The Stone Roses - Waterfall (Justin Robertson Remix)

Yep, the summer has finally arrived and though it may only have scratched the late celsius teens most white skinned males from around these parts has gone topless and about (in roughly 12 minutes) to attain a fine red wine colouring. At these times I tend to drop my musical guard and have been known on occasion to wobble incoherently in time with tunes that normally make my ears bleed. So there I was eagerly stripping above the waist in the cloudy sunshine when one of the my favourite songs ever hoved into view all remixed up and sounding quite groovy. It is taken from the generally lacklustre album of remixes of Stone Roses tunes from 2000, which to its credit stuck to the Silvertone end of things. Of all the songs from their faultless debut ‘Waterfall’ seems to have become the most remixable and you may have already read my gushing praise for Sam Flanagan’s stellar mash-up ‘Water Lily’. Now, pass me the heat balm I’m bleedin' melting here. KD The Stone Roses - Waterfall (Justin Robertson Remix) Watch The Video More Info: Official & Myspace Buy Songs: The Stone Roses Year: 2000

Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook

Running around in the nip as an earthquake crackles in the background seems to be a most liberating of experiences. How else could you explain Sigur Ros and their new Animal Collectivesque bouncy new direction. Out of the blue the cinematic and delicate sense of wonder is pushed aside and in its place a brash stampede of handclaps/drums propel Jonsi’s uncommonly lively vocals. As ever I am enamoured and with a buzz in my ears I have been playing it endlessly. It all adds up to an intriguing primer for the new album ‘með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust’ which is out at end of next month. And the surprises should keep rolling as one of the tracks is said to be sung in English, heresy I hear you roar but since much of the album was recorded outside of Iceland (another first) you’ve gotta give them some latitude. Sigur Ros play Electric Picnic at the end of the summer, I am going to see them, I will be happy and fully clothed. KD Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook Watch The Video More Info: Official & Myspace Buy Songs: Sigur Ros Year: 2008

Okay - My

Okay’s new album is called ‘Huggable Dust’, contender for title of the year in my book but then I am biased. Okay are from Fremont in California and are distinguished by the utterly distinctive vocals of lead man Marty Anderson. It takes some getting used to but once it sinks in you’ll be enamoured. Anderson's serious health problems meant that much of ‘Huggable Dust’ was conceived in his bedroom but what emerges should be embraced by the wider world. ‘Okay’ is touching, uplifting and tragic all at once, ultimately leaving its mark through the sensuous delivery and fine musicianship. The effect is otherworldly and precious enough to warrant greater inspection. ‘Huggable Dust’ is out now so start inspecting. KD Okay - My More Info: Official & Myspace Buy Songs: Okay Year: 2008

The Dying Seconds - Everything Always

As albums go it is up there with the best of 2008. Because it is free to download there is no reason in the world why you shouldn’t be enjoying its vibrant digital heart within an hour. It’s worth it, I promise you. I had been enjoying the cascading electronic opuses long before I discovered that the Dying Seconds are actually from ye olde Dublin. Came as a bit of surprise that a local outfit could have produced such a wonderfully realised composition but it made the listen all the sweeter. The Dying Seconds obviously have the ambition and the talent to succeed; all they need now is a label to kick-start their inevitable ascent to the top. ‘Everything Always’ is one of several instrumental tracks to be found on the album and is a suitably grandiose piece with which to close proceedings. If Orbital had created this at their peak they would have been rightly lauded so don’t let your fear of the unknown cloud what is a stellar piece of work. Also included here is ‘I’ll Make The Best Weapon’ which has the added touch of some pretty glorious voices. KD The Dying Seconds - Everything Always The Dying Seconds - I’ll Make The Best Weapon More Info: Official & Myspace Download The Album For Free: The Dying Seconds Year: 2008

See The Future For Free!

