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Mike and I want to say happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We hope that you are all spending today surrounded by the people you love most, enjoying a great meal.

As for us, we are thankful for our wonderful family and our dear friends, and all of you Celtophiles.

Slainte,
Bonnie

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3.8 (1 person)

Welcome to Celtic Music Deathmatch, or Bonnie and Mike Argue About Songs.

When you listen to a lot of Celtic music, (and who doesn’t do that) you’re bound to hear different versions of the same song. Since Mike and I love few things more than Celtic music and arguing, we’ve decided to combine the two. For this feature we choose a song from the CDs that we have reviewed, that has been performed by at least two different bands. Then we get together via IM and rate the performances according to musicality, vocals, and interpretation. (Oh yeah, and tell each other why we are wrong, wrong, WRONG.) We’ll also give a rating from one to five for each category we look at specifically, and determine a winner at the end.

Our first Celtic Music Deathmatch pits The Barley Boys against The Brobdingnagian Bards in a brawl to see whose version of Come Out Ye Black And Tans will emerge victorious! Give a listen to the samples below, check out what we had to say about them, and give us YOUR opinion.

Category 1: Musicality
Bonnie:
Brobdingnagian Bards -
Barley Boys -
Mike:
Brobdingnagian Bards -
Barley Boys -

Bonnie: Barley Boys = silly guitar riff vs. Marc Gunn of the Bards singing la la la de da. Too close to call! The Barley Boys have a rocking drum intro that is probably my favorite part of the track.

Mike: I think the Barley Boys get a slight edge here for the real driving, hard rhythm they bring to the tune, and the greater number of instruments brought to bear.

Bonnie: I prefer the simpler, more traditional sound of the Bard’s arrangement. And I love Andrew playing the recorder.
Meh, I said I prefer it, but really I rated it the same.
Can I go back and give the Barley’s a 4 1/2 ?

Mike: That’s okay, you can prefer one element and still think they’re equal in total, methinks.

Bonnie: Okay

Category 2: Vocals
Bonnie:
Brobdingnagian Bards
Barley Boys
Mike:
Brobdingnagian Bards
Barley Boys

Bonnie: I think the Bard’s version has better production and sound quality on their vocals. There’s something going on with the Barley Boy’s vocal sound that I just don’t care for.

Mike: No doubt, but Marc Gunn’s la di da di da kind of throws off the aggressive nature of the song in the Bards version, and for some reason, this is one of the few Bards tunes where I don’t really enjoy both voices.

Bonnie: Counterpoint - the Irish sing a lot of happy songs about violence.

Mike: Sure, but this isn’t really one of them. Black and Tans is a fighting song.

Bonnie: You can fight and be happy

Mike: I’m only happy when I’m fighting, but that’s beside the point.

Category 3: Interpretation
Bonnie:
Brobdingnagian Bards
Barley Boys
Mike -
Brobdingnagian Bards
Barley Boys

Mike: Obviously, Bonnie is just trying to be funny The Barley Boys clearly have captured the aggressive nature of this rebel song, and rocked it.

Bonnie: Mike is clearly carried away by the drums and the electric things in the Barley Boy’s performance, and is missing the subtle yet pure emotion that flows through the Bard’s rendition.
So there

Mike: It’s not that I don’t think the Bards have produced a fine song. They always do, but in this particular instance, especially looking at the overall interpretation and how I see a song that is calling people into the streets for the sole purpose of brawling, I have to give the edge to the more aggressive sound.

Bonnie: In all seriousness, Marc sings in a way that reminds me of musical theater. He’s singing like he means it, and I DO like the harmony with Andrew.

Mike: Sure, Marc has an amazing voice, but the harmony is still off on this one. But leaving that aside a moment, we’re talking about the overall “interpretation” of the song.

Bonnie: I get more emotion from the Bard’s song. The Barley Boys, while fun to listen to, leaves me cold in comparison

Mike: An autoharp and a recorder don’t really sound like brawling music to me…. maybe I spent too much time in a mosh pit as a teenager.

Bonnie: I assure you the IRA managed to brawl without electric guitars.

Mike: Hahaha, okay, fine. Next time we’re going to start a riot, you play the autoharp and I’ll play recorder.

