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Friday 6th April 2012
All Day BBQ Festival

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On Our iPod

Golden Grrrls - New Pop 7”

Chris Devotion & The Expectations - Amalgamation & Capital (album)

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester (album)

Throwing Up - Mother Knows Best 7”

Howling Wolf - Complete Chess Masters 1951-60

The Ketamines - A Rotten Bond/1 Yr (from Oddbox Singles Club Pt 2)

Cardinal - Hymns (album)

Proper Ornaments - Taking the Gamble Out of Buying 12”

Darren Hayman - January Songs (album)

Various: Marshall Teller EP 12”

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Gig Review

Hockey
Dublin, Academy

Article written by Darren H - Mar 2, 2010

Hockey

Despite sporting the cliched national flag around his neck for the encore and failing miserably to down a pint of Guinness passed from the crowd, Benjamin Grubin and his fellow Hockey-ites still managed to warm the cockles of those who caught Sunday's show at the Academy in Dublin.

Charming and unaffected by the buzz surrounding the band's latest album, 'Mind Chaos', Grubin delivers set opener 'Work' to a surprisingly underwhelming response. At this point, you feel the singer might have it spot on with the line "work, work, work; it's too much work for me".

Fortunately, however, Hockey are prepared to slog it out. 'Curse This City' and '3am Spanish' - all funked up drums and guitar - provide the backdrop, as Grubin's effortless sandpaper drawl finally has heads bobbing beyond the front row.

Comparisons with compatriots The Strokes aren't a country mile off the mark, but Portland's new-wave sensations, and Grubin's voice in particular, possess more soul than Julian Casablancas at a Marvin Gaye convention.

If ever there was guitar music to dance to, this is it. 'Learn To Lose' lights the fuse with a relentless backbeat and scratchy, quirky rhythm, before the uber-infectious chorus of 'Song Away' has the Academy in festival mode in late February.

'Preacher' and 'Wanna Be Black' keep things ticking over and Grubin, somewhat wryly, offers encouragement in between-song banter, insisting that "Sunday shows are always really tough".

Offering a teaser of what's to come on album number three, Grubin introduces "a new song", which has more of a slow-building dynamic than the rest of the set, but, nonetheless, contains the hooky, sing-along chorus - "There's a DJ playin' in my mind ... " - even though the crowd don't know it yet. You'd bet they will though.

Predictably, hit single 'Too Fake' is held back for the encore and, as you'd expect, no one's heading for an early exit. The thumping 'Put The Game Down' brings Grubin's work to a close, and he leaves the Academy with a night to savour. By the time the festivals roll round, however, you sense a cold Sunday in Dublin will be a distant memory for Hockey.

Links:
http:\\www.myspace.com/hockey