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Mp3 Roundup #5

The Bandwidth New Music Podcast »

Welcome to the Bandwidth New Music Podcast – a free mp3 podcast of our favourite new unsigned music from Ireland North and South. Unlike many other new music podcasts, Bandwidth brings you the whole unadulterated mp3 track as the artist intended, with no extended intros or talky bits.

If you’d like Bandwidth to feature your music on the podcast, email us an mp3, complete with artwork attached to: sendyourmp3s@bandwidthfilms.com

>> To subscribe to the podcast feed click here

>> Or to subscribe on iTunes click here



Not Squares - Asylum

An oldies but a goodie from the amazing Belfast dance/party act – Not Squares.
Visit http://www.myspace.com/notsquares

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Download Mp3 (10 MB)



skp- SLNCE IS GLDEN

The amazing Skp Gibson creates music using only nintendo gameboys. Heres a sample of his work.
Visit http://www.myspace.com/skppp

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Download Mp3 (10.2 MB)



Clown Parlour - Snake Wears Boots

From Lisburn – this track is taken from Clown Parlours debut album which is available for free on bandcamp.
Visit hhttp: //clownparlour.bandcamp.com/

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Download Mp3 (9.3 MB)

A Thing What Happened To Me In New Orleans!

Nick

Top Ten Credible Pop Acts

Pop makes me feel fuzzy, but it ain’t strictly cool. UNTIL NOW.

10. Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer

Rest in Peace, sweet Princes

The aural equivalent of  of hokin’ a bag full of skittles into a bottle of coke and spraying the ensuing fizzy tsunami into a playground, the two-peice purveyors of pop are now sadly defunct. ‘Pop music, you know you’re gonna lose it soon‘ turned out to be a self fulfilling prophecy, as the duo have now gone their seperate ways. It was a messy break up, with Rocky snapped by the papparazzi getting out of a taxi in London with no knickers on; Shaun was last seen splayed across the centre pages of Nuts magazine.*

*Or so i’m told, in my head.

9. McFly

Squinty bastards

Squinty bastards

I was at a McFly concert once, and I found myself alone, the only stoical bastion of silent nobility in a sea of crazed, pepsi fuelled, screaming pre-teen girls. With a steely resolve I stuck the concert out, and found the event not displeasing to the ears. McFly are the band Busted could’ve been, and in the general context of modern Western society, that is a bold imposing statement. Try not to enjoy the brilliant ‘All About You’ sang by the pillow-tongued doughface and the Eoin Strathern lookalike.

8. Lily Allen

I would go through Keith to get to her

I would go through Keith to get to her

Mrs. Myspace is the gobby yet ultimatley endearing princess of twee-pop. Allen was also the first girl in the history of civilization to wear trainers with a dress, although she did steal the idea off that twat Nicky Wire. She’s so good she even comes with a bonus nipple that gets more air time than any of her contemporaries. In a survey I just made up, 78% of women believe she should be Prime Minister. You can’t argue with cold hard facts. They never listen.

7. Girls Aloud

One is from Derry, hi!

One is from Derry, hi!

Here’s the idea‘ Pete Waterman said to barman of the Ivy Lodge. ‘We get five class lookin’ girls, right. They all have to be able to sing, have legs up to their arse and moves to go with it.’  The Barman is visibly interested as he tops up Waterman’s Baileys. ‘They’ll all look different, and have their own personalities.’ ‘Like the Power Rangers!’ the barman thought, but didn’t vocalize. ‘Yes.’ answered Pete, somehow. ‘It’ll never work.‘ thought the barman. And it never did.

6. Shakira

Shakira on her recent trip to Lough Neagh

Shakira on her recent trip to Lough Neagh

She’s just too perfect. You’d never catch Shakira stumbling out of a London nightclub, legs like bambi and not a stitch of cloth between them, no no no. She’s too busy saving the lives of impoverished children, writing the most bizzare lyrics to the coolest pop tunes and smiling like a mad bitch. And she still has time to be fabulous, as they say in the business. They erected a statue of her in her hometown of Barranquilla, which is a small village near Carrickfergus. That’s our Shakira all right.


5. Sugababes

In the rare ould times, before it went tits up

In the rare ould times, before it went tits up

The natural successors to All Saints’ ‘Edgy-yet-Mainstream-Groove-Pop-with-Sexually-Agressive-Females’ crown, Sugababes have managed to stay edgy and mainstream with a continuous revolving door policy were the members are concerned. They’ve managed to knock off a few good tunes, without ever feeling the need to deploy the definite article at the beginning of their name. And for that I salute them.

4. The Beatles

Podge, Saul, Bingo and Ron

You mightn’t have heard of these scouse scamps*, I know I hadn’t before I began my tedious and exact research for this article. Apparently they were big in the 1960′s, which was like a hundred years ago so their impact couldn’t possibly resonate today in every aspect of popular music digestable to the human ear. They gave Ed Sullivan his big break in America: it should be noted that their was no recorded crime anywere in the world when their performance on his show went out, and that alone makes them credible, nay, INCREDIBLE.

*They changed their name soon after to the Beatles


3. The Beach Boys

Band camp

Band camp

Seen here posing for the pre-season West Bromich Albion team photograph (3 of them are regular starters for the Baggies), the Beach Boys made girls, surfing and driving fast cars cool. This is no small achievement, as these things were widely regarded as social kryptonite at the time.

