Review

Muirsheen Durkin and Friends: Drink With The Irish

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February 8, 2015

Despite the somewhat doggy looking Leprechaun cover and the title of this the latest five track EP from Germany’s Muirsheen Durkin and Friends, Drink with the Irish is a very, very good release. The first three tracks are dueling bagpipe’n’punk rock originals and as good as anything coming out of the big boys of the scene. I must give a special mention to “The Pogues and Whiskey”, a stunningly great homage to Kings Cross finest. The two covers are Danny Boy and Loch Lomond, both given the Celtic-punk treatment. A great release and well worth tracking down.

Review

Finnegan’s Hell: Drunk, Sick And Blue

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February 8, 2015

Poor ‘ol Tim Finnegan, fell off that ladder and broke his head, work up in a pine box at his own wake, but not this time on Watling Street and who ever spilt that whiskey on him wasn’t one of his nearest and dearest but a hairy looking Swede surrounded by equally mean looking Swedes. Tim Finnegan has found himself in Finnegan’s Hell and it’s Drunk, Sick And Blue.

Finnegan’s Hell are a Celtic-punk band from Sweden who have no pretense of being anything but a Celtic-punk band, they specialize in fast and raw punk sing-a-longs with a great sense of Celtic melody. Reminiscent of fellow Scandinavian’s Greenland Whalefishers and Sir Reg and to my well trained ears, New Jersey legends, The Skels.

There are lots of highlights on Drunk, Sick and Blue – The Finnegan’s ode to good child raising, Jar of Porter; the covers of Galway Races and The Molly Maguires and not to forget their ditty to benefits of drinking hard, Reverse Evolution.

A very fine, first full length, check’em out, you won’t be disappointed.

Review

Shambolics: Pogue Mahone

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January 21, 2015

The back and front cover of this six track mini-album probably gives a better impression of of what Shambolics sound like then any review I could write. The front cover is a cartoon pirate – kilted, ginger hair, teeth that would make MacGowan proud, accordion in one hand and banjo in the other. The back cover is the tattooed, mooning arse of said pirate – Pogue Mahone indeed!

Four track of fu#k you, Celtic punk’n’roll attitude (Pogue Mahone, Seven Seas, Halfway Inn and Filfee Feeving Bastards) with some familiar melodies (hey they guys are pirates so they probably looted the tunes). Why Try to Change Me is a more mushy ballad. Only You is the strange one, maybe the pirate was trying to woo a fair maiden from the islands with some reggae

https://www.facebook.com/theshambolics

Review

The Pourmen: Too Old to Die Young

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January 1, 2015

The Pourmen as displayed on their debut full-length CD are best described as the musical equivalent of a bunch of hedonistic, lapsed-Catholic, Dorchester-Irish cowboys and whalefisher men, pissed on cheap whiskey and hired as the house band for the baddest dive bar in New Bedford. Punk, Irish, Sea-shanties, outlaw country and Americana – the sound track to that nights barroom brawl. Highlights include pretty much everything on the CD but especially Whaling City, What Did I Drink Last Night? and a really great cover Jackdaw’s Molly

Review

Irish Whispa: Irish Whispa

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December 22, 2014

Wanted to give a big shout to one of may favorite Irish-folk groups, the Boston area based Irish Whispa, who released their debut CD in 2014. Very much in the tradition of the Dubliners and especially Clancy Brothers with a couple or three Johnny Cash covers thrown in with their Irish ballad standards. You can play the Irish Whispa CD back to back with the best of The Clancy Brothers and honestly you won’t notice any difference in the quality…..high praise.

Review

Craic: Amongst the Mischief and Malarkey

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December 5, 2014

Craic is an Irish word, an all inclusive word for good times as in “wheres the craic?”, “The craic was mighty!” or “Having the Craic!”. Craic is also the name of a very fine Celtic-punk band from Cleveland, Ohio who bring us their debut full-length, “Amongst the Mischief and Malarkey”. Produced by former Dropkick Murphy, Ryan Foltz, the band is tight and the sound is great – powerful but without losing the bands raw edge. The music of Craic is built on the rawness of the second wave of punk with DKM style gang vocals, layer upon with banjo, tin whistle and fiddle. The closest reference point for comparison is the long departed Nogoodnix.

