“It’s been… a long and fascinating trip from Roger Doyle’s Baby Grand (1978) to Alex Dowling’s Recommended By Dentists (2012). In-between, Irish electro-acoustic music has developed from the academic pursuit of pointy/beardy types into something that lives, breathes and makes sense. These are clever, cogent dispatches from the fringes… See you on the other side?” – Tony Clayton-Lea, The Irish Times
“As an introduction to the work of a diverse group of artists and composers, On The Nature Of Electricity & Acoustics is unparalleled… From the delicate works of Dennehy and Wilson through to the post-punk furore of Figgis’ own Princess Tinymeat, there is presumably something for everyone.” – Ian Maleney, The Quietus
“This album is a wake up call for the senses” – Winifried Dulisch, AUDIO magazine (Germany)
On The Nature Of Electricity & Acoustics is an anthology of Irish electro acoustic music showcasing a rare collection of works demonstrating the diversity, creativity and originality of one of Europe’s most innovative contemporary music scenes.
The CD features 23 tracks and the iTunes exclusive album an additional 12 works created by many of Ireland’s leading contemporary classical composers, innovative rock musicians, sound experimentalists, traditional music virtuosi, visual artists and some who defy classification.
Tracklist & Artist Biographies
1. Baby Grand {1978} / Roger Doyle
2. Again With The Hose {2012} / Educution
3. GlueBagLung (edit) {2005} / Deep Burial
4. Devotional 3 {2010} 2:17 / Ian Wilson
5. Left Handed March – 3rd Movement {2009} / Brian Ó hUiginn
6. Colloidal Glass {2009} / Sunken Foal
7. Grindelwald’s Wedding {2008} / Richard G. Evans
8. Centurion {2006} / Spectac
9. Error Messages {2006} / Linda Buckley
10. Misterman {2011} / Donnacha Dennehy
11. Com-plex {2000} / Pat Daly
12. Snow din {2009} / Vincent Doherty
13. Miss Mauger {1982} / Operating Theatre
14. Liminality (excerpt) {2006} / Enda Bates
15. middlepoint {2001} / a = apple
16. The Ancient Community of Dreams and Fatigues {1993} / Trevor Knight
17. Recommended by Dentists (excerpt) {2012} / Alex Dowling
18. Second City Bicycle Bounce {2002} / Cathal Coughlan
19. Prey {2007} / Amoebazoid
20. Devilcock! (instrumental) {1986} / Princess Tinymeat
21. Maghera {2010} / Melodica Deathship
22. Goodbye {1997} / Schroeder’s Cat
23. Lucky’s Bad Day {1994} / Daniel Figgis
24. Jetta’s Palace {2008} / The Jimmy Cake
25. Keith {2008} / General Practice
26. Tombeau {1982} / Donald Teskey
27. Manac {1994} / Fergus Kelly
28. all alone on lonely long {2002} / Muddy Mae Suggins
29. Atop D’Seefin {2012} / Tóirse Ó’Ríordáin
30. ad95 {2001} / Anodyne
31. Rotation of the Earth {2010} / Irene Buckley
32. Bit Symphony Number 10 {2011} / Liam O’ Callaghan
33. Stupid {2012} / The Master Switch
34. Slew {2012} / Anna Murray
35. Esmeralda {1997} / Peadar Ó’Riada
ROGER DOYLE
Roger Doyle studied composition at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the Institute of Sonology at the University of Utrecht and the Finnish Radio Experimental Music Studio.
He has worked extensively in theatre, film and dance, in particular with the music-theatre company Operating Theatre, which he co-founded with performer Olwen Fouéré. Babel, his magnum opus, was begun in 1990 and had its first public showing in a wing of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 1992 as a dance piece.
Highlights from his extensive compositional output include, Salomé for the Gate Theatre, directed by Steven Berkoff, which played in Dublin, London’s West End and on three world tours, Under the Green Time, a collaboration with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and the large-scale electronic work Passades which was released on three CDs between 2004–2007.
He was commissioned by the Irish National Broadcaster RTÉ to compose a work for symphony orchestra and pre-recorded acted scenes, a soundtrack for an imaginary film, called Adolf Gébler, Clarinetist – which premiered in 2008. A second ‘cinema for the ear’, The Room In The Tower, was premiered by the Crash Ensemble in 2009.
