Soft Middle Class Heroes

Tweet So the Hard Working Class Heroes weekend is nigh. What is the story with that fucking title though? It makes no semantic sense at all, either as a clumsy pun, or as some sort of social commentary on the acts' backgrounds? It sounds like a Billy Bragg style socialist-folk convention, or a weak, wistful nod back to the time when most Dublin bands were on the dole, as opposed to middle class, internet savvy, self-financed, meeja monkeys. And what's this about Heroes? As much as I admire a few of the bands playing, how many of them would pull a drowning granny from the Liffey? Eh? Eh? Is playing a Button Factory gig to 40 odd people somehow heroic? Let's face it. We got used to the title. Look at it objectively, though. Think about it. It's utterly meaningless on so many levels. But most of all, it's a clumsy mouthful and it has nothing to do with music. In short, it fucking sucks. Good job a lot of the bands don't. Here are a few of my picks for the weekend that's in it. Friday Dublin Duck Dispensary: The Academy @ 9.30pm They are Ireland's only dedicated duck dispensary. Dispensing ducks is not a round-the-clock business, because in between shifts of dispatching their feathered friends to a perplexed city, they make lovely lo-fi punkish ditties that are this fuzzy... David Turpin: Dame Lane @ 10.55pm David might not be to every body's taste. He looks like this... He makes intelligent indie-pop that wreathes itself delicately around thoughtful lyrics in a suggestively electronic fashion. Sure what else would such an intense and meticulously posed dandy, replete with a symbolic object perched proudly on his shoulder, do? David is a very interesting interviewee as you can see from Ciarán's Analogue post here. Saturday Sure it's only all going down in Meeting House Square on Saturday. Grab a few cans of your favourite brand of piss from the fridge in Spar, wrap them in brown paper, and as your drink goes lukewarm and flat in your sweaty paw, check out this terrific triple bill. Fight Like Apes Will their new album be as polished as Ryan Tubridy's nob? Or will it be the rough'n'ready, monster Irish release of the year? Here's your chance to find out. I didn't jump for joy at the new 'Lend me Your Face', but wow, the new 'Jake Summers' is fairly fookin' stonking! Expect lots of screaming and hair. I'm waiting for the inevitable gig where Jamie and MayKay involve themselves in a horrid hair-knotting accident and have to be ambulanced to James's hospital to get their skulls separated. Bats Thrillingly complex and noisy post-punk riffage. Their spidery song structures change direction quicker than a particle can get around that big accelerator yoke in Switzerland. I didn't mention that by accident. Bats love scientific things more than they love girls (the big geeks). Their lyrics also have a wonderfully odd scientific/rationalist bent, eschewing the usual rock'n'roll themes of pussy and coke for sub-atomic particles and atheism. They are the Richard Dawkins's of prog-metal. Wow, I never thought I'd say that about a band. It's true though. Halves These guys are sorta the flipside of Bats. They create dreamy post-rock, with electronic and orchestral flourishes. Super music for downing a bottle of cough syrup and reading romantic poetry on a canal bank until you pass out and wake up in a pile of Autumn leaves. Halves also make lots of other nice things such as beautiful CD cases and a groovy bag for lookin' hip while buying yer biscuits and coke down the shop like. The attention to aesthetic detail in all this is manifest in their meticulously crafted music. Frightened Rabbit Nakedly, unashamedly Scottish in that weird confessional way only that nation's ginger whey-faced spawn can be (I jest). Like Arab Strap, and to a lesser extent the Twighlight Sad, this is the musical equivalent of a wrinkled Durex and a burnt piece of tinfoil lying on a damp mattress, or the shadow of an alcholic Dad lurking in your bedroom doorway with a belt. In a good way. Is it possible for that to be in a good way? I think so. Searing folk that could be the highlight of the weekend. Their glamourous subject matter covers such diverse topics (and, ahem, not at all stereotypical if you're a Scot) as huffing glue, sloppy unprotected sex, taking loads of ecstasy, and getting fucked up drunk and maudlin. Trust me, they handle it well. Sunday I will not be knocking around on Sunday. But if I was, I'd check out So Cow. Moo! Come check me out ya hipster fuckbags! Lots of goodies. Some shite too no doubt. But, with something like this, it's definitely worth checking out bands you never heard about before and I will certainly do that. Finally, miss Loreana Rushe, and another 26 talented Dublin photographers will be exhibiting in the photography exhibition in the Button Factory tomorrow. A wholesome Richie Egan chomping on an apple is wot Loreana did. Nice. View the flaxen haired tyke enjoying his fruit here. See yis around Dublin!