Jape
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Jape

| INDIE

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Band Pop Singer/Songwriter

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Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"Charm In Abundance"

IRISH TIMES
17/09/2004
Reviewed by: Anna Carey
Rating 4/5

The cover of Jape's second album shows Richard Egan surrounded
be lemurs; the back cover shows the primates romping over the
tracklisting. Few albums could live up to the charms of a simian
-centric cover like that, but luckily The Monkeys In The Zoo
Have More Fun Than Me has charm in abundance - although its
a bit less lively than the monkeys. Egan's songs are subdued and
sweetly melodic, with hints of Yo La Tengo at their most dreamy.
(The Hardest Thing To Do) and even English '70s folk (To The
Sea). The album's highlight is the hypnotic single Floating, which
despite starting off sounding a little like Cornershop circa 1997
quickly develops its own squelchy, spacey sound. Let's hope the
monkeys like it.
- The Irish Times


"9/10"

HOT PRESS
23/09/04
Reviewed by: Tanya Sweeney
Rating 9/10

Where The Redneck Manifesto appear brimming with intent and
fury, the music of The Redneck's Richie Egan's other vechicle,
Jape, is beautifully lilting and celebratory.

'Reminding Me' is fleshy with euphoria and beachy calm, while
'Floating' manages to capture the charm and cool of the likes of
Folk Implosion. Like his sometime colaborator David Kitt, Eagan
does an enviable and neat line in simple yet masterfull songs,
while managing to retain a sense of laid-back, bed-headed
simplicity.

Egan's music, it may be dotted with broad strokes of lo-fi
perfection as perfected by the likes of Pavement, but the canvas
is also dotted with the pastoral innocence of Badly Drawn Boy.
In all, The Monkeys... is evidence enough that Jape is more than
ready for that often elusive crossover.

The monkeys in the zoo may have more fun than Egan, but not for
long. At least he can draw some consolation from the fact that
they'll never get the opportunity to tour such an overwhelmingly
charming album while they're being hosed down by the zoo
-keepers

- The Hot Press


"Sparkling Album"

TOTALLY DUBLIN
January 2004
Reviewed by: John Brereton


With home recording reaching new levels of sound quality an
album or single release is firmly within the grasp of most
musicians and lo and behold 2004 was the most prolific in terms
of recorded output for Irish artists. Trust Me I'm A Thief records
(great name) opening salvo in the big bad world of commerce is
definitly one of the strongest with the release of Jape's
sophomore album. Jape is the solo outlet of The Redneck
Manifesto's Richie Eagan in singing mode and with a little help
from his friends (David Kitt, Graham Hopkins, Ann Scot, Anne
Tierney et all) he has fashioned another record that oozes
warmth, tenderness and some splendid melodies. The opener
floating is a stomper electro sub continental groove, a paean
to the ecstasy haze when its all over. Things get mellower as
'Reminding Me' shimmers from the speakers before Egan's
reflective soul pondrs on the passage of time, "Oh what a waste
to be lazty when your young", a good song that suffers from a
weak vocal. Egan's vocal range isn't his strongest forte - the
hardest thing to do is poor - but it works perfectly on the
gorgeous 'A Journey Is Just A Memory' and album highlight
'Autumn Summer' which marries some neat finger picking
chord sequences to a suitably jaded melody. All in all its a solid,
often sparkling album that also posses one of the best album
covers of the year.

- Totally Dublin


"Album Of The Month"

SIGLAMAG

www.siglamag.com

Album Of The Month
Reviewed by: Sinead Gleeson
Rating 5/5


Jape aka Richie Egan aka Redneck Manifesto bassist is ridiculously
talented. Not only does he make the some of the finest melodic,
heartfelt music you're likely to hear, he's quite the philosopher
too. From opener 'Floating' (co-produced with David Kitt) and
tracks like 'Reminding Me', we're whisked through a world-view
expressed with lazy guitars, Fender Rhodes and wisps of
electronica. It's low-fi, high quality stuff that hints at its
influences while treading its own path of originality. Stunning
stuff.



- Siglamag


"4/5"

THE DUBLINER
October 2004
4/5

Jape represent all that is best in Dublin's D.I.Y music industry,
even if they are more of a collective - or even an underground
super group - that your average bedroom indie outfit. All that
hippy dippy community spirt aside, Jape is Ritchie Egan's baby and,
with all due respect to the considerable talent he gathers around
himself, any of the songs on record would work just as well if he
was a loner. There is something very familiar about The Monkeys In
The Zoo. It's the spirit of Wexford Street. The opening lyric may be
a touch too literal: "We took our first pill when the music was shit,
I said fuck dancing all night, but then thats just what we did." So I'm
invoking the listeners' right to interpret it for himself. I like to think
he's saying: "this is shit let's do something better, lets make our
own soundtrack." I'm usually wrong about that sort of thing.
Whatever he's talking about, this is a beautiful record; buy loads of
copies, if for no other reason than to piss off some major labels.

- The Dubliner


Discography

"The Monkeys In The Zoo Have More Fun Than Me"
Trust Me I'm A Thief Records
"Cosmosphere"
Volta Sounds Records

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

The music of Jape is a breath of fresh air to the smoggy atmosphere of Dublin. The first album "Cosmosphere" which was released last year on the Volta Sounds label showed his experimental side and sense of humor with stoner folk and 8 bit electronics rubbing shoulders with friendly ease. It caught the attention of some notable reviewers and deejays with Donal Dineen from Today FM playing it off the air on the show, "Here Comes the Night".

Jape's new album "The Monkeys In The Zoo Have More Fun Than Me" is now available on TMIAT. The album was produced by Jimmy Eadie in Dublin. This album shows a more thoughtful side to Jape's music. This album is preceded by a radio promo single "Floating", co-produced with David Kitt which melds mortality blues, hip hop and gregorian chants to head bopping affect and is proving to be something of an underground hit with club deejays playing it out and getting all sorts of amazing reactions.

"You'll reference quirky bits of stereolab, Kraftwerk and Yo La Tengo and if you have any sense you'll recognise this for what it is: a fully formed class act, with Egan as a cult figure surely bound for crossover success