Arguably the most prestigious night in the Irish musical calendar, the Choice Music Prize live event showcases the strength in depth of the current crop of domestic acts, as well as affording musos and hacks up and down the country the chance to indulge in some healthy speculation and debate as to which album should win, and why.

This year for the first time the prize enjoyed the support of a corporate sponsor, while the stately setting of The Olympia Theatre provided a suitably plush new backdrop for the annual nail-biting and mudslinging to unfold last Thursday evening. The overall standard of competition was as high as in any previous year, with all ten shortlisted acts – each of whom also performed on the night – in with a realistic chance of winning right up until that all-important envelope was opened.

Below you'll find part one of our photographic roundup from Dame St., featuring shots of tieranniesaur, We Cut Corners, The Japanese Popstars, Cashier No.9, Pugwash and Patrick Kelleher and His Cold Dead Hands in action. Click on any of the thumbnail images to load a slideshow of Mark Earley's snaps, and then head here to view part two of our live gallery.

He had hinted last week that he might break out a Waterboys cover or two, and last Friday night at his band's sold-out Whelans show Adam Granduciel delighted the crowd (which included a certain Mr. Mike Scott) with a set-closing version of 'A Pagan Place'.

Before all that, though, there were rousing run-throughs of songs from TWOD's own sturdy catalogue, with last year's excellent Slave Ambient LP featuring prominently. Hair-flailing guitar wig-outs were in plentiful supply, with Jamie Clarke from local duo The Ambience Affair even jumping onstage at one point to join the Philly rockers on 'Brothers'.

Unfortunately the boisterous Whelans atmospehere was punctured slightly towards the end, when an over-exuberant audience member decided it would be a good idea to tip the contents of the band's ice bucket all over the front of the stage - drenching many of those around him in the process. You gotta love those Friday night crowds!

The War On Drugs round off their UK & Irish tour this week with shows in London (tonight), Brighton (tomorrow) and Bristol (Thursday). Hit up Songkick for ticket links and more info.

Live shots below courtesy of Colm Kelly, who also managed to snap folk-inflected Dubliner Owensie, who supported.

Boisterous Kells rockers Ham Sandwich played their biggest headline show to date over the weekend in front of a capacity crowd at Dublin's Academy. Buckfast, confetti cannons and giant balloons all featured prominently, as did an impressive cover of Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill'.

The band's sophomore LP, 2010's White Fox, has just been reissued on vinyl, with a deluxe digital repackaging (featuring four live session tracks) set to follow before the month is out. They'll also be embarking on a nationwide tour in early March - check their official site for more details.

Support on Saturday night came from lower-case-obsessed locals little xs for eyes (how long before the rising Dublin outfit are packing out venues of this size on their own merit, I wonder?...). Check out Colm Kelly's shots of both bands in action below.

Moshi Moshi-signed producer James Yuill and Dublin pop misfits tieranniesaur helped launch this year's inaugural Meteor Camden Crawl Dublin the other night at an invite-only soirée Upstairs @ Whelans. Yuill is perhaps best known for his prolific remix work, having had his way with tracks by the likes of We Have Band, Au Revoir Simone and Fenech Soler in recent times. tieranniesaur, of course, have just been given the remix treatment themselves, and both acts provided suitably upbeat sets that matched the 'good news' vibe of the occasion.

Meteor Camden Crawl Dublin 2012 will run across some fifteen city-centre venues on May 11 & 12 - one week after its parent festival, the long-running and award-winning Camden Crawl, takes place over in London. More than 100 up-and-coming Irish and international acts are set to perform over the course of the two nights, ensuring that gig-goers will be spoiled for choice. Artists already confirmed for this year's maiden edition include Clock Opera, Alarmist, D/R/U/G/S, tieranniesaur, Laura Sheeran and little xs for eyes, with further additions expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Day tickets for the event are priced at €25, while a weekend pass will set you back €40 - these are available now from a range of outlets including Tickets.ie, Entertainment.ie and HMV stores nationwide.

We'll be sure to keep you posted on how the lineup's shaping up between now and May, but for now check out the official festival website – which boasts some seriously cool Richard Scarryesque artwork – and follow Meteor Camden Crawl Dublin on Facebook and Twitter (#DublinCrawl).

Click below to view a slideshow of Mark Earley's shots from Wednesday night's launch party.

One of the most irrepressible live acts around right now, tUnE-yArDs last night kicked off their biggest European tour to date with a sold-out show at Dublin's Button Factory. Check out Mark Earley's shots of Merrill Garbus and her bandmates in action below. We also have a few snaps of local duo Thread Pulls, who got the night under way.

tUnE-yArDs has just announced a live date at Dublin's Vicar Street on July 15, as well as a mid-August appearance at this year's Summer Sundae Weekender in Leicester.

Go here to read a full live review of the Button Factory gig.

Some up-close shots of Will Oldham and his band from last week's Bonnie 'Prince' Billy show at Vicar Street. February is shaping up to be a busy (and potentially costly!) month for Oldham fans: the singer is set to release a new 'double B-side' 7" via Domino on February 27 - the same day that will see no fewer than five mid-nineties Palace (Music, Brothers, Songs) albums being reissued by the same label. It's probably just as well that payday falls a few days beforehand...

Oldham, of course, put out his ninth LP under the BPB moniker, the notably stark Wolfroy Goes to Town, late last year. Mark Earley's gallery from the penultimate night of the singer's January European mini-tour also features a few snaps of Norwegian songstress Susanna Wallumrød (minus her Magical Orchestra), who got the evening under way on grand piano. Click on any of the thumbnails below to view a slideshow of Mark's photos.

Some photos from the recent Q Now: The Sessions gig at London's XOYO, featuring Minneapolis tykes Howler, London indie quintet Zulu Winter and Mancunian songsmith Man Made. Click on any of the thumbnails below to view a slideshow of Richard Gray's shots.

For the full lowdown on how the night went, check out Tom Hocking's live review.

Some photos from Norwegian synthpoppers Casiokids' recent sold-out show at London's Cargo, where they were supported by WU LYF associates FAMY.

Click on any of the thumbnails below to view a slideshow of Richard Gray's shots, and head over here to read his interview with Casiokids' Fredrik Øgreid Vogsborg.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah got their European tour under way recently with a midweek show at Dublin's Tripod. The gig had been bumped up from The Button Factory a number of weeks beforehand - a sure sign that last year's Hysterical LP has made up most of the ground lost by 2007's rather underwhelming Some Loud Thunder, as well as no doubt winning Alec Ounsworth and co. plenty of new fans into the bargain.

You can browse our gallery featuring the New Yorkers in action below (there's also a handful of shots of Scottish rockers Meursault, who supported). The tour continues next week, stopping off in Birmingham (Monday, February 6), Brighton (Tuesday) and London (Wednesday) before moving on to mainland Europe.

A belated gallery of shots from last month's Elastic Witch-curated double-header at The Twisted Pepper. Two of Dublin's spikiest live acts, Thread Pulls and Logikparty, blew the last of the new year cobwebs away with confident, groove-driven sets.

Logikparty were showcasing tracks from upcoming debut LP Oh Cult! (due in the coming months via White Plague Records), including rasping lead single 'Anti Omerta'. And headliners Thread Pulls were also road-testing new material before they headed off to this year's Eurosonic festival in Groningen - where, by all accounts, they stole the show.

Click below to view a slideshow of Sasha Bond's photos featuring both bands in action.

Some photos from last month's 'evening of revelations' at Dublin's Sugar Club in the company of Luke Haines, Cathal Coughlan and friends (aka The North Sea Scrolls). Click on any of the thumbnail images below to view a slideshow of Colm Kelly's shots.

Go here to read Niall McCann's verdict on the gig, and here to read his recent in-depth interview with Luke Haines.

It just about snuck into our Top 100 Albums of The 2000s list a couple of years back, and last month David Kitt gave his much-loved The Big Romance LP a well-deserved ten-year anniversary outing at Dublin's Vicar Street. We know we weren't the only ones to be suddenly reminded of our advancing years upon realising that, yes, it really has been that long since this bedsit classic first graced our ears (we're pretty sure we still have our original MiniDisc copy lying around here somewhere!); but perhaps the most striking thing about this most cosily nostalgic of gigs was just how much of the album's fragile beauty and unforced charm remains solidly intact a decade on. A testament to Kittser's songwriting skill and melodic nous if ever there was one.

The man himself was joined onstage by a revolving cast of close friends and collaborators old and new from across the Irish indie scene, including bass-heavy support act Sunken Foal. You can view a slideshow of Mark Earley's shots from what was a special night in the capital by clicking on any of the thumbnails below.

Some photos from last month's Pull Up The Roots show at Notting Hill's Tabernacle venue, featuring local quintet Left With Pictures as well as headliners Lau. The Scots/English trio boast no shortage of critical acclaim, having been voted Best Group in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards three years on the trot. Look out for the band's brand new album, Race The Loser, when it arrives later this year.

Click below to view a slideshow of Richard Gray's live shots from W11.

Danish songstress Agnes Obel played her biggest Irish headline show to date recently at Dublin's Vicar Street. The singer's four-date December tour was no less than her sixth visit of 2011 to these shores, an indication both of how much graft she's been putting in on the road and of just how rapidly her star has risen in the last twelve months.

Obel's enchanting debut LP, Philharmonics, has scaled the upper reaches of charts right across Europe, so it was hardly surprising that the bulk of her Vicar Street set was drawn from that record. Support on the night came from book-fixated Cork singer-songwriter Polly Barrett, and we had Alessio Michelini on hand to snap a few shots of both artists for us. Click on any of the thumbnails below to view a full slideshow.

A special show in a special setting brought Londoners to the heart of The City last week. Folk-rock seven-piece The Leisure Society – whose music is ornate enough on its own – were joined on the Barbican stage by the thirty-strong Heritage Orchestra, who added further embellishment to songs from the band's two critically-acclaimed albums. The symphonic pop elements underpinning this summer's Into The Murky Water LP were on full show, Nick Hemming and co. clearly revelling in the venue's pristine acoustics. They even threw in an inspired Erasure cover for good measure towards the end of what was a highly impressive set.

The band already have a string of UK and Irish dates lined up for February and March of next year, full details of which can be found on their website. They've also been getting into the festive spirit of late, contributing a brand new track, 'Christmas Mistakes', to For Folk's Sake's It's Christmas 2011 compilation. All profits from sales of the comp (which only costs a fiver) go towards The Integrated Cancer Centre. You can have a listen to the whole thing on Bandcamp right now before you buy.

Support at The Barbican came from affable Swede Loney, Dear (aka Emil Svanängen) - original opener Micah P. Hinson sadly having had to pull out due to illness. Check out our live gallery of both acts below. We reckon RW snapper Tim Ferguson did a damn fine job of squeezing just about all of The Heritage Orchestra into that last shot!

It was never going to be easy competing with the annual schmaltzfest served up by Ryan Tubridy and hordes of Christmas toy-wielding kids on live TV. And so it was that only a few dozen punters showed up to Clock Opera's recent debut Irish show at The Academy 2 - a venue that, ironically enough, might be better suited towards housing Santa's grotto than hosting gigs.

Despite the sparse turnout, the Londoners put their back into a set that gave a solid indication of what we can expect from their forthcoming debut album: shards of angular art rock with well-judged electronic interludes, basically.

Dublin-based support act Electric Penguins place a similar emphasis on arrangement, albeit theirs is a more mature, contemplative sound; the band's sophomore LP, II, is a subtly affecting piece of work that goes well with this time of year.

Live pics courtesy of Colm Kelly.

The latest round of free Heineken Green Spheres gigs brought a host of acts to venues across Dublin at the start of the month. Kicking things off on the Thursday night were The Drums and Cloud Control (who we're convinced have taken up permanent residency on these shores), both of whom brought the punters out in force for an intimate show at The Village. And by "intimate" we really mean sweaty. Very, very sweaty...

On what was a frosty night in the capital, Kieran Frost was on hand to snap the following photos of both bands. Point and click below to view a full slideshow of his shots.

Stellar indie imprint Memphis Industries officially became an awkward teenager this year, and celebrated this fact recently with a midweek blowout at London's KOKO. The lineup on the night reflected both the strength-in-depth and bright potential of the label's roster: relative veterans The Go! Team and Field Music (who were previewing material from their upcoming fourth LP, Plumb) shared the stage with MI newbies Dutch Uncles and Colourmusic.

Each ticket for the show came complete with a code to download a compilation featuring rare and forthcoming tracks from Memphis Industries artists old and new - and you can put that comp in your ears right now over on the label's SoundCloud page.

If you're as excited as we are about hearing that new Field Music record, by the way, head on over to the band's website and help yourself to a free download of self-explanatory lead track '(I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing'. You can also pre-order Plumb right away if you like, and check whether the Mackems' February UK tour is set to pass through your neck of the woods.

Sara Amroussi-Gilissen got in the party spirit to bring us the following shots from front and centre in NW1. Enjoy!

Post-dubstep poster boy James Blake played his final UK show of the year in North London the other week, with support from his R&S buddies Vondelpark.

The producer has just capped another prolific twelve months by bringing out a brand new digital EP, with a physical release set to follow early in the new year - have a listen to Love What Happened Here's title track right now over on Pitchfork. Vondelpark's daftly-named nyc stuff and nyc bags EP, meanwhile, is also worth investigating. Expect to hear plenty more from these enigmatic Londoners in 2012.

Live pics courtesy of Anni Timms - click on any of the thumbnails below to view a slideshow of her shots.

It's been a bumper 2011 for Gothenburg's Little Dragon, with their third album of sophisticated synthpop, July's Ritual Union, managing to break new ground for the band by troubling the charts on both sides of The Atlantic. It was hardly surprising, then, that Yukimi Nagano and co. were all smiles on their recent visit to Dublin. Even though their Button Factory show had already been upgraded from the considerably more cramped confines of Crawdaddy, it still ended up selling out - a measure in itself of just how hot a prospect the Swedes have now become.

You can read what Tim Groenland made of the headliners' set right here, after you've had a look at Colm Kelly's photos from the gig below. Our gallery also features a couple of shots of Dead Oceans-signed opening act White Hinterland (aka Portland-based singer and multi-instrumentalist Casey Dienel), who should have a new album out some time next year.

So, yeah. Star Slinger. He's just some bleary-eyed rap nerd crouched behind a MacBook while jaded hipsters gaze off into the middle distance, right?

Well, no actually. The Manchester-based producer's recent Dublin gig was a rapid-fire collage of dance-inducing beats and chopped-up sounds that did a good job of condensing the last two decades of hip-hop into a little over an hour. It featured pitch-shifted R&B samples and remixes aplenty (his recent A$AP Rocky refix chief amongst them), as well as an exclusive first airing of a brand new Lil B banger. Oh, and there were stage invasions - did we mention the stage invasions? They kept happening, much to the annoyance of the lone security neck in attendance and the delight of everyone else in the room.

Before Darren Williams took to the stage, local wunderkind Moths had treated a sparse enough early-doors crowd to wave after wave of his shimmering, cerebral electro. Jack Colleran has been steadily honing his ultra-precise live game for several months now, and all the omens now point towards him blowing up in a big way beyond these shores in 2012. We got there a little too late to catch Simon Bird's opening set, so all we can really do is urge you to check out his dizzyingly prolific work, either on SoundCloud or Bandcamp (where you can download EPs galore simply by 'naming your price').

Were you jumping around the Grand Social stage beside Star Slinger at any point? If so, see if you can spot your mug in any of Mark Earley's shots below.

'90s revivalists Yuck played a sold-out show at Camden's Electric Ballroom a couple of weeks back, and Anni Timms was on hand to snap proceedings for us.

Support came from similarly fuzzed-up locals Fanzine (check out ace recent single 'Roman Holiday', if you haven't done so already) and fresh-faced sludge rockers Old Forest (who are big Simpsons fans apparently!).

Having been on the road more or less non-stop since January, Yuck are now done with touring for 2011. Their self-titled debut LP has just been reissued, however, with no fewer than six bonus tracks (including previously hard-to-find gem 'Milkshake'). It comes highly recommended from us - as do Anni's live shots of all three acts, a slideshow of which you can view by clicking on any of the thumnail images below.

2011 has arguably been Wild Beasts' most successful year to date, with the band's chart-bothering third album, Smother, having done for Shakespeare-referencing indie what N-Dubz have been doing for mediocrity for many years now.

The Domino stalwarts recently completed a fourteen-date UK tour, the centrepiece of which was a triumphant brace of shows at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire. You can read Adrian Cross's account of the sold-out first night in W12 right here - after you've had a gawk at our slideshow of Richard Gray's photos from the gig below (which also includes a few shots of experimental Canadian outfit BRAIDS, who supported).

They're the band whose name requires very careful pronunciation, and once-mysterious New Yorkers Cults brought their 2011 European touring to a close recently with a sold-out show at The Grand Social. The band's retro-tinged debut LP emerged over the summer, and in truth its sunny melodies and high-spirited pop choruses have little in common with Dublin's north quays on a cold November evening. Not that this seemed to have deterred many of the band's Irish fans, mind.

Alongside the now-ubiquitous 'Go Outside', Madeline Follin, Brian Oblivion and co. also ran through album highlights including 'Abducted' and 'You Know What I Mean'. Getting the evening underway were local noise pop misfits We Are Losers, who've just been shortlisted in the 'Breakthrough Act' category of this year's Irish Times Ticket Awards (alongside Cults, funnily enough!). Hopefully we can expect to hear a debut album from them some time in the new year.

You can check out Sasha Bond's photos of both bands in action below.

2011 has been a long and fruitful year for Anna Calvi. Relentless touring, coupled with the slow-burning charm of her self-titled debut LP, has propelled the songstress to the brink of megastardom; it's a good thing, then, that she's got the live chops to justify all the buzz.

An indication of just how quickly the Londoner's star has risen is the fact that her only previous visit to Dublin came back in February, when she rocked the city's 300-capacity Workman's Club venue to its foundations. So her triumphant return last month to play the considerably roomier Vicar Street could be seen as something of a victory lap - especially after her mesmerising performance on the most recent series of Other Voices.

Alessio Michelini's photos from that gig give a fine indication of the singer's magnetic stage presence; to view a slideshow of his shots, simply click on any of the thumbnail images below. Support on the night came from Minnesota-based quartet Halloween, Alaska.

While we're at it, would you like to help yourself to a free download of Ms. Calvi's cover of 'Wolf Like Me', one of our favourite TV On The Radio tunes? Of course you would!

Two of Kompakt's leading lights kicked off a quality night of electro at Dublin's Twisted Pepper recently, as The Field and Walls both performed live to a packed house. The show was the latest in On The Record's ongoing series of gigs in conjunction with TP keyholders Bodytonic, and the slightly delayed start only served to ramp up the atmosphere inside the venue's main room.

Both acts have released fine albums this year, and this was actually the third date of their joint UK & Irish tour. As a measure of how well the labelmates' respective loop-based sounds overlap, check out this pair of recent mutual remixes over on Walls' SoundCloud page.

The tour continues this coming Thursday (December 8) with an Eat Your Own Ears show at London's XOYO, before both acts go on to play this weekend's ATP Nightmare Before Christmas fest at Butlins, Minehead. Click below to view a selection of Sasha Bond's shots from last month's Dublin gig.

We caught the band's London show back in May, but last month saw Okkervil River crossing The Atlantic once again for a much more extensive European tour. The Texans' Friday night gig at Dublin's Button Factory was a solid run-through of highlights from their recent I Am Very Far LP, alongside selections from their now-considerable back catalogue. In other band news, Will Sheff and co. have just this week put out a new EP of covers, entitled Golden Opportunities 2, which you can download for free from their website.

Support throughout the tour came from Italian indie quintet A Classic Education, whose debut LP, Call It Blazing, is to be given a physical release in these parts the week after next via the always-reliable Lefse Records. Grab a free download of album cut 'Baby, It's Fine' right here.

Click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow of Mark Earley's shots from the Button Factory show.

Suuns' label Secretly Canadian have dubbed the Montreal quartet's sound "dancefloor-friendly post-punk noir", and we reckon they're not far wrong with that particular description. Recent standalone release 'Bambi' b/w 'Red Song' perfectly encapsulates the group's tension-filled dynamic that nevertheless hints at a soft, accessible core - a bit like their fellow Canadians Junior Boys (on their first couple of records at least) cosying up to unhinged Liverpudlians Clinic.

The band stopped off at Dublin's Crawdaddy venue recently, where they delivered a solid, bass-driven set comprised of several new songs alongside tracks from last year's well-received Zeroes QC LP. It was the middle night of Suuns' first ever Irish headline tour, and they were joined in Dublin 2 by local hopefuls Kid Karate and Adultrock. Check out Sasha Bond's shots of all three acts below.

Two well-known artists who've both undergone recent reinventions of sorts brought the punters out in force to Shoreditch the other week for a Monday night show at Cargo.

