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The Audio Flâneur

This piece was included in the June/July issue of The Goo, a free listings magazine for Dublin.

With the resurgence of vinyl and even cassette, perhaps nostalgia for and a return to the iPod and the CD collecting and ripping culture that surrounded it is inevitable. As I'm one of life's late adopters anyway, this isn't so long ago for me because I only got my first and so far still functioning iPod just 10 years ago (pro tip: never update your iTunes). This turned out to be a very good thing for me and my huge collection of CDs and luckily by then they came with a 60 GB memory. I've had as many as 18,000 MP3s on it but could always do with more space. I filled it the slow way by burning as many of my CDs as I could from A to Z (nothing came from iTunes). At the start I was putting almost everything in but as I got closer to the limit I had to get more selective and even take things off (the eternal search for doubles!).The most important and breakthrough function for me was leaving it on 'shuffle'. I know that many have already written about this phenomenon before but taking that chaotic route through my lifetime's collection of music is what really allowed my CDs a second chance. The memories and surprises were constant, especially in those early days. One of the best things was hearing a song I didn't even recognise and checking to see who it was. It might turn out to be a track from a various artists free magazine CD, a CDR a friend burned me in the '90s I probably only listened to once or a band I simply hadn't listened to in 20 years. It was worth all the burning and popping in and out of discs I can tell you!With the now instant ease of locating certain songs I started to obsess (repeat play) over certain ones that previously I'd liked but hadn't struck me so powerfully before. These included Kirsty MacColl's 'New England' and The Dream Academy's 'Life in a Northern Town'. In this case both were artists I had previously been only vaguely aware of but now I was reading about them online and purchasing more of their music. As well as getting new CDs, I've always been someone who buys second-hand, including from charity shops and car boot sales. It remains something of a compulsion now that I can add them to the pool of music I'm constantly curating inside that deceptively small device. This digging for digital gold has itself come to resemble a kind of random shuffle as you never know what you will find next or where that search might take you. Some artists were even purchased because I knew I would be hearing them in the context of shuffle so I took chances on some popular artists I didn't previously like enough to actually own their music (eg. Madonna, Elton John). Surely one of their songs in isolation won't hurt me! I also decided I wanted to start collecting all the albums from certain artists I was now newly re-discovering (eg. Lambchop, Low, Laurie Anderson, Ann Scott and David Kitt). This meant I could use the individual artist shuffle and just wallow in as much of their music as I wanted. Another thing I thought was very good for my brain was jumping from genre to genre, from electronic to punk to traditional Irish music. This made me hunt out even more non-rock albums and it can lead to some quite hilarious sequences of music, it certainly grabs your attention when Micho Russell starts up a reel after some mutant disco from Arthur Russell!One of the most revelatory things that happened was seeing how some of the Irish bands could easily hold their own against more well known groups. Shuffle might be the ultimate test of any band! This directly led me to starting a website called Abstract Analogue, to initially write some in-depth pieces about mostly '90s bands such as The Last Post, Idiots, Dot Creek, The Sewing Room, The Wormholes, Deep Burial, Capratone, Decal and Sunbear. As I was struggling to track down certain albums I didn't get at the time I noticed that many were for sale from secondary sellers on Amazon for as little as 1 cent. It struck me that unless you were already familiar with the band, there was no other way for you to discover just how good these albums were (none of the groups I covered had yet been included in any 'great lost Irish albums' canon).If you are lucky there is a world of incredible and untapped digital music already sitting in your home and if not you will find it down the road in a charity shop or elsewhere for bargain prices. You could always raid the iTunes of friends but I prefer to keep it personal and more of a challenge. There is of course a world of exciting new music on platforms like Bandcamp that even I am getting used to. You can gradually refine what it is you like but keep adding to the pile is my advice (never throw your CDs away either if you can help it). The shuffle will test you at times but try not to skip or delete things straight away, I give everything a chance to grow on me, allowing the universal randomness of sound to lead the way. Soon you will be seeing life itself as one random shuffle after another. What will be next?

Stephen Rennicks

Meat Loaf 1990 Irish tour dates/Ireland’s Ballroom circuit

With the death of Meat Loaf aka Michael Lee Aday (1947-2022), I remembered he played a tour of Ireland in 1990. I distinctly remember seeing the above advert in my local paper the Meath Chronicle and wondering why a superstar like him would be playing a rural venue like the Oasis. As you can see this was a place where cover bands and discos would usually be hosted. I used to past it regularly and remember it on a hill in some kind of no-man’s land between Co. Cavan and Co. Monaghan (it’s long gone now). A few years later I attended one of its discos which is another story. Outside of Dublin’s National Stadium and Ulster Hall, the vast majority of the tour dates were held in similarly unlikely venues such as a youth centre in Carlow on a Tuesday night and a community centre in Moate, Co. Westmeath. I wasn’t a fan of Meat Loaf and was too young to legally attend anyway but was very curious about it all.

Meat Loaf was broke and out of favour at the time and was happy to take the opportunity to play in Ireland (at least 15 dates in 22 days). In this audiointerview with promoter Tommy Swarbrigg he goes into some detail about how the tour came about. There are a few other accounts online which paint a picture of a somewhat ramshackle tour. However, in the main the audience seems to have rapturously enjoyed the gigs and they were very well attended. Ronan Casey’s account here is brilliant but gets the year wrong and Colm O’Callaghan alsowrites about it and other encounters he had with Meat Loaf in Ireland over the years.

There is always something compelling about the darker periods of an artist’s life, I’m thinking of figures such as Syd Barrett or Nico, the latter being the subject of one of my favourite books Songs They Never Play on the Radio by James Young, which covers her later life in ‘80s Manchester. I’m sure if someone who was there wrote a book about this tour it would become a cult read too. Sometimes this can be a time for redemption and rebirth and luckily for Meat Loaf this was the case. I don’t know all the ins and outs but he has credited this tour with helping him get the money together to make another album with Jim Steinman. This would turn out to be Bat Out Of Hell II in 1993 and the rest as they say is history.

Tommy Swarbrigg brought him back again just a few months later for an outdoor gig at Conna Castle in Fermoy, Co. Cork and MCD must have recognised his pulling power and booked him for the first Feile Festival in Thurles, Co. Tipperary before the summer was out. He continued to be popular in Ireland and would return many times to play large venues. His first live show here seems to have been in 1982 (see all of his large Irish gigs listed here) and you can see him interviewed on The Late Late Show in 1984 when he was at the first peak of popularity.

I was curious what the exact itinerary had been and couldn’t find hardly anything specific online until John Foyle sent me a link to the work of Paul Byrne from apost on the Irish Rock Bands Facebook group. I only had to fill in one venue blank he had, added the extra Dublin show at the end of the tour and included his two one-off concerts here later that same year.I also double checked the list with lighting crew member Jack Cawley (you can read an amusing story he shared as a public post about the gig at the Oasis venue here).

I was very surprised he returned so quickly but the appetite was obviously there. It’s possible there were a few extra dates so if anyone knows for sure please get in touch and I can update the list. The support band seems to have been Irish band Lightning Strikes. Meat Loaf brought his usual backing band The Neverland Express.

Meat Loaf 1990 Irish Tour Dates

Sat Jan 27th National Stadium, Dublin (his first performance in Ireland had been at this venue in 1982)Mon 29th Rosnaree Hotel, Drogheda, Co. LouthTues 30th Carlow Youth Centre, CarlowWed 31st Neptune Stadium, Blackpool, CorkFri 2nd Feb Horan's Tralee, Co. KerrySat 3rd Golden Vale, Cashell, Co. TipperarySun 4th White's Hotel, Wexford (postponed for one day due to throat problems, see news piece from New Ross Standard below)Tues 6th Moate Community Centre, Co. WestmeathWed 7th Leisureland, GalwayFri 9th Oasis, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan (the gig lasted 20 minutes due to trouble with local security)Sat 10th Traveller's Friend Hotel, Castlebar. Co. MayoSun 11th The Astoria, Bundoran, Co. DonegalThur 15th Ulster Hall, BelfastFri 16th Carrick Springs County Club, Co. CavanSat 17th, National Stadium, Dublin

EDIT: He also possibly played the Milford Inn Hotel, Co. Donegal.(Awaiting confirmation)

Meat Loaf returned this same year for these one-offs. There may have been more gigs in June as well.

2nd visit

June 1st Showgrounds, Ennis, Co. Clare (more details here)

2nd Conna Caste, Fermoy, Co. Cork

3rd Horan’s carpark, Tralee. Co. Kerry

June 4th Shinrone, Co. Offaly

3rd visit

August 2nd Semple Stadium, Thurles, Co. Tipperary (Feile festival)

While researching I realised this live circuit has not been well archived online. I did find just a few adverts for national tours in Hot Press and have scanned them to give you an idea of the typical itinerary and venues. National and local newspapers would no doubt be a better source for this kind of information if someone had access to those archives. Some of the venues still exist but many do not. While none of these were hip bands, they were successful and generated an income for themselves and local economies. Not to mention the memories and experiences of the audiences, crews and staff. I’ve archived adverts for tours by Dr. Hook, Smokie, Royal Flush and Gina and the Champions. For good measure at the bottom of the piece I’ve also included Status Quo’s Irish tours of the‘88 and ‘90. This is because in Ronan Casey’s piece it seems that the Meat Loaf tour opened up a route for their tour but in actual fact it already existed.

Hopefully this will bring some joy, nostalgia, jog some memories or help anyone who is interested in this period. Please feel free to share any of these images as they do not belong to me or anyone really. Like it or not it’s all part of our shared cultural heritage and social history.

Dr. Hook played many of the same venues as Meat Loaf soon after.

What I like about this Smokie advert is that they didn’t even need to list the venues! This was the type of scene you knew where they would be playing or just got to town and looked for the poster.

Royal Flush were an Irish band who played this circuit regularly.

Gina and the Champions, another Irish group who played these type of venues. More info here.

It was easy enough to find Status Quo’s Irish tour information online. In fact they played here in 1988 as well so maybe it was they who paved the way for Meat Loaf?

