Yesterday we brought you reviews of Eve Belle, Wood Burning Savages and the glorious NEOMADiC.
Today it’s next in our review of Whelan’s Ones to Watch series.
MUNKY
On at quarter to nine downstairs were Kildare four-piece, MUNKY. Augmented by two beautiful backing singers/dancers, they looked quite the part, one gentleman sporting a t-shirt with hipster Lisa sporting a Repeal jumper. Hipster within hipster if you will. The band (the brainchild of two buddies from BIMM) arrived having previously wowed Whelan’s when they performed during their mid-year showcase event.
It is rare that you find a band with all the scuzziness and squalor that a group of fun-loving lads can subscribe to coupled with pizzaz and showmanship that can be enjoyed by all. Munky not only tick this box, they tick it in mighty fashion. Adopting a fantastic rapport with the crowd early on, the frontman at one stage leads the crowd to turn around and wave to his watching mother on Skype before wittily declaring, “this next song’s about drugs”
There’s snarling riffs and drumwork galore. But this is offset by the sweet coos of the backing singers, their feminine energy keeping the lads in check. And by the time they lead us on a rousing devil-may-care outro, Munky have us that excited that they may as well be performing to a troop of such
JyellowL
Another alumnus of Word Up Collective, JyellowL is a politics student at UCD brought up on a diet of Fela Kuti, Earth Wind and Fire and James Brown.
A rapper with the worldliness of someone who’s spent half their life in Nigeria and half in Ireland and the altruistic purpose to match it, he draws more comparisons to Kendrick Lamar mind you.
Quite something to attach to the young man, yes. But with as articulate an outlook as he has and earworms like the mammoth harmonica-infused anthem and highlight of the weekend, Cold in the Summer, definitely watch this space.
Thoroughly entertaining.
Sylk
This duo have been championed by The Irish Times, Nialler9 and Hot Press to name a few. They produce darkly menacing electronic music with as much a leaning towards the off-kilter as they do to more conventional pop as evidenced on their new EP, ‘Nwyr’.
Frontwoman, Taylor Doyle knows exactly what she wants, demanding the light technician to switch the lights completely off so all that is illuminated is her and Bebhinn McDonnell and live member Fiach O’Neill. This elevates the show even further, adding a sense of mischief to the late-night proceedings.
What follows is a ferocious cocktail of distorted electronica, brooding sexuality and a wildly dynamic yet perfectly restrained vocal set from Doyle. O’Neill and McDonnell work wonderfully together and Doyle responds accordingly enveloping them and us with her fiercely alluring energy.
The set wraps up with the audience shouting for more. But that’s all Sylk are teasing us with for today. Highlights on the night included Cigarettes & Sex and the magnificently trip-hoppy Liquid. Something tells us Sylk have an insatiable desire to infiltrate our airwaves and crawl under your skin. Y’know, we might just let them.