It was Chris Taylor (of Grizzly Bear)'s first time bringing his nascent CANT project to town. If you haven't yet heard it, the band's Dreams Come True LP – released in September on Taylor's own Terrible Records imprint, in conjunction with Warp – is nothing if not intriguing.

Opening the show, meanwhile, was another man who's no stranger to London audiences, having previously performed as part of mid-noughties indie schizos Test Icicles and then under the Lightspeed Champion solo moniker. These days, Dev Hynes calls New York his home and Blood Orange his latest R&B/new wave-tinged undertaking. He also plays guitar/bass in CANT (Blood Orange's debut 7" was actually released on the aforementioned Terrible Records), which is presumably how he managed to land this support slot.

Anyway, as you can tell from Richard Gray's heart-of-the-action shots below, both artists are right at home in the live arena. Simply click on any of the thumnail images to load a full slideshow of Richard's photos.

In related news, CANT have a new single out this very week - you can watch the rather creepy video for 'Too Late, Too Far' right here. Blood Orange, meanwhile, have a trio of gigs coming up in The Southeast later this week: more info can be found here. Domino are also selling a neat little Playbutton loaded with the band's Coastal Grooves LP that's guaranteed to boost your Hipster Top Trumps rating. Go get!

Domino-signed Long Islanders Twin Sister made good use of The Grand Social's disco ball recently with a slinky, genre-hopping set that took in everything from literate, danceable funk (viz. recent single 'Bad Street') to something resembling a Tex-Mex Stereolab ('Spain'). Which is a very good thing, by the way. The band's debut LP, In Heaven, looks likely to pop up in many end-of-year lists, and these guys certainly appear to have the live bite to go with their studio bark.

With similarly adventurous Tallahassee natives Holiday Shores opening proceedings, it made for an interesting and fun night down by The Ha'penny Bridge. Click below to view a slideshow of Colm Kelly's photos featuring both bands in action.

According to Last.fm, The Naked And Famous had already clocked up some one hundred and fifty live dates in 2011 before they rocked up to Dublin's Olympia Theatre the other week. This was their third visit of the year to Ireland alone, and if you'd told the Auckland outfit back in March (when they played the city's compact Button Factory venue) that they'd be upgraded to The Olympia upon their next visit, no doubt even they would have struggled to believe you.

What's brought the five-piece so far so soon is obviously no shortage of hard graft – that touring schedule puts this much beyond any doubt – but also a smart debut album that's crammed full of radio-friendly indie electropop and has swept virtually all before it back in their native New Zealand. Dubliners were well up for rattling The Olympia's chandeliers to the sound of massive singles 'Young Blood' and 'Punching in A Dream', but the rest of the band's set showcased an impressive range of moods and sounds, propelled by frontwoman Alisa Xayalith's soaring vocals while always keeping a killer hook or three within arm's reach.

Mark Earley snapped the opening few numbers of the Kiwis' dry ice-drenched set, along with that of local opening act Youth Mass. To view a slideshow of his shots, simply click on any of the thumbnail images below.

Righteous MC Scroobius Pip rhymed the face off Dublin's Whelans recently to the delight of a lively and enthusiastic midweek crowd. The gig – which saw the Essex-born rapper taking the stage without his long-time partner-in-beats dan le sac – featured several welcome staples of live hip-hop: see below for evidence of stage diving, "cheap Tesco rosé"-swilling and, ehh, sock puppetry!

After you're done checking out Mark Earley's lairy shots from the Whelans gig below, we recommend crowd surfing over to Hip Hop Isn't Dead's SoundCloud page, where Distraction Pieces, Scroob's recently-released debut solo LP, is streaming in full.

You can catch Scroobius Pip in the flesh this very evening (December 1) as part of Redshift's innovative spoken-word event taking place across four secret East London locations (more info here). He's also got a few UK live dates already pencilled in for the new year.

Legendary Mancunian punk poet John Cooper Clarke returned to Irish shores recently on a nationwide tour that stopped off for a Friday night stand at Dublin's Button Factory. Now sixty-two years young, the bard of Salford let loose with his trademark mix of working men's club one-liners and machine-gun bursts of razor-sharp poems such as 'Hire Car', 'Evidently Chickentown' and 'Who Stole Bongo's Trousers?' (the last-named an uproarious meditation on the U2 frontman's globetrotting hypocrisy wardrobe).

After revisiting the classic urban nightmare of 'Beasley Street', JCC then treated the fully-seated crowd to a timely rendition of 'Beasley Boulevard' - a gentrified, boom-time stroll through a world in which "everyone's on TV". He may look a bit like an inside-out Ronnie Wood on a bad hair day nowadays, but even his newer material packs more punch and swagger than most so-called rock'n'roll/post-punk veterans have managed in decades.

Colm Kelly battled constant fits of laughter to bring us the following photos from down the front - you can load a slideshow of his shots simply by clicking on any of the thumbnail images below.

Six months on from the release of Burst Apart, their fourth and most successful album to date, The Antlers recently brought their emotional brand of heavy-themed indie rock to North London's KOKO in the company of Kitsuné-approved Londoners Theme Park.

You can view a slideshow featuring live shots of both acts below, courtesy of RW snapper Anni Timms, and head over here to read Nik Williams' verdict on the gig.

Having spent much of last year making Gold Soundz with his Pavement cohorts, Stephen Malkmus announced his return as leader of The Jicks a few months back with the splendid Beck-produced Mirror Traffic LP. The album's release ultimately signalled the departure from the band of former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss – now banging skins in Wild Flag – with ex-Joggers sticksman Jake Morris taking her place on the tour bus.

The first stop on the European leg of that tour was at Dublin's Button Factory a couple of weeks back. The band were in fine form on the night, entertaining all manner of audience banter as well as roaring through old favourites like 'Jenny and The Ess-Dog', 'Baby C'mon' and 'Discretion Grove' alongside a meaty selection of Mirror Traffic cuts. Local indie popsters Land Lovers (whose sophomore full-length Confidants is out now) opened the show with a well-received set.

Long-time Malkmus fangirl Fiona Diffley had her camera at the ready for us, and you can view a slideshow of her shots of both acts below.

Annie Erin Clark – that's St. Vincent to you and me – has crafted one of 2011's more intriguing LPs in the form of September's multilayered Strange Mercy, and the Dallas-born songstress brought all of that record's abrasive allure with her when she kicked off her winter European tour recently at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall.

A highlight of the show came when Clark chose to raise the decibel level with a pounding cover of The Pop Group's seminal 1979 single 'She Is Beyond Good and Evil'. The recently-reformed band's frontman Mark Stewart got in touch with the singer via Twitter after seeing her performing the song on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon the other week, prompting an impromptu onstage freakout between the two that properly shook the rafters inside the normally-quite-sedate venue.

Welsh artist Cate Le Bon had earlier opened for Clark and her band, as she has done on all their recent live dates on both sides of The Atlantic; the sometime Boom Bip collaborator has a new album, entitled CYRK, coming out early in the new year. Tim Ferguson managed to snap some wonderful shots of both acts for us, and was even on hand to capture Mr. Stewart's snarling cameo. Check out a slideshow of his photos below.

St. Vincent returns to the capital in 2012 to play the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire on February 27. She is also set to perform on the other side of The Irish Sea this coming Thursday (December 1) as part of the lineup for Other Voices 10, which will be filmed at various intimate locations in and around Dingle, Co. Kerry across five days and nights.

2011 will undoubtedly go down as a landmark year in the long and winding career of Throwing Muses. Thirty years after forming in their hometown of Newport, Rhode Island, and some twenty-five years on from the release of their self-titled debut LP, the seminal alt. rockers recently celebrated the release of Anthology - a double-disc collection that represents the first ever official compilation of their work.

To coincide with the release, the band recently hit the road for their first proper string of European dates in a long, long time. Irish fans had to wait until the very last night of the tour to catch their heroes in the flesh, but Kristin Hersh and co. made it more than worthwhile with a riveting midweek set at Dublin's Academy. Indeed, the band – who reformed in 2009, and have a brand new album due for completion next spring – looked like they didn't really want the tour to come to an end, rounding off the night with not one, but two beefy encores (and this despite Hersh having a rescheduled solo show across The Liffey in The Workman's Club the next night to prepare for).

Colm Kelly brought us the following slideshow from the gig, which also includes a few shots of prolific Faroese songwriter Teitur - the singer having earlier gotten the night under way with a subdued set of twisted acoustic tunes.

It's folk, Jim, but not as we know it...

Canadian four-piece Siskiyou recently celebrated the release of Keep Away The Dead, their second full-length offering for the rightly-revered Constellation Records. That album, which will be given an official release in this part of the world next February, can be heard in full right here.

Live-wise, the band are currently in the middle of an extensive European tour, the second leg of which saw them play their first-ever UK gig (with support from London-based troubadour Oh Ruin) at London's Lexington venue a few weeks back. You can check out a slideshow of Richard Gray's photos from the gig below, and read all about it in the words of Adrian Cross over here.

Gallic composer Yann Tiersen is rightly renowned for his soundtrack work, but last month saw him play six dates across The UK in support of Skyline, his seventh studio album proper. The first of those dates took place at London's Roundhouse, and Anni Timms was on hand to capture the gig (appropriately enough) on camera for us.

Cut from a similarly cinematic, multi-instrumental cloth, Newcastle sextet Lanterns on The Lake had earlier eased the night underway with their plaintive blend of folk and electronica. Anni – who first came across the band when they opened for John Grant in the capital recently – wasn't the only punter left smitten by Hazel Wilde and co.'s breathy elegance, and with Bella Union now helping them pay their rent it seems the only way is up for these Geordies.

Yann Tiersen's Skyline LP is out now via Mute, while Lanterns on The Lake's excellent debut, Gracious Tide, Take Me Home, dropped a couple of months back on the aforementioned Bella Union. LoTL also have several UK shows coming up between now and the end of the month.

Long-time RW faves Girls stopped by Camden's Electric Ballroom on Wednesday night to showcase songs from their sublime sophomore album, Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Not only have the San Fran band grown considerably in stature since bursting onto the scene with 2009's instant classic Album, they've also now swelled in number thanks to the addition of three powerful backing singers. As if Christopher Owens and co. didn't already have enough soul in their locker!

Right from the off the other night, the special bond between the Ballroom crowd and the guys onstage was palpable. All we can really say on that particular matter is that if this band's music hasn't taken on an intensely personal importance for you over the last couple of years, then you lead a very different life to this writer. Oh, and we can't sign off without mentioning the flowers. As you can see from Richard Gray's photos below, there were lots of them onstage, and they helped add a splash of colour to the occasion whenever things threatened to get too straight-up 'heavy'.

Recommended viewing? Well, you could start off by checking out Chris's ongoing series of tour diary dispatches over on the singer's YouTube channel. And if you've yet to catch September's delightful in-store album launch performance at Grimey's in Nashville, then cancel your appointments for the next half an hour and head straight here. Trust us, you won't regret it (shout-out to Mr. Owens Snr. six minutes in FTW). Oh, and One Thirty BPM have posted a stream of the band's forthcoming standalone single, 'Lawrence'. We're told the wordless number is an ode to the Felt, Denim and Go Kart Mozart frontman of the same name, and that it will be issued by Fantasy Trashcan (Turnstile) on limited-edition, heartshaped red vinyl at the end of this month. Says it all really.

Girls play Glasgow's Stereo venue this evening (November 11), followed by The Rescue Rooms in Nottingham tomorrow night. Click on any of the thumbnail images below to view a slideshow of Richard's shots from a special night in NW1.

Dour Brooklynites Crystal Stilts emerged from the shadows on April's In Love With Oblivion long-player, with songs like album standout 'Shake The Shackles' and Scott Walker-meets-Nuggets dirge 'Flying into The Sun' marking them out as serious contenders rather than mere well-coiffed gloom rock revivalists. Radiant Door, the band's forthcoming EP for Sacred Bones, sees the five-piece expand their sonic palette still further, twisting their jangly, nocturnal guitar sound into new and unexpected shapes.

Last Friday night, the New Yorkers delivered a stylishly nonchalant performance at Dublin's Grand Social. It was hard to tell whether it was jetlag/fatigue or perhaps simply the band's inherently frayed-around-the-edges aesthetic that caused the second half of their set to sag somewhat, but on the whole they managed to give a solid if unspectacular account of themselves - even if smilingly aloof frontman Brad Hargett did appear worryingly detached from his bandmates at times.

There was already a decent-sized crowd inside the loft venue by the time CS's Slumberland compadres Girls Names arrived onstage and proceeded to tear through their reverb-heavy set. Dead to Me, the Belfast trio's NIMA-nominated debut LP from earlier this year, undoubtedly deserves to reach a wide audience, and Friday's display offered the uninitiated a smart introduction to their artful brand of C86-tinged noise pop. Recent single 'Black Saturday' was an obvious highlight, sounding to these ears a bit like Wild Nothing jamming with A Place to Bury Strangers. More of the same please.

We hadn't asked Fiona Diffley to shoot in black-and-white, but the fact that she did so puts a suitably sullen glaze on our live gallery. Click on any of the thumbnail images below to view a slideshow of Fiona's photos.

As many of you will already know, there's a brand new fixture on Dublin's sadly now-dwindling musical landscape. Housed within the main room of The Twisted Pepper – itself a mecca for fans of live independent music in the city – Elastic Witch is the brainchild of Logikparty drummer and former Road Records employee Gib Cassidy. With a little help from the good souls at Bodytonic, who look after leasing arrangements down on Middle Abbey St., Gib and his shop are hoping to breathe new life into the flagging retail sector by providing an outlet where hard-to-find releases can be bought across several formats (yes, they stock cassettes!) and, perhaps most importantly, a platform for local acts to distribute their wares.

More than this, though, Elastic Witch acts as a much-needed nodal point for members and fans of the thriving Irish music scene. Gib himself prefers to think of it as a record store-cum-hangout space, a social hub that just so happens to sell great records too. Of course, it probably helps that he's one of the most jovially enthusiastic characters you could ever hope to meet – not to mention the fact you've got some of the best coffee in town being served under the same roof by 3FE, as well as The Loft Bookshop upstairs – but there's an overall feeling of community and inclusiveness as soon as you walk through the door that can only be a good thing. It's a bit like Rough Trade East without the MacBooks (albeit on a slightly smaller scale), or New York's Other Music without the sometimes off-putting attitude.

We decided to call in soon after the shop opened its doors to get a sneak peek of the place, and Gib was kind enough to let Mark Earley take a few photos (below) - even though at that stage he was still in the process of ordering in stock to pad out the shelves. The eagle-eyed amongst you might notice that Choice Music Prize-winner Adrian Crowley also popped in for a chat and a browse while Mark was busy snapping away!

We know we're not alone in hoping Elastic Witch can stay the course and succeed in sticking around for good; indeed, there's a lot of admiration out there for Gib's fearless approach to getting the store off the ground. As luck would have it, this very evening the shop is going to be celebrating its first month or so in business with a launch party (quite literally) in its own backyard. So, if you've nothing else planned later, why not rock on down and pick up some juicy Warp vinyl or maybe a Quarter Inch Collective cassette, and then stick around for the homegrown sounds of tieranniesaur, Bantum and Magic Pockets, all of whom will be taking to the Twisted Pepper stage. The night kicks off at around 8 bells, and there's a Facebook event yoke with more info right here.

For the time being, Elastic Witch is open from 11am 'til 6pm, Tuesday to Saturday (midday opening on Saturdays). You should hit up the shop's recently-launched website – where you can sign up to their mailing list and also shop online – for a full lowdown as well as regular stock updates. They also have a Tumblr that's good for laughs and general music nerdery. And what do you mean you're not already following them on Twitter?... Don't make us come up there!

Glaswegian blues punks Sons & Daughters brought their eminently danceable live show to Manchester's Ruby Lounge the other week, showcasing songs from their recently-released fourth LP, Mirror Mirror. Current single 'Rose Red' proved an angular crowd-pleaser, and older gems like 'Gilt Complex' and 'Dance Me In' had even the most jaded of punters quickly forgetting it was a Sunday night.

Support on the night came from post-folk trio – and recent Bandstand Buskers – Peggy Sue, who themselves had a brand new John Parish-produced album to show off. And kicking things off were relocated Aussie outfit Bonfire Nights with their urgent, if slightly derivative, blend of psych pop and garage rock noise.

To view a slideshow featuring Duncan Elliott's photos of all three bands, simply click on any of the thumbnail images below.

Talk about a square peg in a round hole... One of the most sonically expansive bands to have emerged recently, Oklahoma quintet Other Lives played one of Dublin's most cramped and claustrophobic venues the other week. On this year's exquisite Tamer Animals LP, Jesse Tabish and co. announced themselves as a dog-eared cross between Calexico and Sigur Rós, their orchestral flourishes putting us in mind of a more apocalyptically-minded Beirut.

It's to the band's credit, then, that they succeeded in transforming a room the size of a shoebox into a widescreen vista, their folk-flecked cinematic pomp justifying those Morricone comparisons on what was their debut Irish live outing. The array of instruments deployed outnumbered band members by at least two to one, and Tamer Animals highlights like 'Dust Bowl III' and 'For 12' really came into their own despite the overcrowding onstage. They even closed proceedings with a sweeping Leonard Cohen cover, sending us off into the night with a touch of class.

Toting a more straight-up pop sheen, local four-piece Gypsies on The Autobahn had earlier opened the night with a highly polished set. The Cabra band have apparently been hard at work in the studio of late, and that certainly showed in the tightness of a performance that will no doubt have won them plenty of new fans. Look out for fresh material on the way from these guys, who could very well blow up in the not-too-distant future.

Colm Kelly somehow managed to avoid getting any of The Academy 2's loathsome pillars in his photos from the gig - click on any of the thumbnail images below to view a slideshow of his shots.

Other Lives are still in the middle of a lengthy European tour, towards the end of which you can catch them at London's St. Giles-in-The-Fields Church (November 21) and Audio in Brighton (November 22). They've also just been announced as the support act for the first leg of Radiohead's spring US tour. Gypsies on The Autobahn, meanwhile, have a gig coming up at Captains Live in Blanchardstown, Dublin this coming Saturday (November 12).

Dublin girl/boy sextet little xs for eyes generated plenty of buzz recently following their show-stealing headline set on the opening night of this year's Hard Working Class Heroes festival. Since then they've gone and put out a debut LP, which they launched the other week with a hometown gig at The Sugar Club on Lower Leeson Street.

S.A.D., the aptly-titled (for this time of year) record in question, is a pleasant mix of laidback harmonies and multi-instrumental saunters: think a less earnest Camera Obscura, or a (much) less addled Architecture In Helsinki - only nowhere near as saccharine or twee as that description probably sounds. Try it before you buy it right now over on their Bandcamp page, where you can avail of a free download of infectious lead single 'In The Light'.

Homegrown support for the launch show came from Aaron Page's lavish folk project Water Cycle – who themselves have just dropped a debut full-length – and "Portmarnock's finest", The SeaSharps, who were hands down the best eleven-piece Barbershop vocal group Ragged Words caught live that particular week.

Flick through a gallery featuring Mark Earley's shots of all three acts by clicking on any of the thumbnails below.

Upcoming dates-wise, we're not quite sure about little xs for eyes (or The SeaSharps, for that matter!), but Water Cycle have a full-band album launch show of their own coming up at Dublin's Grand Social on November 23.

They say there ain't no party like an S Club a tieranniesaur party, and that's exactly what went down at Dublin's Grand Social recently. The indie pop misfits played a long-overdue hometown headline show in support of their still-brill self-titled debut LP - which is still streaming over on their Bandcamp page, by the way.

Support on the night came from local singer-songwriter Joshua Golding and not-long-formed Galwegian outfit The Debutantes. Sasha Bond grabbed some cool photos of the gig for us, which you can check out below (spontaneous crowd dance-offs just out of shot!).

Aussie electropop merchants Cut Copy pretty much have the euphoric dance anthem thing down to a fine art at this stage, and the band's recent Button Factory show did a fine job of joining the dots between their two most recent albums: 2008's breakout In Ghost Colours and this year's more dayglo-sounding Zonoscope. A decade into their career, the Melbourne quartet now have an embarrassment of live anthems at their disposal - it's almost a case of what songs they can afford to leave out of their set. Relentless touring has also given Dan Whitford and co. plenty of practice at mastering the art of onstage posturing, and their Dublin fans were duly treated to a full repertoire of hands-in-the-air shape-throwing, along with some impressive synchronised drum solos.

Local glow stick-endorsers Le Galaxie – themselves no strangers to a TUNE or two – did an admirable job of warming the crowd up; don't be surprised if the Dubliners succeed in reaching a Cut Copy-level of popularity in the not-too-distant future.

Mark Earley hovered around the venue snapping a variety of photos of both acts - click on any of the thumbnail images below to load a slideshow of his shots.

