#NowPlaying: Company Fair by World's Fair

Free download from World's Fair, a New York hip-hop group featuring Cody B.Ware, Prince Samo and Jeff Donna, as well as Children of the Night's Remy Banks, Nasty Nigel and Lansky. 

"All of World's Fair collaborate to drop a bomb over Company Flow - 8 Steps to Perfection. First of many to come out of the WF Collective." ~ World's Fair

 

Use the #WORLDSFAIR hashtag on Twitter.

New Red Hot Chili Peppers Video! - 'Rain Dance Maggie'

Here is the video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' song, 'The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie.' It is the first single off the band's new album 'I'm With You, which is released worldwide on 30th August (Irish release date is 26th August). Watch the album release live in selected cinemas around the world.

Red Hot Chili Peppers Announce Release Date for New Album

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have just announced that their new record will be released on August 30th 2011. The band's first album since Stadium Arcadium was released in 2006 will be titled 'I'm With You'. 

The news broke through Twitter, when bassist Flea tweeted this message at around 2AM Irish time: 

"it gives me profound pleasure deep in the fiber of my being to announce the august 30 release date of the new red hot chili peppers's record" 

 Shortly afterwards, drummer Chad Smith  also chimed in about the great news when he simply wrote: 

"New RHCP record out august 30th..."I'm with you"... Finally, its time!!"

 This was officially confirmed by the RHCP website with a short post that read: 

Red Hot Chili Peppers are excited to announce that their new album will hit stores on august 30, 2011!! The new album is produced by Rick Rubin and is titled I'm With You. 

 Fans were naturally excited to hear the release date of the forthcoming album, with hundreds of Flea's followers retweeting the news within seconds. Once it had been announced on the band's official Facebook page, the post announcing the release date received over 7000 'likes' in just 15 minutes. Expect this topic to be trending all over the Internet in the next few days.

Oxegen 2011 Day Breakdown!

It's not a comprehensive breakdown of each day and times and what not, but at least now people can start to get an idea of how the weekend will pan out. 

Friday is the least impressive of all the three days' worth of line-ups, but there are some really good acts playing that day, such as Glasvegas, Saw Doctors, House Of Pain and The Strokes. Other than that, I have no real interest in any of the bands on that day (not least Black Eyed Peas, who put on a terrible show at last year's Oxegen as well as the Superbowl half-time show), and even my compulsion to see those that I have listed is not that great. So as per usual, Friday is pretty weak, which is understandable, because many first-time festival-goers are, well, getting used to going to a festival for the first time!

Business always tends to pick up on the Saturday. The big draw of the entire weekend will undoubtedly be the Foo Fighters, and I myself am tempted to go down just for the Saturday to see them play. Arctic Monkeys have been placed pretty high up on the bill, but what exactly have they done since their debut album? I also fail to see the big deal in Paulo Nutini, but hey, the girls love him and his accent is better than mine. And you can be rest assured that music lovers of all kinds will head down just to see the likes of Beady Eye, Brandon Flowers and Deadmau5.

The rest of the undercard for Saturday is pretty strong, including Two Door Cinema Club, who got a very hot reaction from the crowd at the Main Stage last year and sold out three shows in Dublin between December and March. They are going to be a must-see. Of course, lest we forget the talented exploits of Imelda May, The Vaccines, Jessie J, Hurts and Bruno Mars. Plenty there for people to get animated about.

On to Sunday, and your main event, so to speak. This year's has to be one of the most stacked billings I have ever seen for any festival. Coldplay and Beyoncé top the card, and while I'm not a huge fan of either of them, there will be a lot of excited people for those acts. It only gets more polarised in terms of bands from there, as we are greeted with the phenomenal The National, Slash and Pendulum. No one can accuse the organisers of not giving us choice anyway.

Notwithstanding all of that musical goodness, we've also got Primal Scream, Manic Street Preachers, and Jimmy Eat World. Some good rock bands there for those that lament the number of pop acts on show over the weekend, which, by the by, happens every year. People complain about the lack of proper rock at Oxegen, but in reality, they are there in more than sufficient numbers if you look out for them. It's a festival that tries tends to the tastes of the many, not an envious task which will ever please absolutely everyone.