Track listing and a few song comments:

01 – Hold the Penny – Fast, trashy second wave punk meets tin whistles
02 – Lonesome Lullaby-More American meets Celtic meets punk, again pretty fast
03 – 36 Bombs – About legendary Cleveland Irish gangster Danny Greene and the 36 bombs that tried to kill him, I really need to check out “Kill The Irishman” the movie about his life
04 – Dirty Old Town – Initially I was wondering what the point of covering DOT was until they got all trashy on it after the second verse then I totally got it
05 – Roads Less Traveled
06 – Irish Banshee
07 – Serenity
08 – Marching Orders – Maybe my favorite track on the album – fast, fast, fast
09 – Parallels
10 – Lily & Nolan – A ballad very much in the Irish tradition – beautiful song
11 – Fields of Athenry – A very over done song but this is a fine version

In all, a really strong debut which may have turned me into a Craic addict.

Review

The Canny Brothers Band: The Guinness Situation

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October 14, 2014

Straight out of Brooklyn with not a skinny legged bearded hipster in sight comes The Canny Brothers Band playing old school Irish folk with a strong nod to both The Wolfe Tones and The Dubliners and maybe just a little nod to some laid back west coast sounds. The Guinness Situation is the third album from The Canny Brothers and its chockablock full of great folk standards – Drunken Sailor, Spanish Lady, Peggy Gordon and more. I particularly like the versions Celtic Symphony and …..the Devil is Dead. In addition I want to give a shout out to standout original tracks the biographical William O’Conner and Devil’s Bird.

The Canny Brothers will be in Brooklyn way after the skinny legs have shaved and moved to Jersey and if the bros ever grow beard they will Ronnie Drew specials.

Review

The Hex Bombs: Everything Earned

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October 11, 2014

No frills, no bull shite street punk from the mean streets Kalamazoo, MI. I’m really likening this release and if you like your punk’n’roll loud and tight I think you will too. Reminiscent of early Dropkick Murphys – Do or Die or The Street Dogs so it’s not a surprise that Mike McColgan joins the Hex Bombs on the track (and single) None Shall Be Forgotten. Highly recommended and I think an album that will sit on my turn table for a while.

Review

Black 47: Rise Up – The Political Songs

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October 11, 2014

I didn’t actually need to listen to Rise Up to review it as I know every song on this 15 track complication almost by heart. I did listen as it would be unethical to review an album without listening to it and any excuse to listen to Black 47 is a good one. As you may be aware Black 47 are winding down after a twenty five year run and Rise Up is a parting review of how good this band can be. The 15 tracks are Black 47 at their historical and political finest that run the gauntlet of Irish freedom (The Big Fellah and Bobby Sands MP), to socialist heroes (James Connelly & Jim Larkin), historical (Black 47 and San Patricio Brigade) and the more contemporary (Stars and Stripes, Downtown Baghdad Blues & US of A 2014), taken from right across the bands career from the cassette only EP (Patriot Games – the Dominic “brother of Brendan” Behan classic) through their final album Last Call. My count has Black 47 with 50 or 60 political songs under their belt so I’m surprised Rise Up isn’t at least a double album or box set. I’m sure longtime fans may be wondering their personal favorite is (what no Land of de Valera?) though never the less it’s a great representation of the band and what they are (or were come November) and still more informative, entertaining and affordable then taking a political history class at NYU.

Review

Kilkenny Knights: Brady’s Pub Tales

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October 3, 2014

Kilkenny Knights are not actually from the medieval capital of Ireland but from Bavaria, though I guess the name Teutonic Knights just doesn’t have the right ring to it that you’d expect from a Celtic-punk band. The Kilkenny Knights have been around since 2009 and Brady’s Pub Tales their first full length. These guys must have been practicing real hard over the last 5 years as Brady’s Pub Tales is a bloody great debut. The music is classic Celtic-punk with strong Dropkick Murphys influences – bagpipes, big guitars and strong sing-a-long courses. In addition the Kilkenny Knights include some German folk influences that fit in real nice with the Celtic melodies. Honestly not a bad song over the entire almost hour of music and more then a few that could wake the dead and induce them into jig. Highlight include The Final Course and the the dead waking Dance! 

Check ’em out Brady’s Pub Tales it really hasn’t been out of my car CD player for the last two months its that good.

Potato-eating, Whiskey-drinking, Bog-trotting, CELTIC PUNK ROCK