Charismatic wordsmith Yoni Wolf brought his WHY? acoustic piano tour to Dublin's Button Factory recently, airing stripped-back versions of songs from the band's as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2009's Eskimo Snow LP. Wolf had his brother, sister and good pal (and labelmate) David Cohn, bka Serengeti, in tow for what proved to be a thoroughly entertaining night.

Sasha Bond got out of her seat to take a few photos of both acts - simply click on any of the thumnail images below to view a slideshow of her shots. After that, head over here to read what Brian Cash made of it all.

Some suitably bleary shots from Nightflight's recent takeover of Bodytonic's POGO night at The Twisted Pepper. There was plenty of action in both of the main rooms: Berlin-based Irishman The Drifter warmed the Basement crowd up nicely, before Spanish house don John Talabot took over the reins for two hours of uplifting tunes. Upstairs on The Stage, meanwhile, veteran disco fetishist Daniel Wang kept the dancefloor busy with a pumping set.

Mark Earley stayed on the Lucozade for long enough to grab a gallery's worth of pics - click on any of the thumbnail images below to load a full slideshow.

Dubliners would do well to hit up POGO again this Saturday night for a live headline set from Bedroom Community stalwart Nathan Fake. That same night, but on the other side of The Liffey, the Nightflight crew will be taking over POD for an access-all-areas bill topped by Canadian piano house revivalists Azari & III [WIN TICKETS].

Living proof that 'harmonic' and 'lo-fi' need not be mutually exclusive terms, London boy/girl quartet Veronica Falls last week launched their excellent self-titled debut LP with a chock-full hometown show at The Lexington. That record is still streaming in full over on Stereogum - you can listen to it as you peruse Richard Gray's pics below from what was a cracking night.

There's also a handful of shots of shoegaze revivalists Echo Lake, who opened proceedings with a (heavily-reverbed) bang. Veronica Falls are set to support Dum Dum Girls on their UK tour next month - go here for a full list of dates. Click on any of the thumbnails below, meanwhile, to load a slideshow of Richard's photos from last week's gig.

German electro titans Modeselektor rocked up to Dublin's Button Factory recently for a show in support of their brand new third album, Monkeytown - their first studio LP for four years, and the debut release on their own imprint of the same name. Little wonder, then, that the venue was rammed pretty much to capacity for what was arguably the highlight of ChoiceCuts' inaugural Rhythm Weekender.

The Berlin duo were intent on keeping punters waiting a little while longer, however, and the sight of an empty stage for two hours (there was no support act) grinded the gears of many in attendance. When Messrs. Bronsert and Szary did eventually appear, though, all was quickly forgiven as the pair unleashed a frantic mix of tribal beats and sinister techno, with on-the-money versions of Monkeytown material predictably to the fore.

Sasha Bond waded through a sea of sweat and flailing limbs to grab a few shots from the front row. To view a mini-slideshow of her photos, simply click on any of the thumbnails below.

Well-travelled indie rockers Herman Dune rolled up to London's Union Chapel last week, having only recently visited the slightly less hallowed surrounds of East London haunt XOYO. The Franco-Swiss duo – who call on the the bass-playing skills of long-time friend Ben Pleng for live shows – now call Portland, Oregon home, and their recent Strange Moosic LP for Fortuna POP! was hailed in some circles as being their finest outing to date.

No surprise, then, that a faithful midweek congregation gathered in Islington for what was the opening night of the band's UK tour. Joining them at the pulpit were native Portlanders Sean Flinn & The Royal We, whose polished twee pop set the scene quite nicely. You can check out Anni Timms' shots of both bands below, before going here to read her front-pew verdict on the headliners' set.

Harmonic Aussie rockers Cloud Control have been touring the bejaysus out of their debut album Bliss Release, steadily recruiting new fans in each city they've passed through. That album scooped this year's Australian Music Prize back in March, and the band's recent headline set at Phantom FM's First Friday night in Dublin's Academy was actually their fourth live appearance in the capital in the space of twelve months. These guys have been paying their dues, you might say.

Rounding out the bill on the night were woefully undervalued indie tykes Pete and The Pirates along with soulful locals This Club (fka Hoarsebox). To view a slideshaow of Mark Earley's shots of all three acts, simply click on any of the thumbnail images below.

Being forced to scale down at the eleventh hour from The Olympia's regal setting to the decidedly more mundane confines of The Academy would bruise the ego of many a musician, but any slight certainly didn't show when Tom Barman's crew took to the stage on Middle Abbey St. last Wednesday night.

Old favourite 'Instant Street' not only reminded any Frames fans in the audience just how close Glen Hansard & co. came to actually becoming dEUS, but simultaneously set the Belgians apart from their Dublin compadres with a more colourful take on how a wild, hazy wall of guitars and violin should be built.

Following a lengthy set – mostly made up of more recent tunes, chief among which were Keep You Close cuts 'Constant Now', 'Ghost' and subtle spoken-word piece 'The End of Romance' – which compensated for the lack of a support act, the close-to-capacity crowd weren't quite sated by the band's industry standard, 'walk off and straight back on'-style three-song encore, which featured more old gold in the shape of 'Sister Dew' (another reminder of Barman's influence on The Frames).

On the contrary, they stomped, clapped and chanted until the band reappeared to offer one last low-key lullaby, while security began glancing uncomfortably at their watches. This, after all, was a Wednesday night, and 'the yoof' were already starting to pile in to the venue, demanding their weekly dose of NME favourites as opposed to some well-aged Belgian rock.

To view a slideshow of Colm Kelly's photos from last week's gig, simply click on any of the thumbnail images below.

Two back-to-back nights in London, two distinctly different Iron & Wine shows. While Anni Timms' photo gallery shows Sam Beam in full-band mode at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire last week, Michael James Hall's review of the singer's acoustic (but not quite solo) set at Hackney Empire the night before highlights the pared-back beauty of I&W's material.

As you can see, Anni arrived in W12 in plenty of time to snap opening act Fujiya & Miyagi also. To view a slideshow of her shots from the gig, simply click on any of the thumbnail images below.

Bombay Bicyle Club in action recently along with fellow Londoners Dry The River at Manchester's O2 Apollo, as seen through the lens of Duncan Elliott. The final leg of the band's current UK tour visits Nottingham and London this week (full details here).

Earlier that same week, we sent Steven Crossley along to catch BBC's all-ages show at Sheffield's O2 Academy. Read what he made of their performance here.

With the majority of punters not having to worry about work the following morning, Friday night was always going to be when HWCH 2011 really got the party started. Having said that, it wasn't all glowstick-fuelled hijinks (more on that later) by the banks of The Liffey: the evening also served up generous helpings of country-tinged pop (in the shape of Donegal's Clubfoot), multi-instrumental folk (courtesy of Mackerel The Cat) and brooding post-punk (from local outfit Zealots).

But the middle night of this year's fest was all about sweaty, smiley fun. Mischievous shape-throwers Grand Pocket Orchestra delighted a packed Workman's Club with their ramshackle art-pop outbursts, while local heroes Squarehead and Enemies closed out a triumphant Richter Collective Vs. DMS Ireland party over at The Button Factory with sleek blasts of garage pop goodness and dance-inducing math rock, respectively. Back at The Workman's, electro loons Le Galaxie – who recently launched their Laserdisc Nights 2 LP at the same venue – incited a mini-rave with a commanding headline set of synth filth and hands-in-the-air abandon. Tunes like 'Orion' and 'Midnight Midnight' already have the feel of five-star live anthems, and this is one band who clearly have the kahunas to pull it all off. Oh, and we're pretty sure there were glowsticks at one point too. Did we mention the glowsticks?!?...

It wasn't just the HWCH bands who were playing a stormer, however: our (very) hard-working photographer Colm Kelly managed to snap close to a dozen bands over the course of the night. To view a bumper gallery of his shots, simply click on any of the thumbnail images below.

Go here to check out our coverage from day one of this year's Hard Working Class Heroes festival

Cinematic dream poppers Still Corners launched their debut album, Creatures of An Hour (currently streaming over on Sub Pop's SoundCloud page), with an intimate Monday night show at Dalston's Café OTO. While at times on the night the band – which centres around the interplay between chief songwriter Greg Hughes and singer Tessa Murray – may have struggled slightly to translate their expansive, reverb-heavy sound, it was nevertheless hard not to fall for the seductive charms of songs like 'The White Season', 'Endless Summer' and recent lead single 'Cuckoo'. As winter approaches, you could do worse than draw the curtains and settle down with a copy of Creatures... for company.

Opening act The Luyas presented an altogether more intriguing proposition. Armed to the teeth with all manner of instruments – including a French horn, a Moodswinger (Google it!) and vast banks of keyboards – the Dead Oceans-signed Canadians certainly weren't intent on simply going through the support-slot motions. Their confident, energetic set drew heavily from February's shapeshifting Too Beautiful to Work LP, and left our photographer Tim Ferguson wanting more.

To view a slideshow of Tim's shots of both bands, simply click on any of the thumbnails below.

Atlanta, GA rockers Manchester Orchestra played a handful of dates across The UK last week - a trek that included an obligatory stopover in the city that gave them their name. RW snapper Anni Timms managed to catch the last show of the tour at London's KOKO, where she found frontman Andy Hull and co. in suitably high spirits. The band have grown in stature with each album release, to the point that most of the punters inside KOKO on Friday night sang along to every word from recently-released LP number three, Simple Math.

Support for all five UK dates came from Scottish trio The Xcerts, who themselves seem to have cultivated a loyal following on the back of two full-lengths.

To view a slideshow of Anni's shots from a raucous night in NW1, simply click on any of the thumbnail images below.

There's intimate, and then there's an Alela Diane gig in a London church that's believed to date back to the 4th century. The Portland-based singer – who earlier this year signed to Rough Trade for her third LP, April's Alela Diane & Wild Divine – counts both her husband and father as guitarists in her backing band. Add to that cosy little arrangement the fact that Diane's deftly-crafted brand of elemental folk has the ability to cut through the night air and stop you in your tracks, and you've got one hell of an atmospheric show.

So you can forgive our photographer Richard Gray for not wanting to intrude too much last week. The handful of shots he did manage to capture, though, bear witness to what was a special evening in a truly enchanting venue. Simply click on any of the thumbnail images below to view a slideshow of Richard's photos.

HWCH 2011 came charging out of the blocks last Thursday evening, with a diverse bill of acts all looking to showcase their wares and gain new fans across half a dozen Dublin venues. Now in its ninth year, the festival has grown to become the biggest annual shop window for emerging Irish bands in search of some added exposure and perhaps even a management or record deal (the audience each year is normally littered with label representatives and festival bookers).

This year's lineup was nothing if not eclectic, with Thursday night alone offering everything from the giddy boy/girl harmonies of little xs for eyes to an atmospheric exercise in piano minimalism from Mayo native Conor Walsh; from the brazen, high-energy assault of Dublin duo We Cut Corners (who stole the show at the Today FM Vs. 2FM gig in The Button Factory) to the high-camp electro hooks of Bitches With Wolves.

There was a little something for everyone, then, on the opening night, and our busy photographer Colm Kelly managed to snap all of the above and plenty more besides. Simply click on any of the thumbnail images below to view a gallery of his shots.

Go here to check out our coverage from day two of this year's Hard Working Class Heroes festival

The stately surrounds of London's Bush Hall served as an ideal port of call last week for the first night of Marissa Nadler's autumn European tour. The singer has managed to quietly amass a rich back catalogue across the guts of a decade, the latest entry being June's self-released (and self-titled) full-length. Her breathy dream folk and vivid portraits of love lost and found were perfectly suited to the venue's velvet-trimmed intimacy, and her repeated thanking of the crowd for their rapt attention seemed every bit as heartfelt as her songs. Her plaintive cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Famous Blue Raincoat' (from 2007's Songs III: Bird on The Water LP) was one of several highlights during a set that provided more than its fair share of goosebump-inducing moments. Look out for a forthcoming four-track EP from Nadler entitled Rain Arrangement when it arrives towards the end of the year.

Well-travelled New Yorker Cat Martino had earlier gotten the evening under way with a beguiling set that drew in equal measure from her forthcoming Yr Not Alone album and 2009's The Sea Closet. With the aid of a loop pedal, the sometime Sufjan Stevens collaborator deftly constructed a wall of swirling harmonies and instrumental flourishes that set off her voice to striking effect. One to keep an eye on for sure.

The pair continue their Euro tour all this week - go here for a full list of dates. To view a gallery of Richard Gray's shots from last week's London show, simply click on any of the thumbnails below.

Nerina Pallot brought her sophisticated brand of adult pop to Manchester's Academy 2 on Tuesday night, where she delivered a relaxed and intimate performance showcasing songs from June's Year of The Wolf LP. The Jersey-bred songstress was full of chat and smiles between songs, as you can see from Duncan Elliott's photos below.

Earlier in the evening, promising Welsh songwriter Jodie Marie had done a good job of warming up the crowd with a strikingly assured set that sounded every bit as country-pop as her own name. Marie – who has been working in the studio with Bernard Butler of late, and is about to head off on a European tour supporting Jonathan Jeremiah – has a new single (appropriately titled 'On The Road') out now on Verve Records.

As always, simply click on any of the thumbnail images below to load a slideshow.

Psychedelic whimsy, and lots of it, was the order of the day on Middle Abbey Street earlier this week, as Gruff Rhys parked his Hotel Shampoo roadshow at Dublin's Academy. Perhaps surprisingly, the bulk of Monday night's set was actually made up of pre-HS material, but it hardly mattered as the Super Furry Animals frontman and his Y Niwl backing band brought the tunes and banter in equal measure. Trippy visuals played throughout, with Gruff interspersing his "sunshine pop" numbers with half-remembered anecdotes and giant homemade placards urging the crowd to give 'APPLAUSE' or 'WOAH!'.

Musical highlights came in the shape of 'Pwdin Ŵy (1 & 2)', from his pun-infested Welsh-language solo debut, Yr Atal Genhedlaeth, along with the gorgeous title track from 2007's Candylion LP, and recent single 'Sensations in The Dark' from this year's offering. 'If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme)', meanwhile, showed itself to be a hidden gem, proving that, despite being some twenty years into his career, the singer has lost none of his knack for heartwarming balladry. We also got to hear bouncy forthcoming single 'Whale Trail' - a tune penned specifically for the soundtrack to an iPhone game of the same name, no less. Never one to shy away from a bit of self-indulgence, Rhys chose to end with a fifteen-minute ramble through 'Skylon!', Candylion's meandering closing track, which (he reminded us) tells the tale of a mid-air standoff between a bomb-disposal expert, a TV actress and a lone hijacker. That will have explained those airplane seats onstage then!

Earlier in the evening, Y Niwl had warmed the crowd up with songs from their recent self-titled debut album - including this season's BBC Football Focus theme tune, 'Undegpedwar' (there's your Welsh band trivia sorted for the day!). Fiona Diffley checked in early doors to bring us some shots of both bands; simply click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow of her photos.

Double A-side single 'Space Dust #2' / 'Whale Trail' is released on 12" vinyl and download at the end of this month. Gruff Rhys and Y Niwl are on tour across The UK for another week (full list of dates here).

Kooky songstress Beth Jeans Houghton – back from a sabbatical in L.A., and now signed to Mute – gave Londoners a preview of tracks from her long-awaited debut LP, Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose (due out in January), with a recent midweek show at N1 hangout The Lexington. We weren't quite sure what to make of that 'hip-hop Tigger' stage attire, but her set, which was deftly augmented by her Hooves of Destiny backing band, certainly showed plenty of promise.

Click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow of Richard Gray's shots from the gig, which also includes a handful of local support bands Amber States and The Great Hereafter. And head on over here to find out how the night went in the words of Adrian Cross.

There was a celebratory mood inside The Button Factory on Saturday night, as local heroes Jape launched their new Ocean of Frequency LP with a typically uplifting and energetic set. Those who got there early were treated to an(other) impressive turn from rising electronic talent Moths, followed by fellow locals Goodtime – minus the 'John' these days – who previewed tunes from their forthcoming The Colours of Darkness album, which is due out early next month.

But it was all about Richie Egan and his band, who were unsurprisingly full of smiles and banter. Ocean of Frequency is growing on us with each listen (look out for a review in the coming days), and hearing the new songs live certainly helped put meat on the bones of some of the record's more nuanced moments. Not that it was all new stuff, mind: Ritual standouts 'Strike Me Down' and 'I Was A Man' have never stomped so hard, while the obligatory mass singalong of breakout anthem 'Floating' was hands-in-the-air great as per usual. A surprise highlight arrived in the shape of recent acoustic B-side 'Lying on A Deathbed' ("...a song about growing up in Crumlin"), which brought a dollop of poignancy to proceedings – despite the best efforts of some nattering gobshites down the front to sabotage the moment.

If karma is anything more than just an abstract, wishful-thinking concept, then Ocean of Frequency deserves to be huge. It's out now across all formats, so go buy it – after you've checked out our slideshow of Mark Earley's shots from Saturday's gig below.

Mercury Prize-nominated MC Ghostpoet kept the post-weekend blues at bay with a lively and upbeat set at Whelans on Monday night. Although his Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam LP confronts serious themes of hardship and existential angst, the charismatic rapper's energy and wit ensured the tone was defiant rather than desolate, with the likes of 'Survive It', 'Us Against Whatever Ever' and the superb 'Cash & Carry Me Home' assuming an almost anthemic quality.

Support on the night came from precocious local beatsmith Jack Colleran (aka Moths), whose labyrinthine, loop-filled set offered further signs of what you might call a signature sound – an admirable feat for a producer still in his teens, and with only a handful of gigs under his belt. Colm Kelly snapped both acts for us, and you can check out a slideshow of his shots by clicking on any of the thumbnails below.

It's hard for even diehard Emeralds fans to keep pace with the band's frantically prolific rate of output. Having notched up some forty separate releases in little more than half a decade, the ambient drone trio are one of the most hyperproductive forces in music today, constantly looking to refine and manipulate their expansive sonic palette.

Last year's Does It Look Like I'm Here? LP was arguably their first disc to flirt, however remotely, with conventional song structures (not to mention track lengths). On Saturday night, however, Whelans played host to a set comprised mostly of brand new material from the Clevelanders – a reminder, if one were needed, that these guys have no intention of letting the grass grow under their feet. Sasha Bond bore witness to the band's dense cocoon of noise, and you can view a slideshow of her shots from the gig by clicking on any of the thumbnail images below.

Former Grand Drive frontman Danny Wilson brought his Champions of The World band – which counts members of Americana also-rans Goldrush in its ranks – to London's Bush Hall last week in support of their recently-released third LP Hearts & Arrows. That record's lead single 'You Don't Know (My Heart Is in The Right Place)' certainly packs a punch live, and Wilson showed he still has a tight grasp of melody with a meaty set in the vein of kindred spirits Drive-By Truckers (and, more obviously, Bruce Springsteen) in its no-nonsense approach to rocking out.

Support on the night came from local blues rocker (and brand new dad) Marcus Bonfanti, and you can view a slideshow of Anni Timms' shots of both acts below.

Prolific folk conservationist Sam Amidon brought his 'I See The Sign AV Show' to Dublin's Sugar Club recently, with support on the night coming from rising homegrown talent Elaine Mai. The Bedroom Community singer's Irish tour continues throughout the rest of this week, with dates in Cork City (tonight), Clonakilty (tomorrow) and Galway (Friday) – full details here.

You can view a slideshow of Mark Earley's shots from the Dublin gig below, and read what Paul Harrington made of what turned out to be a rather unusual performance over here.

Photogenic Aussie quartet Howling Bells delivered their third LP, The Loudest Engine, a fortnight ago, and promptly set off on a six-date UK tour to promote it. Last week's Manchester gig was the last night of that trek, and our photographer Duncan Elliott was there to capture the occasion. The album's lead single 'Into The Sky' provided one of several highlights of what was a highly polished set, the band's moody guitar crunch perfectly pitched against Juanita Stein's crystalline vocals.

Those who made it through the Academy 3 doors a little early were treated to a promising opening set from enigmatic 'doom soul' outfit Cold Specks. Based around the visceral singing voice of Canadian-born Londoner Al Spx, the band have recently been working on a debut album alongside PJ Harvey and Anna Calvi producer Rob Ellis, and are about to release their debut single 'Holland' (b/w 'Old Stepstone') via brand new Transgressive offshoot paradYse Records. You can catch Cold Specks live again on October 17 when they launch said single with a gig at London's St. Pancras Old Church.

Playing their first hometown show in six years, a reenergised (and slightly reconfigured) Whipping Boy took to the stage of Dublin's Academy late on Saturday night to perform their breakout 1995 LP Heartworm in its entirety. A devout following greeted the band like heroes, and the heady mix of nostalgia and spectacle made this a night of stage dives, mass singalongs and fists in the air.