Kesha was recently announced to play the festival, but she is way down the list, which shows that while she is a big hit in the States, she is just not a big draw in Europe. Friendly Fires and Crystal Castles should prove to be electric, with the former expected to have new material ready for the live crowd.

And last but certainly not least, Fight Like Apes are also set to perform on the Sunday. Now, if you have been to this blog before, then you know how much we appreciate FLApes here. The Dublin-based band put on a fantastic show, so if you have never seen them in person, then use this opportunity: your mind will be blown. And that's a promise.

That rounds up this breakdown of the line-up. I hope to start posting up Oxegen-A-Go-Go's on as many bands as possible by next week. If you would like to read any of the Go-Go's from last year, then check out The Novelty Act.

Don't forget to follow Shadows Fear The Sun on social networking sites: 

Facebook

Twitter: @ShadowsFearSun

Feeling.. Filthy? | Filthy Geeks Video

Find out more about Filthy Geeks on: 

Facebook

Last.fm

MySpace

Arcade Fire On Tour!

After a short break in the new year, Arcade Fire are back on tour! They kicked off their American Tour last night in the States and I'm loving these snazzy new t-shirts their selling. Their merch is generally quite impressive.

New t-shirt available for the upcoming American Tour in April and May 2011.

April 9	1st Bank Center - Broomfield, CO
April 11	The UCCU - Orem, UT
April 13	Comerica Theater - Phoenix, AZ
April 14	The Joint - Las Vegas, NV
April 16	Coachella - Indio, CA
April 18	Santa Fe Convention Center - Santa Fe, NM
April 20	Starlight Theater - Kansas City, MO
April 21	Scottrade Center - Saint Louis, MO
April 22	UIC Pavilion - Chicago, IL
April 24	UIC Pavilion - Chicago, IL
April 25	UIC Pavilion - Chicago, IL
April 27	The Lawn at White River State Park - Indianapolis, IN
April 28	Orpheum Theater - Memphis, TN
April 30	Gexa Energy Pavilion - Dallas, TX
May 3	The Backyard at Bee Cave - Austin, TX
May 4	Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion - The Woodlands, TX
May 6	New Orleans Jazz Festival - New Orleans, LA

I anticipate their European tour greatly, especially their date at this year's Electric Picnic, which proves to be a special performance.

Fight Like Apes | Free Download!

Go ahead there and download these FLApes tracks from a live performance at Tower Records for free.

 

  Fight Like Apes Live at Tower Records Dublin by rubyworks

Electric Picnic 2011 Promo

This is far better than the Oxegen promotional video that was released at their 2011 launch in my opinion. . .

Featuring Emmet Kirwan, who you can follow on Facebook, and follow the Facebook and Twitter pages for his TV show Sarah & Steve . You can also keep updated on all of the Electric Picnic happenings on Facebook and Twitter. 

While I'm at, follow Shadows Fear The Sun on Facebook and Twitter as well! 

Scenes From The Suburbs Trailer

This is the official trailer from the Arcade Fire and Spike Jonze short film, Scenes From The Suburbs:

Electric Picnic 2011 Line Up

Electric Picnic 2011 line up is as follows: Arcade Fire, Pulp, The Chemical Brothers, Interpol, PJ Harvey, Beirut, Jimmy Cliff, DJ Shadow, Flying Lotus, The Charlatans, Mogwai, Lykke Li, Midlake, Death in Vegas, The Go! Team, Sinéad O'Connor, White Lies, Boys Noize, Toots & The Maytals, Big Audio Dynamite, OMD, Paul Kalkbrenner, Twin Shadow, The Walkmen, Willy Mason, Trentemoller, Killing Joke, HEALTH, Adam Beyer, Gavin Friday, Mundy, Sharon Shannon Big Band, British India, Ivan St. John, Cast Of Cheers, Dave Clarke, Micah P. Hinson, Caitlin Rose, The Potbelleez, Adebisi Shank, The Danger is, CODES, R.S.A.G, O Emperor and many many more. 


