Entertainment

Noise Annoys: NI Unplugged charity compilation, new albums from Sparks and Power of Dreams

New charity compilation NI Unplugged, Sparks return with a brilliant new album and Dublin indie legends Power of Dreams are back (again)

Sparks are back with new album A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip
Sparks are back with new album A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip Sparks are back with new album A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip

NOISE Annoys returns from furlough today in bearded, starting to get bored of being stuck in the house form. However, as lockdown rolls over into a made-up-on-the-fly sounding 'stay alert' scenario, indoors is probably still the safest place to be – so you might as well have something decent to listen to while staring wistfully out the window. Happily, as you're about to read, our homegrown artists have got us well covered on that front.

:: NI Unplugged (compilation, self-released)

WITH lockdown wiping out live shows for the forseeable future, lots of artists have been struggling to make ends meet since losing one of the few ways left of actually making money from music. However, in order to try and alleviate the pain somewhat, Caitlin from local pop punkers No Matter has put together this bumper new compilation with the aim of raising funds for the charity Help Musicians NI.

NI Unplugged is a digital-only release featuring an impressive 51 acoustic tracks all created by local artists during lockdown and mastered by Start Together Studio maestro Rocky O'Reilly. You'll find plenty of Noise Annoys favourites on there including Buí, Rory Nellis, Brand New Friend, Sister Ghost, Beauty Sleep, Gnarkats, Wynona Bleach, Owen Lamont and indeed No Matter themselves.

With a price tag of just £7 (though you can pay more if you're feeling generous), every penny from purchases will be donated to Help Musicians NI, the local branch of the charity dedicated to supporting artists at all stages of their career.

Preview it now at Niunplugged.bandcamp.com and be sure to hit the magic 'Buy Digital Album' button before you leave. There's also a ton of information on the project and all the artists involved at Niunplugged.wixsite.com/album/the-compilationhttp://Niunplugged.wixsite.com/album/the-compilation.

:: Sparks – A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (album, BMG)

A NEW album from the brothers Mael is always cause for celebration and A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip is no exception. Clocking in at nearly an hour of listening, the duo's 24th (!) LP is another joyously wry, scabrous and unashamedly bombastic affair featuring lyrically delicious lockdown-friendly anthems like the robo-rocking I'm Toast ("Alexa, get me out of this please"), vocal repetition/rhyming rave-up Lawnmower ("You're pushing on your lawnmower, lawnmower / your lawn will be a show-stopper, show-stopper"), Synclavier-enhanced acoustic strummer Sainthood Is Not In Your Future ("the Pope is on the floor, laughing"), The Existential Threat's sub-Polka paranoid chant, kiddie choir powered environmental/political ballad Please Don't F*** Up My World and my personal favourite, iPhone, with its eminently scream-able what-a-time-to-be-alive chorus hook of "put down that f***ing iPhone and listen to me".


It's a sublime affair from start to finish, but not content with giving us a load of new songs to enjoy, the LA popsters have also been keeping themselves amused during lockdown by making some tongue-in-cheek social media videos. Ever wanted to take a tour of Ron's international collection of hand sanitizers, spend a day in lockdown with Russell or exercise with him, Sparks-style? Well, now's your chance – and don't miss their series of Lyrically Speaking vids in which Ron reads Sparks lyrics as only he can. Feast your eyes/ears at Linktr.ee/sparkssocials.

Truly, we need the deadpan genius of Sparks in our lives now more than ever: let's hope their Irish dates at The Limelight in Belfast and Vicar Street in Dublin go ahead this October as planned.

:: Power of Dreams new album / Craig Walker new single

FINALLY for this week, exciting news has reached Noise Annoys Towers regarding a surprise new album from the mighty Power of Dreams, the Dublin indie rockers whose 1990 LP Immigrants, Emigrants and Me is one of the best Irish albums of all time as well as one of the finest debut albums of all time full-stop.

In fact, the Craig Walker-fronted band never made a bad record throughout their short but exciting career prior to disbanding in 1995 – and now they've reconvened to make another one via digital means during lockdown.

The group's fifth album will be titled Auslander and features a full complement of OG POD personnel; singer/guitarist/songwriter Craig and his drummer brother, Keith, bass man Mick Lennox and guitarist Ian Olney (also of Cypress Mine! and Sultans of Ping fame). The album is being produced in Craig's adopted hometown of Berlin by himself and Canadian maestro Erik Alcock (Dr Dre, Eminen, Pink etc).

A release date has yet to be confirmed but will apparently be announced "very soon" according to the band. Dare we hope that they'll also announce some celebratory live shows at a time when it's safe for the 'POD squad' to reassemble en mass once again?

As an added treat, Immigrants will also be getting a 30th anniversary re-release in remastered and expanded form – though how different this will be to the comprehensive 20th anniversary edition from 2010 remains to be seen/heard.

And, as if that wasn't enough exciting Power of Dreams-related news, Craig Walker also has a brand new solo single out right now: showcasing the contemporary sound of this veteran Dublin indie rocker's songwriting, Drivel featuring RYYBA (aka Stephan Hinz) is powered by swelling synth bass and primitive popping electronic beats, which drive this sparse yet melodic man/machine concoction featuring an FX-manipulated electropop vocal from Craig that's pleasingly reminiscent of the great John Grant's performance on Black Belt from the brilliant Pale Green Ghosts album.


Currently available on all streaming platforms, Drivel also sports a trippy video clip from director Alex Forge which you can and should check out over on YouTube right now. If that whets your appetite for 21st century Craig Walker, know that he also has a couple of recent tunes from his collaboration with Booka Shade featured on new electrosoul compilation Atmos For Androids, which you can find on Tidal and Spotify, while his team up with ex-Nouvelle Vague singer Phoebe Killdeer as Them There – which yielded a German number one single in the form of The Avener's remix of their tune The Fade Out Line, Fade Out Lines – is also well worth investigating.

More on Craig's solo stuff, and indeed Power of Dreams, as and when I have it. In the meantime, stay safe, stay alert and stay home.