As you can see from Colm Kelly's photos below, exuberant frontman Fearghal McKee still has stage presence and showmanship to spare, and his arrival onstage riding an old push bike was soon trumped by some bizarre choices of headgear (mirrored crash helmet, anyone?!?). Perhaps most importantly, the band all seemed to be having a ball, and there was a star turn from the uber-talented Vyvienne Long on cello. Support on the night came from local blues rock outfit Cold Comfort. Click on any of the thumbnails below to view a slideshow of Colm's shots.

Squarehead launched their debut album in style at a sweaty Workman's Club over the weekend, with a little help from friends and fellow noise merchants We Are Losers and Logikparty.

Go and buy Yeah Nothing today if you haven't already done so, and then tell all of your friends on Bebo to do the same. After you've had a butcher's at Sasha Bond's snaps from the launch gig below, that is. Who knew check shirts were in, eh?!?

Squarehead have a handful of UK dates coming up this week, before they return to Ireland for more hometown shows next month. You can obtain precise details of all this carry-on by clicking on this blue writing.

Erika M. Anderson has a new single out today, and last week saw the former Gowns frontwoman play her first ever solo UK headline shows. Wednesday night's stopover at Cargo was a sellout, with Anderson turning in a brilliantly vitriolic, warts 'n' all performance before an excited crowd. This is an artist with serious range: from the bruised delicacy of set-opener 'Marked' to the all-out noise assault of 'Milkman' – a track that flopped its fringe at the singer's drone-folk past – and right through to alt-anthem-in-waiting 'California', EMA flitted with ease between breathy intimacy and raucous shredding (check out her recent in-yer-face Nirvana cover for further evidence of the latter). It was all carried off with no shortage of ballsy confidence and confrontational banter ("Do you like my pants?", she glibly asked the Shoreditch faithful at one point), culminating in her now-signature mock hanging pose with the mic cord. If you missed her this time around, then be sure to catch one of the shows of the year when EMA returns to these shores as opening act for her Souterrain Transmissions labelmate Zola Jesus in late November.
 
An honourable mention must go to support act WATERS – the alias of former Port O'Brien lead singer Van Pierszalowski – who also impressed, building on the promise already shown during another recent support slot in the capital. Go stream the Californian's debut LP, Out In The Light, over on Spinner, after you've checked out Anni Timms' photos from last week's gig below.

Talent-spotted on the streets of New York by TV on The Radio's Kyp Malone, blogged about by Adele and recent tourmate of both Wild Beasts and James Blake – it's fair to say these are busy times for Florida-born multi-instrumentalist Marques Toliver. Last week the 24 year-old played to a packed house at Notting Hill's elegant Tabernacle venue, where he and his ensemble of backing musicians lit up the stage with a giddy blend of classical, R&B and soul. The singer has just posted a video from the gig on his tumblr, which gives a sharp introduction to his retro-tinged harmonies and natural showmanship. According to our photographer Richard Gray, there were no shortage of music industry suits in attendance, so don't be surprised if you start hearing a lot more about Mr. Oliver in the not-too-distant future.

Support on the night came from local crooner Jamie N Commons and former Bat for Lashes band member Caroline Weeks. You can view a slideshow of Richard's shots of all three acts by clicking on any of the thumbnails below.

Purveyors of pristine electropop Miracle Fortress stopped off at Dublin's Crawdaddy last weekend on the latest leg of their European tour in support of recently-released second LP Was I The Wave?.
 
You can view a slideshow of Sasha Bond's photos of Canadian Robin Van Pelt and bandmates by clicking on any of the thumbnails below. To read what Tim Groenland made of the gig, head on over here.

Day three of any music festival has a way of sorting out the men from the boys, the hardened festival veterans from the novice first-timers. Of course, when the weather behaves itself it makes things easier for everyone, and the Sunday of this year's End of The Road thankfully brought yet more sunshine and dry conditions to Larmer Tree Gardens.

As well as keeping the paying punters happy, the weather seemed to have a warming effect on many of the acts performing: as Richard Gray's photo gallery below shows, there were smiles aplenty from late afternoon acts Tinariwen and The Leisure Society – hell, even Mmes. Marling and Newsom got in on the act as the evening progressed. The likes of dream poppers Wild Nothing and locals Brakes, meanwhile, kept things a bit moodier under canvas on The Big Top Stage. All in all, then, a strong finish to a pleasantly mud-free weekend that seems to grow in stature year on year. Click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow of Richard's shots – and don't forget to check out his snaps from Friday and Saturday while you're at it.

John Grant's star is firmly in the ascendancy following last year's critically-adored Queen of Denmark LP. Fans of the former Czars frontman are tonight treated to something a bit special, as the singer's close friends (not to mention backing band during Queen...'s recording) Midlake take to the stage alongside him for a special one-off Festival Hall show. While Grant's self-deprecating between-song banter may bring smiles to faces, his songs are, for the most part, devastatingly sad. Audience tears certainly aren't in short supply throughout the vast arena, the more so when the Denver native takes to the piano to showcase a handful of brand new solo numbers. The atmosphere remains little short of spine-tingling from start to finish, and a richly-deserved standing ovation eventually sends this truly gifted performer off into the night.

Grant's Bella Union labelmates Lanterns on The Lake kick off proceedings this evening, and the sextet's soothingly cinematic indie doesn't fail to impress – look out for debut album Gracious Tide, Take Me Home when it arrives next week. By her own admission, Anni Timms is part fangirl, part photographer for the night; check out her shots from a highly memorable gig by clicking on any of the thumbnails below.

Having been forced on doctor's orders to cancel a bunch of European tour dates earlier in the year, Swedish folk trio JUNIP were given a warm welcome at their rescheduled Dublin show last Friday. The Gothenburg-based outfit – fronted by breakout solo performer (and Sony-endorsing cover artist) José González – have been a going concern for more than a decade now, but for whatever reason only got around to releasing debut album Fields late last year.

Unsuprisingly, it was songs from that record that made up the bulk of Friday's set, the band combining jazz elements, African rhythms and Krautrock textures with folky introspection to great effect. Support on the night came from East Londoner James Mathe, aka Barbarossa. You can view a slideshow of Colm Kelly's photos from the front row in Whelans by clicking on any of the thumbnails below.

Polly Jean Harvey was clad in serene white on Tuesday night as she collected the second Mercury Prize of her distinguished career, this time for album number eight, the uncompromisingly brilliant Let England Shake. Last night in Manchester the singer cut an altogether more foreboding figure, dressed in mournful black from head to toe. Added to the frugal stage lighting and understated backing of her (excellent) band – not to mention the absence of any support act – the overall mood was one of solemn foreboding, more in keeping with the album's prevailing themes of war and brutality than with any hint of victory lap celebrations.
 
To the delight of a packed Apollo crowd, she delivered a near-flawless set that unsurprisingly drew heavily from LES, before returning for a three-song encore of oldies: 'Angelene', the opening track from 1998's Is This Desire? LP, along with 'The Piano' and 'Silence' from 2007's White Chalk. The truth is she could have played all night and no one would have complained, such is the level of this artist's (in the truest sense of that word) thoroughly-deserved popularity. Our photographer Duncan Elliott was on hand to capture some stunning shots of Ms. Harvey and co. from right up close – simply click on any of the thumbnails below to view a slideshow of his photos.

The strength-in-depth philosophy of End of The Road's bookers was once again borne out by the quality of acts playing the Saturday of this year's festival. From recent blog-approved names like Canadian new wavers Austra to the more established likes of Matthew Houck's Phosphorescent and San Fran space rockers Wooden Shjips, there was no shortage of quality to be had on day two in Larmer Tree Gardens.
 
The British contingent also did themselves proud, and our photographer Richard Gray witnessed stellar sets from folk siblings The Unthanks, perennial indie faves Wild Beasts and moonlighting Super Furries commander-in-chief Gruff Rhys, whose mix of whimsical wordplay and laidback melodies proved a winning formula in the evening sunshine. Elsewhere, psychedelic Texans The Black Angels darkened the mood somewhat over on The Big Top Stage, before main headliners Mogwai brought the night to a suitably thunderous close, much to the distress of any nearby livestock no doubt. To view a slideshow of Richard's shots from Saturday, simply click on any of the thumbnail images below.

The sun shone on day one of last weekend's End of The Road Festival in leafy North Dorset, as the three-day jamboree – now in its sixth year – got up and running in front of an estimated ten thousand revellers. Friday's lineup represented almost all points along the 'noise' spectrum: from the blistering sonic assault of HEALTH and Bo Ningen to the melancholy pop of Lykke Li, via the brilliantly deranged genre-hopping of tUnE-yArDs' Merrill Garbus and the leftfield indie of newly-rejuvenated Brooklynites Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
 
As darkness fell over Larmer Tree Gardens, it was left to Zach Condon and his Beirut cohorts to close out proceedings on The Woods Stage, and the folk fusionists certainly didn't disappoint. Showcasing songs from The Rip Tide, their just-released third LP, the band's soothing mix of muted brass and sprightly Balkan rhythms, coupled with Condon's trademark world-weary croon, made for an ideal end to a wonderful opening day. Click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow of Richard Gray's photos from day one.

Californian crowd-pleasers Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros brought their infectious, euphoric blend of indie and folk to Dublin's Button Factory for a sold-out midweek show. Armed with upbeat tunes like 'Desert Song', 'Brother', 'Carries On' and 'Home', it's hardly surprising that the ten-piece collective seem to have a knack for bringing smiles to faces wherever they go.
 
There were high-fives all round from frontman Alex Ebert as he proceeded to make several forays into the crowd, his band's enthusiasm and energy being lapped up by the hardcore fans down the front. Support on the night came from local lad Ivan St John, and our very own local lad Mark Earley was on hand with his camera lens to bring you these photos. Simply click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow of Mark's shots.

With the band's landmark 1994 Bakesale LP having recently been reissued, lo-fi legends Sebadoh have been making a timely return to Europe this month, playing their first UK dates for more than three years in the process. Slacker nostalgia hung heavy in the Camden air on Monday night as Messrs. Barlow and Loewenstein – along with recent recruit Bob D'Amico on drums – tore through an unsurprisingly Bakesale-heavy set in front of a rapturous Ballroom crowd.

Our photographer Sara Amroussi-Gilissen was down the front early on, and the fruits of her labour can be viewed below. As well as snapping the headliners, she also managed to grab a handful of shots of local support acts Dead Slow and A Grave With No Name. Click on any of the thumbnails to launch a slideshow of Sara's photos.

Dublin's Grand Social was packed to the rafters on Saturday night for the debut Irish outing from chillwave pace-setter Washed Out. Atlanta native Ernest Greene has brought his live game up a few notches since first appearing on the hype radar in late 2009. This current tour sees him playing with a more or less full backing band, which makes for a jarringly different sound from the lo-fi synthpop he produces on record. The results certainly take a bit of getting used to, and we weren't the only ones left scratching our heads slightly inside the heaving venue.

The evening opened with a soothing set from Great Lakes Mystery, while performance of the night arguably came from Solar Bears, the local duo's vivid electronica and teeth-rattling low end now a serious force to be reckoned with in a live setting. Check out Colm Kelly's slideshow of shots from the gig by clicking on any of the thumbnails below.

Folk was the order of the day up in Marlay Park the Sunday before last, as latter-day first lady of the genre Joanna Newsom topped a high-quality bill as part of MCD's ongoing @ The Park concert series. The evening also featured a rare Irish appearance from prolific Pentangle founder, and bona fide folk legend, Bert Jansch, as well as highly-regarded local singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow (RW unfortunately got there too late to catch Scot Alasdair Roberts' opening set).

Even in the flesh, Newsom and her songs remain an acquired taste, and her headline performance under the marquee was at once intoxicating and frustratingly shy of out-and-out greatness. Mark Earley stayed on track throughout the night to bring us the following shots from down the front:

Clearly firm believers in giving the people what they want, Villagers continue to tour the hind legs off their critically-lauded Becoming A Jackal LP. The weekend before last, the band had a date under canvas in The Wicklow Mountains as part of MCD's new @ The Park concert series. The fact that everyone's favourite dream pop duo, Beach House, were second on the bill reflects just how far Conor O'Brien and co. have come since that debut first surfaced a little over a year ago - a journey that's been helped in no small part by a clutch of award nominations and levels of radio play most bands spend half a career working towards.

Saturday evening saw the local lads deliver a typically assured set in front of an adoring audience; they even broke out several brand new tracks, which seemed to slot in very nicely alongside now-old favourites like 'Twenty Seven Strangers' and 'The Meaning of The Ritual'. Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally weren't half-bad either, according to our photographer Mark Earley (the pair "love playing Dublin" apparently). Click below to view a slideshow of Mark's shots from inside the big top.

A dizzyingly diverse lineup of acts was assembled by curators Portishead to play last weekend's inaugural UK staging of ATP's I'll Be Your Mirror jamboree. Some of the highlights from day one in North London - including sets from Foot Village, BEAK>, DOOM, The Books, Thought Forms and specially-reformed hip hop dons Company Flow - were photographed for us by Tim Ferguson, as of course was Beth Gibbons and co.'s memorable headline performance.

Click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow of Tim's awesome shots from last Saturday.

Thirty years on from their inception, Tom Tom Club's music continues to exert a massive influence, the band's playful use of rhythm and proto-dance stylings having inspired everyone from James Murphy to The xx. So much so, in fact, that you have to remind yourself that Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth only started the group as a side project during downtime from their day jobs in Talking Heads.
 
There were dance-offs aplenty inside Vicar Street last Friday as the band thrilled a disappointingly sparse crowd with bona fide classics like 'Wordy Rappinghood' and the frequently-sampled 'Genius of Love', as well as a set-closing version of Talking Heads' 'Psycho Killer'. Support on the night came from local Fisher Price funk outfit - and self-confessed TTC superfans - tieranniesaur, whose self-titled debut LP (out this week) has been picking up rave reviews. Check out both bands in action below, as seen through the lens of Mark Earley.

There wasn't much time for hanging about down at XOYO last week, as three bands with more in common than not took to the stage of the East London venue. First up were Mazes, whose snappy channelling of '90s college rock got things off to a brisk start. Bella Union-signed quartet Veronica Falls then managed to rise above various technical problems and give an impressive account of themselves, their assured grasp of bittersweet pop boding well for an autumn-due debut album. 

But it was Cassie, Katy and Fiona - better known as Vivian Girls - who really lit up the night, romping through a set that RW photographer Anni Timms described as "energetic, engaging and furiously fast". You can check out a slideshow of Anni's shots of all three acts by clicking below.

Louisville's finest (and hairiest) psychedelic rockers My Morning Jacket brought their famed live show to an unseasonably damp Somerset House the weekend before last. A standalone UK headline show in support of recent sixth album Circuital saw Jim James and co. flesh out the bulk of that record, while also serving up a reminder of just why their live reputation is so strong by airing a selection of old crowd favourites. Seattle indie folk sextet The Head and The Heart opened proceedings - as they had done for The Low Anthem's London show back in April - and neither band needed to worry about having a wind machine close at hand, such were the blustery conditions down by The Thames.
 
Anni Timms photographed both acts for us - you can view a slideshow of her images by clicking on any of the thumbnails below.

Californian punk-folk duo Two Gallants kicked off a brief UK tour with a brace of sold-out shows at Hoxton's Bar & Kitchen earlier in the week. Back on the road following a two-year hiatus, Adam Stephens and Tyson Vogel thrilled an expectant crowd with a set consisting of old favourites alongside a promising batch of new material. It was good to see that the pair have lost none of the fire in the belly that makes them such an engaging live prospect.
 
The band round off their British engagements with a gig tonight (July 21) at Nottingham's Bodega Social, followed by tomorrow night at Night & Day Café in Manchester. Check out Tim Ferguson's up-close shots from the second London date below.

Combining the dense, dexterous flow of Themselves rapper Doseone and the lush indietronica of German maestros The Notwist, 13 & God put out their second studio album, Own Your Ghost, a couple of months back on anticon.. The unlikely supergroup played a rare UK gig in North London last week, where they were ably assisted by local support act The Title Sequence, as well as an over-zealous smoke machine.

Tim Ferguson managed to remove his gas mask for long enough to grab some photos of both bands. Click below for slideshow goodness...

If you look up indie pop in the dictionary, there's a good chance you might find a photo of Glaswegian cult heroes The Vaselines. Kurt Cobain's "most favourite songwriters in the world" reformed in 2008, having been more or less dormant since splitting just one week after the release of Dum-Dum, their 1989 debut LP. It looks like they're back for real this time - an extensive tour (we also caught their London gig back in September), brand new album and fresh lineup boasting members of Belle and Sebastian signalling that this particular comeback is no mere nostaglia fest or, worse still, cynical money-making exercise.
 
The two-pronged attack of Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee remains as potent as ever, and last week's Whelans show provided sharp tunes and witty asides in equal measure. Click below to load a slideshow of Colm Kelly's photos from the gig, which also includes a few shots of local upstart Retarded Cop, who supported.

A triple-helping of nostalgia was dished up at London's Ally Pally the weekend before last as part of ATP's ongoing Don't Look Back concert series. Three quite different-sounding bands performed three influential albums from three different decades in their entirety, with the night climaxing in a blizzard of confetti, ticker tape and balloons courtesy of a certain Mr. Wayne Coyne.
 
Anni Timms was there to snap one of the most photogenic live bands around for us, as well as arguably one of the least photogenic frontmen (J Mascis) and spiky openers Deerhoof. Click on any of the colourful thumbnails below to view a slideshow of her shots.
 

Anyone who managed to catch Janelle Monáe's recent Glastonbury performance will have gained some idea of what to expect from her live show: zany costumes, out-there stage props, choreographed dancers - a psychedelic future-soul trip, basically, that would give both Wayne Coyne and George Clinton a run for their money. And that's without even mentioning the music...

Last week the singer brought one of the funkiest midweek parties Dublin has seen in a long time to the city's Tripod venue, as she and her ArchOrchestra rounded off their three-date Irish tour in spectacular fashion. Mixing songs from last year's highly-praised The ArchAndroid LP with a selection of feisty covers (The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Prince), this was the sight and sound of an artist right at the top of her game, mixing and matching moods and genres with consummate ease, and now seemingly with the whole world at her feet. In short, Janelle Monáe completely 'owned it' - so much so, in fact, that our photographer Mark Earley had difficulty narrowing his live gallery down to just fifteen shots. Click below to view an enlarged slideshow of Ms. Monáe in action.

Forty-eight hours after what some found to be a lacklustre Glastonbury performance, Fleet Foxes were in Cork to play a headline show under the city's big top. While some of the songs from recent second album Helplessness Blues are perhaps still trying to find their feet in a live setting, the majority of the night's set went down a treat - a fact not lost on frontman Robin Pecknold, who repeatedly thanked the crowd for giving him and his bandmates such a warm reception.

Jen O'Donovan was in The Marquee to take some photos from front and centre for us. As usual, just click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow of her shots.

Post-hardcore pioneers Joan of Arc had a bit of an ordeal getting over to London last week for the start of their UK tour. Following various mix-ups that led to their seven-hour flight taking all of eighteen hours, the veteran Chicago outfit eventually arrived at Heathrow...only to learn that all of their equipment was somehow stranded in Atlanta. Being the consummate pros that they are, however, Tim Kinsella and co. bravely soldiered on towards The CAMP Basement, where – in the words of RW snapper Tim Ferguson – they put on a display that was both "shambolic as f**k and tight as f**k!!!". Using borrowed gear, don't ya know.

Their set took in everything from recently-released fourteenth album Life Like right back to material from 2000's landmark The Gap LP – and there was even time for Kinsella to throw in a handful of vintage Owls numbers. Support on the night (and for the rest of the tour) came from likeable Scouse post-punkers Hot Club de Paris. You can catch both bands at The Winchester in Bournemouth tonight (June 30), before they wind up their eight-date jaunt on Saturday (July 2) with a gig at The Peel in Kingston upon Thames. For now, though, check out Tim's photos from a sweaty night out in the capital below:

We may have been smack bang in the middle of London's King's Cross, but last week's triple-bill at Scala had the air of a Tennessee juke joint about it. First up was Montana-born troubadour Jonny Corndawg, who set the bar pretty high in the fashion stakes (just check out those customised cowboy boots and guitar). Next came local honky-tonk veterans The Rockingbirds, who reformed a few years back following a thirteen-year hiatus.

But the night belonged to headliner Caitlin Rose. The Nashville-raised singer has country music coursing through her veins - both her parents are actually involved in the industry - and her fanbase has deservedly grown since debut album Own Side Now arrived last summer. The 23 year-old's rich, lived-in voice recalls some of country music's greats; indeed, she's already been compared to the likes of Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. Her razor-sharp between-song banter also raises plenty of laughs - our photographer Anni Timms managed to keep a steady hand for long enough to bring us the shots below:

"Whelan's in Dublin is our favorite venue in the world, seems a waste to be here and not play there, don't it?" So went Owen Pallett's tweet on Sunday afternoon, a matter of hours before the Canadian multi-instrumentalist and all-round musical savant took to the stage of Cork's Marquee as support to Fleet Foxes. Following some hasty logistical manoeuvring from promoters Harmonic, Pallett's wish was granted, and an impromptu Whelans gig (carrying a measly €5 entry fee) was announced.