Bonnie: Okay. Maybe Marc will give me some lessons
Wait, I can already play the recorder, that’s not fair.

Mike: Everybody can play the recorder…. you’re not special.

Bonnie: I’m gonna go cry

Mike: Wait! Let’s finish this before you go….

Totals:
Bonnie
Brobdingnagian Bards: 14 Shamrocks
Barley Boys: 12 Shamrocks
Mike:
Brobdingnagian Bards: 10 Shamrocks
Barley Boys: 14 Shamrocks

Grand Totals:
Brobdingnagian Bards: 24 Shamrocks
Barley Boys: 26 Shamrocks

And there you have it, folks. The first ever Celtic Music Deathmatch ends with the Barley Boys taking down the Brobdingnagian Bards by a slim margin. Now, it’s time for you to tell us what YOU think of the Barley Boys vs. the Brobdingnagian Bards singing “Black and Tans.” Vote in the poll, and share your opinions in the comments below!

Poll:

Remember, if you enjoyed the songs, do take the time to purchase them and check out other offerings by these two great bands. Support the artists who make goofy people like Bonnie and Mike happy!

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4.0 (2 people)

Artist: Kinfolk
CD: This Land

Bonnie writes: Kinfolk is a two musician band out of the United Kingdom. Consisting of Brian McDaid and Gerry Power, they are a remarkably polished sounding pair. This Land is the first album they’ve recorded, and it’s one of the best put together, most cohesive freshman albums that I have ever heard. There is a great flow and progression through the songs, and the production is almost flawless. The song writing is excellent, in regards to the music and the engaging lyrics.

I’m not sure that I would classify Kinfolk as a purely Celtic band, more like Celtic inspired country with a helping of folk rock. (Country out of the UK, I know right? It sounds a little odd and yet it works.) These guys have great voices, whether they are singing alone or slipping into one of their effortless harmonies. I have a huge weakness for bands that know how to work harmony, and Kinfolk rocks it out loud.

Stac Pollaidh is a very delicate and lovely instrumental. In my enthusiasm for Brian and Gerry’s voices, I almost neglected to give them credit for being skilled instrumentalists as well. This softly peaceful tune intertwines violin, guitar, and flute so seamlessly that I can hardly tell where one weaves out and another weaves in.

My favorite track from This Land is definitely Campsie Glen. It’s one of the songs that sounds a bit more Celtic in both music and content, and since that’s where my heart is, I really like this one. That’s in spite of the chirping birds. I have a (probably unreasonable) prejudice against songs that include any sort of animal sounds, because they make all three of my hell hounds bark their heads off. It’s not great for my relationship with the boyfriend and the roommate when I’m playing music that sets off the dogs at three in the morning.

Working For The Company is a melancholy piece that will resonate with a ton of folks that are doing what they have to from nine to five, instead of what they wished they could. This one hits the trifecta for me - beautiful harmony, great lyrics, and of course well played guitar.

Although it’s one of the least Celtic sounding tracks on the CD, I enjoyed I Blame The Whiskey. It’s thoughtful and sad, but there’s a rocking country beat driving it in the background, and somehow it makes me smile every time. Maybe I’m an evil person, though.

Check out Kinfolk if you’re into Indie bands with great original songs and a unique sound. If you’re a Celtic purist, or if you don’t care for country inspired music, you may want to let this one slide. And if anyone lives in the UK, go see these guys live and put up a decent video on Youtube for me!

Mike declares:Kinfolk are a grand duo who hail from the south eastern part of England, by the names of Brian McDaid and Gerry Power. For This Land, they are joined by a vast group of talented musicians, handling all manner of instrument from fiddle, to Uillean pipes, all the way to modern keyboard. As you might expect, this adds a lot of dimension to what could have been a much simpler album. Often their sound reminds me more of a modern Country music group than what I would look for in a straight Celtic offering, but the Celtic influences are there and delightful. The vocal harmonies are excellent, and one of the more impressive things about the album is that all of the songs were written at least in part by either Gerry or Brian. There’s no falling back on tired songs that have been performed by countless bands here. This Land is an original work.

There are several good instrumental tracks on This Land, but my favorite is probably Paddy’s Shout, but the prize for Quirkiest Original Title goes to Thingamajig, which I’m convinced is a reel and the guys are just screwing with my head. Either way, it’s a worthy tune, and a great addition to the album.