Awards include the Programme Music Prize (1997), the Marten Toonder Award (2000) and the Magisterium Prize (2007) at the Bourges International Electro-Acoustic Music Competition. He holds the position of Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin and is a member of Aosdána, Ireland’s state-sponsored academy of creative artists.
EDUCUTION / TÓIRSE O’RÍORDÁIN
Tóirse Ó’Ríordáin is a Dublin-based musician known for his electronic productions under his moniker, Educution. He has released six “club style” recordings on various labels including Frontend Synthetics and D1. Educution’s recordings are regularly featured on the play lists of leading House and Techno DJ’s including DJ Hell, Kevin Saunderson and Ben Simms.
He both writes and performs guitar-based songs and compositions under the name Tóirse Ó’Ríordáin. He is currently composing a cycle of thirty works which focus on expanding the limits of the art of the song.
DEEP BURIAL
Deep Burial is a production duo comprised of George Brennan and Richard Howard who were active from the mid-nineties to the early twenty-first century. Over the course of four releases they etched out a singular vision of instrumental music influenced by, among other things, hip-hop, punk rock, horror soundtracks, science fiction, dodgy priests, the occult, glue sniffing and psychedelia.
IAN WILSON
Ian Wilson was born in Belfast and began composing while at university. His compositions have been performed and broadcast on six continents, and presented at festivals including the BBC Proms, Venice Biennale and Frankfurt Bookfair and at New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Royal Albert and Wigmore Halls, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.
In 1991, Running, Thinking, Finding received the composition prize at the Ultima festival in Oslo, and in 1992 he received the Macaulay Fellowship from the Arts Council of Ireland. In 1998 he was elected to Aosdána, Ireland’s State-sponsored body of creative artists and in recent years he has been AHRB Research
Fellow at the University of Ulster, Composer-in-Association with California’s Camerata Pacifica ensemble and An Foras Feasa post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Dundalk Institute of Technology. He was director of the Sligo New Music Festival from 2003 to 2011 and from 2010 to 2013 Associate Composer with the Ulster Orchestra.
Over fifty of Wilson’s works have been released on recordings by labels including Diatribe, Riverrun, Black Box, Timbre, Guild, Meridian and Chandos. His music is published by Ricordi (London) and Universal Edition.
BRIAN Ó hUIGINN
Brian Ó hUiginn is a piper, whistle player and electronic composer and programmer from Dublin. International performances include work with composer Roger Doyle, at the Wien Modern, festival in Vienna, and with the Netherlands Blazers Ensemble in Holland. Brian has performed in South Africa with Baroque 2000, a Durban based baroque ensemble, with violinist Darragh Morgan, in Ireland, Cyprus and South Africa, with the Fidelio Trio in King’s Place, London and as part of the Irish American series, at the Notting Hill Folk Festival.
Solo concerts include performances at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing as part of the Native Music festival and at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki.
Brian was a featured performer in Daniel Figgis’ Snakes and Ladders festival in New York and at the National Concert Hall in Dublin for which he was commissioned to write Left-Handed March. He recorded the live album Under The Green Time, with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and his album Tionchar/ Influence which was released in 2008.
SUNKEN FOAL
Dunk Murphy has been writing, performing and producing all manner of electronic music since 2002. As Sunken Foal and a member of Ambulance he has released numerous recordings on a diversity of labelsincluding, Planet-Mu, Black Acre, the Fear, Acroplane and Front End Synthetics.
Championed by BBC1/XFM DJ Mary Anne Hobbs, his music covers a large area including vocal, plucked string folk and glitching and tumbling beats. While completing an MA in Music Technology at the University of Limerick, he furthered his research into generative audio techniques which he now fuses with more traditional compositional structures. His second album Friday Syndrome Vol.1 was released in July 2012 on his website.
RICHARD G. EVANS
Richard.G.Evans grew up in Dublin. He performed and recorded as guitarist and tape composer with the experimental rock group Virgin Prunes from 1977 to 1984. His recent work has included contributions to live and recorded pieces with composer Daniel Figgis.
Richard holds a PhD in Neural Networks for robotic control from Imperial College London.
