Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was established by the British Phonographic Industry and British Association of Record Dealers in 1992 as an alternative to the Brit Awards; the prize was sponsored by Mercury Communications, a brand owned by Cable & Wireless, from which the prize gets its name. It was sponsored by Technics, Nationwide Building Society and Barclaycard; the 2015 prize was sponsored by the BBC, while in 2016 it was announced that a three-year deal had been struck with Hyundai to sponsor the event. Any album released by a British or Irish artist, or by a band where over 50% of the members are British or Irish, may be submitted for consideration by their record label; the shortlist is chosen by an independent panel of musicians, music presenters, music producers, music journalists, festival organisers and other figures in the music industry in the UK and Ireland.
The prize is open to all types of music, including pop, folk, grime, jazz, blues and classical. Presentation of the awards takes place at an Awards Show in October, after the shortlist is announced at the Album of the Year Launch in September, it is observed that bands whose albums are shortlisted, or win the prize, experience a large increase in album sales for lesser known acts. Each shortlisted artist receives a specially commissioned'Albums of the Year' trophy at the Awards Show. Unlike some other music awards, the overall winner of the Mercury Prize receives a cheque; the winner receives an additional winner's trophy. To date, PJ Harvey is the only artist to have won the award on more than one occasion, she was the first female solo artist to receive the award. Alex Turner has received five nominations as a member of Arctic Monkeys and The Last Shadow Puppets, winning once. Thom Yorke has never won; the Mercury Prize can have a considerable effect on sales for those artists. Elbow saw a 700% sales increase of their album The Seldom Seen Kid after winning the Prize in 2008.
In their winner's speech, Elbow's frontman Guy Garvey said that winning the Mercury Prize was'Quite the best thing that has happened to us'. Sales of The xx's winning album rose by 450% the day after they won the 2010 Mercury Prize and 2013 winner James Blake saw a 2,500% sales increase on Amazon after he was announced as the winner of the 2013 Mercury Prize. 2011 winner PJ Harvey's album Let England Shake jumped from number 181 to 24 in the UK official charts the week after the 2011 Awards Show. Despite being regarded by many as prestigious, it has been suggested that having an album nominated for or winning the Mercury Prize could be a curse on a career in music. In 2001, the band Gorillaz requested that their eponymous debut album be withdrawn from the shortlist, with cartoon bassist Murdoc Niccals saying that winning the award would be "like carrying a dead albatross round your neck for eternity". All genres of music are eligible for entry, it is stated that all are treated with only the music on the album being taken into account.
Simon Frith, chair of the Mercury Prize judging panel, has said that albums are chosen because they are the "strongest" each year, rather than according to genre. However, the presence of classical and jazz recordings has been cited by some as anomalous, arguing that comparisons with the other nominees can be invidious. Classical acts to have an album nominated have included Sir John Tavener, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Gavin Bryars and Nicholas Maw. None has won, there has not been a shortlisted classical album since 2002; the Mercury Prize has a reputation for being awarded to outside chances rather than the favourites. The 1994 award winner was Elegant Slumming by the pop act M People, which some felt was a controversial decision considering the shortlist included popular albums from Britpop figureheads Paul Weller and Pulp, electronica band The Prodigy. Other music journalists critical of the awards stated that the 2005 award should not have been given to Antony and the Johnsons for their album I Am a Bird Now as, although they are British-born and therefore eligible for the Prize, the band were based in the United States.
In 2006, Isobel Campbell's collaboration with Mark Lanegan, Ballad of the Broken Seas, was included in the shortlist, despite Lanegan being American, as the album was eligible due to Campbell's British citizenship, while Guillemots, whose album was shortlisted in 2006, contained band members from Brazil and Canada, although the majority were from the UK. Current eligibility criteria state that all albums must be available to buy as a digital release in the UK. In September 2013, My Bloody Valentine vocalist and guitarist Kevin Shields expressed concerns about the award in an interview with The Guardian, accusing the Mercury Prize's organisers of "banning" the band's self-released album, m b v, from the shortlist nominations and addressing the nomination criteria, which he claimed branded the album "virtually illegal", it has been noted that heavy metal has been overlooked by the prize. A 2013 article by Vice on the Mercury Prize said "Metal never gets a look-in, not on the official entry information form:'The Prize is open to all types of music, including pop, folk, dance, blues, classical…'" The only metal record, nominated for the Mercury Prize is Troublegum by Therapy? in 1994.