So it came to pass that Pallett and his band filled the Wexford St. venue to the rafters on a Monday night, playing a stunning two-hour set that included covers (Jennifer Rush's 'The Power of Love' among them), two encores and a memorable version of 'This Is The Dream of Win and Regine' right at the end. If, like our photographer Mark Earley, you were there, then you'll no doubt be talking about it for months. Kudos must go to Leagues O'Toole and the rest of the Harmonic crew for making the show happen, and of course to Pallett himself for being so eager to please his Irish fans. Check out Mark's photos from the front row in Whelans below:

It was a case of third time lucky for Laura Marling at Vicar Street last Thursday night. The 21 year-old's previous two attempts at playing to Irish audiences had both been hampered by illness (this was in fact a rescheduled gig, the singer having been forced to cancel her Irish tour last December due to flu), so it was a relief to see her in fine form last week - and toting a selection of new songs to boot.
 
Details of Marling's Ethan Johns-produced third album had had surfaced online midweek, and the Vicar Street crowd were duly treated to run-throughs of several new numbers, including standouts 'Don't Ask Me Why' and 'Night After Night'. Of course, there was still plenty of time for older crowd-pleasers like 'Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)' and 'Ghosts', the bulk of which - we must remind ourselves - were written while she was still in her teens. A night that proved well worth the wait, in other words, with retro all-girl folk trio Louise and The Pins (who've collaborated with Marling in the past) filling the undercard. Click on any of the images below to load a slideshow of Colm Kelly's photos:

On what was a punishing night for eardrums in the capital, The ULU played host to a raucous display of noisemaking from two of the finest post-metal bands around. First up were Chicago trio Russian Circles, who put in a breathlessly aggressive display – look out for a new album from them, entitled Empros, due some time in October via Sargent House.

Co-headliners and labelmates Boris then took to the stage, showcasing material from their recent Attention Please LP alongside selections from their vast back catalogue. The Japanese drone veterans have now been a going concern for nigh-on two decades, and while undeniably tight and accomplished in a live setting, our photographer Tim Ferguson was left slightly underwhelmed by what he deemed to be a heartless and uninspired performance. Click on any of the thumbnails below to view a slideshow of Tim's shots from the gig:

Baltimore boy/girl duo Wye Oak brought their beguiling dream folk sounds to North London last week for the final leg of their June European tour alongside City Slang compadre and former Port O'Brien frontman Van Pierszalowski, aka WATERS. A full-to-capacity Bar & Kitchen caught Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack at the height of their powers, with the pair tweeting the following day "Thanks London, last night was one for the books, truly one of the best times we've had on stage."

The band have now returned to The States, where they already have autumn tour dates scheduled with the likes of The National, Yo La Tengo and Explosions In The Sky. Check out Anni Timms' photos from Thursday night's send-off gig in Hoxton below.

The ninth Hard Working Class Heroes festival will run from October 6-8 this year, and is set to take place across six venues straddling the banks of Dublin's River Liffey. As well as showcasing the diverse talents of no fewer than one hundred acts, HWCH 2011 will also encompass a range of industry panel seminars, pop-up venues and photography exhibitions. Bands and photographers looking to apply for inclusion this year can do so now over on the festival website.

One of those venues, The Grand Social, played host to the festival's official launch night last Thursday. After an opening address from HWCH director Angela Dorgan, three of the acts likely to feature in October's lineup took to the stage. Our very own hard working class photographer Colm Kelly was there to capture Cork electro don Toby Kaar, Belfast five-piece Morning Claws and Dublin no-fi popsters No Monster Club in action. Click on any of the images below to load a slideshow of Colm's shots.

Corkonians were treated to a double-helping of top-notch electro on Friday night, as Essex-born beatsmith Gold Panda and local lad Toby Kaar stopped off in the second city in the middle of their four-date Irish tour. Kaar's reputation has been growing quickly of late on the back of a string of well-received live outings as well as a steadily expanding SoundCloud page. Derwin Panda, of course, has been one of the most talked-about producers around these parts for some time now, his Lucky Shiner LP still revealing hidden depths on each listen.
 
Our photographer Mark Earley travelled south to get the weekend underway upstairs at The Pavilion, and was pleased to report that both acts absolutely killed it on the night. Click below to load a gallery of Mark's shots:

Phosphorescent's Matthew Houck may be Brooklyn-based, but there's no mistaking his Georgia-via-Alabama roots, which wrap around the band's sound. Mixing material from last year's Here's to Taking It Easy with songs from earlier LPs, including 2007's Pride, and an assured cover of Nick Cave's 'Right Now I'm A-Roaming', Houck and his bandmates had a packed Workman's Club in raptures.
 
The group's Irish fanbase has grown considerably with each return visit to these shores, and on the back of this performance it just might expand even further. Support came from Dan Michaelson & The Coastguards, whose dark country tones provided a perfect complement to the headliners' melancholic Americana. To view a slideshow of Fiona Diffley's shots of both bands, click on any of the photos below.

Slowcore pioneers Low have swelled their ranks to incorporate a fourth member on keyboards for their current tour, a move that thankfully has done little to dilute the stark intimacy of the band's sound. At the start of the month they delivered a set that drew heavily from C'mon, their recent ninth LP, in the suitably classy surroundings of London's Barbican Hall - a performance that RW photographer Tim Ferguson described as controlled and fragile.

Yuck frontman Daniel Blumberg provided downbeat support under his new Oupa moniker, eschewing the riffs and hooks of his day job in favour of stripped-down piano ballads (look out for an album, Forget, later this month). You can check out Tim's photos of both acts on the night below:

Still riding a wave of critical plaudits on the back of sophomore LP Helplessness Blues, Seattle sextet Fleet Foxes hit The UK last week for a three-night residency at London's Hammersmith Apollo. Robin Pecknold and co. brought harmonies, beards and instruments aplenty to the capital, and were ably supported on all three nights by similarly harmonic genre-hoppers The Bees.
 
Our London-based snapper Tim Ferguson was in attendance on the middle night - as was Nik Williams, whose review of proceedings can be found here. Fleet Foxes return to these shores for a cluster of regional live dates later this month. For now, though, enjoy Tim's photos from last week's gig below: 

With no support act on the bill, nomadic songwriter Cass McCombs kept fans waiting until well after 10pm before taking to the stage of Shoreditch's Old Blue Last last week. Thankfully the wait proved worthwhile, as McCombs and band sailed through material from recent fifth LP Wit's End - new single 'County Line' proving just as alluring in the flesh as it is on record - as well as more seasoned crowd-pleasers like 'Aids in Africa' from 2003 debut A.

As if his "sombre words and dark fairytales" weren't morose enough already, the singer insisted on almost completely extinguishing the already-sparse stage lighting mid-set. As you can see below, however, that didn't stop our photographer Tim Ferguson getting plenty of crystal clear shots. As always, just click on any of the thumbnails to load a slideshow.

Fresh from his Ivor Novello success, Conor O'Brien brought his Villagers to the Shepherd's Bush Empire stage last weekend. As ever, the Dubliners were delicate, breathtaking and brilliant. You could have heard a pin drop in West London, such was the attention the little man with the little guitar commanded. Magic Numbers singer Michele Stodart was very impressive in support too – to view pictures of her and the evening's main attraction, just click on any of Anni Timms' photos below.

John Darnielle and his Mountain Goats returned to Dublin at the weekend to play to a jam-packed house at Whelans. Just as reliably great as they were in London last September, the band mixed in a smattering of new album All Eternals Deck with some tried-and-tested crowd favourites to keep the fervent crowd happy. LA duo The Submarines were excellent in support too, according to chief Ragged Words snapper Mark Earley. To view a slideshow of Mark's shots from the gig, just click on any of the photos below.

The always-snappable Kristian Matsson (we photographed him live last year in both Dublin and London) returned to the English capital last week for his biggest UK show yet at the city's famed Shepherd's Bush Empire. From the moment the Swede – better known, of course, as The Tallest Man On Earth – scuttled out onstage and hopped into the pit to hug a random fan, we knew we were onto a(nother) winner.
 
Delivering a beautiful set that liberally mixed older tracks with new material, Matsson proved the intimacy of his early shows could be translated to a larger venue. Anni Timms was there for us on the night – to view a slideshow of her photos (including a few of Matsson's compatriot Francis in support), just click on any of the thumbnails below:

Both Julianna Barwick and support act Elaine Mai might be lone figures onstage, but their looped and layered vocals reverberated around The Unitarian Church on Dublin's St. Stephen's Green last Friday evening with the graceful harmonies of a choir of many. It was the perfect setting, as the audience filled the pews and afforded both artists and venue the silent respect they deserved.
 
As the setting sun glinted through the stained glass, RW photographer Fiona Diffley captured both ladies' performances.

Old Street haunt XOYO was packed to the brim as Toro y Moi brought a bit of South Carolina funk to London's Stag & Dagger blowout last week. Headlining the festival's RockFeedback stage, Chaz Bundick and co. put on a laidback set to match the laidback grooves of recent second album Underneath The Pine.
 
Luckily for us, Tim Ferguson was able to elbow his way through a sea of festival-goers to snap the band from down the front – to view a slideshow of his shots, just click on any of the photos below:

A fine line-up took to the stage at a creaky, seated show at The Tabernacle last week - like seriously, all the seats creaked at the slightest provocation even those belonging to headliners The Black Heart Procession… It was Minneapolis’ Dark Dark Dark that started off the evening, and as far as our snapper Tim Ferguson was concerned, stole the show. Talented sods, they kept on switching instruments and doing ungodly things with a banjo while giving new album Wild Go a fine run out. Just a duo on the night, Pall Jenkins’ BHP seemed a little sparse in comparison but a duet later on with Dark Dark Dark's Nona Marie Invie and another backed by the whole band saw to that. For a gallery of all of Tim’s shots, click on any of the photos below.
 

A victory lap that felt "both well-deserved and well above the plodding, going-through-the-motions nostalgia rock that certain 'middle-aged' bands are guilty of peddling" was what Paul Harrington made of Mercury Rev giving their 1998 modern classic Deserter's Songs the ATP-sponsored start-to-finish treatment in Dublin the other evening.
 
Mark Earley's accompanying photos certainly do justice to what was a pretty special night at Vicar Street. As ever, to run through a gallery of those shots –plus some of the always-impressive Halves in support – just click on any of the images below:

Mike Hadreas's achingly intimate songs of loneliness and despair do not make for easy listening in the company of others. Learning, the Seattleite's debut album as Perfume Genius, is pure lying-awake-alone-at-5am stuff – the kind of emotional release that only really works in the right context. So the comfy surroundings of Dublin's Sugar Club are about as wide a space as Ragged Words can imagine Hadreas occupying; a room any larger, and the raw intensity of the material would likely be diluted. Fiona Diffley got close enough to Hadreas (alone at the piano throughout, save for a brief duet) to snap a few photos. You can view a slideshow of her black-and-white shots by clicking on any of the images below.

A younger and more enthusiastic crowd than one might expect from a band schooled in the ways of Jeff Mangum, The Rural Alberta Advantage duly lapped up the attention and played a healthy set of some 20 songs. Many were taken from new album Departing but there was also time for the trio's now famous acoustic cover of 'Eye of the Tiger' and a finale that saw the Torontonians end up in the middle of the room singing good night acapella. Tim Ferguson was among those who certainly enjoyed it and to view a slideshow of his photos, just click on any of the images below.

Texan post-rockers Explosions In The Sky brought their widescreen guitarscapes to one of Dublin's widest stages the other night, playing their biggest Irish show to date at the city's Vicar St. venue. Recently-released sixth LP Take Care, Take Care, Take Care - "an amalgamation of the Austin quartet's best qualities", according to our reviewer Shaun Grimsley - was the main focus point of the evening, but the near-capacity crowd were also treated to seismic versions of old favourites like 'Catastrophe and The Cure' and 'Your Hand In Mine'. There aren't quite as many epic peaks and apocalyptic breakdowns in Mark Earley's photos from the night, but we still reckon he did a pretty good job of capturing the band. You can view a slideshow of Mark's shots by clicking on any of the thumnails below.

Sufjan Stevens certainly knows how to put on a show. Backed by around a dozen illuminous Tron-suited horn players/pianists/drummers/backing singers, the Michigan native emerged onto the Olympia stage wearing impressively large wings (naturally), before launching into a two hour-long set accompanied by trippy visuals and made up almost exclusively of his All Delighted People 'EP' and The Age Of Adz LP. Mark Earley and his fellow photographers were booted out of the pit after just three songs, so there's no confetti, monkey masks or spacesuits here, but there was still more than enough happening onstage to make for some excellent shots. Musically speaking, though, were we the only ones who found the show a little hit-and-miss until 'Impossible Soul' arrived? More on that tomorrow - for now click on any of the images below to enjoy Mark's photos, starting with a couple taken of ever-excellent opening act DM Stith.

Fresh from appearing at last weekend's Great Escape festival in Brighton, Will Sheff brought his Okkervil River cohorts to the capital on Monday night to showcase songs from I Am Very Far, the Texan band's sixth studio LP that was released only last week through Jagjaguwar. According to our snapper Tim Ferguson, this newer material sounded just fine alongside old crowd-pleasers like 'Black Sheep Boy', with recent single 'Wake and Be Fine' a rousing case in point. Click on any of the thumbnails below to view a slideshow of Tim's shots from the gig.

One couldn't feel particularly envious of Scout Niblett in Cargo last Thursday night when the deserved hype surrounding support act EMA appeared to build and build every day leading up to the show. Former Gowns woman Erika M. Anderson duly gave a stunning display, stalking the stage in laddered tights and a Monroe t-shirt as she showcased the sometimes quiet, sometimes reverb-packed tracks from debut album Past Life Martyred Saints. Yet the very much more low key headline act, accompanied by the ever-brilliant drumming of Dan Wilson, was somehow more than a match leaving RW snapper Anni Timms convinced she had witnessed something very special by the end. For a full gallery of her shots, just click on any of the photos below.

Despite it being Friday the 13th, the crowd inside London's KOKO venue were thankfully spared any attention-seeking onstage meltdowns from Ariel Pink last week. The L.A. misfit also opted to leave his day-glo cords at home for this, his biggest UK gig to date – although they may have been in the wash ahead of his appearance at the Animal Collective-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival the following night. What Pink and his band did bring to the capital were laidback grooves and big choruses aplenty, as they aired songs from last year's ace Before Today LP. Despite having to contend with some harsh lighting, Anni Timms still managed to grab a handful of nice shots from down the front – just click on any of the thumbnails below to launch a slideshow.

Following a seriously impressive performance on Jools Holland last week - something which was no surprise to us after their debut album was among our top 20 of last year - Warpaint absolutely killed it at a packed Tripod in Dublin last night. Smiling throughout, the LA ladies gave The Fool a comprehensive outing and Mark Earley was able to keep his jaw off the floor long enough to grab a few snaps of them and impressive opening act Connan Mockasin. For a slideshow of Mark's shots, just click on any of the images below.

Josh T. Pearson returned to Dublin last weekend for the second time in just over a month, this time as support to veteran Southern alt. rockers Drive-By Truckers. Unfortunately the former Lift To Experience man had some sad news to share when he arrived late onstage, informing the audience that his dad had just passed away.
 
The sombre mood that hung over Pearson's brief set was then lifted by the headliners, whose Muscle Shoals soul-infused tales of whiskey and redemption – including several cuts from recent eleventh LP, Go-Go Boots – sent everyone home smiling. Click below to view a slideshow of Mark Earley's shots from down the front:

Our photograper Duncan Elliott once memorably described Bill Callahan's trademark baritone as sounding like "a feathered chainsaw" (which he assures us is a very good thing). Thankfully the sometimes-grumpy former Smog man was in fine form on Friday night as he aired songs from his recent Apocalypse LP at Manchester's Central Methodist Hall. Duncan had to contend with dim lighting and stifling heat inside the venue to capture the photos below - simply click on any of the thumbnails to launch a slideshow of his shots:

From a photographer's point of view, The Low Anthem's recent gig at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall – the Rhode Islanders' biggest UK headlining show to date – was a bit of a nightmare. Overly-subdued stage lighting meant photo opportunities were at a premium, so much so that Anni Timms only managed to get one decent shot of the band.
 
There were no such problems during support act The Head and The Heart's set, however, and the Sub Pop-signed outfit – whose recently reissued debut LP is well worth investigating, by the way – rather dominate the photo gallery below as a result. As usual, just click on any of the thumbnails to load a slideshow of Anni's pics.

Two former RW New Favourite Bands, Baths and Solar Bears, got the long weekend underway in fine electronic fashion last Friday at Dublin's Workman's Club. It was Californian Will Wiesenfeld's first time playing to an Irish audience, and he was in suitably giddy form throughout, showcasing material from last year's excellent Cerulean LP. Local duo John Kowalski and Rian Trench, meanwhile, are still cutting their teeth as a live outfit, having played only a handful of shows to date. Their carefully layered sound nonetheless went down a treat, with some impressive low end on display.

You can view a slideshow of Fiona Diffley's shots of both acts by clicking on any of the images below.

Belfast instrumental rockers And So I Watch You From Afar celebrated the release of Gangs - the band's second LP, and first for The Richter Collective - by practically reducing Dublin's Button Factory to its foundations on Saturday night.

Rumour has it the gig was so loud that Osama bin Laden got up in the middle of the night to see what all the commotion was about, leading to his capture and eventual killing. While we wait on confirmation of this, check out the awesome shots below taken by Kieran Frost, who was anything but watching from afar. ASIWYFA play London's Scala this evening as part of a nine-date UK tour, full details of which can be found on the band's MySpace.

Klezmer devotees and sometime Beirut collaborators A Hawk and A Hacksaw were in Dublin last weekend to promote Cervantine, their fifth studio LP. The duo – comprised of former Neutral Milk Hotel drummer Jeremy Barnes and violinist/vocalist Heather Trost – delighted the crowd with their lively fusion of Balkan gypsy folk and mariachi brass that evokes the dusty plains of their native New Mexico and the back alleys of Budapest (where the couple spent two years living) in equal measure.

Fiona Diffley's black-and-white shots from the band's Workman's Club gig perfectly suit the old-world feel of their music. Fiona also managed to grab a few snaps of Google-proof local duo The Natural History Museum, who supported on the night.

Our Colm Kelly was a busy man on Saturday night. After snapping Lykke Li and Sarah Blasko at Dublin's Tripod, he rushed next door and managed to grab a few shots of Steve Mason's Crawdaddy performance. The former Beta Band man was in town to showcase material from last year's excellent Boys Outside LP – his first under the plain old Steve Mason moniker.
 
The crowd were treated to a rousing set that included current single 'All Come Down' alongside album highlights 'I Let Her In' and the title track. The Scot also threw in a couple of old favourites in the shape of 'Dr. Baker' from The Three EPs and a glowstick-lit encore of King Biscuit Time's 'I Walk The Earth'.

Having wowed Record Store Day shoppers with a heart-melting lunchtime acoustic set at Dublin's Tower Records, Swedish pop minx Lykke Li took to the stage of the city's Tripod venue later that same evening for a sold-out show in support of her brand new album, Wounded Rhymes. As well as fine renditions of 'I Follow Rivers', 'Love Out of Lust' and 'Get Some' from that LP, there was also time for crowd-pleasers from her Youth Novels debut like 'Dance, Dance, Dance' and 'Little Bit'.

Aussie songstress Sarah Blasko warmed the crowd up early doors, and Colm Kelly was there to capture the whole thing on camera for us. We reckon his shots below are pretty special – although it does help when the subject is as photogenic as Ms. Li!

Having impressed while supporting fellow Aussie popsters and labelmates The Temper Trap late last year, Cloud Control returned to Dublin last weekend for their first headline show in the capital. The foursome duly bashed out infectious tune after infectious tune from debut album Bliss Release, which recently won the Australian equivalent of The Mercury Music Prize and is set for an official release in The UK and Ireland next month. For a slideshow of Mark Earley's photos – including some of Galwegian openers The Kanyu Tree – just click on any of the shots below.

Having sold out a number of UK dates late last year, The Thermals duly got themselves back to these shores late last month and early this for a trio of shows that they completed at London’s XOYO. The Portland three-piece mixed the not-as-frantic-as-usual moments of new album Personal Life with the noisier elements of albums gone by, and Anika Mottershaw was there to snap the lot. To load a slideshow of her shots, just click on any of the photos below.
 