SPECTAC
Paul Morrin (Spectac) is a Dublin-based electronic music composer, performer and record label founder. Together with John Dermody he created the electronic record label Front End Synthetics (FES); as a platform to release their own and their unsigned friends’ music in local record stores.
His debut live performance was in 2000 at Vicar Street, supporting Lee “Scratch” Perry & the Robotiks. His solo shows have earned him the reputation as one of the most original electronic acts in Ireland.
Spectac’s music is mainly comprised of sharp-edged percussive sound with various overlaying patterns. Melody-saturated composition with random twisted noise is another trait. His track Cyborgs in the face of every child, on FES’ second compilation Synthetic Allsorts was released in 2001 and his first album Rabbid, also on Front End Synthetics, was released in to wide critical acclaim in 2003.
He has worked with many of Dublin’s leading electronic music artists including, Educution, Daniel Figgis and the animation collective the Delicious 9 for whom he created the soundscape for the animated feature Stars which was awarded Best Animated Short at the Galway Film Festival in 2005. Spectac’s third release, the five track EP, Horn, was released on FES’ sub-label LO Alternative Frequencies in December 2006.
LINDA BUCKLEY
Linda Buckley is a composer from the Old Head of Kinsale, currently based in Dublin. Her work has been performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Dresden Sinfoniker Orchestra, Crash Ensemble, Fidelio Trio, Orkest de Ereprijs, Janus Trio, Rothko Trio, University of York Javanese Gamelan, and at international festivals including Bang on a Can at MassMoCA, Gaudeamus Music Week Amsterdam, Seoul International Computer Music Festival and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.
She studied Music at University College Cork and Music and Media Technologies at Trinity College Dublin. She holds a Ph.D in Composition from Trinity College, where shealso lectures, and is currently RTÉ lyric fm Composer in Residence.
DONNACHA DENNEHY
Born in Dublin in 1970, Donnacha Dennehy has received commissions from Dawn Upshaw, the Kronos Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Bang On A Can All-Stars, Electra, the Fidelio Trio, Icebreaker, Joanna MacGregor, Orkest de Ereprijs, Orkest de Volharding, Percussion Group of the Hague, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, Smith Quartet, and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players among others.
His work has featured in festivals including, Bang On A Can, New York, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, WNYC’s New Sounds Live, Sonic Evolutions Festival at Lincoln Center, EXPO, the Ultima Festival in Oslo, Fuse, Leeds, the Saarbrucken Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, State of the Nation at the South Bank, London and the Gaudeamus Festival, Amsterdam.
In 1997 he founded the Crash Ensemble, Ireland’s leading contemporary music ensemble. Crash Ensemble has been associated with the performance of many of his works, including Grá Agus Bás (with the singer Iarla Ó Lionaird) and That the Night Come (with Dawn Upshaw) which feature on the 2011 recording Grá Agus Bás released on Nonesuch Records.
Donnacha lectures in music composition at Trinity College Dublin, and was appointed a Global Scholar at Princeton University for 2012-13.
PAT DALY
Based in Dublin, Pat can be heard playing fiddle and other instruments on recordings across a wide range of musical styles. In addition to his work as a composer and instrumentalist Pat produces and arranges music for numerous artists including Meteor Award winner Wallis Bird and Choice Music Prize nominees Tieranniesaur. He regularly performs in Ireland and internationally with songwriters Fiach Moriarty and Fionn Regan and with accordion virtuoso Martin Tourish, he also plays guitar for the piper Brian Ó hUiginn, whose album he co-produced.
Pat studied composition with Donnacha Dennehy and Roger Doyle at Trinity College Dublin and is currently working towards a PhD at the Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin Institute of Technology.
VINCENT DOHERTY
Vincent Doherty has worked as a composer and sound designer since 1994. He has created music for many of Ireland’s best known theatre companies including, The Abbey Theatre, Corn Exchange, Bedrock, Fishamble, Rough Magic, Barabbas, B*Spoke and The Lyric Theatre, Belfast. During this time he also worked on many radio plays for the Irish National broadcaster, RTÉ.
Since 2004 he has worked as part of an ongoing collaboration with composer Ivan Birthistle. Vincent has a long association with Daniel Figgis. He was commissioned by Figgis to write Rotary Grove and Termonfeckin for the Snakes & Ladders festival in New York and has collaborated with him on numerous projects.
