Various Artists - The New Breed: The Best of New Irish Contemporary Music

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To each and all, well done

If time travel was possible, and you went back with this CD to the Ireland of 1992 and said there were bands and solo artists like these 18 years up the way, stunned disbelief or dunking in the Liffey seem the likely outcome.

Whatever the ills and things lost in this country over the last two decades, one of the pluses was that acts became more confident - to go it alone, try new things and realise, to paraphrase a song, that the world wasn't something that seemed to happen somewhere else. You'll hear all those good things here.

Chances are you're not going to like everything (have a look at the tracklisting below), or might think that electro, trad and others needed representatives, but whether it's one track or probably a lot more, 'The New Breed' offers something that's in very short supply: optimism. To each and all, well done.

Harry Guerin

Tracklisting: Disc One: Two Door Cinema Club: I Can Talk - Codes: This Is Goodbye - Dark Room Notes: Love Like Nicotine - Messiah J and the Expert: Turn the Magic On - Oliver Cole: What Will You Do? - The Blizzards: Fantasy - Fred: Running - The Laundry Shop: Highs and Lows - Delorentos: S.E.C.R.E.T. - Ham Sandwich: St Christopher - Republic of Loose: Comeback Girl - Mick Flannery: Tomorrow's Paper - The Chapters: Videotapes - The Minutes: Ukraine - The Urges: The Urges Theme - The Revellions: Ain't No Fool - Crayonsmith : Lost in the Forest - The Jimmy Cake: Jetta's Palace - Declan O'Rourke: Galileo - Julie Feeney: Myth - Jerry Fish & the Mudbug Club - Back to Before

Disc Two: Le Galaxie: We Bleed the Blood of Androids - The Ambience Affair: Devil in the Detail - Cathy Dave: Moving - Halves: Medals - Subplots - Poltis - Halfset: Work - Stellarsound ft Paula Flynn: Let's Dance - Róisín Murphy - Overpowered - Patrick Kelleher - Coat to Wear - Vyvienne Long: They're Not Waving - Lisa Hannigan: Lille - Rarely Seen Above Ground: Stick to Your Line - And So I Watch You from Afar: These Riots Are Just the Beginning - Bats: Credulous! Credulous! - Adebisi Shank: You Me - Heathers - Remember When - David Kitt: It's Yours - Valerie Francis: Slow Dynamo - The Coronas: Grace Don't Wait