Foggy Notions Presents FUTURE ISLANDS, Upstairs @ Whelan's, Sep 9 (1 Viewer)

[Urchin PR]

FOGGY NOTIONS presents

FUTURE ISLANDS (Wham City / Upset the Rhythm)

Upstairs @ Whelan’s, Sep 09, Doors 8pm

Tickets €12 plus booking fee from WAV Box-Office (Lo-Call 1890 200 078), City Discs, Sound Cellar, www.tickets.ie, Ticketmaster outlets nationwide

“Happy, happy hooks, wiry dance grooves.” – Village Voice

Fast becoming the most meaningful band of Wham City's offspring, Future Islands are masters of marrying upbeat songs with soul searching lyrical content.

Future Islands are a new-wave dance band from North Carolina, now residing in the fertile "music capital of awesome", Baltimore. They play a terse yet passionate music wrought from a stripped back palette. Gerrit Welmers' cart-wheeling synthesizer melodies tumble across the austere wilderness of William Cashion's post-punk bass pulse, driven ever forward by ecstatic electronic rhythms.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of the band's sound however, takes shape in the form of Sam Herring's distinctive guttural vocal, delivered as Glen Danzig if he ever found himself in a Shakespearean tragedy. At times on its knees at others belted out like it's the end of the world, Herring's vocal lends a raw, emotional warmth to the group's resolute synth-punk bounce.

Samuel, William and Gerrit had been writing songs together since 2003 in the guise of absurdist party project Art Lord & The Self Portraits. Their sound has become exponentially faster and surprisingly powerful. They quickly wrote and recorded an EP entitled 'Little Advances' in time for their first tour late 2006 and haven't looked back since.

Debut album Wave Like Home was created in the summer of 2007, with the help of producer Chester Endersby Gwazda (Dan Deacon) and successfully denotes the uplifting energy of the band's live shows, whilst still staying true to their 4-track hearts.

The album perfectly captures their bittersweet nature. To quote the band, it's an album of "bright morning-times holding hands with dreary afternoons", like finding "shark-infested waters surrounding honeymoon beaches".

We are never that far from fun or despair, valiantly Future Islands are here to remind us of that.

www.futureislands.com
www.myspace.com/futureislands
www.upsettherhythm.co.uk

 

[Unicron]

Really enjoyed them at ALT when they opened for Dan Deacon.

 

[worthit]

YES!!!! These were amazing at Dan Deacon. What a front man.

 

[Urchin PR]

Support for this is from fellow B-more based dance-party experimentalists Ear Pwr (Car Park) and local indie-rock duo We Cut Corners.


EAR PWR is Devin Booze and Sarah Reynolds. They found each other in the spring of 2005 after Sarah became of loyal fan of Devin's party-punk band, Hide and Seek. That summer, the two began meeting up nearly every afternoon for 2-person dance parties. Not long into their courtship, they started improvising new words to their favorite songs, feeding off of each other and mesmerizing their buddies. It soon became evident that they "had the same brain."

One evening, while admiring their ancient tape player and wondering just how old it was, they noticed the word "EAR" above the headphone jack and "PWR" above the power input. They decided that they were EAR PWR, even though they weren't quite sure what that meant. At the close of the summer, Sarah departed Winston-Salem for a one-year stay in Italy and Devin began college in Asheville, NC, but their commitment to the idea of "EAR PWR" never wavered.

In Sarah's absence, Devin (also a concert tubaist and drummer) wrote a multitude of danceable electronic jams using analog devices. When Sarah returned, she wrote the lyrics. Their immediate goals were simple: Make people dance. Make people happy. Soon after, they took their project live, playing shows all over North Carolina and steadily brought the dance party to the entire east coast. During this time, they also recorded a full-length album and an EP. In the summer of 2008, the pair kicked off their first U.S. tour with good friends, Future Islands, at Whartscape and were introduced to the wonderful world of Baltimore where they will soon reside.

As much fun as their recordings are, it's during their live shows that EAR PWR truly shines. Armed with only a suitcase of synths and a megaphone, their enthusiasm and mutual admiration sparks into a fun-loving barrage of body-moving electro and infectious silliness that's hard to ignore. Sarah lays down rap-style vocals and simple melodies that glide easily over the beats to become unshakably ingrained in your psyche for days on end. Devin, the seemingly innocent hype man, bobs and weaves in-and-out of the crowd like a man possessed, while frantically spewing his dance floor sales pitch, punctuating Sarah's vocals and generally rousing the rabble like a an Afro-ed pied piper.

EAR PWR's sonic aesthetic has never sounded more enticing than on their new record Super Animal Brothers III. They have blended together bits of Italo Disco, Baltimore Club, and twee indie pop to create a nuclear party grenade that is sure to blow your mind.

www.earpwr.com
www.myspace.com/earpwr

WE CUT CORNERS are Conall Ó Breachain and John Duignan. They were formed minutes ago in a city near you and their influences are all your favourite bands.

www.myspace.com/wecutcorners

 

[worthit]

In the banner on the top of the screen this says September 8th. What day is it on?

 

[Foggy]

bum. yeah should be 9th

In the banner on the top of the screen this says September 8th. What day is it on?

 

[worthit]

Well happy days then... I can still attend. THANKS

 

[Foggy]

magically fixed. thanks Pete

 

[Foggy]

interview here

http://www.state.ie/2009/08/future-islands-interview/

 

[Unicron]

Win tickets for this.

http://bit.ly/14Pjr9

 

[Foggy]

this Wednesday

 

[worthit]

Gonna be deadly. Won the Le Cool competition for tickets. Yes!!!

 

[Foggy]

tonight!!!!!

 

[sparse]

This is going to be great fun.

 

[Foggy]

We Cut Corners 8.30pm

EAR PWR 9.15pm

FUTURE ISLANDS 10pm

 

[cletus_buckley]

This will be "the shit", both shows at ALT earlier in the year were amazing. The album is tip top, simplistic in delievery, pop but wierd, fun and yet sometimes heartbreaking, one of the best releases this year.

 

[worthit]

Great gig. Even that guy with the Slash hair up the front who's Slash hair kept going into my drink didn't ruin it.

 

[Unicron]

His slash hair kept going into my mouth, ordinarily I'd be annoyed by that but I was having loads of fun, and fuckit that's all he was having too.

I wonder if in his mind Sam is playing to 50,000 people when he's gigging.

 

[pad]

he's gotta be. he's amazing. and such an incredibly lovely chap too.
bula bos.

 

[sparse]

What a voice. Great gig.