Tickets on sale 9am tomorrow! Weekend Tickets (Payable in easy instalments) €240, Sunday Day Tickets: €99.50. 

Electric Picnic 2011 Spoilers & Thoughts

If you wish to wait until midday later today (Thursday 10 March) to see the official unveiling of the Electric Picnic line-up, then avert your eyes now. . .

Now that is some billing.

I wrote yesterday of my disappointment in the announcement of the rather lacklustre Oxegen line-up of artists set to play in the festival in July, but this leaked image has my spirits buoyed once more!

Electric Picnic (now under new management) has always been a festival that I have been forced to admire from afar, primarily because I have attended the past three Oxegen festivals in succession, leaving no room for perusing or sampling the other fiestas of live music in the summer (including Indiependance last year, which I've heard good things about). However, now I have an appetite to expand my horizons and savour a different kind of atmosphere, one that I hope is a far cry from the tent-slashing nacker-fest that Oxegen has come to be known for (no offence to tent-slashing nackers, of course).

I divulge, however, because I talk of all these romantic notions about the setting, the atmosphere and the crowd, when really, I wouldn't be talking about this at all if it weren't for the juicy acts that the Electric Picnic crew have lined up. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the music.

Any good festival needs a strong headline act. In a way, that is why Oxegen has received a lot of flak for its line-up: sure, it has Foo Fighters, and Coldplay are a very popular group these days, but fans expect bigger at this stage, especially now that it has become a staple four day festival that people pay damn good money for. It is a victim of its own circumstance. It needs a Red Hot Chili Peppers or a Daft Punk (or, ahem, a Blink-182!) to get over with the fans these days.

But in one fell swoop, Electric Picnic has already taken Oxegen to school in this regard. How, you might ask? I've got two words for ya: Arcade Fire. The Canadian super-group have headlined Oxegen twice (and the Picnic once in 2005), but never before has there been such an appetite in this country to see the seven-piece band in person. I can envisage thousands buying tickets to witness them alone (including me most likely), and with the rumoured addition of day tickets for the first time since 2005, why not sure?

Pulp are another headline act that, if nothing else, one will go see for the name recognition and/or the fact that there will more than likely never be a better opportunity to see this Brit Pop crew live. At the same rate, you want to see The Chemical Brothers for their incredible reputation, even if you are not a massive fan of theirs. As for the other two headline acts, I have wanted an excuse to get into both Interpol and PJ Harvey for a while now, so I have plenty of catching up to do.

That's another great thing about festivals: you go for the bands you know, but you broaden your taste in music exponentially with the sheer amount of artists you come across.

I have a great desire to see my beloved White Lies. I regrettably only caught half of their set at Oxegen '09, and have since become a more avid listener (in fact, I've listened to their new album, Ritual, over 100 times since buying it last month). Needless to say, I anticipate their arrival greatly.

Other artists that catch the eye are Mogwai, Flying Lotus, O Emperor and CODES. To be perfectly honest, I am only very familiar with the work of one of those names, but as I said, that's the beauty of a music festival! I have several months of acquainting myself with new music to look forward to.

Speaking of which, I plan on reviving the Oxegen-A-Go-Go, which still gets a lot of hits over at The Novelty Act, and I will continue to write about Oxegen acts up until the very weekend of July 7, but I also hope to start up something similiar to do with Electric Picnic. Cover a new Picnic artist each week, I could call it 'Electric Boogaloo'. OK, I'll work on the name, but watch this space!

Arcade Fire

Pulp

The Chemical Brothers

Interpol

PJ Harvey

Beirut

Jimmy Cliff

DJ Shadow

White Lies

OMD

Midlake

The Charlatans

Big Audio Dynamite

The Go! Team

Boys Noize

Paul Kalkbrenner

Twin Shadow

Willy Mason

Trentemoller

Killing Joke

Ivan St. John

Dave Clarke

Caitlin Rose

HEALTH

Mogwai

O Emperor

Adam Beyer

The Danger is

Adebisi Shank

Flying Lotus

Mundy

R.S.A.G.

