its great.

I have to mention the Sea Sessions that takes place in Bundoran during September. It looks like its going to be a good buzz. A mixture of music and surfing in a part of the world i know well. The line up includes Belle & Sebastian, Kittser, Asian Dub Foundation and a host of other heads. I haven't been up that way in about 7 years so I think its time that Donegal rolled out the red carpet for the imminent arrival of Matt Vinyl. O'Donnell Abú.

dubstep be good to me

I was listening to the SoulJazz compilation of dubstep entitled 'Box of Dub'. It's probably not the best collection of dubstep around but it would make for a good introduction to the genre. It's a genre I'm not overly familiar with but I'm listening to more bits and pieces every week.

You might want to check out Kode9's MySpace and listen to his tunes there. 'Find my way (9 remix)' is only two minutes long and it will give the uninitiated a peek into the world of dubstep. Essentially this kind of music appeals to fans of dub reggae and old junglists who can't jump around as much anymore. As with these other genres the bass line plays an important part in creating the dubstep vibe. In fairness a lot of it must tip its hat to earlier work released on the Basic Channel sublabel Rhythm & Sound. As with Dub Reggae, there is much joy in the space to be found in some of the music. However don't expect it all to sound like that. Other dubstep proponents such as Skream have a techno feel to the music. Some of it sounds like techno being played at a slower speed. In any case if you're over in Barcelona on June 15th at the Sonar festival you can catch both Kode9 and Skream. Also playing at Sonar are The Beastie Boys, Cornelius, New Young Pony Club and Devo. My final dubstep tip is to check out Burial and his more accessible dubstep sound. It's on a slightly more chilled out tip (or at least anything I've heard so far has been). You can check out his MySpace here.

I'm off to Cork tomorrow and to Bristol on friday. I've never been to Bristol but I'm going to see if they have any record shops that i can visit while I'm there. If I buy anything of note I'll write about it when I return on Sunday