In 2011, Mercury chair of judges S
Night on My Side
Night on my Side is the debut album by Irish singer-songwriter Gemma Hayes, released in 2002 with success in the Republic of Ireland and the UK. Special editions of the album were released in France, Japan and the US; the album's release was delayed until 2003 in North America. The album was nominated for that year's Mercury Music Prize but lost out to Ms. Dynamite's A Little Deeper. Following the release of two acclaimed EPs in 2001 4:35AM and Work Myself Into A Calm, Hayes returned to record her debut album at Tarbox Road Studios in New York City and Black Box Studios in France. With some of these original demos recorded in Dublin; the album was produced by David Odlum. Hayes forged a relationship with Odlum who continues to work with her to this day, her debut album was released in Europe in May 2002. Upon its release, Hayes was compared to Joan Baez. To coincide with the album's release Hayes held an extensive European tour with dates across Ireland, the UK, France and the Netherlands, she would go onto support Marianne Faithfull and Counting Crows on their European tours.
The album received positive reviews upon release. A special version of the LP was released in France and the US. Hayes continued to appear on European radio performing live for RTÉ Radio, France Inter and BBC Radio, she made appearances on radio and television in Ireland and made appearances on French radio to perform on The Black Sessions for France Inter and BBC Radio 1 Live Sessions in the UK. By summer 2002, at the age of 24, her debut album was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize 2002. Hayes went on a live tour of the US with Josh Ritter supporting her; the album received a much release in the US and Canada in April 2003. The artwork and track listing on the North American version differs from the European and Japanese editions. All songs written by Gemma Hayes. "Day One" "Hanging Around" "Back of My Hand" "Over & Over" "Let a Good Thing Go" "Ran For Miles" "What A Day" "Tear In My Side" "I Wanna Stay" The hidden track "Dartmouth Square" appears at the end of "I Wanna Stay" "Lucky One" "My God" "Night On My Side" "Pieces Of Glass" All songs written by Gemma Hayes.
"Day One" "Hanging Around" "Back of My Hand" "Over & Over" "Let a Good Thing Go" "Ran For Miles" "What A Day" "Tear In My Side" "I Wanna Stay" The hidden track "Dartmouth Square" appears at the end of "I Wanna Stay" "Lucky One" "My God" "Night On My Side" "Pieces Of Glass" A special edition of Night on My Side was released in France by Source Records France it contains the original album plus an additional bonus CD. "Day One" "Hanging Around" "Back of My Hand" "Over & Over" "Let a Good Thing Go" "Ran For Miles" "What A Day" "Tear In My Side" "I Wanna Stay" The hidden track "Dartmouth Square" appears at the end of "I Wanna Stay" "Lucky One" "My God" "Night On My Side" "Pieces Of Glass" Bonus CD"Brightness" "Hanging Around" "Summers in Doubt" "Pieces of Glass" "Let a Good Thing Go" The track listing for the Japanese release is different from the original European version. "Day One" "Hanging Around" "Making Waves" "Let a Good Thing Go" "Back of My Hand" "4:35AM" "I worked myself into a calm" "Ran For Miles" "Tear In My Side" "What A Day" "I Wanna Stay" The hidden track "Dartmouth Square" appears at the end of "I Wanna Stay" "Lucky One" "My God" "Night On My Side" "Pieces Of Glass""Hanging Around" The American release features a different cover and track listing, including songs from the 4.35am EP but omitting songs featured on the European release of the album: "Hanging Around" "Back of My Hand" "Let a Good Thing Go" "Tear in My Side" "Work to a Calm" "Lucky One" "Making Waves" "Ran for Miles" "My God" "4.35am" "I Wanna Stay" "Evening Sun" Extras "Let A Good Thing Go"
Ham Sandwich (band)