CODES

The Walkmen

LYKKIE LI

Sharon Shannon

Sources: Nialler9; The Irish Times

Rubberbandits Interview | MTV Iggy

Having seen them in person last Tuesday in IADT, I have to say that The Rubberbandits are growing on me. Check out this pretty nifty interview on MTV. . .

Find out more on their Facebook and Twitter pages.

Oxegen 2011 Line-Up Announced!

So, here are some of the acts you can expect to see between 7-10 July: 


Foo Fighters, The Script, Coldplay, Two Door Cinema Club, The Strokes, Beady Eye, The National, Primal Scream, Weezer, Brandon Flowers, Eels, Leftfield, Bright Eyes, Jimmy Eat World, Hurts, Crystal Castles, Noah And The Whale, The Naked And Famous, Bruno Mars, Deadmau5, Swedish House Mafia, My Chemical Romance, Pendulum, Plan B, Imelda May, Calvin Harris, Jesse J, Friendly Fires, Crystal Castles, House Of Pain, Chase and Status, The Vaccines, All Time Low, Black Eyed Peas, Arctic Monkeys and Paolo Nutini! 

So, a pretty good line-up if you're in the demographic of 16-22 years old, but not much to go on if you have a very discerning taste in music. 


And one more thing: anyone else notice how Blink-182 have mysteriously disappeared from the line-up all of a sudden? Very weird. Unfortunately, Oxegen and MCD have a very bad track record of informing fans when an artist has pulled out of the festival. Remember Wolfmother last year? Probably not, because they didn't mention the fact that they had pulled out, despite the fact that the band were on the original line-up. That didn't bother me so much at the time, but on this occasion I'm very annoyed, because I'm sure many people would have bought tickets before New Years on the premise that Blink would be performing. 


Thankfully, Oxegen have tried to clear this up via Twitter: "There's some indecision on blink-182's tour - we expect news this week so stay tuned!" To be honest, it's a bit late to wait until the launch party to even mention the fact (through a tweet!) that there is uncertainty over one of your main acts. It brings into question the whole process by which they book and announce acts. Perhaps they should look at other European or North American festivals and see how they operate. 


Getting back to the music for a minute, here are some of the acts that I am most looking forward to seeing: 

• Two Door Cinema Club: I witnessed these guys on the Main Stage last year, and I must say, I was blown away. Very good altogether. They have since sold out shows in Tripod and two nights in the Olympia Theatre and are currently touring the world. 
• Fight Like Apes: When I start writing the Oxegen-A-Go-Go's again, this will be one of the bands that I plan on covering first. I saw them last week in IADT Dún Laoghaire and they were immense. A must-see for all who love live music. 
• Foo Fighters: Sure, they have probably passed their peak, but having been a fan since my early teens, I would love to see them purely based sentimental terms. 
• Friendly Fires: Recently got into these guys and they are contagiously catchy. Buy their album, see them live. You will thank me later. 
• Primal Scream: They may not attend to the tastes of every young person out there, but I for one cannot wait to see Primal Scream. Screamadelica is alive and well my friend.  
• The Strokes: I was there in 2010 to see Julian Casablancas, so the next logical step is to see The Strokes! 
• The National: I have been looking for an excuse to get into this band properly, and now I have it. Somewhat similiar to Arcade Fire and a very entertaining group of musicians. 

Well, with that in mind, keep an eye out for this year's round of the Oxegen-A-Go-Go! It promises to be a blast.

Oxegen 2011 Predictions

In a very short time, the line up for this year's Oxegen festival will be announced. Year on year, the event organisers have worked a marketing master-class and the anticipation in the lead-up to the announcement of the acts alone continues to grow with each passing festival. So, what exactly can we look forward to? What's there to get all worked up about? Here's our predictions. . . 

Red Hot Chili Peppers 

Having been a lifelong Chilis fan, I would love to see this announcement being made tonight. The expectation from prospective ticket holders is that they will be part of the line-up, and considering they are currently recording a new album and will surely be touring it over the summer. However, if for some mad reason RHCP have not not been booked to headline Punchestown, then there will be a lot of agitated festival goers out there. Do disaffected music fans need another reason to not buy a ticket?