I really enjoyed Donegal, Working For The Company, and I Blame The Whiskey, which is a situation we can probably all relate to at one time or another. These songs, though, are the ones that really lead me to say this CD leans more toward Country than Celtic.

My hands down favorite track on This Land is Campsie Glen, a gorgeous love song with a lot of layers, and a clean, bright fiddle filling in the space between the lyrics. I’ve listened to it a dozen times, and I can’t wait to hear it again.

If you want to find out more about these guys, and check out the CD, you can find check out their Myspace page, and of course, we recommend that you at CDBaby.

Mike’s Note: Reading back over the reviews that Bonnie and I wrote for this CD, I realized belatedly that we said almost exactly the same things. What can I tell you, folks? Sometimes Bonnie and I agree on stuff. I try not to read what she has written until after I’ve written my own review so that I’m not influenced by her opinion, so I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often.

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4.0 (2 people)

Like all good things, Celtophilia Week of Voltaire must come to an end, but I’m so glad I get to bring it all to a close with my very favorite Voltaire song, Headless Waltz. It’s got everything, people, love, hate, revolution, self-evaluation, self-loathing… there are just SO many ways to look at this song, but in the end, it’s just a really catchy tune about people getting decapitated. If you don’t love it, well, maybe you’re bored of your head.

As a final note on Celtophilia Week of Voltaire, special thanks to all the people on Youtube who took time out of their lives to create these videos.

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3.8 (1 person)

I love Edgar Allan Poe, I have ever since I got hold of The Raven in a textbook. Voltaire has written a tribute to our opium addicted, obsessed with the dark friend which is remarkably haunting. A beautiful photo essay of a graveyard in Champaign-Urbana is set to the strains of this tune called (appropriately enough) Graveyard Picnic. This is one of my very favorite Voltaire songs, and I will sing it (badly, ask Mike) with minimal provocation.

Note from Mike: Nobody tell Bonnie I said this, but her singing voice is actually kinda sweet and calming.

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4.0 (2 people)

This was one of the first Voltaire songs I ever heard, and really the one that I fell in love with, along with literally tens of other people. I think this one officially has the very most vids on Youtube, and most of them are pretty bad. This one made me laugh, so it’s the one I’m sharing with you. If you’re not evil, you should probably just skip it, you’re not going to understand. If you are evil, prepare to be celebrated in song.

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4.0 (2 people)

This video is rated PG-13, at least! For uh, um, how shall I put this? I’ll say- content including suggestive language and sensual contact with the undead. This is Voltaire performing live at an all ages show in Pennsylvania. Yes, if you liked that, you really must see him at an adults only venue. You sick, twisted ****s.

Just kidding, I love this song.

*That stands for FROGs by the way. Ya’ll have filthy minds.

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4.0 (2 people)

One of my life’s aspirations is to be in / make a zombie movie. There’s just something about them that is so gruesome, yet fun. Spoofy zombie movies are my favorite, but I’ll watch them all with pretty much equal relish… and a side of brains. This ranks right up at the top as one of the best Voltaire songs, also written for Cartoon Network. This video also includes a nice little hiccup which is one of my favorite things about live performances. Alcoheimer’s… priceless.

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4.0 (2 people)

If you watch the Cartoon Network, you might be familiar with this song. It is the theme song from Billy and Mandy’s Big Boogey Adventure. I … believe it or not don’t watch the Cartoon Network, but I still like this video. This is Voltaire live at the New York Anime Fest. I enjoy the chat he has with the audience, but I really picked this particular video because of his outfit. I mean, the purple, and the ruffles, and the hat. There is no bad here. He’s not only an outstanding musician, he’s dead gorgeous. Pun intended.

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4.0 (2 people)

Well, a gaggle of goths is a peaceful sight, but maybe they wouldn’t do absolutely anything to avoid a fight. After all, everyone has a breaking point. For these gothic vampires, it’s a shipload of pirate impersonators invading their personal space and refusing to call them Lestat. Or something. Check out this video, which fills me with geeky delight. A very clever person made it using the SIMS computer game. The singing character actually bears a striking resemblance to Voltaire.

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4.0 (2 people)