Ham Sandwich are an Irish indie rock band from Kells, County Meath. The band consisted of Niamh Farrell, Podge McNamee, Brian Darcy, John Moore and Ollie Murphy. On 12 April 2010, Moore announced; the band subsequently hired David McEnroe as his replacement. To date, the band have released three studio albums: Carry the Meek, White Fox and Stories from the Surface. Ham Sandwich was formed by John Moore, Podge McNamee and Niamh Farrell at a crucifixion party on Good Friday 2003 with Moore as guitarist and McNamee and Farrell as vocalists. Moore and McNamee had been friends since childhood, growing up in Kells, County Meath, Farrell had befriended McNamee upon her recent return to Ireland after spending several years in Scotland. Brian Darcy, who McNamee had known from school, was recruited as a guitarist and Ollie Murphy joined soon after as the group's drummer. Moore suggested the band's name at an early rehearsal session as a joke, before it was adopted by the band; the band faced much criticism for their unusual name, most notably by U2 frontman Bono, but Farrell has defended the choice to keep the name stating: "I suppose we were a bit stubborn at first and I think it got so far that we couldn't change it because we would have been known as'so-and-so known as'Ham Sandwich' and there's nothing worse than having to put that on a poster, but people have started warming to it."The band spent the next year writing and rehearsing songs, with Moore as their primary songwriter, before giving their first live performance in their home town of Kells.
They released their debut single, "Sad Songs", in August 2005. Rather than seeking a record label contract, the band published the single on their own independent label, Route 109A Records, named for the bus route between Kells and Dublin; the decision to release their first single independently, rather than seek a major record label deal, came from a desire to work and develop at their own pace, as well as to retain control over their own music. All of the band's subsequent releases have been on their own label; the band continued to tour around Ireland throughout 2006, releasing two further singles, "St. Christopher" on 20 February and "Words" on 19 September. On 16 February 2007, Ham Sandwich released their fourth single, "click..click... BOOM!!!" This was followed by a short tour of Ireland in support of the release. The band made their Irish television debut in February; that year, the band began work on their first album, Carry the Meek, having enlisted Irish musician Karl Odlum as producer.
The album was recorded in a home-made studio at Headfort House in Kells. The album was released on 15 February 2008 and received favourable reviews in the Irish media. On the same day the band won the Hope for 2008 Award at the Meteor Music Awards; the band released three more singles from the album 2008, "Keepsake", "Never Talk" and "Broken Glass", embarked on tours of Ireland and the UK, including spots at Glastonbury and Electric Picnic. On 6 November 2009, Ham Sandwich released "Out of the Darkness", the first single from their planned sophomore album, although it did not appear on the album when it was released. On 12 April 2010, Moore left the band, citing a "typographical error". On 15 July 2010 Derek Nally, died after suffering a heart attack. Despite the personal turmoil, the band re-entered the studio to start work on their second album afresh, with Karl Odlum returning as producer as well as filling in on bass guitar duties for the departed Moore. On 7 May 2010, the band released their next single, "The Naturist".
Their second album, White Fox, was dedicated to Nally. The band continued to tour, with David McEnroe filling in on bass, released the next single from the album, "OH-OH", on 18 October 2010. On 4 February 2011, "Ants" was released as the third single from the album. Although the song failed to chart, the video became a viral hit and won the Best Concept award at the 2011 IMTV Awards; the band's next single, "Models", was released on 15 June 2011 and was used extensively in the Discover Ireland TV and radio campaign in support of The Gathering initiative in 2013. In December, the band finished off the year with performances on the Irish television show Other Voices, as part of its 10-year anniversary celebrations, at the New Year's celebrations at The Village; the band continued to tour throughout 2012 and 2013, playing their first headline show at Dublin's Academy on 18 February 2012. The final single from White Fox, "Long Distance", was released in June 2012. Other notable performances included playing at the President of Ireland's Garden Party at Áras an Uachtaráin and supporting Bon Jovi at Slane Castle, both in June 2013.