10.05.88 - Cork, Ireland - City Hall 11.05.88 - Tralee, Ireland - Horans 13.05.88 - Dublin, Ireland - Royal Dublin Showgrounds 14.05.88 - Galway, Ireland - Leisureland 16.05.88 - Londonderry, Northern Ireland - Templemore Leisure Centre 17.05.88 - Belfast, Northern Ireland - Maysfield Leisure Centre 18.05.88 - Belfast, Northern Ireland - Maysfield Leisure Centre 21.05.88 1988

14.11.90 - Carlow, Ireland - Community Centre 16.11.90 - Cork, Ireland - City Hall 17.11.90 - Croom, Ireland - Community Centre 18.11.90 - Castlebar, Ireland - Travellers Friend 20.11.90 - Sligo, Ireland - Sports Centre 21.11.90 - Navan, Ireland - Exhibition Centre 22.11.90 - Moate, Ireland - Community Centre 24.11.90 - Belfast, Northern Ireland - Ulster Hall 25.11.90 - Belfast, Northern Ireland - Ulster Hall 27.11.90 - Bangor, Ireland - Leisure Centre 28.11.90 - Newry, Ireland - Sports Centre

Stephen Rennicks

Nico

As I’ve now made two radio shows about Nicoaka Christa Päffgen (1938-1988) for Dublin Digital Radio on my Time Travel show, I thought it was time to highlight them here. I’ve also been posting about her on theAbstract Analogue Facebook page, use #nicoaa there to see what I’ve found so far.

The first show was a special on her music from the 1980s. There were two interview segments with her as well. I think it’s a good introduction to her more accessible material. Track-list below.

IntroductionNico interview (1985)I'm Waiting For The Man (1981)Sixty Forty (1981)My Funny Valentine (1985)Das Lied Vom Einsamen Mädchen (1985)Reich der Träume (1981)Heroes (1981)My Heart Is Empty (1985)One More Chance (1981)Chelsea Girls (live TV 1981)Nico interview (1986)Saeta (1981)All Tomorrow's Parties (1982)Femme Fatale (live Manchester 1983)

My second special on her focused on some of the various band members and acquaintances she would have had while living in Manchester. My introduction to Nico’s later period really came from Songs They Never Play On The Radio (1992) by James Young so I tried to make a kind of soundtrack to the book in a way. Again I think it’s very accessible for new fans.

IntroductionAlan Wise interview from BBC Radio 1 (2009)Nico - My Heart Is Empty (1985)Shoc Corridor - Holding Treasure (1984)John Cale - Dying On The Vine (1985)James Young - Songs They Never Play On The Radio (1994)Invisible Girls feat Nico - Procession (1982)Suns of Arqu - The Truth Lies Therein (1987)Eric Random and the Bedlamites - Mad as Mankind (1984)Ludus - Sightseeing (1980)The Fall - Mess of My (1978)The Blue Orchids - Disney Boys (1980)John Cooper Clarke - The Day Me Pad Went Mad (1982)The Faction - The Other Side (1988)Nico - Konig (1985)

Lexicon of Sound review & interview

As I was trying to listen to hypnagogia by Dublin’s Lexicon of Sound it struck me how revolutionary it is to be making ambient music these days. This is an album that has to be listened to without distractions, preferably on your own, on reasonable speakers and in a comfortable room. Not as I at first impatiently tried to do in the car rushing to work, changing back and forth to the latest news on Morning Irelandwhile skipping around the CD. Also, sadly for me not on the LOSBandcamp page either as this entailed computer speakers and other pages open on my browser to pull my attention away. The world we live in is fast and we need to do a lot to keep up, to switch off (something I normally do in nature) is essential of course and this album offers you that chance too if you give it the time and respect it deserves.

hypnagogia is actually Colm Fitzpatrick's fifth album since he began to use this as a moniker in 2018. I've interviewed him below and I'm so glad I contacted him directly as I needed to get a sense of who the person is behind this very pure music. I had come across his music before but really this was just his bass playing in The Sewing Room. In fact I wrote a piece about them for AA here. I kind of knew he had been in Hey Paulette in the 1980s but this was really before my time. He has also been involved with Villa R and I Am The Waltons, two bands I'm actually not familiar with.

It seems like Lexicon of Sound is the music he has wanted to make his whole life and I'm very glad he has reached that goal. I want to incorporate a review into this piece so bear with me until you get to his own words (be sure to play the track from it above).

Hypnagogia is the transitional state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep which we are all familiar with, even though we might not know the term for it. One of my favourite acts Dopplereffekt have already used this as a release title so I did have an idea what the concept for the album might be. This in-between state very much makes sense (to me) on the brief opening 'The Omadon', which skews our musical expectations with its disjointed medley (from everyday life?) but reality is already behind us as 'Calling Mumba Devi' quickly envelopes us in its lush sound and we hear what might be a confused Japanese man on some kind of internal answering machine.'Doctor Mesmer' brings us even further away from wakefulness, somewhere deep in space with tinges of Brian Eno, which is a great thing to have tinges of.A long time ago I read a book The Wizard from Vienna(1975) all about Dr. Mesmer and the hypnotic state he could put his patients in. I don't believe he was a charlatan, he just cured his patients the only way he knew how and came up with a theory that was false.

By the time we reach the title track (the biggie at over 10 mins) it’s feeling much more oceanic and long enough to truly get lost in. 'All At Sea' might be my favourite track with it’s more optimistic rising tones. These long sustained notes hover eternally, this is the sound of forever. ‘Saint Agatha's Bells' is the only one for me that could pass as New Age but so what, play it when you next do some yoga and it will work a treat. It’s those damn Tibetan bowls, very hard to hear without thinking of a YouTube meditation video. 'Abdul's Android' is probably my second favourite and has an electronic Eastern sheen to it that sounds so modern. In a parallel universe or maybe even this one, it could be the theme tune to a future Bladerunner. 'Dark Paradise' is some kind of sinister step carefully moment just before you wake and another potentially good movie scene soundtrack. 'Exit 13' and we are almost out, a return to the confused Japanese man as guitar textures enter for the first time and it's a very beautiful thing indeed. Definitely an album for me to return to.

Where does your interest in ambient music come from?

It started in the early nineties when I was in my mid 20s. I have a terrible memory, but for some reason I have a good recollection of this. Hey Paulette had broken up a few years previously, and I was by that time playing with “I Am The Waltons” a grungy, loud alternative pop band. The singer in the band, Aiden, told me one of his favourite artists that he was listening to at the time was Harold Budd, who I had never heard of. He said I should check him out. I'm not sure how he figured I would like Harold’s music but he was right, I loved it. So it kind of grew from there. I started collecting Harold Budd’s albums and through his collaborations I discovered Brian Eno and started collecting his albums, you will see a pattern emerging here ! I moved on to Steve Roach, Tom Heasley (Ambient Trombone !) Wendy Carlos and John Foxx amongst others. So I've been listening to that kind of music for close to 30 years I guess.

Do you miss writing in a more collaborative song based form as you did in Hey Paulette and The Sewing Room, which do you prefer?

No, I much prefer working alone. I have come to realise this over the years. When I was playing in bands all those years ago, I never thought of myself as a songwriter, and I never thought I would ever become one. The way it worked in all the bands I played in, was that the guitarist and the singer would write the songs, the rest of us (Drums, Bass, other guitarists etc) would add our piece to it, that's it. If it worked out and we all liked it we would keep it. On a rare occasion some songs would come to fruition from jamming, but it was rarely a productive way of songwriting for any of the bands I was in. Two notable exceptions to this were Drugfree from The Sewing Room, and also Fear of Parked Cars from I Am The Waltons, I remember these tracks being a true group effort.

You are already up to release number nine of LOS. Instrumental music can be tricky to edit and differentiate tracks from each other and have each album stand out.

I can get a bit defensive when people say I have released so much music in such a short time. Maybe I'm being a bit paranoid but I start thinking people are saying to themselves “It can’t be much good, he has released all this music in about one year !” and I worry that maybe they won’t take it seriously. But I'm very serious about my music. I'm usually a bit tongue in cheek about it when I talk about it on Facebook or Twitter, which does not help but that's just my personality I think. I guess this is a good opportunity to explain how I got to record and release so much music in apparently so little time. In 2017 I decided to convert my little attic in my house into a place to store my basses and gear etc. In this small house, there are myself, my wife Bernie and our son Joseph and all his toys, so space is at a premium ! By the start of 2018 I had the attic looking really good, Velux window in, wooden floor down, carpeted walls, mood lighting, nice laptop for recording, and the obligatory Persian rug. I said to myself this is a really cool little space where I can have all my gear set up permanently.

In parallel to all this going on I knew I wanted to start writing and recording music again, I had been away from it for decades and I had a lot of ideas built up inside that I wanted to express, and building the studio only affirmed these feelings. Also going on at this time was the fact that I had taken a break from full time work, an opportunity came along and I grabbed it, it meant I had more free time on my hands. The fact that I had all my gear permanently set up now and I could escape to my little studio at any time I wanted, day or night was a real boon. All these events coming together let me be super productive and do it all at home for free. The kind of music I make lends itself to this kind of home setup, no drum kits, PA, or amps needed ! So from the Spring of 2018 I started working, and I found the ideas and sounds just flooded out, it was a great feeling. As I went along I learned more about the recording process and refined my workflow. Month by month I would buy more outboard gear, keyboards, guitars, effects etc to add to my arsenal of sound making equipment. It was in the summer of 2020 that I decided to put all I had done up to that time up on all the streaming platforms. My Nephew Daniel is a musician and he told me about Distrokid. It was a cheap, painless, easy way to get my music up on all the streaming platforms, so I went ahead and released the first 6 albums around June and July of 2020 I think. That was 2 years of solid work. I have done 1 Album and 2 EP’s since then over the last year. Lockdown has also helped in that regard.

What are you working from as a starting point with your albums/musical pieces, the sound itself or an idea? How do you know when you have strayed into 'New Age' territory or does that bother you?

It depends, sometimes I start with a word or phrase, sometimes an image, and sometimes a scenario. I think it's important to have some kind of a seed of an idea in your head before you start something new, otherwise you're wasting your time and you will flounder. I think to myself, what would this situation or place or feeling sound like ? Some of my albums are obviously thematic. Longwave came about because of my love of radio, especially AM radio. My eldest sisters used to tune in to Radio Luxembourg on a Grundig portable in the 1970s on a Friday or Saturday night while they were getting ready to go out. I remember it vividly. Later in the 80s and 90s it was my turn to tune in to BBC1 and John Peel via AM to listen to him playing Hey Paulette or The Sewing Room. The Lighthouse is another obviously thematic album stemming from my love of the sea and er…. Lighthouses ! I've always loved them and find them to be spiritual and magical places for me. If someone wants to call it New Age I don't care, I'm just happy they are listening to it.

