There's definitely been an upsurge in lush Irish folk music that's been reaching North American shores in the last couple of years.   The Swell Season , Villagers , and Vincent McMorrow">James Vincent McMorrow have all made an impact. You can add Ian Doyle to the list, aka The Man Whom .  His new album, The Greatest Event , gets its North American release on February 14th via Ottawa's Matchless Minds label. With the opener "Easier To Run" it's clear that the elegance of his compatriots is a trait ingrained in Doyle's music as well.  The song features a ...

Loose and languid lines of heads pounding and eyes burning perhaps aren't anticipated of Charlotte Gainsbourg , the elder stateswoman of Gallic sulk although with the world having witnessed her perform the crudest of gynaecological surgery in Lars von Trier's Antichrist, contemporarily, implausible is nothing. Now forty, the daughter of France's most celebrated ashtray-larynxed crooner resembles a figure as relevant as ever, Stage Whisper opener Terrible Angels attesting to this with its glitched-up glam stomp and vapid, utterly disinterested vocal delivery. It's as exhilarating as anything to have been committed to black wax of late and although ...

One of the highlights of seeing the Villagers play live in Oxford about 18 months ago was the final song of the set, a poignant and heartbreaking song called Cecelia Her Selfhood. It turns out it has long been a live favourite, but only recently has it been finally recorded in the studio and an accompanying video [...]

For many months now I've put off posting this in an effort to find out more about our featured artist, Bob Sir Merenge. Unfortunately, I can't say I've found out much. I can tell you that he is one of innumerable traditional Igbo musicians who have released recordings, sometimes to great acclaim, sometimes without making any ripples at all. I would say that Merenge's efforts have not gone totally unnoticed (I have a couple more records by him) but haven't drawn much attention outside of a small area of eastern Nigeria (and the Igbo diaspora ...

"Cecelia & Her Selfhood" MP3 from the single Cecelia & Her Selfhood 2011 The newest release from indie-folk band Villagers is "Cecelia & Her Selfhood," a beautifully mellow song that has long been a favorite at the band's live shows. Simple in structure and sound, "Cecelia" showcases the crisp, romantic vocals of frontman Conor O'Brien in a way that is eerily reminiscent of another Irish crooner, Damien Rice. "They saw me when I stumbled and they watched you help me stand," O'Brien coos. The band also released a short film for the track, which "charts the development of a young ...

Image above courtesy of Nouveaunoise’s artwork. The annual Nialler9 readers’ poll is back. For the sixth time, I’m looking for your top 5 Irish albums and songs of the year. Lat year’s best album was awarded to Villagers’ Becoming A … Read More... →

Artist: Obii Say Label: Unsigned Management: Lizee Location: Washington, DC “Hey, I Remember You” was the first single from Obii Say’s J Dilla x Slum Village Tribute, Donuts for the Villagers. The single premiered on iHeartDilla.com and was featured on DJBooth.net as a breaking feature. The song appears to be a pretty simple Love...

Long in the shadow of its West Coast cousin, Edinburgh's music scene burst into life recently. Auld Reekie seemed to be crawling with young songwriters, fusing Scotland's folk sensibility with something very modern. The initial wave of talent is beginning to recede, but it seems that those left behind are glistening even brighter. Now based in Oxford, Rob St John recently completed work on his new album. 'Weald' is centred on a bedroom aesthetic, crafted by one man and his acoustic guitar, but the finished result has some lush, orchestral flourishes. Rob St John's most accomplished document ...

a good way to let go, new 8tracks playlist come on ease your mind is a trip around psychedelic rock, sufi rock, indie rock… i guess: rock in general. tracklist: Overthrown - Tom McRae Just Like Blood (2003) Heer - Junoon Junoon (1991) Deer-Ree-Shee - The Black Angels Directions To See A Ghost (2008) Worried Mind - Megafaun Gather, Form & Fly (2009) Jim Cain - Bill Callahan Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (2009) Sparks - The Who Tommy (1996) 666.667 Club - Noir Désir 666.667 Club (1996) Set The Tigers Free - Villagers Becoming A Jackal (2010)

frakyeahfrenchmusic : Artist : Charlotte Gainsbourg Song : Memoir Memoir was written by  Villagers’ Conor O’Brien for Charlotte after she approached him to compose a song for her.

Myles O'Reilly reimagines the Hello Moon album cover in video form. The band's jaunty indie-pop album Only Count The Sunny Hours is out now on Any Other City Records (the starting home of Villagers and Squarehead). Myles O' Reilly is on the internet

So I was browsing the interwebs yesterday and came across this pretty sweet music blog called ' Tympanogram ' who are compiling a list of songs that they would take to a desert island. I thought this was an interesting idea and since for Thanksgiving I'll be driving from Washington, DC to New Mexico (long story) I'll need some killer tunes myself. I didn't feel like adding up the total number of minutes so I choose 365 songs that I really, really like. A lot. A few things about the mix. I tried to put them in groupings of ...

Rockfeedback TV went back to our favourite ‘psychedelic village fete’ for the fifth year running to bring you this episode on Summer 2011’s Field Day festival. We feature performances and interviews with headliners Wild Beasts, The Horrors and Anna Calvi, and dive a little deeper in to the line up only to surface with footage of the likes of Electrelane, John Cale, Warpaint, SBTRKT and an exclusive acoustic session from Villagers. This show originally aired as part of series five of ‘Rockfeedback Presents...’ on Channel 4.

US grime innovator Starkey provides an epic mix of hard beats, dirty bass and sharp lyrical conquests this week, featuring a Who’s Who of grime artists as well as a few surprises. Clash caught up with Starkey to chat mixes, melodies and – of course – grime. Tell us about your mix and why you chose some of the selected tracks. This mix is just a cross-section of the music I’m feeling right now. It’s pretty much my typical style of quick mixes and keeping things moving. I really like to blend a lot of different styles, from grime ...

Liefhebbers van de intieme indiepop van Villagers, zullen smuller van de muziek van The Black Bull. Deze singer-songwriter uit Toronto is in het dagelijks leven beter bekend als Matt Perri. Hij is momenteel druk bezig om zijn debuut af te ronden, dat in de winter moet verschijnen. Op zijn soundcloud vinden we alvast drie schitterende, [...]