As always there’s been much debate over this year’s Choice Music Prize, with much of the heat aimed towards those responsible for throwing The Script into the mix and giving the Dublin 3-piece a nod ahead of other Irish acts.
Rather than vent our spleen and spit vitriol at the judges involved we hope, in a new feature* to praise those that didn’t make it into the Choice List this year and deserve a nod. Whether you like the nominees or not, the Choice Music Prize is about highlighting and talking about Irish music, and those not recognised this year will benefit more from bloggers talking about them rather than bitching about who got in. With that in mind here’s our first album, a fairly obvious choice given the reaction of the last week…
Adebisi Shank: This Is The Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank
Given that this was one of our ‘Have You Heard?’ features back in September, Adebisi Shank were always going to be Guess List hopefuls for a nomination. Adebisi Shank have generated a buzz because of their no nonsense approach (The album title has a certain Ronseal does-what-it-says-on-the-tin charm to it) and visceral sound.
Unashamedly math rock (Both the E.P. and album have graph paper covers?), angular riffs rule the day here but are backed up with an unrelenting drum and bass combo that are both visceral and disciplined.This album is instrumental throughout bar the distorted vocals of ‘You Me’, and you get the feeling that any vocals would have diminshed the overall power and impact of the album.
For the unyielding aural assault of TITAOABCAS it is at heart a strictly regimented affair – this album’s tight. Coming in at a lean 24 minutes Adebisi Shank say what they want with little indulgence. By the first time we got to see the Shank in The Whiskey in Cork, word had gotten round that this was a band to see. Packed into the tiny venue was a mixmatch of gig goers – shoegazers at the front jolting in a seizure like appreciation, hipsters at the back nursing a pint and all in between.
All had come for one reason – to see the emergence of a new act like no other on the Irish scene, and who have a debut as deserving on a place on any end of year list.
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(*Knowing this blog and our best made plans etc “we hope, in a new feature” means we hope we do this at least twice anyways)