Having toured extensively in support of White Fox, Ham Sandwich began recording their third album at Windmill Lane Studios in 2014, with Karl Odlum once again producing. On 30 March 2014 the band debuted "Illuminate", the first single from the new album, prior to their first headlining gig at the Olympia Theatre; that year saw. Following support gigs over the summer for Arcade Fire and Mumford and Sons, the band released the second single, "Apollo" on 31 October 2014 as a free download on their website. On 9 February 2015, the band announced that their third album, Stories from the Surface, would be released on 17 April 2015, it was released to positive reviews and became the band's first album to top the Irish album charts. A third single, "Fandango", was released prior to t
Gemma Hayes
Gemma Hayes is an Irish musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is proficient with a wide range of instruments, including the piano and the harmonica, she is a member of The Cake Sale and Printer Clips. Hayes grew up in Tipperary with her parents and seven other siblings, she was surrounded by music from an early age influenced by her siblings and her father, a keyboardist in a local band. Hayes would move to County Limerick to attend boarding school. By this time, Hayes was proficient at piano and found that the music used to counter the boredom of living in a small village, she would move to Dublin City to attend UCD to study sociology and history. Hayes soon dropped out of university to concentrate on her music and to gig at music venues across the city; this was subsidised by working part-time in a laundrette. Hayes' music career catapulted upon signing a recording contract with French independent record label, Source Records in 2001. Under this label she would release her first EP 4.35am and its follow up Work to a Calm.
By 2002 her debut album Night on my Side was released. This release received critical acclaim resulting in her winning Best Female Artist at the Hot Press Awards 2002 and the album was nominated for Best Album at the 2003 Mercury Prize. Hayes toured Europe and the US extensively upon the album's release performing at high profiled festivals such as Ireland's Witnness festival and Montreux Jazz Festival 2002 in Switzerland. After touring Night on my Side Hayes took two years out from the music industry. I stopped listening to the radio, it was like I'd overdosed on music". She did however find the time to record a cover of Lay Lady Lay with Magnet; this version appeared in Mrs. Smith. In 2004, Hayes moved from Dublin to Los Angeles. By late 2005, Hayes returned with her more upbeat second album, The Roads Don't Love You, picked up the Best Irish Female Artist award at the 2006 Meteor Ireland Music Awards while completing a small tour of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Shortly after this she parted ways with Source Records as its parent company EMI-Virgin decided to overhaul its line-up of artists and bands.
During this time Hayes co-wrote the song "Hazy" with Adam Duritz. Hayes toured the UK and US during the promotion of the album. On 14 August 2006 Hayes announced she had begun work on her third album in the Black Box Studios in France and produced by her former guitarist, David Odlum. Hayes posted demos of "Out of Our Hands", "Home", "This Is What You Do" on her MySpace during the recording process. Hayes confirmed the name of her third album The Hollow of Morning; the album was independently released through Gemma's own label GH Music and co-financed by an investor. The album was released in Ireland on 2 May 2008 debuting in the Irish Albums Chart at number 12. Following its release in Ireland, Hayes signed a distribution deal with US label Second Motion the album was released in the US on 30 September 2008. During her 2008'The Hollow of Morning' tour in the UK, Gemma announced she was considering on recording an acoustic album to release by year end. During promotional work in Ireland during summer 2008, Hayes confirmed she would start recording her fourth album in August.
Following a successful tour and album release in Ireland it was confirmed in January 2009 Hayes was nominated for Best Irish Female, at the 2009 Meteor Ireland Music Awards, which took place on 17 March 2009 in Dublin. She lost out to Imelda May. On 13 February 2009 the music video for the song "Home" debuted on MySpace. On 19 February 2009 she performed at the Oscar Wilde party in Los Angeles; the annual event takes place days before the Oscars, celebrates the best of Irish popular culture. On 22 February 2009, it was confirmed on her website she would release a new EP titled Oliver and available from 9 March 2009; the EP's release was delayed. To make up for the delay in release a new track called. On 13 March 2009 Oliver was made available through iTunes. On 14 April 2009 Hayes announced. On 3 September 2009, Hayes performed at the 2012 stage at the 2009 Århus Festival, her set-list featured new songs "Waiting for You" and "Shock to the System". On 20 October 2009, she confirmed that she was recording new material in France in the Blackbox studios.
On 19 November 2009, she began a short European tour with performances in Austria and the United Kingdom. During these tour dates Hayes played new songs including "Tokyo", "Waiting for You" and "Shock to the System". At her gig in Cork on 3 December, she performed a cover of Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting". On 22 December 2009, Hayes released her cover of "Cloudbusting" for free from her website. In March 2010, Hayes featured on a special album in the Irish language. Gemma appeared on Ceol 2007. On the Ceol 2010 album, Hayes' song "Rith me go Crich" appeared alongside Bell X1, Kila and The Walls. Hayes hinted a possible September 2010 release for her fourth album.. However, by October 2010 Hayes confirmed the album's delayed release until 2011 as she began to rework some tracks. During this time Hayes returned to live performances where she launched her autumn tour in Cork City, Ireland where she performed new tracks "Noise", "Hurricane" and "Beside Me". During the recording process Hayes took time out between recording sessions and live performances to write material for independent movie Janie Jones, by directed by David M. Rosenthal.
Three of Gemma's tracks "Just a Game", "Fight for Me" and "Hurricane" featured in the film. This soundtrack was releas
Steve Albini
Steven Albini is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black and Flour, is a member of Shellac, he is the founder and principal engineer of Electrical Audio, a recording studio complex in Chicago. In 2018, Albini estimated, he has had major influence on the development of genres such as noise rock, post-hardcore and math rock. Albini is known for his outspoken views on the music industry, having stated that it financially exploits artists and homogenizes their sound. Nearly alone among well-known producers, Albini refuses to take ongoing royalties from album sales, feeling that a producer's job is to record the music to the band's desires, that paying a producer as if they had contributed artistically to an album is unethical. Albini was born in California, to Gina and Frank Addison Albini, his father is a wildlife researcher. He has two siblings. In his youth, Albini's family moved before settling in the college town of Missoula, Montana in 1974.
Albini is Italian part of his family comes from the Piedmont region of Northern Italy. While recovering from a broken leg, Albini began playing bass guitar and participated in bass lessons in high school for one week. Albini was exposed to punk rock by a schoolmate on a field trip when he was 14 or 15, subsequently bought every Ramones recording available to him. Growing up in Montana, he became a fan of bands such as The Stooges, the Ramones, Suicide, The Fall, The Velvet Underground, Throbbing Gristle, The Birthday Party, Pere Ubu, Public Image Ltd, Rudimentary Peni, Killing Joke. After graduating from Hellgate High School, Albini moved to Evanston, Illinois, to attend college at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where he attained a degree in Journalism. Albini said he studied painting in college with the late Ed Paschke, someone he calls a brilliant educator and "one of the only people in college who taught me anything."In the Chicago area, Albini was active as a writer in local zines such as Matter and Forced Exposure, covering the then-nascent punk rock scene, gained a reputation for the iconoclastic nature of his articles.
Around the same time, he began recording musicians and engineered his first album in 1981. He co-managed Ruthless Records with John Kezdy of The Effigies and Jon Babbin. According to Albini, he maintained a "straight job" for five years until 1987, working in a photography studio as a photograph retouch artist. During his teenage years, Albini played in bands such as the Montana punk band "Just Ducky", a Chicago band called "Small Irregular Pieces of Aluminum", "Stations", another band that record label Touch and Go/Quarterstick Records explained "he is paying us not to mention."Albini played for Flour c. 1988. In 1981, Albini formed Big Black while he was a student at NU, recorded Lungs, the band's debut EP, on Ruthless Records, a label he co-managed with Jon Babbin and John Kezdy. Albini played all of the instruments on Lungs except the saxophone, played by friend John Bohnen; the Bulldozer EP was released on both Ruthless and Fever Records. Jeff Pezzati and Santiago Durango, of Chicago band Naked Raygun, live drummer Pat Byrne joined shortly thereafter, the band—along with a drum machine credited as "Roland"—released the EP Racer-X in 1984, after touring and signing a new contract with the Homestead Records business.
Pezzati commenced recording the "Il Duce" 7-inch single with the band, but returned to his original band before it was completed. Pezzati was replaced on bass by Dave Riley, with whom the group recorded their debut full-length album, Atomizer; the "Il Duce" recording was finished with Riley as bassist. Big Black left the Homestead label for Touch and Go Records in late 1985/early 1986, recorded the Headache EP and the 7-inch single, Heartbeat between June and August 1986—both were released the following year. In 1986, a live album titled Sound of Impact was released on the Not/Blast First label; the accompanying booklet provides insight into the band's influences. S. Chaos, Gang Green, Tommi Stumpff and Bad Brains. In 1987, the band released their second studio album Songs About Fucking as well as the He's a Whore / The Model 7-inch single, both on Touch and Go. Big Black disbanded shortly after a period of extensive touring that year in support of Songs About Fucking. Durango was successful in becoming a practicing lawyer.
Touch and Go released a Big Black live album and video, Pigpile, in 1992. Pigpile was released in Japan and Germany. Touch and Go stated on its website in May 2014: "Someday, we might release the video on DVD; until please don't ask us about it." Albini went on to form the controversially named Rapeman in 1987—the band consisted of Albini, Rey Washam, David Wm. Sims; the band was named after a popular Japanese comic book that garnered Washam's interests. They broke up after the release of two 7-inch singles—"Hated Chinee b/w Marmoset" and "Inki's Butt Crack b/w Song Number One", one EP titled Budd and the Tw
The Frames
The Frames are an Irish band based in Dublin. Founded in 1990 by Glen Hansard, the band has been influential in the Dublin rock music scene; the group has released six albums. In addition to Hansard, the band's current line-up includes original member Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Joe Doyle, Rob Bochnik and Graham Hopkins; the band began in 1990 and consists of survivors of Dublin's prolific early 1990s rock-and-roll scene. The band was central to the development of many emerging Irish rock bands of the time, including Turn, they toured together with other Irish artists. In December 2004, Hansard appeared on stage to collaborate with Paddy Casey and The Dublin Gospel Choir. In 2007 The Frames toured New Zealand as the support act for Bob Dylan; the name The Frames arose from Hansard's habit of fixing bicycles of his friends. The large number of bicycle frames lying around his house led neighbours to dub it the "house with the frames". In a 2001 interview, Hansard said, "I worked in a bicycle shop for a little while, but the name came from... my back garden was so full of frames, my house became known as The Frames house, much to my mother's distaste, she hated it.
But my garden was full of frames, old bikes, I would make up bikes for my friends out of all the old bikes. So it sort of became known if anybody found a bike up on the hill on the way home they would throw it into my garden, a graveyard for old bikes."The band has had many members over the years, some of whom have been, or became, members of other Dublin rock bands. Colm Mac Con Iomaire and Dave Odlum both were founding members of folk group Kíla. Graham Downey, son of Thin Lizzy drummer Brian Downey, played bass for the band between 1993 and 1996; the Frames have always collaborated with other groups that emerged from the buskers on Grafton Street, where Hansard started his music career. Among these groups were the aforementioned Kíla, Mic Christopher; when Christopher died in 2001, Hansard and his band were involved in organising the Skylarkin' concert to commemorate his life and release the album. The Frames still perform Mic's songs—chiefly "Heyday"—as a tribute; the band is known for interspersing snippets of songs by other artists into their own as a form of homage.