While Foggy Notions as a paper entity may be no more (the online version is about to hatch) that hasn’t stopped the team behind the magazine from bringing the best new music to our shores. And that endeavour builds to a crescendo next month when the Future Days Festival takes places over several nights in 2 venues in Dublin 8. The most eye-catching show has no less than 5 stellar acts performing. Dan Deacon, Jape, Deerhunter, White Williams and High Places will all be taking to the stage in Vicar Street on Saturday the 14th of June and here’s your chance to score one of three double passes to the gig. In order to be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is email us your dream gig line-up. Your choices will have to be of the up and coming variety and try and keep it to a maximum of 5. The three best selections will each win a double pass to the show. Meanwhile here are some choice tracks from Deerhunter, High Places and a superb Super Extra Bonus Party remix by Jape to get you in the mood. Exciting isn’t it. KD Update: Congrats to Gerard Duffy, Robert Maguire and Derry Farrell who are all off to the gig with a friend. Here is the pick of the dream line-ups from Gerard. The not so much "Up and Coming" but coming band Children Under Hoof open with their 8 minute krautrock post post punk dirge "A Collar Can Become A Noose", swiftly followed by 15 minutes of a vl tone busting/sax swarming/floor tom pounding improv. As the audience's ears ring deaf, the second act will take to the stage to unleash one song and one song only. Mary Harness is sure to win over the crowd with that Brazilian samba outro. From one dare deviling woman to another, the mother of all Turkish Pysch-Rock Selda then plays her first Irish show. Playing flangetastic (I'm talking about her funky sound) self titled debut LP from start to finish. As she gets dragged off the stage after fainting from exhaustion, the lights fade. And the stage fills with an army of roadies putting together a smorgasbord of keyboard/pedals and strange music paraphernalia that even Jean Michel Jarre would be proud of. The Wet Dreams take to the stage. The strobes burn retinas and the casio dg 10 drum beat gets the even the chin wankin' hipster's hips shaking. Finally the main man himself slides in across the stage like some American 70's quiz show host. Patrick Kelleher and the Wet Dreams come into full flight with their "Zombie/Vampire Cop Car Chase on a hot summer night in San Fran." sounding song "He Has To Sleep Sometime". Their set whips the crowd up till they form peaks and other such cooking references. Everybody's new favourite band A Faulty Chromosome headlines. Their debut album makes even this twenty five year old curmudgeon feel like a freewheelin teenager again. Better than awesome, double Awesome. Everybody leaves with free oxygen masks to recover from the night of deadliness!!! Act One : Children Under Hoof Act Two : Mary Harness Act three : Selda Act Four: Patrick Kelleher Act Five : A Faulty Chromosome Honourable Mentions. The Bear People Bats Ixchel Deerhunter - Hazel St. High Places - Shared Islands Super Extra Bonus Party - Everything Flows (Jape's Flow) Watch The Video To Dan Deacon's Crystal Cat

Le Galaxie - We Bleed The Blood of Androids

Just when you thought electro pop was becoming so last year up steps Dublin quartet Le Galaxie to give it the requisite kick up the backside. This ain’t too far from Super Extra Bonus Party territory but Le Galaxie tend to widescreen their efforts with coarser guitar strokes. The result is a nice burst of noise, energetic and spastic one minute, precise and relaxed the next. ‘We Bleed The Blood of Androids’ manages to be about as intergalactic as the name suggests, a sodastream of audio that is bubbling with invention from start to finish. Unsigned but getting there this is one of the few genuinely exciting acts to emerge from the capital this year. Catch them before they go supernova. KD Le Galaxie - We Bleed The Blood of Androids Watch The Video More Info: Official & Myspace Buy Songs: Le Galaxie Year: 2008

Pilote - The Name Of My DJ

Stuart Cullen, as Pilote, has been cooking up gems for several years but his last 2 EP’s have really seen him hit his stride. 2007's ‘Pop Will Make Us Free’ EP (elongated play?) has 10 tracks of lush electronica, golden pulses of sound that should aid anyone in dire need of audio floatation. The EP flows organically and it’s likely you’ll miss the end of one track and the beginning of another such is the smooth progression. The work rarely strays from its core template but when it does approach mild confrontation like on the hip-hop influenced ‘The Name of my DJ’ an even more fascinating personality emerges. Ambient without the ambience one might say and don’t you just love the way the soft chords sound when juxtaposed with the solid grey smoke belching beats? KD Pilote - The Name Of My DJ More Info: Official & Myspace Buy Songs: Pilote Year: 2007

The Ruling Class - Umbrella Folds

Oh swoon, I mean really swoon. This is just so perfect, so full of everything I hold dear in indie pop. Fey, quietly realised vocals with a chorus of jangling chords chiming in the background. There is more than a touch of the early nineties about this London based (Swedish derived) act so it's not at all surprising that the Stone Roses (thankfully first coming Roses) come out on top of their list of influences. The Ruling Class’s debut EP ‘Tour De Force’ has just been released and should be on your shopping list if ‘Waterfall’ and ‘Sugar Spun Sister’ are at the crux of your music existence. ‘Umbrella Folds’ arrived at my ears quite by accident and 30 seconds in I was deep in prayer hoping it could carry on from such an auspicious start. I needn’t have worried, this baggy little number may wear its inspiration on its sleeves but that doesn’t stop it from being totally inspirational in its own right. Anyone know a cure for chronic goosebumps? KD The Ruling Class - Umbrella Folds More Info: Official & Myspace Buy Songs: The Ruling Class Year: 2008

Radiohead - Creep '08 (A Copycat Remix)

