Criminally underrated bands

Morgans · 17-05-2006 4:19pm

My Two Cents:

The Weddingpresent - mentioned earlier. Magic stuff over a decade
The Magnetic Fields - magnificent songwriting
How the Frank and Walters didnt sell more records is beyond me.

nlgbbbblth · 17-05-2006 7:12pm

Morgans wrote:

My Two Cents:

The Weddingpresent - mentioned earlier. Magic stuff over a decade

Over two decades now. First single was in 1985.

I'm looking forward to the TMBC gig. One of my favourite bands. Have managed to catch every Wedding Present/Cinerama visit to Ireland since McGonagles in 1988.

Morgans · 17-05-2006 9:02pm

Oh I know, but i do tend to divorce The weddoes and Cinerama. Another defunt band that I enjoyed in the day, and thought they deserved a bigger break was The Power of Dreams. aah well.

DerekD Goldfish · 18-05-2006 12:12pm

sparkthatbled wrote:

How many good irish bands are there? The list of bad ones would include The Thrills, The Frames, The Revs, The Immediate etc... Mainline are one of the more bearable ones in my opinion and the only one that comes to mind thats worthwhile are JJ72 but they're having terrible trouble getting their new album released after so long... A good up-and-coming act are Butterfly Explosion (terrible name, though...)

Oh and rubberbandits mentioned Woodstar. They were fantastic but last i heard they were no more! That kid in the weird mask dancing onstage when they played Witnness was great...

There were/are lots of great irish bands
The Blades
Whipping Boy
A House
Divine Comedy
Microdisney
The Pogues
Fatima Mansions
Stump
Rollerskate Skiny
My Bloddy Valintine
The High Lamas
kerbdog
Frank and Walters
That Petrol Emotion
Pony Club
Estel
God is an Astonaut
Crumb
Therapy?
Redneck Manisesto
Boxes

What's the big anti-Mainline thing? 'Originally Posted by DerekD Goldfish
Mianline are the worst Irish band since aslan', fair enough if you think that, but care to give a reason for that statement?
Is it just cos a band isn't going down the twee/whimsical 'I'll see you in Whelan's for a pint' ****e, mundy/bell x-1 et al. Probably 'cos they show a bit of actual ambition and don't see getting to number 1 in the Irish charts(which they haven't), like Republic of Loose, as the achivevement of a lifetime that they can retire on and play numerous freshers balls in DCU with Aslan. They have decent driving songs- in the vain of JAMC,, Ride, Velvet Underground, BRMC. Having said this, music is music, and it shouldn't matter where a band is from.
Butterfly Explosion are ok, I played drums on one of their demos, but they're hardly going to set the world on fire.

They make BRMC look origonal and thats saying sometihing at least when BRMC were raping the J&MC back catelouge they came up with a few decent tunes. I ahve had to endure suport sets from mainine a few time and they made me envy the deaf. And as I have mentioned before I hate the whelans crowd so im not dislikeing mainline out of some misguided loyalty to them.
Only Humanzi come close to being a recent Irish band nearly as bad.

sparkthatbled · 18-05-2006 11:11pm

My Bloody Valentine are in a different class to what i was referring to. Same goes for The Divine Comedy and The Pogues... The Walls/Stunning also deserve a mention for laying so much groundwork on the irish indie scene... they might sound cheesy now but there was a time when Parklife was a cutting edge tune too...

melekalikimaka · 19-05-2006 12:56am

electronica

pigface

rock

magnetic fields

punk

dead milkmen

ska

operation ivy

ro_G · 19-05-2006 1:14am

Harvest Ministers - cracking band.

John · 19-05-2006 1:19am

melekalikimaka wrote:

pigface

magnetic fields

I agree but Pigface went really ****ty with their last five or six releases (those awful ...head discs) but albums like Fook and Welcome to Mexico... Asshole were fantastic.

And Magnetic Fields are a damn fine band. I only got into them quite recently. I heard a cover of "Take Ecstasy With Me" (by !!! in case you're interested) and I had to check them out.