OPERATING THEATRE
Operating Theatre was founded by composer Roger Doyle and performer Olwen Fouéré and was active in two phases: the first from 1981 to 1988, and the second from 1998 to 2008. It operated as both a theatre company and as a band releasing recordings.
Highlights of Operating Theatre’s extensive output include The Diamond Body, written by Aidan Mathews, a solo performance by Fouéré, which opened at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin in 1984 and toured to London, Glasgow, New Jersey, Avignon and Caracas, ANGEL/BABEL which was performed by Fouéré using customized real-time interactive sensor software with devised and computer-generated text and HERE LIES which was based on Antonin Artaud’s visit to Ireland in 1937 and was performed in a shop front in Dublin’s Temple Bar, in a glass room at Galway’s Imperial Hotel and at the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris.
Operating Theatre’s recordings include Austrian/Positive Disintegration CBS Records 7” single 1981; Blue Light And Alpha Waves/Rampwalk CBS Records 7” single 1982; Miss Mauger on the Kabuki label, London, 1983 and Queen of No Heart /Spring Is Coming With A Strawberry In The Mouth, produced by Bono, released by Mother Records as 7” and 12” vinyl singles 1986.
ENDA BATES
Enda Bates is a Dublin-based composer, instrumentalist and producer. His compositions have been performed by the Crash Ensemble, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the National Chamber Choir of Ireland, Anne La Berge, the Doelen Quartet, Trio Scordatura, Darragh Morgan, New Dublin Voices and the Miso Music Loudspeaker Orchestra.
He is a founding member of the Spatial Music Collective and regularly performs with the Irish folk-rock band the Spook of the Thirteenth Lock. Enda has worked in a technical capacity for artists and ensembles including, the Crash Ensemble, Mumbling Deaf Ro, Somadrone, Jeff Martin and Daniel Figgis.
a = apple
Karl Burke is a Dublin-based visual artist and composer. His solo exhibitions include, Spaces at the Wexford Arts Centre, and Taking A Line at the Leitrim Sculpture Center. Irish group shows include Automatic at Pallas Contemporary Projects, Dublin, What Happens Next is a Secret at the Irish Museum of Modern Art and Feedback at the Galway Arts Centre.
International shows include a solo show in the Fridge galley in Washington DC, and group shows including Green Screen, The Institute of Contemporary Art Newtown, Sydney, Automatic, Auto Italia, London, Nothing is Impossible and A Generous Act at the Mattress Factory Art Museum, Pittsburgh, Sleep, Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, London, and Brittleness at the Maria Stenfors gallery, London.
Karl produces music under the name Karl Him. He released the solo album Electronic Lament and an album with the project Sending letters to the sea produced and recorded in Berlin in 2009. A Generous Act produced at the Mattress Factory will be released in 2013.
Karl has also created soundtracks for theatre including works for the Dublin-based companies Loose Canon and Broken Talkers. His music also appeared in the Irish films what we leave in our wake and silence by Pat Collins.
TREVOR KNIGHT
Trevor Knight is a composer who specialises in multi-disciplinary and collaborative work. He has recorded and performed with many celebrated artists including Paul Brady, Philip Lynott, Mary Coughlan, Roger Doyle and Donovan.
Trevor has written more than 60 scores for theatre including Donal O’Kelly’s Catalpa which toured the world and won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Juno and the Paycock for The Abbey Theatre. As theatre director/composer his work includes Bleeding Poets, Just a Little One – A Dorothy Parker Cocktail and The Whistling Girl (musical settings of the poetry of Dorothy Parker).
He composed the music, conceived and directed slat and The Devils Spine Band both featuring Japanese Butoh dancers Maki Watanabe and Gyohei Zaitsu. Trevor’s many collaborations with the visual artist Alice Maher include, The Music of Things, Godchildren of Enantios (Dublin, London and New York) and Cassandra’s Necklace. He is a member of Aosdána.
ALEX DOWLING
Alex Dowling is a composer who writes music for real and imaginary instruments. His compositions have been performed by the Crash Ensemble, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Orkest de Ereprijs, Sideband (off-shoot of the Princeton Laptop Orchestra), Con Tempo String Quartet, Dublin String Quartet, and the contemporary folk band, This Is How We Fly.
