Review

The Gobshites: Songs Me Da’ Got Pissed To

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March 5, 2011

This might be the fasted turn around for writing a review in the history of Shite’n’Onions – 24 hours – sorry all you bands that it took me months or even years to get around to writing your review. Picked up my copy of,  Songs…., last night at The Gobshites’ CD release party at Boston’s Four Green Fields and while I didn’t manage to be able to stick around long enough to hear the songs live, I did get to have a good listen over the 4GFs fancy assed sound system and boy did the Gobshites sound good and after a few spins of the CD today, The Gobshites still sound great over much smaller and less fancy assed speakers. Songs…. is a collection of Irish folk standard done in The Gobshites unique style – folkie, punky and spunky with a ton of irrelevant humor and sure you’ve heard everything here before (Wild Rover, Whiskey In The Jar and so on and so fort) but that doesn’t matter. Pick it up….it will be perfect for your Paddy’s day party.

Review

Firkin: Whup!

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January 16, 2011

Firkin, that hoard of howling Huns is back for a second assault in the form of ‘Whup!,’ the band’s latest full-length CD, and this thing kicks some serious ass!

With this new release, Firkin continues to keep their distance from their contemporaries, with a sound possessed of blistering power chords leading a chugging rhythm section of willing accomplices, bass and drums. On top of this core are vocals that can go from thundering from a pulpit to screaming from the heart of heavy metal in a single phrase, while meanwhile, the traditional instrumentation of fiddle, whistle, and flute, are spinning wildly; sanding down the burrs, and adding subtle emotional content to the wide assortment of songs offered on Whup!

Speaking of songs, gone are the Flogging Molly covers that were peppered amongst Firkin’s debut release. Instead, ‘Whup!’ is divided between Firkin originals and Firk’ed-up traditional songs, with those traditionals including seisiún-standard, “Beggarman,” Fairport’s “Crazy Man Michael,” sea shanty “Whup Jamboree,” and the less obscure numbers, “Spanish Lady,” “Lord of the Dance,” “Rocky Road to Dublin,” and “Monto,” all done up in Firkin’s high-impact style.

Firkin’s arrangements and interpretations of these songs really stand apart from the usual renditions, true, but once again I find myself enjoying the band’s original compositions more. Perhaps it is because the band is so cohesive in their direction that these original songs, written by the band for the band’s own unique style, are so perfectly balanced in conveying the Firkin sound. These six original songs on Whup contain elements of somber beauty, as in “Idyll on a Hill,” fist-pumping and head-banging, as in “Sailing Away”, and reckless abandon in the mug-swinger, “Beer Almighty.” But my personal disc favorite, (after much intense scrutiny!) must be “Highland Games,” with its menacing melodies and whistle and fiddle work. A total firkin’ barnburner!

In short, Firkin’s ‘Whup’ picks up where ‘Firkinful of Beer’ left off, continuing to blur the line between Celtic Folk-Punk and Heavy Metal with results nothing short of inspired. But with both of the Firkin releases available on iTunes with minute-and-a-half samples of each track, you can see for yourself!

I see also that the band is planning a North American tour this March with some US cities still to be announced. If Boston is anywhere near Firkin’s show itinerary, you can bet that I will be in attendance. I way dig this band.

Review by Christopher P. Toler, THE Blathering Gommel

www.firkinband.com

Review

Mushroom: Early One Morning

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January 9, 2011

Wayback Machine set to 1973; Its roughly about the time “Acid Rock” was being eclipsed in popularity by “Prog Rock,” and in Ireland, the universally-considered “Fathers of Celtic Rock,” Horslips, and their monster hit, “Dearg Doom,” are a familiar sound.

However, Horslips were not the only game in town. Another band just happens to ALSO be mixing fiddle and guitar, reels and rock, traditional and contemporary. Far less well-known, the band, Mushroom, out of Dublin, release their one and only offering, “Early One Morning.”