Take a listen to this and remember I am impervious to your snide remarks concerning its awfulness. And the reason being that I like it quite a lot, more and more with each listen in fact. Let’s face it this Swedish DJ has left himself wide open for attack by deciding to remodel something as gargantuan as Radiohead’s breakthrough hit, this song probably resides in the hearts of more people than their whole back catalogue post ‘Ok Computer’. So what does he do, well he introduces a splattering beat that sits uneasily atop the original. Initially it sounds awkward and uneasy finding itself in the close company of a great but before long a bond forms and it genuinely begins to make sense. The song is thus imbued with a manic intensity missing from the original giving it a contemporary taste of the noughties ADD like tendancies. No doubt it’ll be blasphemy for some but I’d take this over many of the lame ducks that can be found plodding all over ‘In Rainbows’. KD Radiohead - Creep '08 (A Copycat Remix) Watch The Video To A Real Creep More Info: Official & Myspace Year: 2008

Allegories - Grass Toboggan

This song knocked me for six when I heard it first time around. Subsequent listens have proven no less exotic, no matter what way I approach it I continually fail to unravel a single word yet always leave with a bleary intoxication from the dreamy swirls. This is Panda Bear with less obvious reference points, Adam Bentley and Jordan Mitchell venture into the great unknown and come back bearing all manner of gourmet audio. The remarkable news is that there is a full album of wide-eyed glee and its called ‘Surreal Auteur’, a moveable feast that will have you entranced from beginning to end. Much like their website Allegories are wilfully obscure but never taxing, in fact their patchwork quilt of hidden messages add up to a grand mystery the likes of which Arthur C. himself would have been proud. It’s at times like this that I find myself fighting back the tears at the beauty of it all. Music to ensure you never grow old (take note Alphaville). KD Allegories - Grass Toboggan Watch The Video To Surf's Out More Info: Official & Myspace Buy Songs: Allegories (soon) Year: 2008

Alphaville - Forever Young

Given it’s magnetic heartstring twigging potential it is surprising that ‘Forever Young’ has seen so little coverage (newly coined term for a song that has been covered by other artists, although it was given a neat jangly treatment by the Antipodean rockers Youth Group recently). ‘Forever Young’ may well be into its 3rd decade but the intervening period has seen the song lose little of its magnetism. Ok, the leaden drum sequences are uniformly eighties in bent (and marvel at those hairstyles in the video) but there’s no denying the sincerity in the words and the beauty in the vocals that dispel them. The Berlin trio had a clutch of hits throughout Europe but will be forever remember for this and their debut single ‘Big in Japan’ which did very well on both sides of the Atlantic. KD Alphaville - Forever Young Watch The Video More Info: Official & Myspace Buy Songs: Alphaville Year: 1984

The Radio Dept. - Where Damage Isn't Already Done

Every time I listen to this song it makes me happy. Adorable rarely gets evoked this wonderfully and no better label than the majestic Labrador to bring it to fruition. Of course the Radio Dept. have been around over a decade now, constantly turning out small classics and continually being overlooked despite some notable exceptions like Sophia Coppola who used several of their tracks on the ‘Maria Antoinette’ soundtrack. ‘Where Damage Isn't Already Done’ is a relative oldie, taken from the Swedish band’s debut album ‘Lesser Matters’. It is distinctly lo-fi in nature but so rich in indie deities it may take a couple of listens for you to be fully conversant. The combination of the twinkle twinkle little star guitars and Johan Duncanson’s barely uttered voice tweely is a delight. Despite a recent lull in activities the Radio Dept. return with a new (politically charged, gulp) EP next month titled ‘Freddie and the Trojan Horse’. KD The Radio Dept. - Where Damage Isn't Already Done Watch The Video More Info: Official & Myspace Buy Songs: The Radio Dept. Year: 2003

Win Tickets To See Times New Viking!

Screechy and nerve shredding they may be but Times New Viking have an impeccable sense of knowing when to drop an enticing bolt on melody. Without this important ingredient most right thinking people would likely be scurrying for the nearest supply of soundproofing cotton wool. Times New Viking somehow conspire to make like the grown up kids from Sesame Street who have graduated from the alphabet and times tables to more important subjects like faces on fire and mean gods. If this sounds like a recipe for a good night out then you may as well skip on up to the Andrew’s Lane Theatre next Monday (May 26) where you can also explore the raw brilliance of Limerick’s Giveamanakick. If you’d rather not pay for the privilege why not drop an email remembering to include your name and your favourite font. The 2 most stylish answers will each win 2 passes to the gig. Felix Titling Update: Congrats to Wingdings and Shruti lovers Emma and Bobby! Times New Viking - Drop-Out More Info: Official & Myspace Buy Songs: Times New Viking Year: 2008