Oh Yeah, they're taking it over

Last week AU attended the launch of the Oh Yeah Sessions '08, a Carling sponsored album consisting of original recordings from finest of Northern Irish talent. The launch party took place at the Oh Yeah centre, and featured live performances from Cashier No.9, Kowalski And So I Watch You From Afar and The Jane Bradfords. The event had a superb turnout, and it was heartwarming to see so much of the NI music community in the same place at the same time.

That's the background, since then the album has been getting a significant amount of airplay in our office. Each of the tracks was recorded at the new Start Together Studio, which is housed in the centre, with the exception of the bonus songs from In Case Of Fire and David Holmes. The stand out tracks we're especially digging are mojoFURY 'Colour Of The Bear', Panama Kings 'Where's Your Sense Of Urgency' and LaFaro 'Mr. Heskey', though to be honest there isn't a single duff number from the ten.

You can buy the record now from HMV and Phoenix Records, and as the CD is acting as a fundraiser for the worthy Oh Yeah cause, we suggest you do so now.

Japed Crusader

We had a busy week at AU (they all are though). Photo shoots and interviews in Dublin, working on our fifth birthday celebrations, plus a few new things in the offing that we'll reveal soon.

A highlight was a passing encounter involving a bicycle and the rush for a bus, where Richie Egan, AKA Jape, gave AU a copy of the new album 'Ritual'. Just had a wee spin at it and the first impressions are great, reckon it will be a solid staple of the AU Stereo for the next while. It's exciting to have such a good record coming out of Ireland right now. The album doesn't have the previous single 'Floating' on it (which was used during the final episode of Skins last week), which was a bit surprising, but the fact that it can be left off with ease just goes to show how much strong material he has.

You'll more about the album and from Richie in future issues of AU, in the meantime here's the video for 'Floating'.



Jape is awesome live too, so if you're in Dublin on Monday April 21 then make sure you're at the Crawdaddy to represent.

Free CD funtime music sharing type thang.

Do you love to share music? Would you like the opportunity to introduce people to tunes and bands they might not have heard before? Or maybe you just want to encourage others to give your guilty pleasures a chance.

Whatever your motives are, we're here to try and help make this happen. Remember when you used to painstakingly craft mixtapes for your friends, timing it right so everything fitted on a one side of a TDK90 without cutting any songs short. (right now I bet younger readers are saying 'what's a TDK90'?) It was worth it all to turn your friends onto new music. Ah, good times.

AU is bringing the mixtape tradition back, this time in the form of mix CDs. We'll be letting members of our Last.fm group send in a compilation, which we'll then duplicate and distribute to our members.

Sounds cool doesn't it? Go join the IHeartAU Last.fm group to get involved

Video: Fighting With Wire - Everyone Needs A Nemesis

It's no secret that we love Derry trio Fighting With Wire. A lot. If you don't have a copy of their debut album 'Man Vs Monster' yet, then away off and buy one now (they're available from their UK label Smalltown America).

They were recently signed by humungoid American label Atlantic, who will be putting put the album (via Photo Finish Records) later this year. We want FWW to conquer the US, and with any luck they will.

This is the first video to have been made for the new record, and it's a wee belter.

Five To One: Magicians

It's that time again, and this time we cast our educated eye on the legends (and losers) of magic. From supermodel wives to chilly endurance stunts, these guys really know how to live. And, in one memorable case, die.

5. Paul Daniels
Starting his career on infamous British light entertainment (read ‘lowbrow nonsense’) programme The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club, Daniels was every bit the working man’s conjuror: with a disarming manner, and a deft hand at all the usual pub-related card tricks, he won over the nation with the help of his parroty love interest Debbie Magee. A staple of Eighties TV, Daniels now acts as full-time home help for Emu, the widow of late entertainer Rod Hull.

4. David Copperfield
A man of such staggering egoism that he bought the Batmobile from Tim Burton’s 1989 version and married willowy supermodel Claudia Schiffer, all while making very big magic tricks for his stunned audiences. His audacious stunts included making the Statue Of Liberty disappear (impressive), and ‘going into’ the Bermuda Triangle (not as impressive). Now regularly appearing on double bills with Jason Donovan in Bognor and Margate.

