Even though me and Muzz can’t sing we are still doing our own thing

1. TV Smith – Bored Teenagers
2. J Robbins – New York State
3. HDQ – Dismantled
4. Stay Clean Jolene – Easy Target
5. The No Marks – Light of One
6. Tough Stuff – New Glasses
7. Lee HArveys – Be Someone
8. Thrilled SKinny – Its A Good DOss
9. Firehose – Quicksand
10. Uniforms – Keep on Keeping On
11. Maxwells Dead – The Doctor
12. Slice of Life – Love And A Lampost
13. Womens Christmas – Split Lip Service
14. Sleater Kinney – Bury Our Friends
15. Sissy – So what
16. THe nightingales – Bullet for Gove
17. The traders – Drive East
18. Bear In Heaven – Time Between
19. moutpiece – positive frame of mind
20. tv smith and the Bored Teenagers – New Church

Went to see TV smith play some adverts songs with the Bored Teenagers in Dublin. TV gets plenty of airing on this show and for very good reason. His acoustic sets are legendary but last night with the Bored Teenagers those classic songs shone through

Frankie Stubbs has an amazing voice so it was great to come across this Leatherface cover I was only too happy to share it with you

Of course Frankie shared the songwriting duties with Dickie Hammond who started his time with HDQ who are seeing a bit of a welcome rejuventation these days.

One band I have been raving about is Stay Clean Jolene. I played some songs from their new album over Christmas. It’s a great celebration of what is good about the uk diy scene at the moment and I want to share this as much as I can

The No Marks are also part of that scene and their new record, light of one, is out now on Waterslide

Tough Stuff are from Orange County and play a quirky pop punk. I’m a sucker for that sound, a complete sucker

As I mentioned I went to see TV smith live last night with the Bored Teenagers. Also on the bill were the Lee Harveys, who are building up a nice reputation around the Dublin punk scene. Their Still Angry album has just been released on FOAD who are doing as good a job as ever as pushing Dublin punk rock.

Years back I used to write to a band called Thrilled SKinny, specifically Andy Weizen from the band. I reconnected with Andy over Christmas and it reminded me how close we were to seeing Thrilled Skinny in Dublin, it would have been a good doss

Mike Watt keeps on rolling, in this world of 5 steps of seperation I am usually 1 or 2 away from Mike Watt in the music I listen to. The Minutemen helped shape so many bands, firehouse weren’t too bad either, even got a band named after this song

Just because it’s a new year and out with the old and all that doesn’t mean I’m gonna forget all about Make That a take Records and I will continue trying to get you to pay more heed to their roster. Uniforms are part of a four way split recently released and Maxwells Dead have a record out with them too.

I’m a sucker for nostalgia and Crass records played a big part in my punk rock education so Steve Ignorant’s new record is a particularly good one for me to see. What makes it all the ebetter is that the nostalgia is fed by the voice but Steve is trying something new with SLice of Life and I much prefer it that way, in with the new.

Women’s Christmas released an album around November last year on OOAL records. Hopefully it didn’t get lost in the Christmas rush or left behind in the post Christmas clean up.

Sleater Kinney are coming to Dublin in April. It’s good to see good bands playing, even if they were at their peak 20 years ago. They were an important band for many and role models for Women, paving the way (as Bikini Kill did before them) for women to see that it’s fine for them to play in bands.

I’m sure Sissy would still exist even if Sleater Kinney never did but if you were to dissect their influences and the path that they are travelling on Sleater Kinney would be reference somewhere

One of the gigs of the year for 2014 was the nightingales, upstairs in Whelans. They played to a handful but sometimes they are the best sort of audience. We were all enthralled by the racket and twists and turns each song took.

It’s been a strange week, whilst there has been mass murder in Yemen, war in Syria, killings in Palestine and Afghanistan but one that has received most coverage in the West was the horrific murder spree (aren’t all murders horrific) in Paris. I suppose it is close to home and the history of France and the West isn’t one for discussion in this review. For now I’m playing French punk band The Traders as we all hope for some sanity and no racist repercussions.

Bear In Heaven’s new album Time is Over One Day Old is a lovely electronic escape, wouldn’t it be nice if we could all do that every now and again. This is my weekly escape, hope you can enjoy it

Hope moutpiece and TV Smith helps you too

niallhope

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