In 2011 Alex co-founded the Dublin Laptop Orchestra together with Dan Trueman. He co-created the audio-visual installation Bodysnatcher for the Biorhythm exhibition at the Science Gallery, Dublin which was subsequently featured at the Eyebeam Gallery in New York during the World Science Festival 2011. He is currently studying for a PhD in Music Composition at Princeton University.
CATHAL COUGHLAN
Cathal Coughlan is an Irish musician, born and raised in Cork, and based in the UK for most of his career.
As vocalist and songwriter, his work has been featured in the groups Microdisney and The Fatima Mansions. As a solo artist he has recorded five albums, and his most recent work, a collaboration with Luke Haines and Andrew Mueller, entitled The North Sea Scrolls, was released on the label Fantastic Plastic in 2012. Although mainly known as a singer/songwriter, he has also collaborated with artists from the worlds of film, installation art and improvised music.
AMOEBAZOID
Musician, sound designer and programmer Keith O’Brien was born in Ireland in 1972. He has worked in improvised music, electronic music, jazz, noisy hadean rock, theatre and multi media performances throughout Europe and the United States. In
concerts, studio recordings and performances he has worked with diverse international artists including, Jeremy Wade, director RogerVontobel, Idiot Switch, Daniel Figgis, Alexandra von Bolz’n and Roger Doyle as well as under his pseudonyms Amoebazoid and Kthozoid. Since 2005 he has lived in Berlin.
PRINCESS TINYMEAT
Banned from national television after only one appearance, Ireland’s most subversive band left a trail of the first Irish dance floor classics and a virulent prog/art/glam hybrid that was watered down, in their absence, to the more family friendly “shoegaze”. Here, eschewing Binttii’s customary and prescient use of record crackle, is the stripped down trio of guitar/bass/drums & tape, as opposed to the occasionally vast improvising live collective, who became somewhat notorious for sometimes not playing a “live” note between them! Tom Rice, Sissy Box and Binttii present a world exclusive glimpse at their final recorded work from 1986: the previously unreleased
instrumental version of Devilcock!
MELODICA DEATHSHIP
Melodica Deathship are Tim Ording and George Brennan, a duo of beat producers and word music artists who create works inspired by sample-based Boom Bap, Pre-Digital Dub, analogue electronics, Prog Rock, Stoner Rock and Post Rock and traditional Irish folk music.
Melodica Deathship promulgates an artistic vision influenced by contemporary dystopic political themes.
Their debut LP Doom Your Cities, Doom Your Towns (2010) received rave reviews in The Irish Times, The Sunday Times Culture Magazine and on numerous music blogs and websites.
In 2012 a five track EP, The Sunken Path, was released on multiple formats in conjunction with the French label, Cooler than Cucumbers.
SCHROEDER’S CAT
Si Schroeder is a Dublin-based musician who mixes his voice with guitars, samples, acoustic instruments, beats and live drums to create haunting and uplifting works exploring the darker side of the human condition.
A layered approach to composition and production results in dense, textured blends of synthetic and organic sounds, over which his voice unravels stories of chaos and destruction.
Si’s recording Coping Mechanisms was one of Ireland’s most critically acclaimed albums of 2006 and was nominated for the prestigious Choice Music Prize.
DANIEL FIGGIS
Composer, producer, curator and intermedia artist Daniel Figgis is dedicated to audacious applications for technologies old and new alike. In 1994, he released the highly influential album Skipper on Rough Trade Records which was “recomposed” by 50 fellow musicians for the project When it’s Ajar: the music of Daniel Figgis? Released in 2003.
Large-scale original live performance works include Motor (2004), Tamper (2004), The Banquet (2006), Ascension (2010), The Battle of Speeds -phase 1 (2011) and City Hall (2013).
Commissions include Soundtrap 1: Doppler for Beaconsfield Gallery, London, Post-Production for WNYC New Sounds, New York, Photo-Finish (with shortcuts) for arts>World Financial Center, New York (a 20th Birthday commission), Auditorium for Wexford Opera House, dimmerswitch for Crash Ensemble and a new, as yet untitled, work for pianist Isabelle O’Connell.