Do you have plans to take Lexicon of Sound onto the live stage in the future?

This is a short answer, and that is no. I don't think ambient music or musical soundscapes translate well into the live environment. People will talk, go to the bar, make noise etc, it just would not work for me. I want people to hear my music in the best possible scenario, sitting down, listening to it on a CD, on a good pair of headphones. I suffer quite badly with anxiety also, so if I was to perform live any venue I would go to would not have enough toilet paper in stock to cope with my situation.

What are you using to generate your sounds, are there guitars in there?

I try to make my sounds sound original and made from scratch, no sound I record is off the shelf. Yes, I have recently started using guitars, although I am by no means a guitarist. That is an area I have yet to venture into fully. I have 2 old 80s keyboards specifically chosen for their ease of use and the fact they also offer full control of the sound wave generated, all with real time control in the form of knobs and sliders, no scrolling through menus etc. For me, it needs to be simple and fast. The same goes for effects, I use high quality guitar pedals that offer studio quality sound but the interface needs to be fully manual, again knobs and sliders all the way, and the pedal is a perfect format for that. I have other sound generating tools in software format where you can quite radically alter any given sound or sample. I also have some other rather unusual sound generators in hardware form that are quite unique, which I have collected from boutique makers over recent years. Then I have my bass guitars of course which I rarely use actually, with the exception of tracks like Dark Paradise and Exit 13 where they are heavily effected but are the main instrument in the track.

How important is the physical format for music? What made you decide to release all LOS albums as CDs.

The physical format is vital for me. An album is not released unless it's on CD or Vinyl as far as I'm concerned. I need to hold a physical object in my hand, and be able to look at it, keep it, and collect them.

What is next in the series/pipeline?

Next for me is a break from writing and recording to curate and promote my music. I will be releasing all albums and EP’s on CD over the next 18 months on my own label, Lighthouse Records, so that's an ongoing thing starting with this album (hypnagogia) I need to start promoting my music, getting more airplay, getting more album reviews and Interviews like this I guess. It's the one thing I have neglected up until now. I find myself looking abroad more often than not in that regard. I have always found the Irish music scene on the whole to be a bit incestuous, clicky and small to be brutally honest. I'm in the process of drawing up various kinds of lists of people and media outlets, radio stations etc around the world to send my music to. All of that is going to keep me very busy for a while. Then maybe next year, I'll start venturing up into my tiny attic studio again, and try to make some new sounds and paint a few more sonic landscapes that hopefully some people will enjoy.

You can sample and order Lexicon of Sound’s latest releases hypnagogia and Edge of the World EP and more on Bandcamp. Until 2022 he will gradually be releasing all of the LOS albums and EPs on CD on his own Lighthouse Records. Follow him on Twitter here.

Ann Scott interview

I first came across Ann Scott’s music in 2018 and wrote about her Venus To The Sky (2013) album at that time here. She is a singer-songwriter but in the main she collaborates with what sounds like a full band at times so her sound can be vast when needed. Since then I have really gotten into what she has been doing and collected her other albums and none of them disappointed me in any way. I guess her main strength is the qualityof the songs and she has a knack for finding the most suitableinstrumentation and collaborators to really make them take-off. For me she is of the same calibre of an artist such as PJ Harveyand I wish she was as well known but such is the nature of life. Sometimes these things take time but her music is built to last.

I have been posting about her regularly on the AA FB page and decided to make contact with her for an interview to tie-in with her outstanding new album Lily. I have many favourites from it but here I’ve selected ‘River’ and ‘One Step Fall’ as good examples to show the two sides of the album, from a full to a more sparse and minimal sound. For me, there were a few songs I instantlyconnected with but the whole album is a grower and worth the effort. While it hasn’t been such a long wait for me, older fans haven’t seen a new album in about eight years so I thought she’d have something interesting to say. It’s great to hear something of how the album came together and about her background, reactions to the pandemic and more. You can sample and purchase Lily on Bandcamp here.

How did you first get involved with music, were you always interested in singing and writing since you were very young? What were your early passions and influences (not just musical)?

Early on I just lived and breathed books. As a child, I remember the radio being on 24/7. I thought music was just an awful racket and associated it with detergent jingles and ranting talk show guests. I think I longed for silence really. That all changed in a positive way, in first class when our teacher encouraged us to dance on the tables along to Peter and the Wolf. Then came Top of the Pops as a weekly religion. In the eighties music had massive relevance, everybody was madly taping songs off the radio. There was a small selection of vinyl at our house and I spent many hours with a pound shop microphone stuck into the stereo – or was it the back of the VHS player ?- and even back then the big red button meant ‘record’. So, there were hours of fun overdubbing sci-fi movies and blasting along to Madonna long before the first 4 track arrived.

What was it like for you in those early days, what are your memories of starting out playing live etc? Did you get some recognition?

I first began busking around in the nineties and it was around about then I started writing songs, but I took a long time to finish and perform them. Initially I was just enthralled with that very primal thing of live singing. In Dublin the International Bar on Wicklow Street was the hub for songwriter talent, experienced and novice. There was a massive amount of it around and it was a magic time. Every Tuesday evening the upstairs venue there would be heaving with the motley crew of Dave Murphy’s songwriter guests. Dave curated an open mic ‘but with no mic’ kind of an evening and mentored, more or less, the whole singer songwriter scene at that time, which today accounts for many of Ireland’s household names. There was some A&R interest around but I didn’t have much of a knack for the schmooze and all that, I think I realized I was still developing a craft and probably wasn’t ready for committing to anything, whereas the industry was and is still obsessed with ‘new’ and ‘young’.

Even from your first album, in my opinion, you had very much developed a signature sound and voice. I guess this could just be you being yourself or is it something you really had to work on? Are you very self-critical, how easy is song writing for you? Going purely by your album covers, it appears you take on a different image/persona for each album. If I’m correct, is this part of your process for song writing as well?

You’re kind of born with the voice you have. All of your ideas and inspiration have to be influenced by the world around you. In my case, love of language slowly gave over to love of melody and expression of ideas but it was hard to marry the two. I am critical as hell and tend to do things slowly and mull over them and revise lots of times. Many songs are image heavy or take on personas, as you say, and I would throw in lots of characters and animals, maybe as metaphors for things, or sometimes not. I’ve always had a soft spot for odd tunings and gypsy sounding stringed instruments and gravitating to keys like C sharp or F sharp has not made me popular with fellow players. But in terms of a sound, in particular, the first few albums, my ideas were very much interpreted and realized by Karl Odlum.

Even though you are known as a solo artist there is a collaborative process for you to go through to get your music completed. Do you have regular people you work with or do they change with each project? How do you select your collaborators?

I’m happy to goof off on my own for a stint and write and record and layer music but you can’t beat that buzz of the idea exchange. Karl Odlum has a fantastic adaptable approach that he brings to everyone he works with, so I’ve been lucky to be able to tap into his expertise...and synth collection. He is a brilliant bass player, and a powerhouse of production ideas, and although I go at the Protools myself these days, Karl is still the linchpin I’d say. In terms of band, when budget allows the more the merrier. Touring with musicians you get to know people and give each other a dig out so I’m happy to barter with other songwriters when it comes to lending each other random ideas or vocals.

I felt things were really beginning to change for new artists around the very late 90s. The beginnings of MySpace and later YouTube and all of the promise (potential worldwide exposure!) that seemed to bring. As far as sales went, there was a kind of vacuum I felt from then until iTunes and digital sales became more firmly established with platforms like Bandcamp. Some of the traditional music print media also began to disappear or become unrecognisable from what it had once been. But live gigs and festivals became more popular (and good for selling music directly or so the theory goes). What was your experience as an artist that emerged right in those uncertain times of change?

Music has been a victim of its own success really. The technology which emancipated musicians (home studios, digital distribution etc) also kind of devoured them. There was suddenly a flood of independents all vying for the same shrinking media pie, and then the ‘subscribe a little and stream absolutely everything’ model (eg Spotify) came along and just about killed off album sales entirely. Back in the nineties an independent musician could be making a humble living and tour based on selling CDs at gigs, but that is all complicated now with the new medium. Additionally, many of the traditional opportunities such as the festival slots you mention are offered as unpaid promotional opportunities to up and coming artists. But if that is more and more the actual model, then you have to ask, what exactly is there to be up and coming to ?

You started a Patreon in the last year or so, what was your experience of that? I get the impression this helped the album along.

Patreon is the brand new world. It got me back into a discipline of finishing and releasing music, which for somebody who likes to spend months or years on single line lyrics, is a necessary thing. Also, it got me just back to connecting with people, and I was surprised by what subscription tiers worked or what people wanted to hear that I would not necessarily have thought of. Without listeners it is hard to make the music come alive. And that rabbit hole gets deeper. So, after a long gap between albums it was a great way to put the heartbeat back into things.

What can we expect from the new album, Lily, and what format will it take? Could you collaborate with different musicians this time around? What are your hopes for gigs, promotion etc. I suppose inevitably your new album (just like any album released this year) will be seen as a lockdown album, do you think the pandemic influenced your music or would it have still been more or less the same?

Lily is a digital only release, although I had a yearn for a vinyl pressing, I thought green is clean. The pandemic greatly paved the song selection, in that I couldn’t collaborate with other musicians last year even if I wanted to, so there is a lot of minimalism. There’s barely a click track anywhere on the album with many of the songs performed more or less as live takes. There are also fuller tunes with more featured artists which predated lockdown but overall, the lonely live intimate vibe is the prevailing wind. With everybody cooped up inside, it might sound counterintuitive, but it felt like the right time to release a live sounding record. When it does come to going back out to gig, I should have a selection that I can hopefully reproduce easily enough in a live context.

Due to the pandemic we are potentially in a very precarious time for music as we have known it. I know there is no crystal ball but how do you think things are going to work out for musicians and the industry itself?

Very odd times indeed, but the music industry is kind of eating itself anyway. In terms of gender and diversity balance, I hope that is one thing which can be addressed. I think the really obnoxious televised talent competitions have to go (or are they gone already?). Music had a very cringey tv moment for a while there. The keyword for the future music industry has to be - like all world industries at the moment - sustainability.

I read on your website that you moved to the countryside. What has your experience been?