3. David Blaine
Sleepy-head Blaine grabbed the world’s attention with that ‘floaty feet’ trick everyone did in Primary School. Now famous for undertaking death-defying tasks including freezing and starving himself, which aren’t so much magic as a bit stupid and dangerous. David is currently preparing to walk through the core of the sun next summer. We wish him luck.

2. Penn and Teller
Some of the most genuinely funny and shocking magic ever to hit our TV screens came from the twisted minds of this Yank duo. Finding a home on late night Channel 4, they blended anarchic humour with genuinely close-to-the-bone stunts, such as catching pistol bullets in their teeth or juggling broken bottles. Penn and Teller rebranded themselves as Jemini and lost out with nul points in 2003’s Eurovision Song Contest. Keep trying, lads!

1. Tommy Cooper
Never has magic been in better (or worse) hands then when Tommy Cooper took to the stage: nothing sets up an impressive trick better than farting it up three times first. He made the Fez a stylish look and invented the great ‘pull a ladder from between your legs’ sketch. Extra kudos for Cooper actually dying during a performance, doing what he did best – and the crowd were laughing right until the curtain came down.

Cut Copy = Ultra Brilliance

Anyone who has ventured within a three mile radius of AU HQ in the past few weeks will have been pummelled in the ears by the new Cut Copy album 'In Ghost Colours'. The reason for this is simple - it's ultra brilliant. If the album was a washing powder, it would be the kind that possesses magical qualities that make your whites more than just 'brilliant white', they'll be 'ultra brilliant white'. If you would like a more easily understood explanation of what the album sounds like, this isn't the place to find it. You will have to just buy the record the moment it comes out.

In the meantime, enjoy their video for 'Lights & Music'.

Old Men Over The Hill

This news was announced yesterday to the sound of a million grown women screaming, and a collective shrug of indifference from everyone else. There have been many high profile reformations of late - My Bloody Valentine, Rage Against The Machine, Pixies - but now the reunion to top them all has been announced. Yes, you guessed it, New Kids On The Block are back. They'll be playing together live on an American TV show for the first time in 14 years.

We know you don't really care about this piece of news, we're just using it to show you how hilarious they looked back in the day. Check this pic for proof.

Five To One: Rock Geeks

It’s Friday, so it must be Five to Ones. A solid gold top five here, but who have we left out? Get on the forum and put us right!


5. Stephen Malkmus
Malkmus is indie-rock geek personified. Floppy hair? Check. A nice line in sensible suit jackets and good sturdy woolen pullovers? Check. Smarty-pants, arch lyrics? Check. Über-alt. Side projects? Check. Still, Pavement rocked.

4. Lou Barlow
Same as Malkmus but with added horn-rim and side-projectry.

3. Ben Folds
Folds writes songs about being dumped, being bullied and having girls laugh at his man bit. It doesn’t get much more nerdy than that. Unles you’re Screech from Saved By The Bell and Rivers Cuomo just gave you a beatdown for being a poindexter.

2. Graham Coxon
Ex-Blur guitarist Graham one saw a suave girl with a suave guy in Camden while he was having a bit of a coffee, thought to himself, ’pfft’, then went home, had a wee cry and wrote a song about it. We rest our case.

1. Rivers Cuomo
With the Weezer man’s infamous aversion to eye contact, alleged penchant for barely-legal Asian girlfriends, reclusive nature, lyrics about superheroes and D&D, not forgetting the ever-present thick horn-rimmed glasses and cardigan combo, Cuomo leads the pack in the rock geek fraternity.

We Haven't Gone Away You Know...

It's been a week since the last blog update, but with good reason. We've all been ultra busy getting the new issue of AU finished. Then, right in the middle of our deadline, we become the victim of a burglary. They stole a laptop, camera, some cash and a folder full of photo shoots and images. Scummy. If any magazine subscribers are reading this, please send an email to jonny[at]iheartau[dot]com as the laptop held our subscriber info.

We've tweaked the design on this issue and it looks super sexy. It has tons of great content too. We Are Scientists, The B-52's, The Long Blondes, Two Door Cinema Club, an A To Z of Macho, a Guide to American Sitcoms and loads of other goodness. It looks like this...


...and will soon be available in all good newsagents and the like.

The soundtrack to the latter days of our deadline was the new Panic At The Disco album, 'Pretty. Odd.' (perfect, shiny and pristine pop) and the latest Cut Copy record 'In Ghost Colours' (New Order and My Bloody Valentine at the same time? Yes please). We cannot get enough of these two records.