Following a hugely impressive Dublin bow last May, Dum Dum Girls returned to Whelans last weekend for another blast of their "short, sharp no-fi pop fun". Colm Kelly managed to get some great shots of Dee Dee and the girls for us - and he also got there early enough to catch spiky new FatCat signings Mazes. To view a slideshow of Colm's photos, just click on any of the thumbnails below.

A gig of two halves, treasured Dubliners The Frames played career standout For The Birds in full at Vicar Street last week before inviting all and sundry on stage for a bumper performance. Mark Earley steered clear of the self-indulgent second half of the show and instead concentrated on capturing Glen Hansard and co. giving their 2001 LP an exquisite outing. For a gallery of Mark's shots - inlcuding a couple from openers Interference - simply click on any of the photos below.

After staging one of the most unexpected comebacks of 2010 thanks to the excellent Queen Of Denmark, John Grant is spending 2011 playing bigger and bigger venues and when he came to London's Shepherds Bush Empire, well, wow... That's about all a stunned Anni Timms could manage afterwards but she did grab some excellent shots of the ex-Czars man while crouched in the aisle between two utterly silent blocks of seats. To view a slideshow of her photos, which include some of opening act Sea Of Bees, just click on any of the images below. 

Dublin's 750-capacity Button Factory was utterly rammed for the late night return of Deerhunter to the capital and Bradford Cox and co. didn't disappoint an ounce, giving the more delicate moments of last year's Halcyon Digest a new dimension with layers of looped guitar and huge washes of sound that only added to the still wowing impact of the band's older material. And while Bradford spent much of the encore taking photos for fans down the front, Fiona Diffley was busy snapping away all night and to view a gallery of her shots, just click on any of the images below.

Garnering extremely high praise from almost every quarter, Josh T. Pearson's Last Of The Country Gentlemen already seems destined for the upper reaches of many an end-of-year list come December. While we will deliver our verdict sometime this week, Ronan Tiernan was able to pop along to Dublin's Workman's Club to assure us that, live at least, Pearson's songs are utterly stunning. Colm Kelly was there too to catch the ex-Lift To Experience man up close and to view a slideshow of his snaps, just click on any of the photos below.

Toting an arsenal of keyboards, pedals and effects, London producer James Blake made his Irish live debut at a packed Whelans on Tuesday night. The 21 year-old has certainly generated his fair share of hype and counter-hype on the back of a debut album that arrived last month, and signalled a rapid departure from the more cutting-edge electronic sound of some of his early EPs. Blog bile aside, however, there was no escaping the man's raw talent as he delivered a short but impressive set to an enraptured Dublin audience.

Check out a slideshow of Mark Earley's shots of Mr. Blake and support act Cloud Boat in action below, after which you can go here to read Daniel Harrison's verdict on the gig.

The Vaccines made their Dublin debut last weekend, crossing the Irish Sea for the first time on a wave of hype and a healthy does of scepticism too. A packed Academy crowd belonged firmly in the former category and as for the short and snappy 45-minute set, well what did you expect from The Vaccines?!? Ragged Words snapper Mark Earley was there to catch the Londoners in action and to view a slideshow of his shots, along with some from support act Spellbound, just click on any of the images below. 

One of the most prolific recording bands around - they'll continue their album-a-year output with Sun & Shade on June 14 - it's a wonder Woods have time to tour at all but thankfully the Brooklyn lo-fi lot found the time to head to the UK last week for a brief stop over. Ragged Words snapper Tim Ferguson was at London's Bush Hall for what he called an "achingly beautiful set" - Woods are also one of the best live bands around - and to see a slideshow of his shots, just click on any of the photos below.

While their hometown was preparing to welcome the music world and its mother, Austin indie-tastic four-piece Oh No Oh My crossed the Atlantic and made it to Ireland for the first time to play Dublin's Workman's Club last Friday night. Drawing much of their set from new album People Problems, the band put in a spikey and energetic set with support Yeh Deadlies not letting the local side down on that front either. Mark Earley was there to catch both for us and to view a gallery of his shots, just click on any of the photos below.

After frustrating many among a fickle London crowd a week earlier (but not our man Michael James Hall), Sam Beam brought his 6-piece Iron & Wine live show to Manchester to give Academy 2 goers a taste of "solid" new album Kiss Each Other Clean. Duncan Elliott was there to try and grab some close ups of the American's impressive beard and to view a slide show of his shots, just click on any of the photos below. 

Accompanied by a ridiculously packed bill (and that's not even counting Andy Votel on the decks), Laetitia Sadier made up for the postponement of her December show by sharing the stage with some of the best local talent at Dublin's Grand Social on Friday night. First to support the Stereolab lady was the intriguing Great Lakes Mystery - the new project of drummer Gareth Averill, who was followed by Valerie Francis, with the Choice Prize nominated singer managing the impressive feat of silencing a drunken end-of-week crowd with some new songs (they were literally two days old). Sadier then gave a brilliantly emotive, stripped down set of material from her solo album The Trip before Si Schroeder's wall of sound closed the night late on, leaving us with the distinct impression that his next album should really be something indeed. Colm Kelly caught them all and for a slideshow of his shots, just click on any of the images below.
 

It had been quite a while since The Decemberists last payed a visit to Dublin - Colin Meloy and co. cancelled a trip here back in October 2007 - so it was no surprise that a rammed and appreciative crowd awaited them at Vicar Street last weekend. And despite some of the band being up 'til all hours the night before joining in a trad session and visiting the local kebab houses, the Portland crew put in a pretty decent and comprehensive performance. For a gallery of Mark Earley's shots, click on any of the photos below:

After a very solid opening to last week's Choice Music Prize live show Adebisi Shank, Villagers, The Cast of Cheers and eventual winners Two Door Cinema Club rounded off the night before new chairman Tony Clayton-Lea haded the sixth Choice trophy and the obligatory giant cheque to the Bangor boys. For a gallery of Mark Earley's shots, just click on any of the photos below.

As well as pitting the best Irish albums of the past year up against each other, the Choice Music Prize always offers a bumber night's entertainment and last week's ceremony was no different with nine of the ten nominated acts performing at Vicar Street. The first half of the show included Halves, Fight Like Apes, James Vincent McMorrow, Cathy Davey and O Emperor while you can view a second gallery of Mark Earley's shots here.

Was he robbed at the Choice?? Well, we'll leave you lot to sort that one out but on the night before the ceremony, Conor O'Brien played an intimate charity gig at Dun Laoghaire's Pavillion Theatre and treated the lucky few to a couple of new songs too, going by the names 'Memoir' and 'Cecilia'. As per usual when Villagers are back on home soil, Mark Earley was there to catch every beat - we don't think Conor's taken out a restraining order against him just yet - and to view a gallery of Mark's shots, just click on any of the photos below.

If anyone tweeted the words 'Efterklang' and 'Scala' after the Danes' London show last week, they'd have gotten an idea of just how good a performance it was. Preceeded by a screening of Vincent Moon's fantastic 'An Island' documentary of the band recording in their home town - reminiscent of their excellent 2004 Swedish MTV documentary but with Moon's Midas touch - Efterklang proceeded to put in as tight a set as ever and were frankly superb. To have a look a slideshow of Tim Ferguson's shots, just click on any of the photos below.

With a debut "you’ll find it hard to pull yourself away from", Yuck are touring the country on a sea of deserved critical praise and last weekend the London grunge revivalists stopped off at Manchester's Night 'N Day for a headline set that showed precisely why they're garnering so much excitement. Fellow Londoners Fanzine and 2:54 are two names you should keep an eye on, as both were just as impressive in support. Ragged Words' Duncan Elliott thoroughly enjoyed the lot of 'em and to view a gallery of his shots of all three, just click on one of the photos below.

Just a day after one of this year's breakthrough female vocalists' Anna Calvi wowed Dubliners down the road at the Workman's Club, one of the finds of last year - Glasser's Cameron Mesirow - provided a a deeply enthralled Crawdaddy crowd with a similarly mesmeric performance. Early gig-goers got an added bonus too when tip for 2011 Cloud Castle Lake were added to the line-up late on to beef up an already impressive supporting cast in the form of Young Turks-signed Sampha. Glasser naturally stoles the show though and provided a perfect pre-election night soundtrack. Mark Earley was there again for Ragged Words and to view a slideshow of his shots, just click on any of 'em below.

It's almost one year to the day since Ragged Words first spoke to the The Cast Of Cheers by the time they take to the stage at Whelans on Friday night. And what a year it's been. Nobody had heard of the Dublin four-piece when their debut album Chariot dropped for free at the start of 2010, yet they compete for the Choice Music Prize for best Irish album of that year just fourteen months later. And judging by their impressive supporting set, we could be talking about Super Extra Bonus Party off-shoot We Are Losers in similar terms next year. Mark Earley was down the front to snap them both, and to view a gallery of his shots click on any of the photos below:

A show that was bound to sell out extremely quickly, Noah & The Whale didn't even wait until they had come and gone from Whelans before announcing they would be back in Dublin to play the more realistically-sized Academy within a matter of weeks. N&TW super-fan Mark Earley will likely be there on May 8 too, but lucky for us he managed to elbow his way to the front on Sunday night to catch the Londoners giving new album Last Night on Earth an airing. To view a slideshow of his shots - which include some of opening act Benjamin Francis Leftwich - just click on any of the photos below:

Brian Eno loves her, Nick Cave loves her, the BBC judges love her - and everyone squeezed inside Dublin's Workman's Club on Wednesday night now loves her. Anna Calvi's debut Irish show was sold-out even before her show-stealing turn in the latest series of Other Voices. And it was easy to see just why: beguiling stage presence and a bunch of songs that get right under your skin on first listen, the Londoner certainly seems to have the substance to back up the hype. And she's not a bad guitarist either! Squarehead's Roy Duffy supported - the Dublin band's eagerly-anticipated debut album will be with us towards the end of the year. Click below to view a slideshow of Mark Earley's photos:

Part two of our wall-to-wall coverage this week of Dustin O'Halloran saw Ragged Words snapper Tim Ferguson get up close and personal with the composer/pianist and his string quartet for an intimate performance at London's Vortex Jazz Cafe. Just like sets from fellow Fat Cat labelmates and likeminded composers Max Richter and Hauschka last year, there were real moments of beauty on Tuesday night and they were greeted by the most respectful of crowds. For a slideshow of all of Tim's shots, just click on any of the photos below.

Vivian Girl Katy Goodman brought her side project La Sera to the UK for a couple of gigs last week, finishing off with a show at London's Lexington to promote the release of her new trio's self-titled debut album. While Ragged Words took a trip to DIY bass heaven thanks to Goodman & co, we were equally charmed by the strummed guitars and warbling vocals of Dan Michaelson and his Coastguards, who played some impressive opening cuts from new album Shakes. Anni Timms was there to snap both and to view a slideshow of her shots, just click on any of the thumbnails below. And they're all working despite what may appear to be broken links.

Two of the most promising acts to emerge in 2010 made their respective Irish debuts at Dublin's Crawdaddy venue on Saturday night. Local duo Solar Bears gave their cinematic electro a live airing for the first time on native soil, having only recently made their first ever live appearance with an instore performance at London's Rough Trade East. Brooklyn-based buzz band Twin Shadow, on the other hand, were nearing the end of their current European tour. George Lewis Jr. and co. were in suitably upbeat form, even if travel fatigue seemed evident at certain points during their set. Unsurprisingly, tickets were like hen's teeth for this one, so we were lucky to have Colm Kelly in the building to snap a few shots for us. Click below for slideshow action:

Fresh from checking guests into the Hotel Shampoo last week to preview the "decent - albeit unspectacular" album of the same name, Gruff Rhys welcomed parishioners to Manchester's St. Phillips church on Thursday night for yet another one of the Super Furry Animal main man's charming performances. He gets top marks for that jumper too. Ragged Words' snapper Duncan Elliott was in the front pew for the night and to view a slideshow of his shots, just click on any of the photos below. 

While there might not have been any twelve-foot stage dives from The Academy's PA system last night, British Sea Power still played crowd-pleasers aplenty when they stopped over in Dublin, mixing up the likes of established favourites 'No Lucifer' and 'Man of Aran' with a smattering of new tracks from latest album Valhalla Dancehall. Ragged Words faves Girls Names opened the show, and while the Belfast trio didn't look best pleased that only a few dozen punters had bothered turning in time to catch their set, they were lucky that Mark Earley lived up to his name and managed to grab a handful of shots of them as well as the evening's main attraction. Click on any of the photos below to load a slideshow.

Having demonstrated that they're still among the best live bands in the world a night earlier in Galway, Mogwai brought their A-game across the country to a rammed Olympia Theatre on Tuesday night. On this occasion, 'Rano Pano' - one of the standout tracks from new album Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will - did get a run-out, and while we're still a little surprised a band with seven albums routinely call it a night after just ninety minutes, classics like '2 Rights Make 1 Wrong' and 'Mogwai Fear Satan' still sounded, well, kinda emotional. When Spurs fan Mark Earley wasn't putting his hands over his ears and saying "la la la la" at the sign of any Champions League chatter, he was busy snapping the Glaswegians in full flow, as well as grabbing a couple of shots of food-loving support act RM Hubbert.

Harmonic's takeover of Dublin's Workman's Club continued into the small hours last Friday, as guitars made way for laptops and the venue's bass monitors were put through their paces. Local duo VisionAir took to the stage around midnight, and soon had heads nodding along to their shapeshifting electro - before their brief set was made even briefer by an unfortunate laptop malfunction. There was nothing wrong with Londoners Darkstar's equipment, but the subdued lighting meant Mark Earley only managed to grab a handful of shots of the dubstep outfit. Their glitchy textures and low-key atmospherics were ideally suited to such a late-night setting, although we can't have been the only ones left feeling they could have played for a bit longer. Click below for a slideshow of both bands in action:

Dublin-based promoters Harmonic have come tearing out of the blocks in 2011, and it now feels like hardly a day goes by without them pulling another must-see show out of the hat for Irish gig-goers to look forward to. As if to prove the point, last Friday night saw back-to-back Harmonic gigs at the city's Workman's Club venue. The first of these featured alternative rock royalty in the shape of Dean Wareham, who was in town to perform the songs of his former band, slowcore legends Galaxie 500. A packed house looked on as Wareham and bandmates (including wife Britta Phillips) turned the clock back twenty years with classics like 'Tugboat' and 'Decomposing Trees'. Mark Earley racked up some overtime by covering both gigs - click below to view a slideshow of Mr. Wareham and co. in action.

As previously reported, Queens multi-instrumentalists Freelance Whales have recently been joined at the hip with Broken Records, traversing the UK & Ireland on a co-headline tour alongside the folky Scots. Last Wednesday at London's XOYO venue it was the turn of the New Yorkers to top the bill - BR having done so in Dublin the previous night - and Anni Timms was in the house for us to capture some shots of the five-piece in action. Just click on any of the images below to load a slideshow of her photos.

There was a vicious gale ripping through Dublin city centre last night, so the cozy top floor of The Odessa Club was an ideal spot for Jape's first gig of the new year. Richie Egan and band were playing as part of the venue's weekly Live at Odessa sessions series, and the gig gave the Dubliner a chance to road-test a batch of new tunes. Despite some of them having only been birthed in recent days/weeks (including this one), they slotted in seamlessly for the most part alongside familiar crowd-pleasers like 'Strike Me Down', 'Floating' and 'I Was A Man'. Luckily, Mark Earley's camera is a fully paid-up Odessa Club member, so he was able to take a few close-up shots of the band in action. Check 'em out below:

There was barely enough room for Scottish sextet Broken Records on the Crawdaddy stage last night - things were certainly a lot cosier than they had been for the band's recent 4AD Session, put it that way! But that didn't stop the lads making a fine fist of songs from their two albums to date: 2009's Until the Earth Begins To Part and last year's rather overlooked Let Me Come Home. The Scots are curently touring The UK and Ireland in the fine company of New Yorkers Freelance Whales, and we're led to believe the two bands will be alternating the headline slot each night. Go here for a full list of those double-header tour dates, after you've taken a gander below at Mark Earley's shots from last night's gig. You know the drill by now: image - click - slideshow - sorted!

It was like rush hour in a sardine tin inside The Lexington on Tuesday night, as seemingly the whole of London realised this might be their last chance to catch 'buzz altbro' (© 2010 Hipster Runoff) George Lewis Jr., aka Twin Shadow, in such an intimate venue. Unsurprisingly, the bulk of the night's set was culled from Forget, his debut album as Twin Shadow and one of the more elegant long-players from last year. Support came in the considerable form of Balearic beat merchant - and sometime member of Oxford's Jonquil - Chad Valley, whose own self-titled debut EP is well worth investigating. This was the opening night of the tour, and both acts were in reasonably relaxed form despite the overcrowding. Anni Timms was duly on hand to snap some photos of the night for us - check 'em out below:

Two of the elder statesmen of British psychedelic pop, Norman Blake and Euros Childs, have recently teamed up under the name Jonny. The pair are obviously taking an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach to this new joint venture, and their forthcoming self-titled LP is a predictable blend of molten harmonies and left-of-centre lyrics. Jonny played a sold-out show at Camden's Water Rats venue on Wednesday night, with support from another duo, labelmates Wye Oak, whose mellow dream folk got things going nicely. Anni Timms was on hand to take some photos of the gig for us, which you can view below. The band, meanwhile, set forth on a UK and European tour next month, following the release of Jonny on January 31. You can read our verdict on the album here.

A strong lineup at Dublin's Whelans last night gave punters an excuse to let their hair down midweek. Unfortunately local newbies We Are Losers had been and gone before most of the crowd arrived, but their scuzzy lo-fi anti-pop still managed to hit the spot. Garage rock trio The Minutes then put on their usual high-energy display - look out for their debut album arriving in May. Headliners The Phantom Band are still riding the crest of a critical wave on the back of October's The Wants LP, and the Glaswegians didn't disappoint with a set that motored and meandered through the various nooks and crannies that make up their somewhat unclassifiable sound. Expect these guys to be filling a much larger room the next time they're in town. You can view a slideshow of Mark Earley's photos below.

The finest label in the land, Dublin's Richter Collective, closed out the holiday season in style on Friday night, as no fewer than seven of its acts rocked the pants off The Button Factory. Having been forced to postpone their original pre-Christmas shindig at the same venue on account of the snow, the guys more than made up for it, with blistering sets from The Continuous Battle Of Order, Logikparty, Jogging, Enemies, BATS, Not Squares (who were giving ace debut LP Yeah OK its Dublin launch) and Herv keeping the party going 'til crazy o'clock. Click below to load a slideshow of some of Mark Earley's photos from the night.

The second night of Ones To Watch, a new mini-festival showcasing rising Irish talent, brought four of the country's hottest acts to the main room at Dublin's Whelans. Hunter-Gatherer, Cloud Castle Lake, Great Lakes Mystery and Thread Pulls all made strong arguments for this being another exciting year in Irish music. Mark Earley was on hand to capture a few shots of all four bands for us - click on any of the images below to load a slideshow of his photos. Ones To Watch 2011 continues until Saturday.

Seafaring sixties throwbacks Tennis will release their nautically-inspired debut album, Cape Dory, next week on Fat Possum Records. The band kicked off a European tour last Friday with a gig at London's Lexington, and Anika Mottershaw headed along to take some snaps for us. As it turned out, there wasn't a seagull or sailor's hat in sight, but the Coloradoans still put on a fine show: think a husband-and-wife Camera Obscura jamming in Phil Spector's basement - the perfect antidote for the January blues in other words. You can launch a slideshow of Anika's shots by clicking on any of the thumbnails below.

California-based Dubliner Neil O'Connor launched his third LP as Somadrone, the "subtle, slow-burning" Depth of Field, with a pre-Christmas gig for Skinny Wolves at Smithfield's multipurpose Block T venue. The well-travelled producer's soothing jams and lushly textured electronica provided welcome respite from the arctic conditions outside, and there was a friendly, bustling atmosphere inside the BYOB warehouse space. Support on the night came from fellow locals Patrick Kelleher and VisionAir, the latest recording alias of Jape's Richie Egan and Niall Byrne - both sometime bandmates of O'Connor's in The Redneck Manifesto.

Mark Earley wandered along to snap some nicely-lit shots of all three acts for us. You can purchase Depth of Field now from the Skinny Wolves online store, while VisionAir are currently offering a brace of promising new EPs for free download over on their SoundCloud page.

As we ourselves pointed out to Conor O'Brien when we interviewed him last week, it's hard to think how 2010 could really have gone any better for Villagers. It was hardly surprising, then, to find the Dublin band in jubilant form for a pair of hometown Christmas week gigs. We were in attendance on the second night, and as well as festive vibes aplenty we detected a new level of confidence and stage presence from O'Brien and his cohorts that suggests Villagers' profile should grow still further in 2011.
 