In 1991, Hansard came to public attention after taking the part of "Outspan" Foster in the film The Commitments. However, Hansard regretted this role. Mac Con Iomaire had a cameo in the movie as a violinist auditioning for the band. Bronagh Gallagher, one of Hansard's colleagues, can be seen wearing a Frames T-shirt in her appearance in the film Pulp Fiction. Hansard appeared on screen as the principal character parodied by Irish music comedy Web site Eyebrowy.com and in 2007 as the lead in the movie Once which featured his songs. As of 2007, the band consisted of Glen Hansard, Joe Doyle, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Rob Bochnik and Johnny Boyle. Various people played drums during 2003 and 2004, including Graham Hopkins who drummed Dance the Devil, Burn the Maps, the band's latest album The Cost. On one version of the album Fitzcarraldo, the band used the name The Frames DC, to avoid confusion with an American band; the band released its sixth studio album, The Cost, on 22 September 2006. They appeared on the setlist at Lollapalooza 2006 just 12 days afterward.
The band's song "Dream Awake" was used in the pilot episode of NBC's Life. "Finally" was prominently featured in the 11th episode of the show, when the title character reaped the rewards of the detective work which he had been doing all season. However, a different song is used in the version of the episode on nbc.com. The band's song "Seven Day Mile" was used in the season six premiere of House on Fox; the band's ex-bassist, John Carney, is now a film director, best known for writing and directing the film Once, which stars Hansard, who wrote much of the music for the film. Hansard and Marketa Irglova won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Falling Slowly" from Once. On 13 May 2008 the US iTunes store released a Deluxe Edition of The Cost; this edition included three extra songs—"The Blood," "No More I Love Yous," and "This Low." It included the music videos for "Falling Slowly," "Sad Songs," and "The Side You Never Get To See." In late 2009 the band appeared on Strict Joy. On 24 March 2010 the band announced their first concert in three years at Electric Picnic to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
The Song "Rise" from the Album The Cost was featured at the end of season 3, episode 13 of the ABC series "Castle". On 1 December 2012 the band announced that the documentary In The Deep Shade would be released in 2013; the film, which captured their 2010 20th Anniversary Tour, was shot by Conor Masterson. Since shooting to stardom in the wake of'Once' and his Oscar win, Hansard has played solo concerts in recent years; the Frames have continued to play a handful of gigs. The venue's owners had lent money to the band in the 1990s to enable them to record Fitzcarraldo. In 2015, the band played a pair of shows at Iveagh Gardens in Dublin. On 4 -- 5 July they treated an loyal fan base to such rareties as 15 Seafort Parade. On 11 July they played the Marquee Festival in Cork. Fans eagerly await their next reunion show. Glen Hansard: vocals, guitar Colm Mac Con I
Carry the Meek
Carry the Meek is the debut album by Irish band Ham Sandwich. It has received average to favourable reviews. Ham Sandwich had been performing live for several years and had released several singles before beginning work on their first album in 2006. Carry the Meek was recorded starting at JAM Studios, Kells with Producer Martin Quinn and in a home-made studio at Headfort House in their home-town of Kells, produced by Karl Odlum and mastered by Fred Kevorkian; the album was released on 15 February 2008 on Route 109A Records. On the day that the album was released the band won the Hope for 2008 Award at the Meteor Music Awards; the artwork for the album was designed with the help of the band's fans, who were encouraged to send the band their photographs on the theme of heartbreak. Upon its release the album peaked at 23 on the Irish album charts. Reviews from the Irish media were positive. Patrick Freyne of Hot Press gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying "Generally the tracks have a real heart tugging quality to them, with rising melodies and great musical diversions as middle eighths – the band know how to build a song to an epic climax", singling out the vocal interplay between McNamee and Farrell as the band's "secret weapon".
Harry Guerin writing for RTÉ Entertainment gave an positive review, declaring that "Ham Sandwich turn in as assured and alluring a debut as you'll get". A less positive review by Lauren Murphy of entertainment.ie gave the album 2 out of 5 stars, saying that "Carry the Meek is a disappointing, characterless album that offers little or no sense of individuality. Like a ham sandwich, it fills a void and will do for the time being - but sometimes, you need to sink your teeth into something a bit more nutritious". All tracks written by Ham Sandwich. Sources: Ham SandwichNiamh Farrell - lead vocals Podge McNamee - lead vocals, guitar Brian Darcy - guitar John Moore - bass Ollie Murphy - drumsProductionKarl Odlum - production Martin Quinn - engineering