Most easily compared to Horslips through its use of fiddle, bodhran, and tin whistle alongside its 1970s rock kit of guitar, drums, bass, and organ, (oh, and don’t forget that moog!), Mushroom also blended early seventies rock with traditional Irish songs and tunes.

Among Mushroom’s more straightforward, (and frequently folksy,) compositions, ‘Early One Morning’shows the band integrating reels and hornpipes right into the songs, with a nice “acid-tinged” guitar, slurring all 70s-prog-like, right among the fiddle and surprisingly-Celtic sounding keyboards.
‘The Liathdan’ is a great example of this. This second track is where the band initially tips its hand on what’s to come. The keyboard takes the first run at the reel that this song sits on, followed by some nicely belted out vocals and an honest-to-goodness guitar solo.
The same treatment and zeal is applied to the instrumental tracks ‘Johnny The Jumper,’ ‘The Potter’s Wheel,’ and ‘Drowsey Maggie,’ as well as the blistering CD closer ‘The King of Alba,’ and of course, the band’s big hit, ‘The Devil Among the Tailors,’ which uses the reel, ‘The Devil’s Dream,‘ as its main vehicle. Brilliant tune!

Fortunately, all eleven tracks on this not-so-hard-to-find-as-to-justify-its-obscurity release can be sampled at Amazon.com so you can hear for yourself what you’ve been missing.

I firmly believe that this CD would be embraced by any fans of Irish music, early seventies rock, (of the prog/psych/acid varieties,) and celtic rock of any age. In fact, ‘Early One Morning‘ finds itself so frequently seeing time on my regular playlist rotation that I am somewhat embarrassed that I haven’t thought to do a write-up on it sooner. Recognition for the band, Mushroom, and this, their only release, is long overdue.

Incidentally, I see that ‘Early One Morning‘ currently has three bonus tracks, (‘The King of Ireland’s Daughter,’ ‘Kings and Queens‘, and ‘Met a Friend,’) available at Last.fm, (http://www.last.fm/music/Mushroom/Early+One+Morning)
I may have to do me some downloading!

Review by Christopher P. Toler, THE Blathering Gommel

Review

The Mahones: The Black Irish

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January 8, 2011

So, I’ve had a copy of The Black Irish a couple of weeks now, played it a shite load of times and loved every moment of it (except the cover of the Wild Rover ‘cos I’m just sick of that song in general). Today’s plan was to put pen to paper and finally review it. So, on the way to my 7 year olds hockey practice (no this is not a car commercial), I slip the disk into the car CD player and cranked it (forgetting of course that on the 1st song, A Great Night on the Lash, Finny swears twice in the intro and my seven year old is in the back.) By track 3, a voice comes from the rear, “Daddy, is this the group that sings Shipping up to Boston?”. “No that’s the Dropkick Murphys, it a different group”. “Oh, it sounds kind of like Dropkick Murphy, but louder. Who is the group?”. “The Mahones, Finny the singer is a friend of mine”. ”Well, you tell Finny he has a nice singing voice”.

There ain’t much more I can add to that except on top of the rockers there are a couple of beautiful slow(ish) ones – Girl With The Galway Eyes and Whiskey Under The bridge – that really showcase Finny’s song writing talent and Black Irish is a very fine release, maybe even…..scratch that….this is The Mahones finest.

Review

The Dreadnoughts: Polka’s Not Dead

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January 6, 2011

The Dreadnoughts, those ballsy balladeers of Vancouver City are returned for this, ‘Polka’s Not Dead’, arriving hot on the heels of 2009’s ‘Victory Square.’

For those unaware of The Dreadnoughts, the band emerged from the ashes of Siobhan in earnest with their 2007 release, ‘Legends Never Die’. Leaving that band’s primarily Celtic shores and traveling seaward, The Dreadnoughts’ sound encompassed more of a sea shanties and nautical feel to it, while still maintaining an Irish/Celtic punk feel.