2. Michael Jackson

:)

:)

Pictured above minutes before his death, the King of Pop was snatched from our oily tentacles at the tender young age of 50. He made Neil Armstrong look like a floating twat with his dancing (Moonwalk my hole Neil), and he also starred in a subversive video game came in which he rescued young kids from predators – so take that Gavin Arvizo. It’s widely accepted in my head that he managed to maintain a zoo in his garden singlehandedly, so that makes him better than any of us.

1. The Kooky Plops

Kooky Plops

Fuck the Ting Tings, the Kooky Plops are music. Was it not Jon Landau who waxed lyrical ‘I have seen the future of pop and it’s name is the Kooky Plops‘? I believe it was, and their worldwide smash ‘This is a song I wrote’ justifies this hyperbolic madness. Alan Hansen got the album and he listed it’s attritubes on Match of the Day 2: ‘It has pace, power, accuracy and timing. An all round spectular performance from a real talent. They keep possession really well’.

Bad Beer, Good Jam

Bad Beer And Good Jam

Anyone who reads this shit on a regular basis…

[Editor’s Note: Ha!  That’s a list I’d like to see.]

… will have noticed that I haven’t been to a gig in a while.  To be honest I’ve been avoiding the Bandwidth building altogether.  Every time I’m in there it’s the same bloody thing from Will: ‘Don’t suppose you’ve got that money you owe me Ian?’  I mean talk about fucking rude.  Anyway I finally ran out of ideas for articles, and with no money to take myself to a gig, I gave in.  So, with my tail between my legs and my best attempt at a sincere expression on my face, I texted Johnny and told him I was resigning.  He must have been in Will’s office because within seconds I got an irate text from him, demanding he get his money back.  I tried to explain to him that that would not be possible, as the 28 day money back guarantee I got with the hot tub was voided when the filters became clogged with sodden Jaffa Cakes.  He didn’t seem to accept this as a valid excuse.
So with sorrow in my heart I went to the bar, ordered up my first shot and brew of the day and tried to zone out in front of the football.  By my third round I was close to broke and even closer to tears, and then I got a text.  It was from my friend Gill, which is strange because the only time she ever texts me is to ask about money I owe her.  This one was different.  ‘Want to go see Pearl Jam on Wed?’ is all it said.  You’re goddamn right I did.
‘You’re goddamn right I do,’ I replied.  Then I remembered she’s a Christian and I might have offended her.  ’Fuck, sorry about that,’ I added, and ordered up another drink.  This was my chance.  I’d write my way back into Bandwidth’s heart with the best This Is Not A Review article they’ve ever read!  Hell, Will might even forget all about that five hundred…

[Will: It’s six motherfucker!]

Wanting to make sure I had an exciting, eventful night so the article would be the best ever written, I decided to get good and loaded before the gig.  Having drank the last of my money in the bar celebrating my good fortune, though, I couldn’t afford any more booze.  I hunted through the house and all I found was half a bottle of peach schnapps and a bottle of Pimms.  Jesus, even I don’t sink that low.  So I went to visit my granddad and stole a bottle of his whiskey.  I laid into it with serious vigour – brought on by my deep-seated loathing of the Odyssey Arena.  The entire complex, in fact, can suck it.  It is without a doubt the most vomitous, scum sucking night spot in all of Belfast.  The only reason I went is that I was so desperate for something to write about, and I rationalised that on a Wednesday night, with a proper rock n roll crowd, it couldn’t be that bad.  The rationalising didn’t help much though, and I arrived with a heart full of hate and a belly full of whiskey.
I was instantly herded into an abattoir-esque queue so the security people could pat me down.  ‘Lucky I put my knife in my shoe,’ I joked to the girl next to me in line.  She looked at me stony-faced.
‘My best friend was stabbed to death,’ she said.  Anyone who knows of a suitable response to this is welcome to let me know in the comments section.  I’ll be fucked if I’m giving up my knife in the shoe joke – I use it all the time!  I just stared blankly at her and shuffled along.
‘Remove your shoes please sir,’ said the security guard.
‘You have got to be kidding me!’  To add insult to injury they took my whole ticket, instead of giving me back the stub, which infuriated me.  Tickets are designed to be ripped, so that each party can retain one half, and losers like me can collect all their tickets from every event they ever go to.  I digress…
Finally inside I located Gill, whom I’m sure is delighted to feature in this article.  I suspect, in fact, that it is the only reason she invited me, because she didn’t even try to act happy to see me.
‘You look drunk,’ was her greeting.
‘How would you know what I look like drunk?’
‘Because I have that picture on my phone of you wearing a nurse’s outfit and a cowboy hat.’  Touché.
‘Well anyway, how come you invited me?’ I asked.
‘Oh you were literally the last person left to ask,’ she said.  And she wasn’t even joking.  I thanked her for her honesty and told her I was off to find the bar.
‘Oh this round’s on me,’ she said.
‘No, I couldn’t possibly…’
‘It’s no problem.’
‘Okay then I’ll have four pints,’ I said.  And I wasn’t even joking. (more…)

State Intervention #3: Turin Brakes

The 3rd State Intervention gig – a collaboration between Bandwidth and State webzine in Dublin. This time around Turin Brakes play to a select crowd in St Kevins Park, right beside Whelan’s.

Subscribe to the State Twitter feed and watch out for the next gig!

Tracklist
1. Mirror
2. Feeling Oblivion
3. Painkiller
4. Underdog (Save Me)

Read all about it on State.ie

Camera/Edit: Will McConnell
Camera: James Goulden
Sound: Ian Maleny

State Intervention#3 - Turin Brakes
Photo by Kieran Frost.