Festive Fantasy

Gorillaz served up a generous Christmas gift to their fans this year when they debuted a new album, 'The Fall', in full on their website.

While everybody was getting their knickers in a twist about this unexpected release, recorded entirely on an Apple iPad, Owen Pallett (the artist formerly known as Final Fantasy) quietly unleashed his own festive treat - a collection of demos & instrumentals from his last album “Heartland”

Although one of the tracks on the 'Export EP' is entitled 'Owen's Voice', none of the tracks feature vocals by Pallett. Even minus his dulcet tones, the tracks are still well worth a listen.

Owen Pallett - Export [Demo EP] by Owen Pallett

Owen was also recently responsible for scoring the New York Times' excellent 'Fourteen Actors Acting' feature, which paid tribute to the actors that defined cinema in 2010. Among those included are Chloe Moretz, Jesse Eisenberg, Natalie Portman and James Franco, but my favourite is Tilda Swinton, presumably included for her role in the wonderful, 'I Am Love'.



The full collection can be seen here.

Giggidy Giggidy

Florence and the Machine today announced that they will be returning to Dublin's Olympia Theatre for two dates in May, after performing to a sold-out crowd (that included yours truly) in the same venue in December.

Tickets for the May 2nd and 3rd dates go on sale this Friday, the 29th of January at 9am for the extremely reasonable price of €28.

I'm seriously considering investing in a ticket to see the band for the FOURTH time in twelve months and I'd strongly advise you to do likewise. The band could easily pack out The O2 so, although The Olympia is the ideal venue in which to see the band, tickets will probably be impossible to get your hands after 9:05 on Friday morning.

Other upcoming gigs I'm getting excited about are:

Alex Metric @ Wax, Friday 5th of February:

Crystal Fighters and Lorcan Mak @ Andrew's Lane Theatre, Thursday 18th of February:



Final Fantasy/Owen Pallett @ Whelans, Thursday 18th of March



Wild Beasts @ The Academy, Friday 27th of March

He Pood Clouds

On Friday night, I was part of a motley crew of DCU heads, past and present, that headed to Whelan's to see Final Fantasy play. I was going to write something about the gig afterwards but decided against it because I've proclaimed my undying love for Owen Pallett on here before and I wouldn't want him to get a big head or anything.

However, a lovely photographer called Eoin Larkin has drawn my attention to some great snaps he managed to get at the gig. I've picked out a few of my favourites but click here to view the full set:

Sweet Fantasy

Owen Pallett, AKA Final Fantasy, has announced a gig in Whelan's, Dublin on Friday, 29th of May.

Anybody unfamiliar with Owen and his wonderful violin-driven ditties should ser. His amazing 2006 album 'He Poos Clouds' won the inaugural Polaris Prize in his homeland of Canada and remains one of my all-time favourites.

I was fortunate enough to see him play in Vicar Street in 2007 and I was blown away by his performance. It was just him, his violin and a looping pedal on stage but, by layering layers of music over each other, he managed to craft these incredible soundscapes that provide a perfect backdrop to his slightly eerie vocal delivery.

Tickets for the gig can be booked here. Whelan's is a pretty small venue so don't dilly dally!

This clip is an old favourite of mine. See how long it takes until you recognise the tune:


[Image: jessicaeaton.com]