Support on the night came from fellow Dubliners (and former Any Other City labelmates) Hired Hands, whose jaunty multi-instrumental workouts perfectly suited the cozy mood inside Vicar Street. Next stop for Villagers is a string of live engagements Down Under, before they return to this part of the world in the spring to begin work on the follow-up to Becoming A Jackal - itself a top-five Album Of 2010 in our recent countdown don'tchaknow.
 
Mark Earley's photos capture a special evening inside the Dublin 8 venue, an occasion that also witnessed the annual RW staff Christmas blowout... These weren't the only type of shots Mark worked his way through over the course of the night, we can assure you! If, like us, your memories of the gig are a little hazy, just click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow of his images.
 

Ragged Words surely weren't the only ones to raise an eyebrow earlier this year when Caribou was booked to play Dublin's tiny Crawdaddy venue. Had Dan Snaith not released the fifth best album of 2010, he still surely would have had no trouble shifting the required 300-odd tickets to fill the room... In the end the Canadian was moved to a venue twice the size and even that could barely hold the masses in. The hottest ticket in town for quite some time, Caribou duly delivered a shimmering set and Sasha Bond managed to sneak in to capture it all. For a slideshow of all her shots, just click on any of the photos below.

After a day spent stressing over whether this gig would survive weather-related airport closures in both Dublin and London, there was a palpable sense of relief inside The Olympia as both Phosphorescent and The National succeeded in making it through the deepening snow and onto the stage for the start of a three-night stand at the venue. The two Brooklyn-based bands certainly did their best to warm the brave punters who'd managed to make it out, with The National's Matt Berninger apparently convinced that crowd-surfing is the best way to ward off frostbite.
 
Mark Earley managed to snap the early stages of both bands' sets before shivering his way to the bar for a hot whiskey. To load a slideshow of his photos, just click on any of the thumbnails below.
 
 
But wait! That's not all! Head here now to read a full review of the night's proceedings by Paul Harrington.

From the moment The Tallest Man On Earth's brilliant debut album Shallow Grave seemingly appeared out of nowhere a couple of years back, it seemed obvious Kristian Matsson's songs would eventually reach large audiences. In the space of just twelve months, the Swede has duly graduated from playing the much-missed Dalston basement of Barden's Boudoir to packing out Camden's second-largest venue, The Electric Ballroom. The songs, though - many of which now come from latest album The Wild Hunt - sound just as good no matter how much the setting grows.
 
Anni Timms was snapping away up the front for us last Wednesday; for a slideshow of her shots - including one or two of Matsson's fiancée Idiot Wind in support - just click on any of the photos below.

It seemed more than a little fitting that the passionate, anthem-armed Titus Andronicus should arrive in Dublin for the first time on a day when 50,000 Irish people marched against government cutbacks. The now five-piece New Jersey group gave a typically resounding airing of their Civil War-themed latest album The Monitor, praising marchers for their efforts as they did so.
 
Mark Earley was there in Whelans to capture it all, including the obligatory 'Patrick Stickles screaming into a microphone' shot. To view a slideshow of Mark's photos - including one or two of local trio Squarehead, who supported - just click on any of the shots below.

As opening acts go, Tortoise sure aren't a bad choice, and the veteran post-rockers were as solid as ever in getting London's KOKO warmed up for Broken Social Scene on Monday night. The Toronto collective then ratcheted things up, mixing material from new album Forgiveness Rock Record with band classics like ‘Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl’ - for which they were joined onstage by Johnny Marr's kid! (Johnny Marr has kids? Who knew?!!) Ragged Words' Sara Amroussi was on hand to snap both bands. To view a slideshow of her shots, just click on any of the images below.

Some ten months on from its release, Beach House’s Teen Dream is turning out to be many people’s record of the year. Monday night’s Vicar Street show gave further evidence of just why, as the Baltimore band lit up the latest installment in Foggy Notions’ Harmonic Series. Victoria Legrand’s strength as a vocalist has never been in doubt, but both she and guitarist Alex Scally have markedly upped their game in terms of stage presence since Ragged Words first caught them live a few years back. Tonight they and their band simply owned the room, the twinkling stage lighting perfectly complimenting their woozy, seductive happy/sad songs.

Support came from fellow Marylanders Lower Dens, whose recent Twin-Hand Movement LP has garnered plenty of critical praise. Jana Hunter is something of an enigmatic frontwoman – intense and aloof in equal measure – and the band’s brooding, atmospheric alt-rock was warmly received. No doubt we can look forward to seeing them again some time next year.

But it was Beach House who well and truly shone in front of a sell-out audience. Mark Earley was on hand to shoot some photos of the headliners from the front row, while Sean Conroy also took some snaps of Lower Dens for us. To load a slideshow of their shots, just click on any of the thumbnails below.

(With thanks to Leah at Urchin PR and all at Foggy Notions)

Everyone’s favourite Elton John-covering Scots, Frightened Rabbit, brought their heartwarming mix of up-tempo folk and bloodshot ballads to Manchester’s Academy 2 on Sunday night. Scott Hutchison and his bandmates were in typically chatty form as they ran through what’s now a very sturdy back catalogue. The Glaswegians really are one of those bands who inspire (and deserve) devotion in their fans, and many in tonight’s boisterous crowd seemed to sing along with every word.
 
Duncan Elliott kindly legged it along to the gig to snap some photos for us. You know the drill: just click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow of his shots.

LCD Soundsystem made a triumphant return to Ireland last weekend, playing to sell-out crowds three nights in a row at Dublin’s Tripod. Murphy, Mahoney and co. flawlessly combined new material with old, and the two-hour set we witnessed on the final (Sunday) night left the majority in attendance suitably satisfied. Opening and closing with ‘Dance Yrself Clean’ and ‘All My Friends’ respectively, highlights in-between included extended versions of ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’ and one of the band’s earliest floor-fillers, ‘Yeah’. All in all, then, a powerful display from the New Yorkers that largely made up for the disappointment of April’s volcanic ash cloud-related cancelled dates.
 
Ragged Words' snapper-in-chief Mark Earley was down in the pit to capture the best of the action. To view a slideshow of his photos, just click on any of the thumbnails
 
 

Seb Rochford may clearly be a very photogenic fellow but Ragged Words didn't just make its way to the beautiful and unique space of Westminster Library simply to catch a glimpse of the Polar Bear drummer and leader's fantastic afro. There is of course far more to the Mercury Prize-nominated Londoners and we were duly first treated to a seriously impressive 45 minute jazz improv(ish) set in support of their latest album Peepers and accompanied by the strongest home-made punch known to man! MC Jyager then joined the band on stage for a second set of material from their collaboration album Common Ground bravely faced a sea of seasoned (and ageing) jazz aficionados, the young rapper won them over with aplomb.

For a slideshow of Tim Ferguson’s photos, just click on any of the snaps below. Thanks, as ever, to the kind folks at Bird On The Wire for allowing us in.

Prepared piano aficionado Hauschka was accompanied by a ten-piece ensemble - whom he met and played with for the first time - to play a quite beautiful show at a sold-out, fully-seated Bush Hall last week. Reminiscent of Maher Shalal Hash Baz at times, fans took turns standing up, craning their necks to try and see exactly how Volker Bertelmann was conjuring such sounds from a single grand piano. Apparently the German’s next project is a prepared piano-based techno album. That’s certainly one we'll be keeping an eye out for!

For a slideshow of Tim Ferguson's shots, just click on any of the photos below. A big thank you to the kind folks at Bird On The Wire for arranging the shoot.
 

Thursday night saw Texan rockers Spoon play to a packed house at Dublin's Academy - despite the weather’s best efforts to keep punters at home. An expectant crowd weren’t left disappointed, as Britt Daniel and co. stormed through a typically solid set consisting of equal parts new and old material. 'Don’t Make Me A Target' from 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga LP stood out, as did Transference’s 'The Mystery Zone' and 'Written In Reverse'; but it was the psychedelic greatness of 'The Ghost Of You Lingers' that just about stole the show for us.

Support on the night came from promising Waterford five-piece O Emperor, who did a fine job of warming up us early-comers on what was a miserably cold November evening. Their impressively tight and self-assured set showcased songs from last month’s debut album Hither Tither.

To view a slideshow of Mark Earley's photos from the gig, just click on any of the images below.

Returning to Dublin's Sugar Club well in advance of the release of his new solo album - the February 14th-due Hotel Shampoo - Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys was his usual charming, endearing and deadpan self last night. After a slow enough start, Gruff certainly got going with a brilliant rendition of 2007's 'Cycle Of Violence', a smashing second bash at new single 'Shard Ridden Waters' and a couple of cracking Welsh-sung numbers from solo debut Yr Atal Genhedlaeth (you'll forgive us for not recalling exactly which ones). Support on the night came from fellow self-deprecating Welshman H.Hawkline - who, despite this being just his third ever show, joined Gruff onstage for a closing duet.

Chief Ragged Words snapper Mark Earley was among the packed crowd; to look through a slideshow of his shots, just click on any of the photos below.

At a time when more and more mid-level gigs struggle to get punters through the doors, there should be more tours like the one First Music Contact (FMC) are currently presenting around Ireland. Three of the country's finest acts - And So I Watch You From Afar, Jape and Fionn Regan - spending a couple of weekends in six different counties; each time playing for a mere 15 euro. The trio head for Dundalk, Kildare and Dublin this weekend but Ragged Words' Jen O'Donovan caught the Cork leg of the tour last Friday and to view a slideshow of her shots from The Pav, just click on any of the images below.

He might be the 10th-coolest artist around right now in the eyes of NME, but New Yorker Darwin Deez had to make do with slumming it the other night in Dublin’s Academy 2 – a space that would surely rank closer to the bottom of any list of quality live music venues.

Despite the dreary surroundings, Deez and his band gave a pretty decent account of themselves, airing tunes such as ‘Radar Detector’ and recent single ‘Up In The Clouds’ from April’s self-titled debut album. The choreographed dance moves, comedy-rap interlude and Cranberries cover (we kid you not) certainly made for an interesting evening, and Mark Earley was there to photograph it for us. Click on the dude who looks like an extra from a Wes Anderson flick below to view a slideshow of Mark’s shots.
 
 

Foggy Notions’ Harmonic Series of November gigs across Dublin city centre venues continued in fine style on Sunday night, with a mouth-watering triple-bill at Vicar Street offering punters shelter from the storm that had begun to rage outside.

The charismatic John Grant played support to close associates Midlake; the Texan outfit are largely responsible for helping to reignite Grant’s career, and helped out in the studio during the recording of his recent Queen Of Denmark LP. All of which helped to generate a friendly, intimate atmosphere inside the spacious venue - an atmosphere that was augmented by the considerable presence of former Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle as opening act.

Mark Earley’s camera was well and truly put through its paces as the evening wore on – click below to view some of his moodily-lit shots from the front row.

dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip rolled into town over the weekend to play not one, but two sold-out Harmonic Series gigs at the city's Workman's Club venue. The gobby Essex rapper and his not-so-gobby DJ/producer sidekick are bona fide crowd-pleasers, and the floorboards were creaking under the weight of lively crowds on both Thursday and Friday night. Rapid-fire rhymes 'n' samples were the order of the day as the pair showcased tunes from their recent The Logic Of Chance LP, as well as older singles like 'A Letter From God To Man' and the anthemic 'Thou Shalt Always Kill'. Support came from the promising Kid A, aka 21 year-old Virginian electropopper Anni T, whose debut In A Dream House EP was produced by dan le sac. Despite playing to a somewhat sparse crowd, there were glimpses of the kind of potential that has seen her catch the attention of blogs and broadsheets on both sides of The Atlantic.
 
Mark Earley made it along to the Liffeyside venue on Friday night to take a few snaps from the front row. As always, just click below to view a slideshow of his shots.

The weekend came early to Dublin's Tripod last week with the visit of Montreal duo Chromeo to the Harcourt St. venue on Thursday night. P-Thugg & Dave 1's tongue-in-cheek blend of slick-but-sleazy electrofunk and good-time onstage antics brought smiles aplenty to a packed house, with songs from the pair's excellent new Business Casual LP sounding right at home in the company of bona fide party-starters like 'Tenderoni', 'Fancy Footwork' and 'Needy Girl'. Underrated Aussie purveyors of disco-prog Midnight Juggernauts provided stellar support, the Melbourne lads even joining the Canadians next door in POD afterwards for a late-night turn on the decks.
 
All in all, then, a memorably fun night - and one that many will have paid for in work the next morning! We'll have a more comprehensive live review for you tomorrow, but for now feast your eyes on some of Mark Earley's shots from the gig. Just click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow.

Big Boi's Manchester show may have been demoted from the city's 1,300-capacity Ritz nightclub to Moho Live, a venue just over half that size, but that simply added to the atmosphere last night. As the Outkast man promised Ragged Words last week he would, he tore through all the hits (B.O.B. being a particularly belting highlight) while seeming to revel in being literally inches away from the punters, eyeball to eyeball.
 
Our man Duncan Elliott was closest of all: to view a slieshow of his images, just click on any of the shots below.

In town to prove they're no one-trick ponies - that one trick being finishing among Ragged Words' top 10 songs of last year - majority-Aussie popsters The Temper Trap played two sold out nights at Dublin's Tripod this week. Joined by not-half-bad Infectious labelmates Cloud Control, the band put in a solid enough set, with 'Drum Song' and 'Science of Fear' in particular standing out, and 'Sweet Disposition' obviously pleasing the sing-along masses.

Mark Earley was in prime position for both bands. To take a look at a slideshow of his shots, just click on any of the photos below. 

Unsung guitar heroes Polvo headlined the latest date in Foggy Notions’ ongoing Harmonic Series of gigs across the capital, playing to a respectable crowd inside The Workman’s Club on Friday night. Support came from a brace of Richter Collective acts, one from either side of the border: Not Squares kicked the night off in typically high-octane style before local lads Jogging fulfilled a life-long ambition of sharing the stage with one of their major influences. But it was the Chapel Hill luminaries, still on the reunion trail since re-signing to Merge Records last year, who predictably stole the show with their discordant riffs and unpredictable rhythms.
 
 
Mark Earley put down his pumpkin carving-knife for a few hours and headed along to take some photos of the gig for us. As always, simply click on any of the images below to load a slideshow of his shots. PINK LIGHTS!

A bona fide Japanese noise legend - having worked with Boris and Sunn O))), among others - who's released somewhere between 200 and 350 recordings over the course of his thirty-year career, Merzbow (or Masami Akita, as he's known to Mrs. Akita) was in town to give the sound system at new London haunt XOYO a serious testing on Wednesday night. As an added bonus, Akita was joined onstage by Hungarian drummer/Flying Lotus collaborator Balazs Pandi. Promising Canadian duo Nadja opened proceedings, although their set was unfortunately cut short due to faulty gear.
 
Could it have been louder? Maybe so, but Tim Ferguson was there nonetheless with his camera and a set of (underused) earplugs. To view a slideshow of his shots, just click on any of the images below.
 

Gruesome blues-rock twosome The Black Keys brought plenty of Muscle Shoals soul with them to Dublin's Tripod last night, packing out the Harcourt St. venue just a few months after playing a raucous main-stage set at Oxegen. Brothers, the title of the Akron, Ohio duo's sixth album (released earlier this year), gives you an idea of just how tight the groove is between Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney at this stage, and it's a partnership that really comes alive in front of an audience. Support on the night came from the always-great Lisa Hannigan, who showcased some new songs as well as old favourites from her Mercury and Choice Music Prize-nominated debut album, Sea Sew.
 
Mark Earley managed to barge his way to the front of the crowd to snap some up-close photos. To gawk at a slideshow of his shots from the gig, drag your mouse down to any of the thumbnails below.

The last time local heroes Adebisi Shank played Whelans, they were joined onstage by pretty much the entire audience. This time out, they were tasked with pumping the crowd up for headliners Maps & Atlases - and pump and pummel they certainly did. Adebisi are now arguably too strong an opening act for most bands passing through Ireland, but Chicagoans M & A ably rose to the task on this, their first visit to Dublin, playing a note-perfect set. 'Israeli Caves' and 'The Charm' went down particularly well in front of an impressively near-packed house. We managed to sneak RW photo editor Mark Earley in too - for a slideshow of his shots, just click on any of the images below.

Having killed it in Dublin on Monday, Yeasayer and not-too-shabby-either support act Suckers headed straight for the UK, and to Manchester on Wednesday night. The headliners' set was just as well received here, not least when the band decided to sing Happy Birthday to one of their new(ish) live percussionists before a sterling encore. Our man in Manchester, Duncan Elliott, was in the pit, out of the pit and far, far away from the pit to get the best snaps of the night. To load a slideshow of those photos, just click on any of the images below. 

Scuzzy alt. rockers windings are currently touring the length and breadth of Ireland, treating everyone from Cavan to Castlebar to a taste of their excellent new record, It's Never Night (apologies, lads: our review is on the way...) The Steve Ryan-led Limerick band swung by The Crane Lane Theatre in Cork on Friday night, and Ragged Words' Jen O'Donovan was there to capture their set. To look through a full slideshow of her photos, just click on any of the shots below.

With ninth studio album Mixed Race still hot off the presses, and almost twenty years on from his career-making turn on Massive Attack’s Blue Lines, hip-hop and soul veteran Tricky is still out to prove he’s in it for the long haul. A packed house was there to greet him when he played a moodily-lit Academy in Dublin on Sunday night.
 
The man himself showed he’s lost none of his bark, opening his set with a herbal cigarette-toting striptease that caught the attention of the crowd and security staff in equal measure. Support came from energetic Northerners Strait Laces, and our man in the pit Mark Earley was there to commit some photos to memory card. Click on any of the images below to load a slideshow of his shots.

Local lads The Gorgeous Colours launched their latest EP, The Creatures Down Below, in fine style last night at Dublin’s Whelans. The EP was paid-for entirely by pledges from fans – something which made for an extra-special atmosphere at the gig. Support came from the much talked-about Cloud Castle Lake, whose dense, claustrophobic sound provided an ideal foil to TGC’s smiley warmth. We’ll certainly be keeping an eye on these guys. 
Mark Earley and his lens are in Whelans so often these days that we reckon he’ll have to start paying rent pretty soon. Click on any of the thumbnail images below to view a slideshow of his photos from the night.

Sub Pop grunge legends Mudhoney rolled into town last week, playing so-so London venue the Electric Ballroom on Wednesday night. We'll have our verdict on the show up shortly, but you can enjoy Anni Timms' shots of the well-aged rockers right now - as well as a few at the start of fellow Seattleites Unnatural Helpers (yeah, me neither). To view a slideshow of all the photos, just click on any of 'em below. 

With this year's Hard Working Class Heroes festival drawing to a close across the capital on Saturday night, it was left to the good people at Foggy Notions to revive drooping spirits on Sunday. And it's fair to say the inaugural Foggy Jam did more than just that, bringing a stellar lineup of eight quality acts to Whelans for a nine-hour marathon gig.

Highlights were many and varied: Silje Nes had offbeat charm to spare, Male Bonding rocked even harder than on record, while headliners No Age played a memorably late and loud set that provoked plenty of moshing, temporary deafness and at least one stage invasion.

Our own (very) hard working class photographer Mark Earley rounded off a busy weekend for him and his camera by taking some shots of the night's proceedings. Bumper gallery below - just point and click to load a slideshow. (Thanks to Leah @ Urchin and all at Foggy Notions for an awesome evening)

Day two of Hard Working Class Heroes 2010, and Kilkenny man Jeremy Hickey (aka R.S.A.G.) made an early bid for the best-use-of-visuals award at this year's festival. Hickey's synchronised backdrop lit up a packed Button Factory late on Friday night, and his frantic drumming and arsenal of pedal-driven effects soon got bodies moving.
 
Mark Earley barely had time to draw breath after that before Dark Room Notes unleashed an ice-cool synth storm during their headline set at The Workman's Club. A sample of Mark's photos can be seen below - as usual, just click on any of the thumbnails to load a slideshow.

Hard Working Class Heroes 2010 got off to a flyer in Dublin last Thursday night as the first of one hundred acts took to the stage across six of the inner city's finest haunts. Mark Earley brought his camera along to as many of those one hundred as time would allow. Click below to view a slideshow of his photos of HAL and Enemies - both of whom played to an enthusiastic crowd inside the newly-refurbished Grand Social venue (fka Pravda) - and Halves, who brought the house down with a superb show further up the quays at The Workman's Club. Look out for Halves' hotly-anticipated debut album, It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever), dropping at the end of this month.
 
(Our thanks to Liza at Friction PR for her help)

The Gorgeous Colours kicked off this year's Hard Working Class Heroes Festival on Thursday evening last with a teatime instore performance at Dublin's Tower Records. The lads were in boisterous form as they aired songs from their forthcoming The Creatures Down Below EP. In what was a busy weekend for the band, a Saturday morning appearance on Newstalk was then followed by their main HWCH set later that night in the swanky new Grand Social venue - definitely one of the highlights of the weekend for us.
 