As curator, Daniel has presided over poisonhats in Dublin’s Project Arts Centre, “the eartheatere inaugural event” at Ireland’s National Concert Hall, and Snakes & Ladders, a festival of new Irish music, at Wexford Opera House, the World Financial Center and Symphony Space, New York.
THE JIMMY CAKE
The Jimmy Cake started life in the summer of 2000 and quickly gained a reputation for their ferocious live performances before releasing their debut album, Brains (2001) to wide critical acclaim. They have toured throughout Europe and performed at numerous festivals including The RoundstoneArts Festival, Spraoi and the Witness festival.
They have released 4 albums and are currently finishing their fifth, a seventy-minute zombie-synth-psyche-prog-rock triptych titled Popular Music. The Jimmy Cake are Vincent Dermody, John Dermody, Parx, Lisa Carey, Patrick Kelleher, Paul G. Smyth and Dip.
GENERAL PRACTICE
General Practice was founded by composer Roger Doyle as a special project of the innovative music theatre company, Operating Theatre. It was created as an electronic improvisational ensemble with changing personnel. The track on this recording entitled Keith was performed by Keith O’Brien on guitar and Roger Doyle on electronic glass bowl and was recorded in Whelan’s, Dublin 2005.
rogerdoyle.com / amoebazoid.com
DONALD TESKEY
Donald Teskey studied Fine Art painting at Limerick School of Art and Design. Arriving in Dublin in 1979 he pursued an interest in electroacoustic music for several years before concentrating full-time on visual art.
He collaborated with Daniel Figgis as Come To Daddy – an electroacoustic duo – and with Stano on several recordings.
His paintings have been exhibited internationally and he is represented in public, corporate and private collections worldwide, including the Irish Museum of Modern Art and The Arts Council of Ireland collections.
He has received numerous awards for his work including residency fellowships at The Josef and Annie Albers Foundation (Connecticut), The Vermont Studio Center (Vermont), The Ballinglen Arts Foundation and in 2012 a residency at Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris.
His most recent exhibition Nature Reserve was held at Art First, London. Donald is a member of Aosdána and the Royal Hibernian Academy.
rubicongallery.ie/donald-teskey
FERGUS KELLY
Fergus Kelly is a Dublin-based sound artist and musician. His work has been performed by The Manhattan Marimba Quartet at The Kitchen, New York. Radio broadcasts include A.A.R.T., Dublin, Hearing is Believing, Liverpool, Horizontal Radio, Alberta, Radio Gagarin, Hamburg, Resonance, London, and Drift:resonant Cities, Edinburgh.
Other highlights include showing in the European Workshop Ruhrgebeit in Recklinghausen, Germany, and the Audio Visual Experimental Festival, in Arnhem, Holland, participating in The Tuning Of The World conference in Banff, Canada, and performing in Six Weeks of Sound and In The Eye of The Ear II, both in Chicago.
He showed in Futuresonic in Manchester in 2007. In 2011 a soundwork was featured at the Alchemy Film Festival, in Hawick, Scottish Borders. Another soundwork was featured in A Quiet Position, curated by Jez Riley French, as part of a broadcast during the AV Festival in London, in 2012.
Recording under the name Repetitive Strain Industries, his work has been featured on compilations released through Charnel Music in San Francisco, Meeuw Muzak in Maastricht, and Staalplaat in Amsterdam. The album Nets in The Trawl was released by ND in Texas.
In 2005 he established a CDR label and website, Room Temperature, as an outlet for his solo and collaborative work. A new album, A Congregation of Vapours, was released to critical acclaim by Farpoint Recordings in May 2012.
MUDDY MAE SUGGINS
Muddy Mae Suggins (Mary Sweeney) lives in the Irish countryside outside of Limerick. She studies new media and journalism at the University of Limerick in addition to working in radio and television. Her only recorded release to date, all alone on lonely long, appeared on When It’s Ajar: the music of Daniel Figgis? – a series of “recompositions” based exclusively on the composer’s recorded works.
Current musical activities include composing new works and performing traditional Irish music for which she sings and plays the bodhrán.
ANODYNE
Anodyne released his first LP at the age of 17, blending atonal melodies, mangled breakbeats and moody synth work. Over the years this has progressed into a more melodic focused style, juxtaposing electronic machinations against melancholic strings. A soundtrack to dreams about the future.