Moving to the countryside has been a major change for me and, also becoming a parent, so lots of things all fell into place and out of place, and lots of songs always fall out of change. I might miss being by the sea sometimes, but trade off in the deep countryside is the sky. All those thousands of super bright stars at night and those 360 degree sunsets. Plenty to space off to there...

Thanks for your time. You will find Ann’s website here and she is also on Facebook andTwitter.

Capratone, The Asteroids & The Metronoids (for Beginners)

Tracks & Traces #13: I’ve been planning to write about the music of Capratone, The Asteroids and The Metronoids for sometime and have finally gotten around to it (somehow its been almost 3 years since the last T&T). The link between these bands is Andrew Lyster (now living in Brussels) and as I will explain, he kindly answered some of my questions for this hybrid Tracks & Traces. Since originally publishing this piece Richie Kelly of Capratone has also similarly added valuable information I would never have been able to share otherwise. Usually I just depend on my memory, the records, press cuttings and any surviving notes I took from the times but as I got deeper into the story there were too many question marks about line-ups (pre-Capratone), the issue of a possible ‘lost’ Capratone album and don’t even get me started about The Metronoids! At time of writing most of this music is hard if not impossible to find streaming online and I couldn’t even locate any band photos or videos either. Which is all the more reason to write a piece to mark their existence and hopefully spark a revival of interest. When I was putting the finishing touches to the article I did discover there is now at least some music from The Asteroids on YouTube. Not long after I originally shared this piece, Joss Moorkens of Capratone sent me two band photos, the first line-up (L-R: Fiachra, Joss, Andrew) and as a four piece with Richie Kelly (below).

I first saw Andrew Lyster play (vocals/guitar) when I caught The World of Pugh in a venue I only went to once, Dillinger’s. Like many things from those days it’s long gone but it was a bar with a small stage (up some stairs?) somewhere off Dublin’s Capel St. (18/3/94). As I totally forgot who was in the rest of the band I’ll let Andrew take up the story.

“The World of Pugh was the first group where I wrote songs. I think it started around 1993. Originally it was Keith Swan on drums and a fellow called Brian McEleney on bass. Then in 1994 I brought some songs in and Brian took off to be replaced by Niall Brown (who was also the singer and guitar player for The Moustaches). Niall played bass for World of Pugh in the form where we had songs and did gigs.”

I’m sure someone like Joss Moorkens (then drumming with Tucker Suite) had told me about TWOP and the name had struck me (there was a very cool hand drawn flyer for the gig). They played bottom of the bill with Tucker Suite, Budge and Schroeder’s Cat, all part of a very exciting little scene at the time. Less than two weeks later I happened to see TWOP again on a bill with The Moustaches at a house party on Middle Abbey Street. The Moustaches, who sadly never released anything, were also part of this same scene (in my mind anyway). As I recall, this latter show was on the second or third floor of a semi derelict space in which a friend of both bands was living as a caretaker. Andrew has now told me that he and Keith Swan actually lived there and it was where TWOP rehearsed. I remember sitting on an old mattress and really enjoying the atmosphere (a cymbal was tied to a rafter). I do remember that TWOP had a real sense of humour on stage with some crowd involvement going on. They never had any releases but might well have recorded something (I’ve also heard tell of an unreleased album by The Moustaches!). This would be the last time I saw them play, perhaps it was even their last show?It would be another year before I would see Andrew onstage again.

While researching this piece I did find an Irish band family treewhich shows that Andrew, Joss, Fiachra Lennon and Brian Gough were in a band called Mudshark (1991-92), which was not actually their first band. Again, Andrew gave me some more information which I thought was worth sharing and clarifying about these early days.

“Brian Gough (later in Mexican Pets) had been in an even earlier band than Mudshark with me called The Foots. This band only played one gig in a pub in Dun Laoghaire in 1991. Our friends had to listen to the music from the street because they were too young to get in. After The Foots broke up I think Brian went on to another group called Harvey, and then Tucker Suite with Greg Barrett (later in Joan of Arse) on bass initially. Greg then did Schnorbitz with Joss, and had a cool band called Giraffe Running.”

Andrew’s next band would be Capratone (vocals/guitar) along with Joss on Drums and Fiachra on bass. Regarding song-writing Andrew told me, “For the most part I would write the songs and we would try to make them better by all writing our own parts through rehearsals. One or two were group written from stuff that happened in rehearsal.” I first saw them in another venue off Capel St. supporting Schroeder’s Cat at Behan’s Bar (previously The Fox & Pheasant) (3/4/95) and again just ten days later at The Plough with (surprise surprise) The Moustaches and Schroeder’s Cat. I would get to see this line-up play quite often on local bills until Sept ‘97 (more on this later). I recall they also played a short tour around Ireland with US band The Make-Up (April ‘97).

In early ‘96 they tried to record an album with producer Marc Carolan.Andrew told me it was to be called,“Le Plus Roll,because we felt our music was more Roll than Rock. I can’t pin down the exact date of the recording, but my guess is that it was in 1996. We had 2 days in a studio somewhere in Rathgar. It was a 24 track ADAT studio. I think it had a Soundcraft desk. The highlight equipment-wise was an incredible Ampeg bass stack that belonged to some professional band. Its sound was so authoritative and great that by the end of the long first day’s recording, when I had crawled into bed, I was woken up a couple of times by LOUD auditory hallucinations of Fiachra’s P Bass blasting through that thing. Marc, and the three of us all worked really hard for the two days, we did manage to record and mix all the songs we came in with, but I think the short time-frame worked against us capturing the right aesthetic. The means of production were expensive to rent and we couldn’t afford to record even in a project studio like that for more than a day or two.”

Luckily, one of the songs, ‘Homeward’, ended up on the Irish band compilation album, Zip Up Your Boots For The Showbands (1996). I always loved this intricate and explosive song and a whole album like this would have been quite something. The only place online you can hear it now is on a radio showI made for Dublin Digital Radio about bands that played in Dublin’s Attic venue. I must point out the musicianship of Capratone, it may not have been so obvious in the more noisy Tucker Suite but Joss was such an amazing and distinct drummer and both Fiachra and he so easily locked together. They created a lot of space for Andrew’s vocals and guitar for these catchy and very inventive songs to really flow.

At some point in late 1996 Richie Kelly joined (on right in pic) on guitar and they played as a four piece. At some other point Andrew left but as the band continued things must have been going really well musically. According to my notes the last two times I saw Capratone play was at the start of September‘97, supporting The Sewing Room and Luggage at Dublin’s Mean Fiddler and then a headline show in The Funnel venue at the end of the same month. This doesn’t mean they stopped playing of course but for whatever reasons I didn’t see them again. Things don’t stay static, I did get really into electronic dance music and clubbing the following year but continued to see guitar bands as well but gigs would clash, allegiances, circ*mstances and tastes change, choices have to be made.

At some point this second line-up hooked up with Dublin label Folkrum Records (run by Dan Watson) and they recorded a mini album, The Art of Go, which was released in early 2000 (CD only) and produced by Simon Kenny aka Si Schroeder. At that stage Joss and Fiachra were still in the line-up with Richie and Eric Sexton (on guitar). I wasn’t sure if any of Andrew’s songs survived after his time with the band (on the Capratone page of the old Folkrum website he only gets thanked for the name) so I needed to ask him about it,“I didn’t write anything on the LP called The Art of Go. There was a strange overlapping series of line-ups in Capratone but when I left I think Richie Kelly (who was a recently arrived guitar player joining the original 3 piece) took on the song-writing job. As far as I know those Art Of Go tunes were all of his making. Richie went on to make a few attempts at recording subsequent line-ups of Capratone.” According to Joss’ short biog of the band on Last.fm, by the end of Capratone the line-up had changed completely from the original one.

Since I published this piece Richie Kelly has been in touch and has kindly provided more detail about joining the band and how his role and the line-up evolved. “I saw Capratone in 1996 and was blown away. Even before the show ended, I wanted to join but that seemed unlikely. It turned out that Andrew’s song-writingwas taking a new direction and he had decided to add a second guitarist. We were connected through an extended friend group and apparently word had gotten to him that I was as enamouredwith The Beach Boys as he was. We bumped into each other and started talking music and I must have auditioned and joined the band shortly thereafter. At some point I brought a song to the band and we added it to our set (with my vocals). I started contributing more so when Andrew decided to stop playing, we just continued.We added Eric Sexton, a friend and former bandmate. The Art of Go was recorded by Simon Kenny with basic tracking done over a weekend at a large room in Joss’ father’s business. Simon and I continued vocals and overdubs at his flat in Donnybrook.”

Surprisingly none of this music has made it onto YouTube or anywhere else online that I could find. It can be bought on Discogs, which is how I got my hands on it about two years ago. In my opinion it works really well as an EP, with a few really engaging tracks but with some filler too. The best for me would be‘Clozer’ which sounds like a lost classic and musically is a more full bodied version of the band heard on‘Homeward’. ‘Free Jazz’ is pleasingly upbeat and cruises along on Beach Boy vibes. They do sound quite American (Pavement and bands of that ilk) at times (as did Capratone mark 1) but this was very much the sound and influence of the times, everything still comes down to the quality of the song-writing. The band broke up a good while later, sometime in 2003 without anymore releases. At some stage Richie Kelly moved to Brooklyn, New York and started a similar sounding band there but with more brass, Sport of Kings. He even re-recorded ‘Free Jazz’ and made a video for it. The influence of Brian Wilson is clear on this song in particular, they cleverly re-use The Beach Boy’s ‘Cool, cool water” line in the song (also present in the original version). Apart from some positive reviews of their only EP, Logic House (2011), there is little sign of the band online either but at least you can check out their excellent video for‘Free Jazz’ (see below). I did find just one image of Capratone at this time on the Folkrum website, which I have enlarged below. Richie is the golf club carrying member.

