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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.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Other Voices (My Final Post On It - I Promise!)



And so the curtain falls on another fine season of Ireland's premier music showcase!

I know I tend to prattle on about it quite frequently on here but I promise this is the last! I just feel that such a show is rare, especially in these parts, and deserves widespread recognition - and if me oozing over the Antlers, O Emperor or whoever else graces my screen helps then I'm glad!

This series (the 8th!) saw a great collection of artists perform in Dingle, personal highlights include Imelda May (that girl's voice never fails to amaze me), the xx, the Antlers, Megafaun, Fionn Regan and Villagers.

I would urge anyone who missed Villagers on last night's finale to catch the repeat on Sunday (or check out the RTE Player. I'm not sure if the show is up there but I'd be surprised if it isn't) Conor O'Brien and co. played three songs: the first, Under the Sea vastly different to the second and third. Displayed a real versatility in terms of energy and songwriting and has me rather excited over the prospect of a debut album (Conor said April when interviewed by Annie Mac, though this is subject to change!)

Other Voices has also opened up a number of doors in terms of new bands for me. It was my first encounter with O Emperor in a live setting, while I was introduced to the Lost Brothers, Valerie Frances and (just a day after I had discovered him!) was treated to a live song from James Vincent McMorrow (and a fabulous performance too I must say).

It is highly commendable that in this era of music channels running 24/7 that RTE will still put a show of this ilk and calibre out there for the equal benefit of musicians (how much will someone like McMorrow or Villagers benefit from being shown alongside Richard Hawley for example?) and music lovers. I hope that this time next year I can post another blog in which I attempt to describe my utter joy at another magnificent season of Other Voices.

I'd like to finish this with a quote from Richard Hawley in which he describes his perceptions of the gorgeous Dingle:

"It's like Balamory. But with beer."

Couldn't be more accurate!

Below is Fionn Regan performing In the Shadow of an Empire and Catacombs on last week's show. Check out http://www.othervoices.ie for blogs, pictures, videos and more.

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