Our reviewer Tadgh O’Connor was down at Hard Working Class Heroes last weekend and reported in with some of the highs and lows of the event. Alessio Michelini was shooting at the weekend too, So the photos are not necessarily related but give you an idea of some of the events including Sweet Jane, Valerie Francis, Yes Cadets, RSAG, Le Galaxie to name a few.
New Amusement
New Amusement keep it simple with their guitar driven rock. Consistent bass and speedy drums drive along their songs while layered guitar arpeggios fill out the guts. Vocals that are more spoken than sung call reference to bands like Interpol.
Behind all this there are wonderful songs about all the usual easily relatable woes of love and loss, but songs like “Vandals” really pull this band into their own, being both beautiful and heart wrenching. I know most of you are tired of hi-hat driven poppy rock, but if it produces bands like New Amusement I think you’ll forgive me for hanging onto it a bit.
Kill Krinkle Club
I had heard promising things about Kill Krinkle Club, unfortunately I was let down. As a group they’re well meaning but over ambitious. Prepare for a very geeky simile. In most people musical bag of tricks lies key changes, time signature changes, tempo changes etc. Used sparsely they pay off, likewise in the original Star Wars trilogy, when a light sabre came out something significant was going down. Kill Krinkle Club are more like the prequels, over indulgent. What once held great ability to move people has become diluted and no longer holds its same value. It’s crowded and disjointing.
Jogging
Jogging sound like an amalgamation of Hella and Dinosaur Jr. Full of quick picking and fuzzy guitar. No wonder with them coming from Ireland’s most promising label “Richter Collective”. “Threadbare” is by far the highlight of their set, memorable lyrics which cut into your mind. “It’s not love its affection”, quite relatable to the best of us. Their tendency to shout rather than sing proves for an energetic live show.
Cloud Castle Lake
A gawk at Cloud Castle Lake’s breaking tunes page see them citing Radiohead. Big shoes to fill but my god do they come damn near close. Cloud Castle Lake are adding to a growing wave of promising Irish acts. Post-Rock epics, Proggy Drums and Falsetto. Each of their sog builds to a high point then breaks into a mellow wash. This is set to haunting and dreamy visuals, reminiscent of The Ring. Cloud Castle Lake have made a permanent impression on me and I can well see them becoming one of my favorite bands.
Planet Parade
Planet Parade are one of those bands just on the cusp of exploding. Having shared a stage with Passion Pit and Surfer Blood there’s a glint at greatness from these guys. Managing both pop-rock and that instrumental rock sound that is oh-so-popular right now. They’re catchy, dangerously so. For days after I had a song on repeat in my head and until I went onto their breaking tunes page it was a plague on me. They’re playful fluff in essence but I’m not complaining.
Nouveaunoise
Nouveaunoise a.k.a Ireland’s answer to Four Tet. I shouldn’t say that because Nouveaunoise are much more than an imitation, they are in their own way innovative. I guess what prompts the link to Four Tet is the up paced yet chilled dreamscapes that come with their music. It’s danceable but it’s also cup-of-tea-and-a-book kinda music. Either way it’s incredible and well worth checking out.
The Cast of Cheers
They ended HWCH for me and left it on a high note. I’ve already exhausted and abundance of compliments on these guys before which can be found here.
