Ali Bracken reviews Jurassic 5 at Vicar Street while Jim Carroll samples some of the offerings at the Hard Working Class Heroes festival in Dublin.
Jurassic 5, Vicar Street, Dublin
Audience apathy was not an option. "Every time we see Ireland on our tour list," announced Chali 2na from the outset, "We just know it's gonna be a party."
The crowd erupted, knowing full well that they probably say that to all the audiences, but not caring. This is the LA hip-hop outfit Jurassic 5 after all, and vocal harmonising, smooth beats and feel-good vibes come guaranteed.
The sextet performed minus turntablist Cut Chemist, who's been busy touring and working on his debut solo album. Cut played a funky DJ set in Dublin at the Village in June, so fans can't complain too much.
DJ Nu-Mark was present and accounted for, though, and his performance was reassuringly ingenious. At one point, the four emcees left the stage and Nu-Mark turned his hand to producing melodic instrumentals with the help of two Fisher Price-looking sampler devices and a mixer.
"We take four emcees and make it sound like one," sang the rest of J5 moments later, back on stage, "and together we show you how to improvise."
Emcees 7even, Chali 2na, Zaakir and Akil resembled a musical quartet, with Chali 2na and Zaakir handling the high notes. J5 churned out an array of their well-known hits, including What's Golden, Concrete and Clay and Thin Line, which spurred the appropriate sing-back repertoire. Someone threw what looked suspiciously like a pair of long-johns up on stage and another bloke managed to crowd-surf for all of five seconds.
Throughout the up-tempo gig J5 mixed in some new tracks, giving the audience a taste of their almost completed forthcoming album.
The notoriously laid-back J5 have been criticised for being too crowd-pleasing and breezy. Yet their deliverance of the politically charged and urgent Freedom was perhaps their most powerful live song.
"Muthaf**k George Bush," spat Akil. "What do we want, y'all?"
The answer came loud and clear: "Free-dom!" - Ali Bracken
Hard Working Class Heroes, Various venues, Dublin
The Hard Working Class Heroes (HWCH) festival is an annual reality check for Irish rock. Now in its third year, the weekend-long festival draws punters, pundits and the music industry to see more than 100 bands and spot the stars of tomorrow.
It's an event comparable in some ways (albeit on a much smaller scale) to well-established international gatherings such as South By Southwest or In The City, except that here almost all the acts are Irish.
While there are several established bands in the mix, it's the new names who attract most curiosity. After all, first on the bill in the Hub at this year's HWCH may well be your favourite new band next year. The music industry thrives on finding and developing new talent, so a weekend spent binge-gigging is a good way to gauge the health of the new breed.
Munich-based Celest's powerful Pixies-influenced pop contains many potential indie anthems, while there are hooks and melodies galore in the midst of the buzzing guitars and soaring vocals on offer from Belfast's V/Formation and Co Monaghan's The Flaws.
Delorentos are a Dublin next-big-thing in the making, especially as their stage confidence and cockiness is increasing with every new memorable post-punk tune they write. Electronic duo Air Strip One are also noteworthy, thanks to their robust grooves and willingness to overcome obvious influences.
Yet there are far, far too many acts on show who see competence as something to be celebrated. Time and time again, you leave a venue exasperated at the lack of imagination or verve on show. Be it the mundanity of Porn Trauma, the blandness of The Rags or the predictability of Stagger Lee, many highly touted new acts sorely disappoint by playing to their limitations. Others just copy what Snow Patrol or The Frames are doing and hope no one notices.
There are also some not-so-new acts who could have done much better. Joe Chester is touting one of the albums of the year with A Murder Of Crows, but he does himself no favours by performing solo, because his songs demand much more than just a hackneyed busker routine.
Similarly, The Radio, a band whose Kindness album was a 2004 highlight, need a lot more live shows under their belt to unleash the bitter-sweet beauty of their songs.
It's the splashes of occasional brilliance, though, which keep you traipsing from venue to venue. Both Jape and Dry County exhibit off-kilter pop sensibilities which bode well for the future, the former's excitable grooves and the latter's broody melodrama sucking you in.
Giveamanakick are two men bashing out underground garage anthems which can pin an audience to the floor, 8 Ball's occasional dubby panache is something to cheer and The Things prove that scuzzy rock'n'roll is always worthwhile. More of that for HWCH 2006 please. - Jim Carroll
