Noise Annoys: Spoon Speaker Man, Mercury Rev, Belfast’s Now Press Play festival of music on film

Spoon Speaker Man - The Age of No Opinion (album, Big Pond)

THE Age of No Opinion is the eagerly anticipated (by me at least) debut album from Spoon Speaker Man, a team-up between former Power of Dreams leader Craig Walker and current Ned’s Atomic Dustbin drummer (and talented multi-instrumentalist) Dan Worton.

I’ve already written about its title track, which was also their debut single - “melodic indie rock done right: catchy hooks, loud guitars, pummelling drums and the odd pretty, twinkly, quieter bit for good measure”, with bonus PWEI references for extra style points - but since then they have snuck out another pair of teaser tunes and the album itself, which ‘dropped’ on Saturday last.

The deliciously titled Bargain Bin Bowie is perhaps the strongest of the latter two singles, a moody album closer which strums and thrums along beneath its barbed tale of a suburban refugee’s big city reinvention, though the nostalgia-loaded Drove Me Sane does feature some choice ‘up the neck’ bass wrangling for Neds fans to glom onto, plus a cool chorus lyric from Craig referencing “the Dublin rain” (roots!).

There’s further echoes of the Neds elsewhere, on pretty/groovie indie rocker The Ghosts of A Thousand Bands and Mid Life Crisis Man, which features yet more prime bass-bothering and a positively corrosive guitar tone that Rat Ned himself would surely approve of, while the stomping Hail The Lovers channels key Ned influence The Wedding Present in a pleasing, twinkly/crunchy guitars-laden manner.

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However, for my money, SSM are actually at their best when they lean into the folksier and more expansive side of their sound: this is exemplified by the mellow and moving album stand-out Call Your Friends, an hugely infectious tune which benefits from some Boo Radleys-esque horn action and a fine, impassioned yet understated vocal from Craig.

Elsewhere, swoonsome slow dance number Acceptance Love and Understanding is a global heart-on-the- longsleeve appeal to humanity’s better nature which should have phones, lighters and other forms of illumination held aloft on their upcoming Irish dates (see below), along with the big-hearted indie balladry of Stinking Town and the multi-layered acoustics ‘n’ mandolin-augmented lament Hard Times.

SSM will make their Irish debut at Mike The Pies in Listowel on November 21, followed by stops at John Lee’s in Tullamore (November 22) and Dublin’s Grand Social (November 24) - get on to the venues for ticket details and be sure to scoop the album via your preferred streaming service or on physical formats via spoonspeakerman.com.

Mercury Rev’s Belfast link

MERCURY Rev return to Belfast on Sunday October 27 for their first show in the north since 2018, when the veteran New York State-bred group performed at Bangor’s Wesley Centenary Church to mark the 20th anniversary of their breakthrough album Deserter’s Songs.

Formed in 1989, these indie rock psychedelia merchants have a long live history with Ireland dating back to the early 1990s when they were still fronted by the ‘unpredictable’ David Baker, whose manic choirboy vocals graced their first two excellent records, Yerself Is Steam and Boces.

However, a recent press release from the fine folks at Bangor’s Open House Festival - the promoters of both aforementioned shows, the upcoming date set to take place at QUBSU’s Mandela Hall - reveals the band actually have a direct link to Ireland which extends beyond touring and founder/current bandleader Jonathan Donoghue’s family roots in Co Cork.

Forty years ago, the 18-year-old Donahue took his first trip outside of the US to visit Belfast, apparently to “explore some of the myth and legend of the old country he’d heard so much about”.

However, the most important moment of his visit occurred in the decidedly urban-decay tinged setting of our city’s old Smithfield Market.

“I bought my first electric guitar in Belfast,” Donoghue elaborates.

“In a pawn shop, I guess you’d call it. It was a Hondo, which was a cheaper brand of a Les Paul Gibson. I carried this heavy guitar around with me. I didn’t know any better.

“I sat on the banks in Donegal and west Kerry and was learning to play these initial chords that I brought back to Buffalo.”

That is a pretty cool bit of rock and roll trivia, especially as just six years later the guitarist would be helping to craft incredible early Mercury Rev moments like Car Wash Hair, Chasing a Bee and Frittering (not to mention showing off his lead guitar skills on the debut Flaming Lips album, In a Priest Driven Ambulance) - songs they rarely, if ever, dust off anymore. I wonder if the Hondo was used on any of them? Probably not.

Anyway, the Rev are a much different prospect these days: indeed, their latest record, a spoken word poetry-driven affair titled Born Horses, represents yet another sonic evolution for the band. Having divided critics and fans alike, it’s pretty cool that Donohue and co still have the zip to shake things up 35 years into their career.

Tickets via openhousepresents.com.

Now Press Play returns

THE Now Press Play festival of music-related films will return to Belfast for its second year next week.

Running from October 23 to 27 at various venues, the 2024 event features Northern Ireland premieres for DEVO, the acclaimed new documentary about (you guessed it) electropunk pioneers DEVO, the new Peaches and Indigo Girls documentaries Teaches of Peaches and It’s Only life After All, and the Irish premiere of Since Yesterday - The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands.

Don Lewis and his Live Electronic Orchestra celebrates the man who put synths and electronica on the radar of everyone from The Beach Boys to Prince, Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat features jazz legends Louis Armstrong, Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach digs in a true tale of political protest and CIA spy games, and musical short Light Entertainment follows acclaimed local singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery as he battles to create his next record.

Brian De Palma’s cult rock n roll movie Phantom of the Paradise will also be screened, as will 2008′s Tiffany fans-focused documentary I Think We’re Alone Now. The recent death of Chills leader Martin Phillipps will be marked with a showing of The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillipps, while our local musical film output will be trawled by festival curator Joe Nawaz for Performative Ulster, his showcase of “the good, the bad and the excruciating from the world of northern Irish music videos”.

Afrobeat Night at the American Bar will feature screenings of Fela Kuti: Music is the Weapon and the William Onyeabor documentary Fantastic Man, and Bob Dylan fans can attempt to enjoy his star turn in the much maligned rock flick Hearts of Fire.

Now Press Play will wrap up with Prine Time, a celebration of the late great John Prine on film with a screening of Big Old Goofy World: The Story of Oh Boy Records, centred on the iconic singer-songwriter’s record label, followed by some classic Prine video clips.

For full programme and booking information, see cqaf.com.