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Cork, Ireland
An Irish based alternative music blog. Music news, gigs, live reviews, album reviews... You'll find them here. If you want anything featured or removed, please shout. I hope you'll discover something new to love on this little experiment of mine. Currently editing the Music Section of the UCC Express and contributing to Motley magazine on campus, as well as writing for PopCultureMonster and 4FortyFour. Always looking for new projects so please get in touch if interested. Thanks for reading.

Monday, February 8, 2010

O Emperor!

There's nothing quite like the joys of discovering a new band is there? When you hear the first few bars of a song and think "There could be something here..." Even better when you check out a few more songs and love them all as much!

For me my newest find are the "Waterford-Cork mongrel" (a quote from their myspace that!) O Emperor! I'd heard the name touted as "the next big thing" in Ireland from the likes of HotPress and Nialler9, though I wasnt quite prepared for what awaited when I finally got my hands on a few songs!

"Po" was the first I heard, courtesy of a promo disc from the IMRO Showcase Tour. HotPress described it as "a debut single that ploughs a supremely confident furrow between classic American harmonic pop and the best of British alternative music." and I'm inclined to agree! A gorgeous record, among the best Irish releases in quite some time.

Even still I was a bit wary mind you. Too often have I discovered a great first single by an Irish band only to be let down... And so I went in search of more! And I was more than pleased with what I found. The stunning "Heisenberg" opens with piano and lo-fi vocals before evolving with a beautiful harmony... It screams Grizzly Bear! It is all too rare to find an Irish band who channel the finest in American alternative music in their songs, though this here is a prime example!

A trip to the bands MySpace page introduced me to "Some Small Matter" and "Ghost of My Heart", the two owing more than a little to Bends-era Radiohead. Despite their obvious influences, O Emperor manage to put their own firm stamp on the songs. They display a level of originality that is quite often missing from Irish acts and I am more than willing to add my name to the long list who think they will reap the rewards of this!!

Check out O Emperor on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/oemperorofficial, while they are also playing a number of live dates around the country. Miss them at your peril!

3 comments:

  1. I seen about 15 mins of their set in HWCHs and I didn't get them. The piano dude has a great voice and some of the songs are pretty good but 'meh'! Their cowboy image didnt make any sense either. I'm sure I'll be proved wrong but I'm not getting the hype!

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  2. I haven't managed to catch them live yet myself. Hoping to someday soon. Didn't realise there was a cowboy image involved though...

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  3. Ok maybe 'cowboy' was the wrong word. I supose it's more like a vicoriant back streets of london look!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyeShDImVy8

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