As the band sailed on, their styles shifted with the trade winds, until this, their third and most recent full-length release, ‘Polka’s Not Dead,’ which sees the captain’s lay of the tracks to have distinctly Eastern European leanings: gypsy fiddle tunes, and not surprisingly, Polish, (the title of the album is “Polka’s Not Dead,” after all!)

Oh, the shanties are still there, rest assured, (“Randy Dandy Oh,”) nestled neatly among the hyper-kinetic Gypsy-styled fiddle workouts, (“Goblin Humppa,”) a Celtic track reminiscent of the band’s earlier material, (“Black Sea Gale,”) and a blatant punk-polka track, (“Polka Never Dies.”) The other nine tracks are a little harder to pigeon hole, containing two or more elements of the above styles, (such as my personal fave, “Turbo Island,” with its great and immediately catchy chorus,) all stirred up nicely and served at a pace whirling somewhere between dervish and maelstrom.

The Dreadnoughts still come armed with their full arsenal of fiddle, tin whistle, mandolin, guitar, bass, drums, and a pervasive accordion buoying the distinctive and powerful vocals of the band’s singer, (currently listed on their MySpace page as “Uncle Touchy.”)

The Dreadnoughts are not a band whose name can be used in the same sentence as the word “predictable,” (except as in contrast, like I did just there!) as they continue to blur the lines between their ethnic influences. And “safe” seems to be the one way they don’t play it.

I do find myself wondering, though, is ‘Polka’s Not Dead’s Eastern European-influence blended sound the band’s destination, or just another port of call? After all, the band does seem to be forcing an evolution of itself, but in the process creating a shipload of great tunes along the way!


Review by Christopher Toler, THE Blathering Gommel

Review

The Pokes: High Hopes

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January 4, 2011

Germany’s The Pokes are back with another chapter in their own book of German/Celtic Folk punk in the form of High Hopes, their third full length release.Germany’s The Pokes are back with another chapter in their own book of German/Celtic Folk punk in the form of High Hopes, their third full length release.

The band continues with its highly recognizable profile, dominated by an accordion and a banjo, that fit together so cohesively and complementarily that it is difficult to hear where one ends and the other begins, (no mean feat for such diverse instruments!), and those jarring, staccato vocals that start and stop like a ransom note yet never fully leave the basement register.

Some very subtle fiddle is also present on High Hopes, especially on my personal disc fave, Dinosaur, a toe tapper laced with some snappy snare and that aforementioned fiddle’s scales keeping the thing smack dab in the ‘danceable’ range. Dos and Don’ts and Gone is Gone are also stand-outs for me, simply for their catchy melody and each one’s simple chorus.

High Hopes continues with its folk-punk leanings that, although vaguely Celtic in instrumentation and lilt, don’t seem altogether committed to the sound. The band’s German roots are only fully revealed in the track “Ich Werde Verfolgt“ (“I am Pursued,”) both with the use of language and the “Oom-Pah-Pah,” beer-hall sound of the track. Aside from this obvious entry, there are no other blatant signs, foreign language or accent detected throughout the disc. But still, there is something… different. Accessible, yet foreign, and not in a bad way, either.

High Hopes sees The Pokes, with their ‘Germano-Celtic Folk-Punk’ sound, creating a solid follow-up disc to 2007’s Poking the Fire. In fact, although High Hopes doesn’t seem to have the immediately grabbing tracks like Poking the Fire’s title track or big hit, (and video star,) The Day I Pass Away, it seems to me to be a more enjoyably consistent release with out a low point on the disc!

Prost!

