Fundus! A Very Popical Review of 2011
That’s that. 2011. What was the point? Another step closer to the grave. You know the skull on Popical Island? That’ll be all of us soon. At least we have the Popical Island Christmas Party to help us forget. But today we want to remember.
There’s been a lot of talk during ‘11 about funding future projects by musicians in exchange for receiving something from a graded menu of goodies. You know the sort of thing: ‘donate 100 euro and the band will play some songs in your house and do your washing up’. And that’s cool, it’s certainly a way to get it done. Here at Popical Island, I suppose we look at the same problem (that of having enough money to put out records) from a slightly different perspective: if you buy the great music we’ve already made, we’ll have the money to do it again.
With this in mind, you’ll find below a chronological list of the records we put out this year, of which we are very, very proud. They are testaments to the passion for songwriting, recording and showing-off that we all share. We’ve had a lot of fun doing these songs and, as you can read once we get this intro out of the way, some journalists are among those who’ve had fun listening to them. We’ve embedded the Bandcamp widget for each release, where you can buy the record in question. If you enjoy it, please do: it’s the best way to ensure that you can hear more of that good stuff next year.
Thanks to everyone who has given us a hand us over the year, whether you helped us put on a gig or had some of us play at your gig, carried stuff, sang along, danced at Popicalia, wrote a song about Popicalia, bought our music, jabbered about us to your friends, suggested that your ferret could scare off our rats, wrote about us on the internet or in the papers, played our songs on the radio, offered us a crisp or got off with us.
Happy Christmas, everyone!
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February BIG MONSTER LOVE: ‘GAME OVER’
“This is what pop music is all about. Not cheesy radio filler, but charming and entertaining lines over a catchy, memorable tune. Big Monster Love has a knack for rhyme and wordplay that puts him above almost every other songwriter out there. ”
- Swear I’m Not Paul (5 stars)
“there’s a beguiling magic in the songs that you just can’t walk away from.”
- Harmless Noise
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April YEH DEADLIES: ‘THE FIRST BOOK OF LESSONS’
“Some bands get it. Some bands don’t. Dublin’s ramshackle Yeh Deadlies do.”
- Everett True
“In a field submerged ‘neath a flood of bilious careerists and terminal hat-wearers, Yeh Deadlies sound like good people playing good music, and that’s really something to be thankful for.”
- Stereo Sanctity
“The primary achievement of this very fine debut album, however, is one that so many bands fail to comprehend, let alone attain: the blending of talent and skill with charisma and charm.”
- Tony Clayton Lea, Irish Times Album Of The Week (4 stars) (Also included in his new book ‘101 Irish Records You Must Hear Before You Die’)
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June POPICAL ISLAND #2
“Considering the way words like ‘twee-pop’ get bandied around in reference to Popical Island, you’d expect that 18 tracks would get a bit wearying, so it’s no mean feat to create a compilation that keeps you guessing and (more than) satisfied throughout: the fact is there is no one reliable way to describe the Popical Island collective - other than, well, excellent.”
– Electric Whipcrack, 9/10
“It’s mostly a state-of-the-union affair, and things are healthy.”
– AU Magazine, 8/10
“This time around, the Popical Island treasury marries the urgency of ‘60s surf rock with the dreamy sway of ‘80s noise pop… To my knowledge, nobody asked for an all-singing, all-strumming, all-bouncing pop posse, but now that we’ve got one, it’s hard to imagine the Irish underground without it.”
– Hot Press
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July TIERANNIESAUR: ‘TIERANNIESAUR’
“Like Tom Tom Club or ESG when they were really motoring, it’s bright, breezy and sounds like it was a lot of fun to make. The grooves that power the enterprise are quick-witted, nimble and majestically funky in a slightly awkward if beguiling way. The songs are idiosyncratic and infectious, but contain big, hefty, bubblegum pop hooks which could land some whoppers. It’s quite a sweet deal.”
- Jim Carroll, Irish Times Album Of The Week (4 stars)
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September LAND LOVERS: ‘CONFIDANTS’
“Magnificent, haunting worlds of domestic wonder… a rare gem of a record”
- Jim Carroll, Irish Times/The Ticket (4 stars)
“Accomplished and rich record… Cooney’s profuse lyrics are a big highlight… The delivery of overtly foreboding themes is balanced out with exuberant and charm-filled songs”
- Nialler9
“Confidants is a sparkling listen”
- Jordan Cullen, AU Magazine (8/10)
“Land Lovers are worth getting into a tizzy over”
- Eamon de Paor, Metro Herald (4 stars)
“Confidants is a proud miscellany of decade-spanning pop influences… With each new track, Cooney slips into a peculiar new character, all carried out with admirable flair. A fascinating record”
- Celina Murphy, Hot Press (7/10)
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October PATRICK KELLEHER & SQUAREHEAD: ‘JUST A TRAGEDY/ATTENTION TO DETAIL’
“Our ‘Single of the Fortnight’ award goes to the double release by Patrick Kelleher and Squarehead of ‘Just A Tragedy’ and ‘Attention To Detail’ respectively. We can’t wait to get our mitts on the vinyl release of that bad boy.”
- Hot Press
“Two of the best Irish songs of the year”
- Nialler9