In my original piece I wasn’t sure what happened to Capratone next so Richie can take up the story,“The Art of Go attracted the interest of Shifty Disco, who released all of the Elephant 6 stuff in the UK. We set about making a full length for them which we were calling Aviation High. Simon Kenny was initially set to record but was so busy with other projects, I asked Andrew to do it and he agreed. Drum and bass tracking took place in a studio in Dublin. Andrew and I indulged our love of tinkering at his family home while recording my parts and mixing. The result is a pretty high fidelity Capratone record. Shifty Disco preferred the super compressed Capratone of the previous record and passed.We trudged along with some line-up changes after that. The most stable line-upthough was myself, Cian Synnot on drums, Fiachra McCarthy on guitar and Michael Stevens (of Groom and many other excellent bands) on bass. As Joss said, no original members were left by the end of Capratone. I believe we kept the name simply because we couldn’t come up with a new one, apparently I have a problem naming things. When I ended up opening music studios and practice spaces in Brooklyn after moving there, I asked Joss if I could use the name of his label Scientific Laboratories because I loved it so much and couldn't think of an alternative.”

I think it’s well worth including here what happened with Richie’s next band Sport of Kings.“My love of fidelity only increased as the years continued except my focus switched from The Beach Boys to Steely Dan. I because obsessed with doing an indie rock version of their music and Sport of Kings took that direction. The initial line-up was drums, bass guitars and Fender Rhodes and then we added a horn section and a drummer from NYU’s Jazz Program who were incredible and took things to a whole different level.”

“After our Logic House EP, we made a full record (15 songs to be called Queer Theorem) with Michael Leonhart of Steely Dan as producer and occasional synth/horns/vocals contributor. This was essentially a dream come true for me. Initial tracking was done by me at a studio in Brooklyn and painstaking overdubbing, vocals and mixing was done by myself and Michael at his mixing room in the city. Ironically, we recorded yet another version of ‘Free Jazz’ with Michael. I’m not sure why I keep rerecording it but it might have something to do with Andrew and I finding out Brian Wilson used to record ‘Proud Mary’ every time he went into a new studio to check the sonics. I think I now have 4 completed versions!”

“I put an enormous amount of effort into Queer Theorem but it took so long that by the time it was ready, many band members were so in demand by big artists that they had little time to give. Keeping a 7-piece band of amazing musicians afloat proved too difficult and I disbanded the group rather than trying to recruit new musicians. I had also taken that level of fidelity to its conclusion and I returned to looser music after moving to Portland, OR.”

The next ‘band’ Andrew founded was solo project The Asteroids. I don’t think he ever presented it live but there was just one release, an exquisite three track 10″/CD,Moonlight Music For Beginners, which was released on Joss Moorkens’ Scientific Laboratories label in 2000 (the same year as The Art of Go). You can listen to what has to be my favourite song,‘Nine Lives’ at link below (the other two songs can helpfully be found on the same channel and I’ve linked them here). According to the sleeve notes it took two years to record, with I assume Andrew playing all the instruments and doing the programming etc. I was sure to pick this up on vinyl at the time and have cherished it since. The amazing paintings on front and back were by the artist Niamh McGrath.

‘Nine Lives’ is so laid back, rich in instrumentation but for me it’s all about Andrew’s vocals (Alan Kelly of The Last Post also provides additional backing vocals). The lyrics prove to be the real earworm for me, “Who is the man, who has done this to you?” with an unexpected lyrical twist at the end. The song has somehow burrowed its way into my consciousness and over the past 20 years has been liable to play in my head at any time.‘Return Of The Moonlightman’ is more sparse and based again around the vocal arrangement, a second deeper voice (John Parkinson) enters the fray about halfway and it goes to another level with a lovely gradual close.‘The Great Escape’ is dominated by a really warm organ sound that pulls you along. This one in particular reminds me of Brian Wilson, one of Andrew’s touchstone influences. It’s one of those releases which has dated really well in my opinion and is pretty much unknown I think (I don’t know how many were pressed or sold). There was so much promised with this release and frankly it’s something of a shame it was not followed up at the time. If Andrew had been signed or whatever then things might have happened differently but like all of the bands I’ve written about in this series, we’re lucky to have what we have and the music will last forever. You can still find it for sale on Discogs and it can be played and purchased on iTunes and Tidal. There was one other song from this period, ‘Lunar Doo Wop’, released on a compilation CD included free with the first Foggy Notions magazine. I vaguely remember it but can no longer find my copy (the title tells us all we need to know!).

Sometime in 2005 or later I bumped into Andrew and he gave me a CD from his latest group The Metronoids. It was a two track disc in a plastic wallet (no cover artwork or personnel details) called Petroleum. Today this doesn’t even exist on Discogs never mind anywhere else! Until I asked Andrew about it I wasn’t sure if this had simply been a promo but he told me there was artwork etc. The reason I probably never saw it for sale is that I left Dublin in 2005. For a bit more information I had to dig into the data on the CD itself and found that the track names are simply ‘Petroleum 1 & 2′ and for what it’s worth the genre on iTunes comes up as Blues (not sure how this gets assigned). It’s a pleasant listen (the more spirited second track is my favourite) but it surprised me very much to find it was all drums/percussion and obviously nothing like what he’d done before.This would be the only release under the name, which I imagine is pretty rare to come across.

I obviously had to get Andrew to explain The Metronoids to me,“This was a project I really enjoyed. Done in 2004/5 with Joss and Marc Hayes (drummer from The Moustaches, Boxes). It was always a real pleasure to be in a room with those two guys. I think we did a handful of rehearsals and one recording session. The idea was drum improv within premeditated structures. All three of us played drums. I think I got the notion to do a project that required a different kind of listening from my love of the CD called Guitar Solo by Annette Krebs.”

I wasn’t aware of this at the time but Andrew, Joss and Fiachra briefly reunited as The Lamps in 2005 but as far as I know while there were some live gigs there were no releases. Since then Andrew has told me he is currently working on two new music projects,“One with Fiachra Lennon is called Fig/Astro, it started in 2018, we should be finished an LP this year. He wrote a bunch of instrumental tracks and sent them to me. At his request I turned the instrumentals into songs, and the productions are evolving from there with both of us working on it via WeTransfer. He is a real natural musician so the songs have a very solid foundation. It was refreshing to write songs this way from track to song, rather than from song to track as I had always done previously. My own LP has been in the pipeline since 2009 when I wrote a load of songs and set out to record them in-the-box. Some of the songs went through over 20 productions. Working on a finite group of productions over a long period, under the microscope of Digital Audio Workstation has really allowed me to discover how to do my own thing. The work on this solo album takes a lot of focus.”

After Capratone Joss would go on to play with Joan of Arse and The Dudley Corporation and guest on many other releases, most of these can be found on his impressive Discogs entry. When I was doing my research for this piece I was excited to find an oldSouncloud page for The Asteroids I never knew existed, it has two unreleased tracks which date from about 2014 but Andrew said the music since then has been become more abstract.Fiachra meanwhile has a bulging Soundcloud page full of his own demos that is very worth exploring too. Both of them are also on Twitter, The Asteroids and Fiachra. It will have been a long time coming but I’m looking forward to the next new releases from both these artists.

Sometimes the best things take time.

Stephen Rennicks

Johnny Cash’s Irish Tour 1963

This piece was originally posted on the Abstract Analogue Facebook page;I thought if I put it here too that perhaps more people will see it and maybe even be able to help me fill in the missing dates.

In October 1963 Johnny Cash toured Ireland for the first time with his band the Tennessee Three. June Carter was his main support act along with Irish group The Cadets featuring Eileen Reid on selected shows. I have figured out what most of the dates were but there are still a few unaccounted for.It would be amazing to finally get to the bottom of this mystery. For more information there is an excellent radio documentary and even a TV programme (both made by RTE) about this subject. He also did an interview with Ireland’s Spotlight magazine when he was here and this piece also gives a good history of his time in here. The photo above was taken inside Dublin’s Crystal Ballroom (later McGonagles) to promote the tour (he did not play there).

It was a gruelling enough schedule with four shows in the last two days! Johnny had a really bad flu from at least the 16th as well.

Wed 9th Oct 1963: Granada Ballroom, Kingscourt, Co. Cavan (first show of tour)

Sun 13th: Adelphi, Dundalk

Tues 15th: Lakeland Ballroom, Mullingar

Wed 16th: Hangar Ballroom, Salthill

Thur 17th: Jetland Ballroom, Limerick

Fri 18th: Majestic Ballroom, Mallow

Sat 19th: National Stadium, Dublin

Sat 19th: Palladium, Rush (late show)

Sun 20th: Carlton Ballroom, Kilkenny

Sun 20th: Dreamland Ballroom, Athy (two shows in one night, not sure which one was the later)

10th-12th and 14th Oct are the missing days. He may have spent one day filming his appearance for RTE’s The Showband Show and perhaps the rest were simply days off but let me know if you have any more info, thanks.

Stephen Rennicks

Mary Cigarettes: Time Travel radio special

In Nov 2020 I made an hour long mix/radio special about the musicof Mary Cigarettes for my Time Travel show on Dublin Digital Radio. I thought I’d write a short introduction as not everyone will know who he was. Yes, sadly he is no longer with us, he died in 2019 at the age of 59 (I only discovered his music afterwards). His real name was Paul Lerwill but he used the professional name of Gregory Gray.

The Wikipedia entry for him appears to be reliable so you could read that for more detailed info but essentially as far as music was concerned he was in a kind of early boy/pop band with Rosetta Stone in the late 70s and formed Perfect Crime (’81-84) before going solo as Gregory Gray (’86-95). He released plenty of singles and albums with these projects. You can see all of his releases on his Discogs entry.

What interests me the most was his work as Mary Cigarettes. I don’t know when he started to record it (in a home studio) but he began releasing it through online platforms such as Soundcloud, Bandcamp and YouTube from about 2007. It’s well worth watching his videos as they really compliment the songs. I found the songs very honest, catchy and accessible. When I made the mix it was really an excuse for me to discover even more of his music under this name and there is plenty of it.You can still download much of it for free from his Bandcamp or just stream it.

I don’t know but it seems like after a career with various labels he just wanted to make music and give it to anybody who wanted to listen. It was a very generous act and he put his heart and soul into the songs.

I’ve listed my track selection below and here are a few more links for further information and music by him.

Hot Press obituary by Stuart Clarke

Tom Robinson radio tribute

Mary Cigarettes’ YouTube channel

Mary Cigarettes’ Bandcamp

Mary Cigarettes’ Soundcloud

Mary Cigarettes’ Wordpress

Time Travel radio special (first broadcast 14/10/20). The show is now archived here.

