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Patrick James | July 21, 2009

City Friend – The Lucky Caller No.9… Ian Whitty And The Exchange Reviewed

The Lucky No9 City Friend is the hot new single from Ian Whitty And The Exchange. Taken fresh off ‘The Lucky Caller No.9′ the hugely acclaimed debut studio album, and following the celebrated songs ‘Not On Your Side’ and ‘Houndstooth Shirt’ this is another great offering from this Rising Irish Band. This is musical hot scones and butter on a Saturday morning, with that prevalent feel good factor stemming from an unmistakably upbeat vocal delivery and indie-folk sound. With strong acoustic-pop arrangements, combining lush strings and brass, the song writing and storytelling is all at once, urgent and energetic while remaining soothing, rooted and folksy.

The group can also proudly boast some well-known names on this record with production by top Irish producer Ken McHugh (Dave Kitt, Autamata) and mastered by Dave Collins in Los Angeles (Bruce Springsteen, Janes Addiction). They were also amongst the first acts to be selected by Alison Curtis of Today FM in her Ireland Rocks section to record a live version of the Bruce Springsteen classic ‘Atlantic City’ for ‘The Last Splash’ and also won the Hotpress/Tisch video competition for “Not on your side”. (www.hotpress.com). In the most recent Hot Press readers poll ‘The Lucky Caller No.9’ was voted Top Ten Irish Debut albums of 2008 alongside the likes of Fight Like Apes and Lisa Hannigan. City Friend was also selected by Hotpress for their most recent compilation.

More info: www.ianwhitty.net / www.myspace.com/ianwhitty

‘The Lucky Caller No 9” is available from all good record stores and available to download from iTunes and amazon.com.

Some worthwhile tour dates:

31^st July: Le Cheile Festival Oldcastle Co Meath.

1^st Aug: Cork X South West with FRED, Waterboys, Lisa Hannigan West Cork, Cork

2^nd Aug: Indiependence Festival 2009, Mitchelstown, Cork

14 Aug: The Chestnut Birr. Birr Vintage week Festival

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: Albums, Ian Whitty, Music, Reviews, Single

Patrick James | May 11, 2009

One comment

Nell Bryden – WHAT DOES IT TAKE – The “Must Have” Album!

NELL BRYDEN
Album release -WHAT DOES IT TAKE- May 15th.
Distributed by RMG. Released by 157 Records NYC.

It’s seldom that an album blows me away straight out of the box but Nell Byden’s forthcoming album What does it take? does just that. Out May 15^th, this album is beautifully and passionately written and makes no apologies for it. The album grabs you with the up-tempo title track, right from the moment you hit play and doesn’t let go, right until the final, fantastic track, Late Night Call.

Nell’s love of songwriting is apparent with evocative lyrics on songs such as Green Dress and Tonight. The album, with its rich layers of blues, country, modern-Dixie and jazz is guaranteed to leave a lasting memory on anyone who hears it. It is already, for my mind, the Must Have album of the year.

From what is sure to be an award-winning album, it’s easy to see why Grammy-winning producer, David Kershenbaum (Tracy Chapman, Tori Amos, Joe Jackson) was so excited to be working with Nell and claimed that he hadn’t been this excited about an act since Tracy Chapman!

Having racked up four major international tours in the last 12 months (totalling almost 500 shows in just over two years) including a tour with KT Tunstall, The Counting Crows and impromptu sets with Damien Dempsey & Declan O’Rourke, Nell Bryden is tipped as being one of the biggest breakthrough acts to hit Ireland.

Upcoming gigs: May 19^th RUBY SESSIONS DUBLIN, 24^th Dublin City Soul Festival, June: 6^th Glor Arts Centre Ennis Clare, June 30^th Whelan’s- Dublin, August 1-2 Castlepalooza. For More Gig listings for Ireland Click MORE Below: