Moore's melodies are really 'classic'

Queen Kong V You're Only Massive

Dot-Dash (36:32)

Independent vinyl release

Here's a frighteningly exciting if strange prospect. Cork Berlinophiles Queen Kong, with their weird rock, and Waterford hip hop duo You're Only Massive (RIGHT), with their occasional party electro influence, have teamed up to make not a split album between bands, but a collaboration divided only by moods (one side "upbeat disco modern", the flip side "love songs and slow jams").

It takes a while to find a common thread between both acts, other than an endorsement of the avant-garde. Upon listening, that common thread reveals itself as an affection for beats, weirdness and, ultimately, melody. Dot-Dash' which could have been a disaster, delivers like no other Irish album has this year. It is just jammed with creativity, incredible vocal performances, smart raps, and inventive beats, sounds and rhythms, leaving you thankful that both groups came up with such a daring idea. Queen Kong's Amy Stephenson (LEFT) crowns the record with her irking and beautiful voice, most notably on 'The Rules' and 'Approximation', which also happens to be lyrically stunning, if peculiar ("The military lets you wear your own cosmetics / I wish I had a face like Samuel Beckett".) Every track is laden with surprises, from the urgent raps about shoplifting on 'Do A Runner' to the soaring Bond-like 'The World Is Yours'. Mixed continuously, Dot-Dash swerves around sounds expertly from hip hop to alt-rock, electro, indie and beyond, eventually becoming an eclectic and unusual entity of its own. One only wishes someone would throw a heap of cash at this record, to beef up the sound, and bulk up production values. With You're Only Massive's musical future hanging in the balance, Queen Kong should definitely maintain the direction in which they're going on Dot-Dash as it has yielded their best material ever. Recorded and produced in Dublin, Berlin, Waterford and Baltimore (US), Dot-Dash is a truly modern creation and one of the best Irish releases this year. It's hard to make the bizarre brilliant, but they've done it.

Download: 'Booty', 'Approximation', 'The Rules'

Una Mullally

August 17, 2008

Comments

#1 DG commented, on August 17, 2008 at 8:17 p.m.:

Yes... will someone please throw some cash at these folks before they go back to day-jobs. We need more.

#2 Kell Doran commented, on August 19, 2008 at 4:36 p.m.:

Queen Kong are the most original act to ever come off this island. The Dubliners were trad, U2 sounded like every other band in the 1980s who used guitars. Queen Kong have made a new sound that can only be described as Phil Spector meets the Pain Teens and they jam with Bauhaus. While everyone else does their best to emulate Joy Division, Dave Murphy's song writing and Amy Stephenson's vocals are a slap in the face to the people who think that The Script are the future of music in this country.

#3 nolly commented, on August 20, 2008 at 12:15 p.m.:

OMG, The Script are like deadly!
They are the real future of music in this country.

#4 The Script commented, on August 20, 2008 at 12:19 p.m.:

Oh but we are, Kell

#5 CorrektMind commented, on August 26, 2008 at 6:23 p.m.:

Kell Doran, your name is on the back of the vinyl. You wouldn't be a personal friend of the band would you?
Picked this up the other day - great album, love the production!

#6 2wired @ freakscene commented, on August 27, 2008 at 11:28 a.m.:

Just a minor correction: The girl on the left of the pic isn't Queen Kong's Amy Stephenson, she's Megan (wheels of steel) from You're Only Massive

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