IntroductionMiddle Class White Trash Ways (2012)Whatever Turns You On (2009)Burning Bridges That Never Really Mattered (2009)Madman In the Rain (2014)Full English Breakfast (2016)Old Banger (2015)Time is Not Cheap Anymore (2018)In The Land of the Harley Davidson (2011)Keep Your Powder Dry (2009)Worldwide Washing Machine (2015)Smell The Urine - Isn't It Divine(2011)Big Fat Mouth (2018)Next Years Ghost (2012)Failure and Reputation (2009)Rocket Science (2010)International House of Pancakes (2012)

Daniel Figgis - ‘Catnapping 1992′ review

‘Catnapping 1992′ is the latest new track by Daniel Figgis. It’s available from Pristinus on a newly pressed and very limited shellac disc which spins at 78rpm and gives you all that wonderful and very authentic hiss and crackle. The label plan more in the future. For this review I’m listening to the clean digital version and am loving it.

This is a co-write with Vincent Doherty, who was one of the collaborators on Figgis’ masterpiece, Skipper (1994), in fact its joyful mood and earworm melody makes it sound like an outtake from that album. It somehow gives me a visual image of a cartoon wave and that nautical reference also ties in with the theme of Skipper. As it’s a new recording I am guessing ‘1992′ might be an oblique reference to the years leading up to the recording of that album.Similar to his recent ‘engine: detail’ on Front End Synthetics (see my review here), guitars of all varieties are central to the sound but they are mostly acoustic and strummed. A viola also makes a crucial appearance. The track has an ancient but timeless quality to it and only leaves me wanting more.

I like the idea of the track being made available on a shellac disc, it gives it an instant patina of age, makes it very collectable and goes against the grain of music being just a digital file. The shellac sound reminds me of a more extreme version of the layers of vinyl crackle found on music by The Caretaker but of course Daniel Figgis has mined this sound before with Princess Tinymeat in the mid 1980s. As far as I can tell the B-side is the same track cut at a more standard 33 or 45 rpm. Do you need a gramophone to play it I don’t know but you can see a video of just this happening here. You can download the shellac (crackly) version at this Bandcamp link and the clean digital version on iTunes. There is some rationale for the shellac pressing on the BC link too. Recommended and more please.

Stephen Rennicks

Ane Brun - Changingof the Seasons (Mystery Find #5)

I must have gottenAne Brun’s Changing of the Seasons (2008) at least two years ago now when I found it on CD in Ballymote’s Essential Seconds charity shop in Co. Sligo. Even though I bought it thinking I bet this could make for a great ‘Mystery Find’ piece I’ve been a bit slack in keeping up with this theme (last article was about 18 months ago). It did take time for the album to grow on me but now it really has. Usually when I’m beginning to write this kind of review I’ll have to play the album to remind myself of the music but in this case many of the songs are still in my head. My initial impulse that I might like the album was purely based on the arty double exposure b&w cover, if the music matched the image I’d be happy.

I knew nothing about her and have since found out she is Norwegian but lives in Sweden (she sings in English). This album is her fifth and she releases her music on own label, DetErMine Records, but there is a partnership with the major label V2. She’s a singer songwriter and I have no idea how successful she is, she might be a major star in some countries. One of the great things about picking up music in this way is that there is no baggage which comes with the artist (are they cool, commercial etc) so I can (for a time at least) just listen and see what it does for me. I’d love to know how her album ended up in Co. Sligo but I’m very glad it came into my life.

For some reason her songs have tended to crop up on my iPod shuffle quite regularly and they are always welcome when they do. If you enjoy moody, introspective, desolately heartfelt songs then you should enjoy what you find here. She is quite different to Nick Drake but I thought that a few of the songs here reminded me of him (’Lullaby For Grown Ups’) but she takes that kind of template someplace else. The backing music is always very well chosen, sparse instrumental for some songs and rich orchestral backing on others.

I’ve linked the official video for the opening song,‘The Treehouse Song’ as it might be the most immediately accessible but the rest of the songs are in the main more understated growers in the classic sense. There are so many standout songs here and I have a feeling that overtime the others too will reveal their own unique specialness to me. They are the sort of songs that a lyric might suddenly unlock a personal meaning, “that day when everything was wrong” or “she sang about Elvis, she sang about time” both from‘Gillian’. Her pure voice and sentiments almost have a healing quality about them.

On this version of the album there are two final bonus songs, covers of ‘True Colours’ and‘Big In Japan’. While fine in isolation for me they don’t help the mood or flow of the album in any way, it was already perfect as it was. You can find the album easily enough online and she is still very much making music and has about ten albums now. The latest of which came out this year, After The Great Storm.

If you are as lucky as I was to randomly find her music you should certainly take the opportunity but direct action would be recommended too.

Stephen Rennicks

It’s hard to believe this is the first standalone release by Daniel Figgis since his landmark album Skipperin 1994 (well overdue for a reissue). Fans however will be aware of numerous compilation tracks and music from his many art projects since then but it’s great to have him back in this way at last. A lot of course has changed since the mid 90s but Figgis never really went away. Tantalisingly, for now there are just two new tracks but it’s something at least and gives us an indication of what he’s been up to.

Well, for this release (digital only) he’s been working with Gerry Leonard (ex-Hinterland) at his New York studio. Leonard has also worked with David Bowie, Suzanne Vega and continues to make his own music as Spooky Ghost. 'engine detail (second digression)' is a woozy and (to me) very Skipper-like low end wash of sound. While there is still a harmonium present in the mix, the other choice of colours are not as light and optimistic as Skipper but darker and more brooding. Clusters of guitar tones move around the scene as tiny ‘Figgis’ signatures loop in and out to fill in detail. There is a sense of claustrophobia but it’s not overpowering or unpleasant. By the two minute mark some electronics enter the picture and it begins to pull away from that earlier template.

In comparison 'engine detail (third digression)' has cleaner and sharper sounds from the off and brings us to another very particular (un-Skipper-like) mood and headspace. It’s led by guitar lines (layers of them) and a wonderful drone bass. It’s all very tense, intricate and textural. Little interruptions keep things interesting in the mix and towards the end things are becoming ever so slightly discordant but its resolved in a peaceful manner.

As I’m sure I’ve said before, while it should go for all music, but especially these days, its well worth listening to this on good speakers or as I did on headphones. It’s become so common (even for me) to dismiss something after a very quick listen through inbuilt laptop speakers. Just one more of the many challenges for musicians to overcome these days.

In the old days, the artwork too would have looked so good as a record sleeve but even in jpeg form Donald Teskey’s painting works and adds a return to nature element which I feel the organic feel of the music compliments well. For this release Figgis is back working with Dublin’s Front End Synthetics. In the late 90s he found sympathetic ears there and they released some of his new music as compilation tracks.

There is also a bonus and balance to the studio tracks, with a very fine live take of ‘dimmerswitch’ by Crash Ensemble at Galway Arts Festival 2012. The sound quality is of course so much better here than the performance you can view here on YouTube. Crash Ensemble have the discipline to really handle the shifting dynamics of the track and it’s a neat way to remind us of the more behind the scenes compositional work which Figgis has at times been occupied with since he last released a standalone record.

Basically, the two main tracks here really leave you wanting more, hoping this is just a taster of an album to come. For now there is at least some more new music promised to be on the way.

Stephen Rennicks

The Wormholes interview (1997)

In June 1997 I interviewed Dave Carroll (1970-2019) of The Wormholes for a a one-off mail-order zine I produced for the band (cover above). I thought I’d transcribe the interview and publish it here as it hasn’t been online before. At this time they had releasedScorpio:The Album(1997) so I asked Dave about recording it with Stano, other recent recordings with Stan Erraught (these would later be included onParijuana in 1999), playing with The Fall in London (March‘95) and their experience of touring in the UK (’95-’97).

Q: Tell me about recording Scorpio:The Album.

A: We originally met Stano in town and went to Graham’s house that night with Shane and Francis (of Chunkin’ Bronchii). We didn’t know Stano or even really know him when he was leaving that day. He said nothing and just sat there at a four track. It was him who suggested to get us into a studio. He was good to work with, we’d record anything and everything we wanted and he wouldn’t say a word about it. He had maybe three or four mixes for each song. All the music was recorded in one day. The whole Pulse thing was two days and then the day we spent in Graham’s house. I mean I’m sure people will listen to it and go, ‘Yeah, I can gather it was done in 3 days.’ (laughs). It’s just the way we were heading, we knew we didn’t want to do another Chicks. Whether people like it or not, it is our second album. When you pick it up it may look like a mini album because there’s only so many songs, but when you think of it,‘Kontinental Kop’ is 18 minutes long, ‘Bee Mee’ is 10 and ‘Freak Franco’ is almost 11 and that’s just three songs. We were surprised when we actually played ‘Kontinental Kop’ on the Play Station, it was like, wow, there’s a track on our CD almost 20 minutes long, I thought we’d knocked all that sh*t on the head. But then even on Parijuana, if that tape didn’t run out, I don’t know how long‘Drive Dead Slow’ would have been. We were going at it full ahead from this sort of build up and Mark Carolan had to tell us the tape ran out.

Q: What about working with Stan Erraught (ex The Stars of Heaven and The Sewing Room)? These recordings with Stan at Sun Studios, plus other recordingswould be used for Parijuanain 1999.

A: When we heard Stan wanted to work with us we were blown away, we couldn’t get over it. This guy had done so much, I mean he was releasing records in the 80s. It must have been a really weird and difficult time to release anything, but this guy was doing it then when we were all still in school dreaming about what it would be like to own a guitar,let alone put out a poxy single. Same with Stano, he could have fobbed us off like, ‘Oh these little sh*ts they think their doing something different, making a bit of a noise’ (laughs), but he just thought the way we done out stuff was right up his street.

It was strange going into the same studio and the same desk as well but with totally different vibes. I hadn’t even talked to Stan or Mark (Carolan), I’d just walked in off the street and we did‘Turkish Prison Dance’. We were just buzzin, the DAT was there, used just the one mic, Stan played the saz, Mark played guitar, Graham played drums, Anto just stood there and shook the maracas and I played the bongos. Everyone was jammed into this one room and we just banged it out there and then. None of us even realised when we were doing it, it was only after we thought, you know we didn’t play anything really, we just picked up some stuff and rattled it alongside what was being played and it was the first time we’d ever done that. When we heard it back none of us could even talk to each other, we were so chuffed with it.