Undergod · 19-05-2006 5:20pm

melekalikimaka wrote:

electronica
punk

dead milkmen

Yeah, I have 'If you love somebody, set them on fire' but that's all I've heard.

melekalikimaka · 21-05-2006 12:11am

Undergod wrote:

Yeah, I have 'If you love somebody, set them on fire' but that's all I've heard.

punk rock girl, tis a master piece as it bitchin camero, tho the second it more of a hilarious skit

missingtime · 22-05-2006 12:20am

munkeehaven wrote:

I heard about them on J.Ahern (remmeber Him )

What happened to J Ahern - he played some of the best music? Why did 2fm lose him?

loyatemu · 22-05-2006 1:12pm

2 bands who soldiered on for years on miniscule record sales, but now sadly seem to have broken up:

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - their early stuff is fairly off the wall (though still pretty good) but their later albums are superb, beautiful folk-pop thats would've sold shedloads in another era.

Tindersticks - you could argue that all their albums sound the same but each one is a masterpiece nonetheless.

ro_G · 24-05-2006 2:36am

Stu Staples has a solo album just came out. And I didn't realise Gorky's split up? Spanish dance troupe was great.

John · 24-05-2006 9:39am

ro_G wrote:

Stu Staples has a solo album just came out. And I didn't realise Gorky's split up? Spanish dance troupe was great.

Is his new album out? I have the new single but I didn't think the album was out yet. He's playing here (can't remember what venue) on the 31st.

the Shades · 24-05-2006 2:46pm

Kill Hannah

loyatemu · 24-05-2006 3:51pm

John2 wrote:

Is his new album out? I have the new single but I didn't think the album was out yet. He's playing here (can't remember what venue) on the 31st.

The Sugar Club

Gorky's not officially split up but on indefinite hiatus and Euros Childs has released a solo album. Given their tiny record sales its amazing they managed to keep going for so long (same goes for the 'sticks)

DerekD Goldfish · 24-05-2006 7:04pm

loyatemu wrote:

The Sugar Club

Gorky's not officially split up but on indefinite hiatus and Euros Childs has released a solo album. Given their tiny record sales its amazing they managed to keep going for so long (same goes for the 'sticks)

I head thindersticks were big in europe
could be wrong though

Dudess · 24-05-2006 10:08pm

I'm a big fan of pre-1996 Lush. They seemed to be doing their own thing and then the horrible Britpop muck came along and they totally jumped on the bandwagon. Their last album is all about the witty, "English" lyrics and anecdotes, which is cool, but to the detriment of the music. Yeah, Scheer were great. Don't know what happened them. Kitchens of Distinction, Pale Saints, Ride - ah, memories of being an angry 13-year-old! Babes in Toyland kicked ass too. Their 1991 mini-album To Mother is a thing of genius. Curve were class back then - for a while. Then their stuff started sounding very samey. But those first few EPs - Blindfold, Frozen, Horror Head, Fait Accompli - superb. Anyone remember Miranda Sex Garden?

melekalikimaka · 25-05-2006 12:47am

oh yeah abes in toyland rock, L7 aren't too shabby either, tho they were much bigger(thanks to Sh1tlist being used in natural born killers i thinks)

ro_G · 25-05-2006 4:34am

John2 wrote:

Is his new album out? I have the new single but I didn't think the album was out yet. He's playing here (can't remember what venue) on the 31st.

ah bollox, will be stuck in texas, last time i seen staples singing was in a flamenco bar in soho in 96. he's right up there with Laughing Lenny Cohen in my opinion.

John · 25-05-2006 5:20pm

DerekD Goldfish wrote:

I head thindersticks were big in europe
could be wrong though

I saw a few of their albums in a supermarket (or hypermarket really) in France. So I reckon they're in the Nick Cave category of famous in Europe. Plus they've done a few soundtracks for Claire Denis movies.

ro_G wrote:

ah bollox, will be stuck in texas, last time i seen staples singing was in a flamenco bar in soho in 96. he's right up there with Laughing Lenny Cohen in my opinion.

I've only seen him with Tindersticks. Looking forward to seeing him solo.