Mark Earley battled some unforgivingly bright lighting to take a few shots of the instore. As usual, just click on any of the thumbnails below to launch a slideshow.
 
TGC have an EP launch gig (with support from Cloud Castle Lake) in Whelans this Thursday night, and right now you can swap your email address for a free download of the EP's title track over on the guys' Bandcamp page.

Swedish folkie José González brought his JUNIP cohorts to newly-opened East London nightspot XOYO on Monday for the latest stop on the band's UK tour in support of debut album Fields. Support on the night came from Woodpigeon (aka Canadian Mark Hamilton), who treated the crowd to a pared-back, but no less engaging, solo set. Our man Tim Ferguson was in attendance, and managed to point his lens through some of the onstage foliage to capture some photos. Click on any of the thumbnails below to load a slideshow of his shots.

Kevin Barnes and co. returned to these shores last weekend, and it was our first time seeing them since 2009's sold-out Button Factory gig. This time they treated an expectant crowd inside Dublin's Academy to songs from recently-released tenth album, False Priest, and more than lived up their reputation for putting on an outrageous pantomime of a show. An entirely face-painted band, lycra outfits, gas masks, skirts and glitter matched the funky psychadelic music to a tee as Barnes pranced from one side of the stage to the other, audience in the palm of his hand.
 
Mark Earley was on hand to capture the mayhem. Click on any of the images below to see a full slideshow of his photos.
 

Bringing his stunning new AV show back to Dublin for the second time in just under three months, Josh Davis played the city's Tripod venue over the weekend as part of this year's OFFSET Festival. Although the venue took a little while to fill up, Shadow delivered a welcome mix of new and old tunes - including a handful of reworked cuts from his pioneering 1996 masterpiece, Endtroducing.

Perhaps the highlight of the night, though, was the aforementioned audiovisual set-up, which basically saw Davis encased within a giant spherical DJ booth onto which all manner of funky HD visuals were projected. At times the whole thing resembled a stage production of an Apollo space mission - or even a hip-hop take on Tron. For the second half of the show, the front of the sphere was raised to reveal Davis crouched over his mixers, a bit like a goateed Wayne Coyne in a baseball cap (minus all the fake blood).

If you don't believe me, check out Mark Earley's photos below. Click on any of the images in order to load a slideshow. 

Two weeks on from the release of their eighth studio album, the shimmering Penny Sparkle, veteran New York trio Blonde Redhead finished up their September European tour on Thursday night with a triumphant set at London's Shepherds Bush Empire. Sara Amroussi was there to capture it all for us - as usual, to load a slideshow of her photos, just click on any of the images below.

Following his chat with us here earlier in the week, The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon played to a packed house last night at Dublin's Olympia Theatre. The king of deadpan regaled the crowd with his usual witty between-song banter and aired highlights from his band's rich and varied back catalogue - all while mixing his drinks (Guinness and Volvic, as you can see from Mark Earley's photos below!). Support came from dapper Dubliner David Turpin and his spectral brew of 4ADesque sounds. To load a slideshow of Mark's shots, just click on any of the images below.

The ever-intriguing Matthew Herbert brought his One Club live show to London’s Hoxton Bar and Kitchen last week to launch the album of the same name, the latest release in his One Trilogy. Tim Ferguson got some great shots of the Accidental Records chief and to see a slideshow of them, just click on any of the photos below.
 

Read all about it here, but first check out Anni Timms' photos of a rejuvenated Frances McKee and Eugene Kelly back playing as The Vaselines on London's Scala stage last week. For a slideshow of her shots, just click on any of the photos below.

Veterans of the American indie scene (and good pals) Damien Jurado and Richard Swift played to an enthusiastic crowd at London's Jazz Café on Tuesday night. Swift recently lent his production skills to Jurado's Saint Bartlett LP - the ninth of the Seattle journeyman's career - so it was only fair that Jurado should ask the Californian to share the billing on his current jaunt across the UK. This London date was the first night of the tour, and opening support came from Sacramento indie songstress Sea Of Bees. To load a slideshow of Tim Ferguson's photos, just click on any of the images below. And while you're at it, click here to grab a free mini-album of covers recorded last month by Jurado & Swift. Thanks to Manish at Secretly Canadian for his help.

Strings, electronics and piano in tow, Max Richter gave a very special performance of his ‘infra’ composition - released on record by FatCat recently - at South London's gorgeous Cadogan Hall venue last Friday night. There was no photography permitted during the show, but the very, very, very nice people at Bird On The Wire allowed Ragged Words' Tim Ferguson in during rehearsal time to get some excellent shots. For a slideshow of his photos, just click on any of the images below.

Switched at the last minute to Fabric after new London hangout XOYO was given one final lick of paint, Dan Deacon made sure there was no grumblings about having to walk across town thanks to his usual bonkers and brilliant live set. His shows aren't exactly the most straight forward to snap either but Sara Amroussi did a cracking job and to view a full slideshow of her shots, just click on any of the images below.
 

Fresh from his day out at the Mercury Prize, Dublin's new favourite son Conor O'Brien came home for a special, acoustic performance at the city's new Workman's Club venue. And sure we've heard those songs from Villagers debut album live countless times now but, well, it's not yet starting to get old. Mark Earley captured the whole thing and to view a slideshow of his photos, click on any of the below shots.

Opened to the public just a week ago, Dublin's Workman's Club kept its early momentum going by welcoming local (well Wicklow) hero Fionn Regan in front of a smaller home crowd than he's used to. The former Mercury nominee didn't disappoint either with a set heavily loaded with debut album The End of History and featuring plenty from impressive follow-up The Shadow Of An Empire too. For a slideshow of Mark Earley's photos - including some from support act Ann Scott - just click on any below.

Before returning later in the year to play far larger venues in the UK, Les Savy Fav gave leaky new album Root To Ruin its first live airing this side of the pond in the altogether more modest surrounding of East London's Cargo. Tim Harrington was as shy as ever and Ragged Words' Sara Amroussi was on hand to capture the unique frontman and his NYC bandmates. For a full slideshow of her shots, just click on any of the images below.
 

RW holds few bands in higher esteem than Field Music and we got ready for the Brewis boys biggest London date in Koko later this year by hitting up a smaller but no less successful set at Dublin's Crawdaddy last week. Winning over the Harcourt Street crowd for the second time in just a few months, the Wearsiders were in top form. Mark Earley captured the lot and you can see a full gallery of his shots - plus a couple from impressive local openers Subplots - by clicking on any below.

September's always a good time for add-on gigs in London with bands nearby for the Bestival and End Of The Road weekenders and the past couple of weeks have been no different to usual with one of the highlights, being John Darnielle shepherding his Mountain Goats to Koko last week. Ragged Words snapper Sara Amroussi was there to capture it for us and to see a gallery of her shots, just click on any of the photos below.

While other members of Sigur Ros have been busy making babies and not albums, in the space of just over twelve months frontman Jonsi made a record with his partner and one on his own. He's also been wowing crowds across Europe this summer and brought his show-stopping set to Manchester's Academy last week. For a slideshow of Duncan Elliott's photos, just click on any of the photos below.

The weather may have deteriorated as the weekend progress but the standard of acts at last weekend's Electric Picnic certainly did not. Jen O'Donovon was hopping from stage to stage and we've a selection of her photos below, including the likes of Roxy Music, Modest Mouse, Seastick Steve and Fight Like Apes. But like the festival itself, it was all about a certain Ms Monae. For a slideshow of Jen's shots, just click on any of the photos below.

While punters down the road chucked their pints at Axl Rose and co., California's Chief got on far better with the Academy 2 crowd on Wednesday night, handing out sandwiches before their note-perfect Dublin debut and chugging pints of Guiness during it. Avoiding any discarded crusts, Mark Early snapped their, er, snappy 50-minute set as well as catching support from the excellent local lot Little Green Cars. For a slideshow, just click on any photos below.

There are few live bands quite as gripping as Swedish husband and wife duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums. While they wowed us particularly earlier this year when performing 'With Voices' - i.e. aided by a 12-piece choir - Mariam and Andreas were still in top form in the stripped down setting of London's Lexington venue. Anika Mottershaw was front and centre to capture their set and to view a sildeshow of her photos, just click on any of the photos below.   

Quietly converting listeners with their fine garage punk tunes - there's 16 of em packed into debut album Hippies - Nashville-originating Harlem made their Irish debut last week, playing to a receptive crowd at Dublin stronghold Whelans. Prolific Ragged Words photographer Fiona Diffley captured the evidence and to see a slideshow of her photos, just click on any of the pics below.

In Europe for a handful of festival dates including a turn at Green Man, Beirut went very much against the grain and skipped much of the rest of the UK in favour of a Dublin show. Supported by home favourite, the Choice Prize winning Adrian Crowley, Zach Condon and pals put in an impressive set and Fiona Diffley was on hand with camera to shoot the best of it. For a slideshow of her photos, just click on any of the pics below.

We don't give A+'s out too easily round these parts but Girls' "cracked heartbreak classic" debut Album was an obvious exception last year. It was so good it even made into our albums of the decade poll just a couple of months after its release. We were first through the doors when Christpher Owens and co. returned to Dublin last week and Fiona Diffley nudged her way through the Academy's crowd to take a few shots. For a gallery, just click on any of her photos below.  

Peddlers of some of the most towering guitarscapes around, Montrealers The Besnard Lakes filled Dublin's Academy 2 with a wall of sound on Tuesday. Regrettably there weren't too many about to hear it - the crowd was a disappointingly thin one - but head Ragged Words snapper Mark Earley was among them and to see a slideshow of his pictures, just click on any of the photos below.

Brooklyn duo Telepathe returned to Dublin haunt Whelans on Saturday night - big thanks to deadly Skinny Wolves for tempting them over and for grabbing the ever impressive Patrick Kelleher & His Cold Dead Hands to support. Fiona Diffley was hanging out at the front of the stage for the night and to view a slideshow of her photos, just click on any of them below.

Before Corkonians headed for the August bank holiday weekend's Indiependence Festival (photos here), Skibbereen's Cork X Southwest one-dayer put on a hell of a bill. Jen O'Donovan's was there to capture the best of the bands and for a gallery of (from left to right) Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, The Frank & Walters, Martha Wainwright, The Ambience Affair and Jinx Lennon, just click on the photos below. 

Ireland's smattering of boutique festivals - held smack bang in between the two big boys of Oxegen and The Electric Picnic - certainly upped their collective games this year. August bank holiday revellers in Cork were spoilt for choice with the Cork X Southwest one-dayer (pics here) and - captured below - the Indiependence Festival bringing great acts a plenty to the Rebel County. To see any of Jen O'Donovan's And So I Watch You From Afar and Adebisi Shank photos close up, just click on em. 

Jens Lekman kicked off his first European tour in over two years in rainy Dublin on Sunday night, mixing crowd pleasing classics with new material from his yet-to-be-announced follow up to 2007’s Night Falls Over Kortedala. Ragged Words snapper Fiona Diffley was front and centre and to view a gallery of her photos, just click on any of them below.

By all accounts - and we'll have a written one over the next few days - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy was in sensational form in Dublin over the past couple of nights, bringing his Cairo Gang into town for two sold-out shows in Whelans. It seems he also pulled a lot of faces. Hilarious faces. To see a collection of them, just click on any of Mark Earley's photos below. 

You can read all about Cut Copy's bizarrely brief set at Tripod here but Ragged Words didn't just hit the Dublin venue armed merely with one of those pens with a light on. As per usual, for a full slideshow of Mark Earley's photos, just click on any of the antipodean gentlemen you see below.

While the kids flocked to Oxegen at the weekend, the sensible 25-40 year-olds among us got our pipes and slippers out and headed for Whelans and the always reliable post rock sounds of venerated Chicago veterans Tortoise. To view a slideshow of Fiona Diffley's photos - there's a few lovely one's of support act Jeff Martin too - just click on any of the images below.

Part two of our photo series from last Friday's stellar lineup of Grizzly Bear, Midlake, Camera Obscura and Villagers at Cork's Marquee. And it's on to the big boys, the Americans, the albums-of-the-last-decade crashers. For a gallery of Mark Earley's Grizzly Bear and Midlake shots, just click on one of the images below.

You'll be hard-pressed to find a better lineup this year, certainly in the south of Ireland, than the one that graced Cork's Marquee last Friday evening. Indeed, so good was the combo of Grizzly Bear, Midlake, Camera Obscura and Villagers that we've had to split our photo sets into two parts. For a gallery of Mark Earley's Villagers and Camera Obscura shots, just click on one of the pictures below.

So no wonder Stevie Wonder found it tough going shifting all the tickets for his show down the road at the O2 cos R.S.A.G. drew a mean crowd for his biggest capital city show to date at The Academy. And banging his way impressively through new album Be It Right Or Wrong, he afforded a wry grin when one audience member shouted "you're better than Stevie." Click on any of Mark Earley's pics below for a full slideshow.

We're settling into our monthly hosting duties at The Twisted Pepper's POGO night and we brought one of our most exciting line-up's yet to the live room last week. Dubliners The Gorgeous Colours treated us to some VERY encouraging new songs while Belfast's Not Squares, well they just blew us away. To view a full slideshow of photo editor Mark Earley's pictures, just click on any of the images below.

It's not often that The Duke Speical - or Peter Wilson to his ma - gets outdone on the eccentric front but support act for Friday's show in Dublin's Tripod Thomas Traux certainly did his best. And yes, he is playing on a bar table in one picture and with a toy fan in another. Of course the Duke was pretty photogenic as usual too and to view a full slideshow of photo editor Mark Earley's pictures, just click on any of the images below.

Ragged Words hasn't seen the Dublin stronghold of Whelans this sweatily packed for quite some time, and whether you were one of many utterly bowled over by Kristian Matsson or one of the few who think his new album sounds a little too much like his first, you can't deny the power of that voice. So just imagine it filling the room as you flick through a slideshow of Mark Ealey's pictures by clicking on any of the images below.

Ragged Words tempted New Zealanders The Ruby Suns over to Dublin last night and - of course we're biased - but we thought they were rather brilliant. They covered Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' for god sake!! For a full slideshow of photo editor Mark Earley's pictures, just click on any of the images below.

Fresh from scoring a debut week number one in the Irish album charts, Conor O'Brien's Villagers played their biggest hometown headline show at Dublin's thoroughly sold out Button Factory and somehow were more astounding than ever before. For a full slideshow of Mark Earley's pictures - including a couple from support act Our Little Secrets - just click on any of the images below. 

Surely one of the best touring partnerships currently filling venues around Europe, Built To Spill and Dinosaur Jr. hit Dublin's Vicar Street last week armed with - and we're not just being kind 'cause they're getting on - cracking new records. You can see a full slideshow of Fiona Diffley's shots by clicking on any of the photos below.

Ted Leo makes the best faces when he sings. Seriously. He brought an array of expressions, plus his band The Pharmacists to Whelans on Saturday night, where he was ably supported by the mighty windings. For a full slideshow of Mark Earley's shots, click on any of the photos below.

The kind of show Divine Comedy fans dream about, Neil Hannon took to the stage at Dublin's cosy Sugar Club on Friday night, armed with two decades of hits and a piano. Helped briefly, as you shall see, by Thomas 'Duckworth' Walsh, you can see a full slideshow of Mark Earley's shots by clicking on any of the photos below.

After snapping him in the intimacy of Dublin's Whelans in 2009, last week Ragged Words was camped in the photographers' pit in the altogether more salubrious setting of the city's new Grand Canal Theatre for Josh Ritter's latest visit to his now adopted home. To view a slideshow of Mark Earley's photos, click on any of the images below.

After being one of Ragged Words' highlights of last year's Electric Picnic festival, we were front and centre for the bands return to Irish shores last week when they played Whelans. To view a slideshow of Mark Earley's photos - also featuring fellow Danes and support for the night Slaraffenland - click on any of the images below.

dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip returned to Dublin to play two rammed shows at Whelans last weekend - one an all-ages Sunday afternoon set, and the other (with support from B Dolan) running things later on the previous evening. To view a slideshow of Mark Earley's photos from the latter, click on any of the images below.

In typically thrilling style, Chicago's Hypnotic Brass Ensemble tore the roof off Whelans - and subsequent Dublin venues - when their stay in Ireland was extended by you know what. To view a slideshow of Mark Earley's photos from their first show, just click on any of the images below. Be sure to check out his review here too.

Read all about it here, but we also captured Panda Bear giving his new material a test run in Dublin on camera. To view a slideshow of Fiona Diffley's photos - there's a few of support act Kurt Vile in there too - just click on any of the images below.

What more can we tell you about Seastick Steve? Well needless to say, the one of a kind performer put on quite a show when he played two dates at Dublin's Tripod this week and Mark Earley was there to take some excellent photos. Click on anyone below to view a full slideshow.

Swedish electro king The Field, aka Axel Willner, brought a full-band to Dublin for a late night show to a fairly dimly lit Tripod on Friday, January 22. And by all accounts, the expanded line-up did Willner justice. Click on anyone of Mark Earley's photos below for a slideshow.

In the first of what we promise will be many Ragged Words Presents shows; perhaps soon-to-be Choice Prize nominated trio Adrian Crowley, The Holy Roman Army & Hunter-Gatherer played Dublin’s Twisted Pepper last December 20. A good (we hope) night was had by all. Click on any of Mark Earley's photos below for a slideshow.

The, quite simply, legendary Sonic Youth played a rare Irish show last Sunday, choosing Dublin's finest venue Vicar Street to air some tracks from their "ambitious" if "frustrating" new album Eternal as well as plenty of classics. Click on any of Mark Earley's photos below for a slideshow.

Enthusiastically lauded elsewhere, emotionally-charged Brooklyn three-piece received a decent but by no means outstanding review round these parts when debut album Hospice was released earlier this year. Nevertheless Ragged Words strolled down Academy Two way on Friday night to catch em live. Click on anyone of Mark Earley's photos below for a slideshow:

As part of Whelans 20 year celebrations, Josh Ritter players three nights at the Wexford Street venue with the Love Cannon String Band, performing a different album acoustically each night. Having played The Golden Age Of Radio the night before (with The Animal Years to follow the evening after), Ragged Words was on hand, with camera, for the Hello Starling night.

The fourth annual Castlepalooza independent festival took place at the quaint Charleville Castle in Tullamore, County Offaly over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Super Extra Bonus Party, David Kitt, Le Galexie and Robotnik were among the Ragged Words favourites who played and were snapped over both days. For a full slideshow, click on any photo below.

Raucous Brooklynites O’Death returned to Dublin this week, armed with songs from last year’s Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin which did precisely that for the crowd at Whelans. Local support was ably provided by The Spook Of The Thirteenth Lock.  For a full slideshow, click on any photo below.

Cristiano Ronaldo's debut for Real Madrid wasn't the only show in town on Monday. Whelans welcomed the legendary Booker T to Dublin as he rolled out MG classics like 'Melting Pot' and 'Green Onions' aswell as covers of Sam & Dave's Hold On Outkast's Hey Ya and a finale of Sittin on the Dock of the Bay, to which he had the entire crowd whistling along. For a full slideshow, click on any photo below.

Following his fantastic show at the Sugar Club in May - one in a long succession we must add - Adrian Crowley brough his equally spellbinding new records Season Of The Sparks down the road for a triumphant show at Whelans on Satruday night. For a full slideshow, click on any photo below.

With the kids at Oxegen and the grown ups watching The Boss in action, New Orleans' jazz and hip-hop enfused collective the Hot 8 Brass Band tore the house down in Whelans on Saturday, July 11, wielding buckets of brass and energy that were first seen by the masses in Spike Lee's poignent documentary When 'The Levee Breaks.' For a full slideshow, click on any photo below.

The Dan Deacon ensemble captured playing a second sold out late night show at Dublin's Andrew's Lane theatre with the able support of fellow Baltimorians Future Islands. The following pictures contain images of audience participation. For a full slideshow, click on any photo below.

Jape, Cathy Davey, Kila and a whole load of sunshine helped Dublin celebrate the Irish Aid-organised Africa Day in the capital's Iveagh Gardens. For a full slideshow, click on any photo below.

Playing the first AU/State.ie co-promoted night upstairs at Purty in South Co. Dublin's Dun Laoghaire (April 24, 2009) are Villagers (solo), And So I Watch You From Afar and Alphastates. For a full slideshow, click on any photo below.

Frightened Rabbit stop off at Dublin's Academy 2 (April 1, 2009) during their acoustic tour, supporting the stripped down Quietly Now!, a live album featuring songs from 2008's The Midnight Organ Fight. For a full slideshow, click on any photo below.

Villagers play Dublin's Crawdaddy (February 21, 2009) during their first headline tour of Ireland on the back of their debut Hollow Kind EP. For a full slideshow, click on any photo below.