After that Mark finished putting up the mics and left. So we’d go in, start recording, Stan would be getting levels say and then he’d run in with his guitar and jump in with us, it was brilliant. We’d definitely work with him again. Stan just totally changed our whole outlook on what it’s like to work in the studio. He was giving us records by Faust and Can. I mean, these are records he’d bought 15, 16 years earlier when he was only a nipper. He told us a story about when he bought The Faust Tapes, it was on sale for 49p. He brought that particular record home when he was about 15 years old and he was eating his dinner with his Mum and Dad playing The Faust Tapes and them wondering what the hell he was listening to, they couldn’t get their head around this record that was chopped to bits.

Q: How has your experience of touring the UK been? First 1995 tour dates above (there was at least one that is not listed, Bristol’s Loco on 30th April with TW).

A: The first UK tour with Trumans Water was amazing, we only had to turn up and play, there was no pressure on us and any time we played with Cornershop it was the same deal. Even if there wasn’t many people we didn’t get so downhearted seeing as weren't the headline band.

On the second UK tour we tried to say to Roadrunner, it’s like this, putting us on a headliner is madness, try and get us on with not even a big band, just a band that 50 or 60 people will turn up to see. There were offers there to play with The Supreme Dicks but Roadrunner wouldn’t front us the money, they said it was pointless bringing us to London for 2 or 3 shows, but then they funded the British tour where we played to no-one for two weeks, apart from the Cornershop gigs. Cornershop were saying it was a bad time of year to tour as students were on holidays.

We went to Hull and played with Trumans and it was amazing, the audience were animals, just wrecking the place. We go there two months later and its dead, drive into town and it’s a ghost-town. I’m not making that as an excuse because even if the town was all hustle and bustle we still would have only got about 20 people cause no-one knew us.

At least when we went back the second time, even to have three new songs to bring back to England, we had‘Marshmallow’, we had‘Riotman’ and‘Hotel Cash’. To us that was like bringing gold in your pocket, these aren't off Chicks, these are just new songs.

The second 1995 UK tour dates.

Q: Tell me more about playing with The Fall in London.

A: In March 1995 we played a beautiful little gig (The Forum) supporting Mr. Mark E. Smith and The Fall on his request or so we were led to believe and we were honoured. That was like the icing on the cake for us and when they came to Dublin (Mean Fiddler) in December they asked for us again. I mean what can we say. We were all too chicken to speak to him. We all had this idea that he was the most arrogant, most unbelievably difficult person to even get two words out of and that’s what scared us off. We were like we wanted to say hello and I wanted to tell him I though This Nation is one of the best records I’ve heard from any British band. That’s the sort of stuff I wanted to say to the guy but when I approachedhim I think I mumbled,‘How-a-yi’ in my worst Dublin accent and scurriedup the stairs, hoping he wouldn’t say something sarcastic. When I caughtup with Anto and Graham I was hanging out of them saying I’d just met Jesus Christ, like I’d had tea with John Lennon or something. Mark E. Smith said hello to me was my claim to fame for the rest of the day. The gig was great. We were real nervous before. If there’s any band you need as role models it’s The Fall, keep theirethics.

Q: Talk about your UK dates with Scotland’sPilotcan in Jan/Feb 1997. Pic from Scotland above, by Kieron Mellotte.

We played 6 gigs in 11 days. The better shows were in Edinburgh and London (Camden Falcon). We’ve never really been able to get it together in Scotland, the gigs we played there in‘95 were bad, both tours. We played with Pilotcan, we knew them from the first tour when we slept on Keiron, from the bands, floor. He puts on gigs, we slept on the same floor as Jon Spencer. He was telling us that Deus had stayed in his flat before us and that they were mad. They were all real quiet, if they weren’t out drinking they’d just be sitting around or you’d find them reading a book. They all kept talking their own language and then laughing. Kieron and all his mates would be sitting there freaked, up the wall, he’s got a bunch of Belgians having their own private jokes in his flat (laughs).

Stuart from Mogwai got up at the Attic in Edinburgh and played a Smog track,‘I Break Horses’. He did it amazing, just him and guitar, he did one or two Mogwai tracks as well, the best thing that happened that night. That was the Pilotcan single launch, it was a mad night. We were all on magic mushrooms and we were going back the next day. We fell asleep listening to the Modern Lovers, amazing album, like the Velvets.

Live review from Melody Maker for first UK tour

A: Any more thoughts?

We never thought in a million years that Cornershop would work with us or even Lo Recordings wanting to put our stuff out on compilations and that. It’s staggering to us, it mightn't mean a great deal to a lot of people but it’s what we always wanted to do. Our aim is to bombard the planet with as much stuff as we can.

A few more live adverts

Wormhole and a few other Irishbands played at the 1995 Phoenix festival (get your glasses out to find them all!)

I travelled to see them play at The Garage and then joined them on the road for the next show the following night at Bristol’s Loco supporting Trumans Water. We travelled back the same night to the comforts of The Florence aka Hotel Cash in London’s King Cross.

Stephen Rennicks

Time Travel radio show on Dublin Digital Radio

Since May 2019 I have been doing a monthly radio show, Time Travel, for Dublin Digital Radio. You can view my resident page here and listen to all my archived shows there or at these links.

#45 Nightclubbing

#44 Riot!

#43 Let’s Get Lost

#42 The Twilight Zone special

#41 Unnoticed ‘80s

#40 Music at 42 special (Two)

#39 David Lynch special

#38 Radio Garden/Fantasy Russian Radio

#37 John Cale productions special

#36 Music at 42 special

#35 2021 In Review

#34 The Velvet Underground & Nico covered

#33 Four ‘90s Dream Pop Bands from Northern Ireland

#32 Third Albums special 2

#31 Bill Drummond special

#30 William Burroughs & Brion Gysin special

#29 Teenage Kicks

#28 Memory Trigger

#27 Nico: Songs They Never Play On The Radio soundtrack

#26 The Zoo Records Story

#25 New Century

#24 The Outer Station

#23 Third Albums special

#22 2020 in Review

#21 River Songs special

#20 Delia Derbyshire special

#19 Mary Cigarettes special

#18 Nico 1980s special

#17 Slint special

#16 Minus special

#15 Heinrich Mueller remodel special

#14 Alternative Versions

#13 Night Moves

#12 Buckled (Micro Scene #2)

#11 Ringsend Blues (Micro Scene #1)

#10 The Legendary Lost Episode

#9 2019 in Review

#8 Xmas songs special

#7 Drexciya special

#6 End of the Century theme

#5 Favourite cover versions special

#4 Irish post-punk and new wave special

#3 Front End Synthetics, Dublin electronic label special

#2 was a special on the music of The Wormholes and Dave Carroll (1970-2019).

29/5/19: The first show was about Dublin’s Attic venue and bands I would have seen there between 1993 and when it closed in ‘97.

Art of Algebra: Album review & interview

Art of Algebra self-titled album (2019)

This is the debut album of a talented young Dublin based producer named David Hallinan. The music is electronic, rich in detail and very much provides a widescreen experience for the listener. For me its sounds conjure film-like images of dark and possibly quite sinister places. I can hear the influence of artists such as Massive Attack and Boards of Canada but I mention these just to give you a small idea of what to expect or just check out video linked below. There are loads of sounds which I haven't quite heard before as well, such as the horn like samples on the slow, relentless and always forward moving 'Mask My Movement' (the first single/lead track).I like the disembodied vocal samples, snippets of backing singers or did he just get somebody to sing in the studio and somehow make it sound like another layer of found sound?

A few more which really stood out for me were tracks such as ‘The Devils in the Gin’, which is very hypnotic indeed and ‘Helena’ has a homemade feel and is very moody (again is that a real snare drum or a sample?). ‘Maasai’ is more warm with darkened grooves and somehow feels tightly wound. ‘Stay’ is slow, more expansive and has more great female vocal snatches. ‘Lo’ is deep, more ambient and quite desolate sounding. ‘Indigo’ is quite sparse and meditative to some degree. All eleven tracks have something about them and really work together as an album and experience. Hopefully this is an artist who will get a chance to develop their sound over a number of releases and time.

You can sample and download the album from thisBandcamplink (there will also be a vinyl edition too). I’ve kept this review short so David can do the talking below.

Q: When did you first start to make your own music, what drew you to the electronic genre? What age are you now?

A: I really began the process of producing music in earnest while living in France back in 2010. I'd always been a bassist in bands up until that point, but my housemate in Paris had a full rig with a mixing desk, Logic Pro, Ableton and some keys all set up and ready to go, so it was ideal to just dive in and get lost in the production process. I returned to Ireland in 2011 and made music in a variety of different styles for several years, usually involving a guitar, but never published anything. Then in December 2015, just a week after I handed in my PhD thesis, I bought a Moog Sub 37. I became completely engrossed in playing the synthesizer and didn't make physical contact with my guitar for the next two years. Before I knew it I ended up with this Art of Algebra album.

Q: I think I can hear influences such as Massive Attack and Boards of Canada in your album. When did you become aware of these artists, through internet, friends etc? How does your generation discover music these days.

A: You're absolutely right in recognising influence from the likes of Massive Attack and Boards of Canada. I've been listening to artists in the ambient IDM / downtempo / trip-hop styles since my teens. When I was in secondary school I used to stay awake and listen to Donal Dineen's Here Comes the Night show on Today FM. That was my first real in-road to electronica. I used to leave on a cassette tape recording the show because I couldn't stay awake any longer. That way I could go back and listen to whatever I missed the next day. I still have a full box of those cassettes. I also remember that my eldest sister Lisa had a lot of electronica on CD that I could get my hands on at a young age.

As for how my generation discovers music, I'm 35 now so I'm probably just about old enough to say I lived through the cassette era, the CD era, the Napster era and the streaming era. I think that the internet has become by far the most important avenue to discover new music today, but the festival circuit is also very important.

Q: How important is it to have something on vinyl or is digital and a web presence potentially enough to make an impact and go from there. Will your album be on any physical formats?

A: I actually don't own much vinyl, only a few very special records or things that friends I know have released. I would like to have more but I've always prioritised buying musical instruments or production gear. Even right now I could name at least ten bits of production hardware that I really want and that's always gonna be my priority. That said, I think the vinyl renaissance is a beautiful thing. Most people aren't music producers. If you're a listener or a DJ, buy vinyl. I have boxes and boxes full of CDs that aren't worth a damn. At least vinyl hold their value.