Review by Christopher P. Toler, THE Blathering Gommel

Review

Bat Kinane: A Lifetime to Kill

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December 15, 2010

Wicklow mountain man (Ballyknockan to be exact and damn proud of it), Bat Kinane takes time out from his hard rockin’ outfit Glyder to record and now release his first solo CD. Taking a wide departure from the Thin Lizzy-ish hard rock sounds of Glyder, Bat presents a very introspective collections of very personal songs that takes in rock, blues and folk. Highlights include the Stevie Ray Vaughan inspired “Voodoo Bones”, the Rory Gallagher tribute “Stagestruck 74” and the Celtic-blues influenced “The Intrepid Fox”. If you can tell the quality of a person by their friends then you can tell the quality of a musician by those who chose to guest on their releases and in this case its very high class. Irish blues legend Rob Strong, Gerry McEvoy, Rory’s loyal side man for 20 years plays on “Stagestruck 74”, Dave Roe, Johnny Cash’s bass player for 10 years and legendary Irish guitarist and fiddler Pat “The Professor” MacManus. Class indeed.

Review

The Rumjacks: Gangs of New Holland

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December 8, 2010

I’ve been anticipating The Rumjacks debut full length for a wee while now – since the release of their last EP to be exact. The Rumjacks had set themselves a very high standard on their two EPs and were been loudly touted and not just by me as the future of Celtic punk. That high bar along with the loss of accordion player, songwriter and occasional Shite’n’Onions scribe, Will Swan had made me a tad nervous! I’m very glad to report that Gangs of New Holland is a very, very strong release and The Rumjacks firmly hold the ground between Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys and the Aussie twist to the excellently written lyrics give them their own identity that is rich in the image of Ned Kelly and The Eureka Stockade and imagery of Ali Hulett. The music if you haven’t heard ’em is like Shane MacGowan drinking with the boys from Rose Tattoo at a Clash gig in one of those infamous Aussie music halls where the bands have to play behind chicken wire to protect ’em from flying bottles and glasses.

14 great tracks in all and if I was to pick a few to highlight it would be:

Uncle Tommy – with it’s Flogging Molly-ish banjo intro leading to a full out moshpit floor invasion – Uncle Tommy BTW was a hell raising, rambling man.

McAlpines Fusiliers – done in the traditional ballad style with Frankie McLaughlin’s vocals rich in the authenticity of someone who knows how to sweat to make a living.

An Irish Pub song – a rowdy drinking, come brawling tune.

Green Ginger Wine – A boozie girl/guy duet in the vain of Fairytale, Living in America and Dirty Glass

Spit In The Street – “and all the posh kids roll to the soulless drivel of their pissy little mp3s “, nuff said.

I could go on but I won’t. Check it out!

Review

Peter Berwick: Give It Time

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December 2, 2010

Peter Berwick has been trying to live the dream for close on 30 years and the dream has taken him up and down the highway between Nashville and Chicago and every Redneck and dive bar on route – even with a stop-off on ABC’s Wife Swap where he donned a yellow chick suite but that’s another story. “Give It Time” sees Peter liquored up on cheap domestic beer and Kentucky whiskey and back in the rusty pick-up but this time he’s driving hard towards the punk clubs of Chicago where on his previous two releases (Only Bleeding & Another Day in Hell) he was cursing into Nashville. Without sounding cliched and repeating his press release he does fall between Strummer and Earle – Cowpunk at its best for those who wish Joe Strummer had more of a southern twang to his sound and Steve Earle turned it up to way past 12 – highly recommended especially is you hate canned Nashville.

Review

The Kidney Stones: Raise ‘Em Up

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November 14, 2010

The Kidney Stones are a Celtic/pirate punk band from Orlando, Florida and Raise ‘Em Up their debut (?) release. Very punky, with a bucket of blood worth of accordion to give a sea shanty/maritime grove (or should that be wave?). That, along the with the fearsome, growling, gruff Captains vocals of Casey O’Donnell backed up with his pirate chorus that would make some landlubbers walk the plank voluntary. Fans of pirate punk will love and even if you’ve no sea legs I’d recommend just so you could have a song titled “Whiskey, Vomit and Piss” in your collection – quite possibly the greatest song title of all time.

Potato-eating, Whiskey-drinking, Bog-trotting, CELTIC PUNK ROCK