IRENE BUCKLEY
Irene Buckley is a composer from Cork. She holds a BMus from University College Cork, an MA in Music Technology from Queens University Belfast, and is currently completing a PhD in Composition at UCC.
Irene was a prizewinner at the 14th International Young Composers Meeting in the Netherlands and was commissioned to write for the Dutch National Youth Orchestra. Her piece Stórr, for orchestra, was shortlisted for the TANSMAN 2010 8th International Competition of Musical Personalities Composers’ Competition and was performed by the Lodz Philharmonic Orchestra in Poland.
Her work has been featured at various festivals, including the International Computer Music Conferences 2006 and 2007, Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival and the Gaudeamus Music Week. Her piece Flu for flute and piano was premiered at Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall. She has been a resident composer with the Cork International Choral festival since 2004. In 2010 she was composer-in-residence at the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris.
LIAM O’CALLAGHAN
Liam O’Callaghan is a Dublin-based visual artist and composer. He has shown in numerous exhibitions both in Ireland and Internationally. Recent Solo shows include, Bit Symphony (exhibition & album launch), Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin 2011, Made To Make Do (2) at Rasche Ripken, Berlin 2009 and Made To Make Do (1) at Rubicon Gallery, Dublin 2008. He showed a major body of work at Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin in 2006; I’m a Success, the Belfry Gallery, Aalst, Belgium 2002.
Group shows during this time include: Dublin Contempary, Earlsford Terrece & the National Gallery of Ireland, 2011; Redefine:Readymade, Kunstverein Schwerin, Germany 2011; Fade Away and Radiate, Rasche Ripken Berlin, 2011; Holding Together, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, 2010; Walls and Gateways, Existentie/New Art Project, Ghent, Belgium 2008; I am always touched by your presence, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin 2007; Eurojet Futures|An Anthology, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin 2005. His work is represented in the collections of the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Arts Council of Ireland. Liam is represented by the Rubicon Gallery.
THE MASTER SWITCH
The Master Switch began playing bass, while in college, with thrash punk band Mutant Asylum in 1988, moving on become a part-time member of The Garden Hasn’t Changed Much in 1989.
He formed the band !switches! in the early 1990’s, recording and performing with them between 1994 and 2001. In 2005 he joined the group, Snifferdog briefly before becoming a full time member of Paranoid Visions in 2006.
In addition to his musical activities Cormac is a sought after graphic designer and photographer.
ANNA MURRAY
Anna Murray is a multimedia composer, musician and writer based in Dublin. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the National University of Ireland Maynooth, and a Masters in Music and Media Technologies from Trinity College Dublin.
Anna has had works performed by the Crash Ensemble, the Rhombus Ensemble, Philip Lawson, David Adams and the Gap Static Piano Trio. She has also had works presented at the Hilltown New Music Festival. She is a member of the Irish Composers’ Collective, and is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre in Dublin. Anna is co-director of Dublin-based new music production group Fractal. She also plays keyboard, electronics and bass for The Manhattan Syndrome.
Additionally, Anna is a music and arts journalist. She was an Editor for The Journal Of Music and contributes to a number of publications.
soundcloud.com/annamurraymusic
PEADAR Ó’RIADA
Peadar Ó’Riada lives in the Irish speaking community of Cúil Aodha in the Muskerry Gaeltacht region of Cork. Since graduating with a degree in music from University College Cork in 1976, Peadar has released numerous CD’s in various genres related to the Irish idiom including, choral, traditional and piano music. He has published several books and articles on various subjects including the children’s book Scéalta Shéamuis.
Additionally, Peadar is the founder of the group Triúr and is a prize winning filmmaker. In 2000 he set up the Acadamh Fodhla, a local hedge school university that holds weekly classes in history, energy, agriculture and sean-nós. He is also Choir leader of Cór Chúl Aodha since his father, Seán Ó Riada’s death in 1971 and leader of Cór Ban Chúil Aodha, the all women’s choir that he founded in 1988.
Peadar is a founder and board member of numerous distinguished Irish organizations. Additionally he is a broadcaster of a weekly radio program on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.
Buy On The Nature Of Electricity & Acoustics