As for the online domain and streaming services, I think that the debate about the financial aspects of the streaming service phenomenon is way off-target. The move towards streaming music hasn't been driven by corporate entities such as Spotify. Its been driven by technological change. Don't blame Spotify, blame Steve Jobs. In fact, don't blame anyone at all. However, I do think that there's a real need to discuss how the music streaming service playing field may be an uneven one. People are gradually coming around to the idea that Facebook and Twitter are distorting politics. Not enough has been said about how music streaming platforms may be distorting the way in which people discover and listen to music.

My album will be available on vinyl. It's currently in the latter stages of being pressed.

Q: What gear do you use (hardware or software or both) and why? Do you DJ as well or just play live?

A: When I perform live I use a Moog Sub 37, an Allen & Heath Xone 43 mixer, an MPC Live and some effects pedals as my setup. As far as production is concerned, I use all of the above as well as Ableton, samples that I make or source online, and some drumming woods.

I'm not a DJ, but I have remixed tracks in the past.

Q: Do you feel there is a sense of the history of Irish electronic music within the Irish electronic community, would the current generation be aware of groups such as Decal and Ambulance or going further back, Roger Doyle for example?

A: Absolutely not. A majority of people on the scene now would probably take it for granted that there was no such thing as Irish electronica in the 90s or before. A lot of stuff that came out of Ireland in the distant past may not have made the transition to Spotify or other paid streaming platforms, and so many younger listeners are unlikely to be aware of them. Very few would appreciate that Decal emerged at more or less the same moment as Aphex Twin.

Q: What is the electronic scene like in Dublin and Ireland in general. Is it difficult to get established and make a living (like always). Are there many opportunities for gigs, is there a strong sense of a community of like minded people getting together to start clubs, labels etc to help each other out?

A: As someone who is very much at the starting gate I can testify that people are generally supportive, but of course it's a challenge to get established in such a way that you can really reach a wide audience.

Once you consider how expensive the city is and the fact of just how much money you need to spend just to put out music and perform, the very notion of making a living as an electronic music artist in Dublin is laughable. But then again most are not in it for the money. Neither am I.

Q: I imagine that finding/developing your own signature sound from deep within your being is the most crucial thing to discover when making and sharing your own music, how close do you think you are to that or what do you think about this? Like when people hear Aphex Twin and instantly know who it must be. It's a hard and difficult thing to do for sure but is it more important and easier these days perhaps just to fit into a genre?

A: The goal of finding my own original and distinctive sound is absolutely paramount. If you listen to my album you'll notice that there is a mix of different forms and styles in there – trip-hop, dark ambient, downtempo, minimalist soundscapes and even ambient techno. But there is a common stylistic thread throughout, which stems from the voice of the synth, the choice of samples and the approach to production. That common thread is my signature sound, if that makes sense. I feel as though I've just begun the process of defining that sound, and it'll continue to evolve. You're right that things would probably be easier if you commit to a single style or genre.

Q: What are your ambitions for your music career?

A: To give people the kind of feeling I've felt in the past when I'd discovered some underground release that I enjoyed.

Q: What advice would you give now to someone just starting out, even though you are just releasing your debut yourself?

A: Focus on your music. My impression is that the narrative in the music industry at the moment has become all about marketing strategies, social media and personal branding etc. When you're starting out it can seem as though those are the things you need to get right in order to succeed. While that may often be true in practice, it shouldn't be the case. Musicians make music. Marketing and your personal image should really be of secondary importance.

Stephen Rennicks

Ann Scott - Venus To The Sky (Mystery Find #4)

I found this CD, Ann Scott’s Venus To The Sky,in the NCBI charity shop on Harmony Hill in Sligo town. I loved the artwork and I luckily remembered the artist’s name from 101 Irish Records You Must Hear Before You Dieby Tony Clayton-Lea. While that was recommending her second album, We’re Smiling (2006), the one I found was her fourth and most recent album which dates from 2013 on her own Raghouse Records. Its quickly become one of my favourite recent albums and I hope that in time this post will help a few more people discover it too.

When I first played it, if I am honest, I wasn’t really expecting more than just another pleasant Irish singer songwriter but the opening track,‘Hoola’, quite simply blew me away with a loose, raw and fully rocking band that provides a perfect showcase for what Scott can do with her amazing voice when married to a driving riff. Nothing else here quite reaches the same heights but the album is all the more perfect for exploring other forms and leaving you wanting more. The album was recorded and mixed by Karl Odlum and everything just sounds and sits so well, for the songs and for the overall mood of the album, a brilliant job. While the album was recorded in a number of locations, including Dublin and Chicago, there is a real sense of cohesion throughout.

The next track,‘You To Me’, sets more of the template to which the album follows but also has its own unique moments where everything just takes off. ‘Unite’ slows things down a bit and boasts a haunting tune that will certainly stay with you. ‘Strips’ has breathy intimate night-time vocals that take you on a journey to a place somewhere between waking and sleep (’Insomnia is never far’). ‘Joy’ is another real standout song I ended up playing over and over (you can play the video above). This song in particular and the whole album should have been huge for her, amazing stuff. Her strength really is in her songwriting and voice.

‘Coming Up’ slinks around being confessional and has, like many tracks here, become so familiar to me, I can see this album becoming one of those that triggers memories of when I first heard it. ‘For The First Time’ continues the bare desolate tempo and makes a lovely mid point dip in the album’s energy. ‘Solemn’ did remind me a bit of Cat Power’s vocal style and ‘All About Love’’s driving beat initially sounded like something PJ Harvey might have done but I don’t think this detracts at all from the album. The songs are so strong and these type of similarities are bound to crop up accidentally. These are two musicians Scott probably enjoys, as do I, very few artists come from nowhere. The closing song,‘Stars’, is wonderfully downbeat, with faltering Dirty Three style drumming, the perfect end to a pretty much perfect album for me.

I don’t really know how this album was received by the public at the time, Scott has certainly received critical acclaim in the past. As I’ve lost touch with contemporary music for various reasons (I’m usually about 10 years behind the times) I inevitably miss important artists like this but this album has lasted and will last for a long time to come.

Ann Scott is still playing live and hopefully will have new music out soon. You can find her latest news on her Facebook page and stream and purchase her music on Bandcamp.

Stephen Rennicks

Atom Heart - Morphogenetic Fields (Mystery Find #3)

I came across this albumin a charity shop on a trip to Dublin. I forget the name of the shop but it was on Wexford St. It was one of those places with not that many CDs and what they had were untidily stacked at the till. On the plus side they were selling them 3 for 1 euro. The chances of finding three you actually want are always slim even with plenty of choice but here I thought that would be especially difficult. I forget what the other two I chose were but this one was definitely the wild card. I recognised that it was on Rough Trade (via a German sub-label, Our Choice), came from 1994 and the artwork was by The Designers Republic (all good signs).

On first distracted listen (I had a stack of new purchases) I wasn’t that impressed, thought it was boring and left it on the shelf for a few months. I knew I would be going back to it however and gradually have really gotten into it. Once I did some research I found that Atom Heart is an alias of the extremely prolific German producerUwe Schmidt. I don’t have anything else by him but I would have heard music from one of his aliases, Senor Coconut (popular in the early 2000s for Latin flavoured electronic covers of Kraftwerk and more).

I guess this album could be classified as ambient but about every second track has beats and the music is more electronica/house. For me though, it’s the 12 minute opening track, with a great slowed down ”Slow Motion’ vocal that initially pulled me in and now defines the album in some ways. The production and certain drum sounds has maybe dated the album a little but the quality of the music completely overrides that after a few listens.

It’s a concept album too, with lots of interesting titles you might want to look up someday and think about. In the sleeve notes it states that the album was inspired by Rupert Sheldrake's book,The Presence Of The Past:Morphic Resonance and the Memory of Nature (1988). This is a book that is still debated and very relevant to science and how we understand life today The book argues that ‘memory is inherent in nature. The so-called laws of nature are more like habits. Nature’s memory depends on a process called morphic resonance.’

This was the third Atom Heart album and there was quite a few more to come afterwards. It’s hard to tell but I think the project has come to a close; Schmidt continues to produce music under different aliases. You can read his biography here. I now feel very lucky to have this album in my life and would never have been aware of it, never mind actually finding a copy, in any other way than I did.

Stephen Rennicks

The Metrolites - For The People (Mystery Find #2)

The Metrolites’ album, For The People (2006), I found in Essential Seconds charity shop in Ballymote, Co. Sligo. I know I picked up this CD once before but something about the front cover put me off. The second time I noticed it I gave it more attention and looked at the back of the case as well. When I did this I saw more of a close up shot of the group that made them look like a cross between Devo and Laibach. If I'd looked closer at the cover in the first place I would have gotten this too but when you are flicking through a lot CDs (most of which are junk) you might not always give each one the time it deserves. It's easy to dismiss something because you don't like the font or colour scheme. I just think I was more receptive to finding something that day and just took more time. Now that I was interested I started reading the small print and realised they were an American band with witty intelligent titles and thought, well why not give them a chance. I'm now very glad I did.

I'd also be really curious how this album got to Ireland and who owned it and why it ended up here. From what I can tell they were really just a local band, maybe with just an audience in their own city. From the little I can gleam about them online, the band has since broken up and this was their second and final release. Their website no longer works but their YouTube channel still does and has plenty of music to sample. They come from Bettendorf, in the unlikely State of Iowa. If I lived there I would want to be their friend. I would imagine that Go-Go Golem was their own label too. About half the tracks are instrumentals, the vocal led ones are all very clever and humorous. 'Welcome to the Police State' is the first of their vocal tracks and shows a great sense for melody and reminded me of Camper Van Beethoven. Most of the music is driven by the saxophone playing of Nervous Neal Smith. The fez wearing lead vocalist and main songwriter is Scott Morschhauser, who also plays some unexpected instruments, like the theremin, marimba and vibraphone, which really gives them their sound too.

If you think a US group doing Soviet style rock with tracks titles like 'UFO Vs KGB' and 'Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Spy' and 'Old Fascist Gal' would be your thing you will love this. 'High School Friends' throws The Cramps into the mix as well. The songs are all quite theatrical and I can imagine their live show being a great revue style presentation. It's a real fun album with tongue firmly in cheek and provides an alternative universe to how they possibly saw America in the mid 2000s.

Definitely not an album I was expecting to find on a wet day in Co. Sligo but this is what I love about the surprise of a charity shop. You can check out their Discogs link here.

Stephen Rennicks