Dudess · 25-05-2006 5:29pm

Anyone remember the Blue Aeroplanes? Dave Fanning used to play them all the time around 1991. They were so superb. Yeah, L7 were good enough, but Babes in Toyland blew all those Riot Grrrl groups out of the water. Oh, I'm loving this nostalgia buzz! Anyone remember Buffalo Tom? They were part of that Boston thing - Dinosaur Jr, Lemonheads etc. Class act. The Heart Throbs - they were pretty good.

melekalikimaka · 25-05-2006 7:40pm

Dudess wrote:

Anyone remember the Blue Aeroplanes? Dave Fanning used to play them all the time around 1991. They were so superb. Yeah, L7 were good enough, but Babes in Toyland blew all those Riot Grrrl groups out of the water. Oh, I'm loving this nostalgia buzz! Anyone remember Buffalo Tom? They were part of that Boston thing - Dinosaur Jr, Lemonheads etc. Class act. The Heart Throbs - they were pretty good.

i would have put babes in toyland more in the grunge catagory, they weren't a patch on bikini kill or bratmobile, real grrl riot

Pighead · 25-05-2006 7:47pm

The Marbles- Something In My Eye.
Don't know if they were a criminally underated band or not as I've only heard the one song but they most definitely released a criminally underated single.Think they were from roscommon and I was bamboozled at the lack of exposure the single brought. It was magic!

MrJones · 27-05-2006 8:37pm

now dat ya mention it, i remem the chap.can't remem if he was good dho

missingtime wrote:

What happened to J Ahern - he played some of the best music? Why did 2fm lose him?

Rollo Tamasi · 27-05-2006 8:55pm

My favourite Irish band, Revelino, are a criminally underrated band. Love them. Broadcaster is the the greatest irish album imo.

I love the Thindersticks

Dudess · 28-05-2006 5:13pm

Happiness is Mine - that's by them, isn't it? What a superb song.

nlgbbbblth · 28-05-2006 6:08pm

Dudess wrote:

I'm a big fan of pre-1996 Lush. They seemed to be doing their own thing and then the horrible Britpop muck came along and they totally jumped on the bandwagon. Their last album is all about the witty, "English" lyrics and anecdotes, which is cool, but to the detriment of the music. Yeah, Scheer were great. Don't know what happened them. Kitchens of Distinction, Pale Saints, Ride - ah, memories of being an angry 13-year-old! Babes in Toyland kicked ass too. Their 1991 mini-album To Mother is a thing of genius. Curve were class back then - for a while. Then their stuff started sounding very samey. But those first few EPs - Blindfold, Frozen, Horror Head, Fait Accompli - superb. Anyone remember Miranda Sex Garden?

I remember Miranda Sex Garden. They had a track on Indie Top 20 Vol 10 I think. They're weren't bad.

Ride, Pale Saints, Lush, Curve and Kitchens Of Distinction were excellent and all played memorable gigs in Dublin in the 1989 - 1992 period. I missed the Kitchens but caught all the rest. Got the first three Curve 12"s autographed by Toni Halliday in Comet on the day of the McGonagles gig. The subsequent records had their highlights and Perish from 2002's Gift is amazing.

John · 28-05-2006 9:00pm

Never liked Miranda Sex Garden. A friend of mine loves them but they were a bit too meh for my liking.

Dudess · 29-05-2006 3:36pm

nlgbbbblth wrote:

I remember Miranda Sex Garden. They had a track on Indie Top 20 Vol 10 I think. They're weren't bad.

Ah, Indie Top 20! Three or four of my entire cassette collection have survived and two of them are Indie Top 20s. Fantastic!

nlgbbbblth wrote:

Ride, Pale Saints, Lush, Curve and Kitchens Of Distinction were excellent and all played memorable gigs in Dublin in the 1989 - 1992 period. I missed the Kitchens but caught all the rest. Got the first three Curve 12"s autographed by Toni Halliday in Comet on the day of the McGonagles gig.

So jealous. I was only in my early teens at the time and would have given anything to have been able to go to those gigs. I'm from Cork and I remember Babes In Toyland, The Wedding Present and Nirvana (NIRVANA!!!) playing at Sir Henry's. Alas, was too young. By the time I was old enough to go to gigs, sadly, music was taken over by Britpop. Damn!

Criminally underrated bands

Comments