STRANGE BREW Summer Shindig - the annual celebration of all things Irish, indie, and alternative at the Róisín Dubh - returns next week for its seventh year.
Strange Brew Summer Shindig 7 takes place on Thursday July 28, starting at 8pm, so expect plenty of great music, fun, a bit of mayhem, and one hell of a great night.
First on stage will be the immensely talented young singer-songwriter Elaine Mai. She accompanies herself on electric guitar, creating effects, backing sounds, and hypnotic atmospheres and textures through her use of a loop pedal. To hear her music go to http://elainemai.bandcamp.com.
Next up is another major young talent, County Clare’s Daithi Ó Dronaí. His imaginative approach to violin playing has seen him featured on TV shows like Must Be The Music, earned him a slot at the Body & Soul festival, and a support slot with De La Soul in the Festival Big Top On Saturday.
Daithi plays entirely solo with no pre-recorded tracks. Instead he creates layers of sound, counter melodies, percussion (such as by tapping his violin as a drumbeat ), and accompaniment through the use of a loop pedal. Earlier this year he released the impressive debut EP Embrace. It is available to download on daithimusic.bandcamp.com for €5.
Continuing the theme of west of Ireland talent are Galway/Donegal indie quintet Go Panda Go - Paul Willis (lead vocals/guitar ), Sean Bushell (guitar/vocals ), Brian Ruane (bass/vocals ), Yoseph Sheridan (percussion ), and Elaine Mai (synth, samples, vocals ) - who play an intoxicating mix of sprightly left field, indie-pop, and post-rock influenced workouts. Check out their debut EP, El Troubador, released last November on Dublin indie label Bluestack Records, and their new tracks on Bandcamp.
Funeral Suits - Brian James, Mik McKeogh and Greg McCarthy - will bring to the stage music dominated by distorted guitars, blistering harmonious pop, art rock, and electronica. The band have recorded their debut album which was produced by Stephen Street, who has also worked with Blur and The Smiths.
We Are Losers are the indie-pop side project of Super Extra Bonus Party’s Gavin Elstead. The trio play up-tempo guitar pop. In the words of Gavin: “We Are Losers comes from a desire to stray away from the nihilistic sentiments that a lot of similar bands go for – there’s a sort of cheeriness in it that we are all losers in our own way, no one wins all the time.”
Next up are the trio Jogging who blend post-hardcore and gutsy indie rock while maintaining a fresh, urgent, and current edge. Check out their music at http://jogging.bandcamp.com/
The Irish Times described Sleep Thieves’ music as “sparkling, swaggering electro-pop”, while State.ie opined that it was “the sweetest of kisses followed by the bloodiest of punches”. The Star declared that “fans of Fight Like Apes and Grand Pocket Orchestra may have found the last in their holy trinity”. Interested? Then check out their debut album HeartWaves.
Tuam singer-songwriter So Cow (aka Brian Kelly ) might not be the biggest name in Irish music, but to hard core indie fans across the globe he is something special. Kelly writes quirky, catchy, guitar driven, indie-pop that has seen him play the prestigious Primavera Sound music festival in Barcelona and receive critical praise from Pitchfork.
Lost Chord, easily one of the most exciting of young Irish bands are up next. Led by vocalist/guitarist Dave Phelan, the line up is completed by Eoin O’Reilly (guitar ), Yoseph Sheridan (drums ), Darren Nestor (bass ), and Aiden Mulderry (synth ).
Lost Chord are indie in the ideological sense of the term - not so much a genre, but more an approach and attitude to music, and a willingness to explore and accommodate a broad spectrum of styles.
The band can play hard rock (‘Some Other Long Haired Boy’ ), Krautrock (‘Ronald and Nancy’ ), electro-pop (the original version of ‘Cheats’ ), post-rock (‘BNP’ ), Afrobeat (‘You Do Not Do’ ), melodic indie pop (‘Up North’ and ‘Don’t Let Her’ ), and Goth styled pop (‘Records Not Fear’ ).
Lost Chord’s two EPs There Is No Lost Chord and Canada are well worth checking out.
Closing proceedings is Dublin’s Le Galaxie. The quartet fuse pounding techno rhythms, shimmering cyber-synths and cascading guitar-wizardry into an appealing mix of indie, space rock, and techno. The band are no strangers to the Róisín, having played many intense shows there over the years. On the night expect to hear songs from their recently released debut album Laserdisc Nights 2.
Once the bands finish up it does not mean the end of the music as the man behind getting them into the Róisín and the Strange Brew nights itself, Gugai, will be DJing. As always expect “indie beats, alternative rock, and good vibrations from the past, the present, and the not too distant future.”
Admission is free.