The Strokes 

They are back together after a short hiatus, during which frontman Julian Casablancas released a very good solo record. The one-time Oxegen headliners are ready to rock once again and with any luck they will carry that out at Ireland's biggest festival.

Daft Punk

Why not sure? This would definitely be a fan favourite if they were to be announced, but as I'm not an big follower of them, I don't know any reason why they would appear for sure. A real hit and hope me thinks.

The Script

Again, not an overly big fan of this band, but if you follow them on Twitter or Facebook, then you already know that they are pretty confirmed to be on that list at 8PM tonight.

Coldplay

They have already been confirmed to play a number of music festivals this summer, including T In The Park in Scotland, which generally shares a very similiar line-up with Oxegen each year.

Elbow

A new critically-acclaimed album means tour dates, and lots of them! This fabulously talented group will play Benicassim this summer, so the hope is that they will return after I missed them hitting the main stage two years ago.

Other Possibilities 

Biffy Clyro, Mumford & Sons, Queens Of The Stone Age, The Prodigy, My Chemical Romance, Tinie Tempah, We Are Scientists, The Rubberbandits, Fight Like Apes, Friendly Fires, The Streets, David Guetta, Deadmau5, Radiohead.

Long Shots 

Arcade Fire, Jedward, U2, Justin Bieber, Dead Cat Bounce. 

Don't forget that acts will continue to be announced after the launch party tonight up until the festival itself, so even if some of these bands and artists are not announced tonight, then do not despair, because there is every chance they could still play. 

To follow the announcement tonight, go to oxegen.ie. For more info on the Oxegen Festival, follow them on Facebook and Twitter. 

Fight Like Apes | Hoo Ha Henry

In case you ddn't know, Fight Like Apes are one of the headlining acts for IADT RAG Week in Dún Laoghaire! Just off the back of their well-received performance at the UCD SHAG Ball this past week, I cannot wait to seem them in the very college that I attend every weekday on Monday 28 February -- it promises to be immense! Expect a full-blown preview of the band sometime before the gig. In the meantime, here's Hoo Ha Henry, a serious tune from their latest album The Body Of Christ And The Legs Of Tina Turner:

Arcade Fire | Unstaged Re-Broadcast

Here is the Unstaged show that Arcade Fire performed at Madison Square Garden and broadcast live over YouTube in its entirety! Finally says I. Better yet, you can pick and choose which songs you listen, fast-forwarding straight to the track you want to hear, a welcome feature given the length of the concert. Enjoy! 

Johnny Stewart Trio Download

Johnny Stewart Trio, who rocked the IADT Christmas Ball in December at the Kobra Bar, will be performing at the college for RAG Week! They will play support for This Club (formerly known as Hoarsebox) and Fight Like Apes on Monday 28 February. To give you taster of what they are like ahead of the big week, here's a few songs to listen to, which are also downloadable for free.

JST are: 

Johnny Stewart - Guitar & Vocals 
Kevin Lawlor - Drums 
Steve Tierney - Bass

Find Out More About JST at their:

Official Website
Facebook
Bandcamp
Last.fm 

Bloc Party, Oh How I Yearn For Thee

Fight Like Apes ~ Jenny Kelly | The View

Here's a clip of Fight Like Apes playing their new single 'Jenny Kelly' live on The View on RTÉ:

The band most affectionately known as FLA or FLAPES are headlining RAG Week in IADT college down in Dún Laoghaire! Catch them live in the tent on campus at 7.30PM on Monday 28 February! 

FLA's new album ~ The Body Of Christ And The Legs Of Tina Turner 

For more info on... 

RAG WEEK: Facebook

FLA: Facebook, Twitter

Brand Spanking New Music Blog!

Upon realising that a sizeable chunk (roughly 30%) of all my blog posts on The Novelty Act were about or related to music, I felt it necessary to dedicate a whole blog to the subject!

If you would like to read any of my previous material on music, you can click this link.

More to follow peeps! Watch this space.