Second Square To None

Toymonger - Doors Of Deception by SSTN Noise

Toymonger are a duo made up of Deserted Village's Gavin Prior and Munitions Family's Andy Fogarty, both active in a wide variety of groups, including United Bible Studies and Boys of Summer . They have loads of releases between the various projects and labels they are collectively involved with, and the picture above shows a new Toymonger t-shirt that they will gladly merch you with. Here's what they have to say:

What are your reasons / motives for making music, and how you arrived at this style?

AF: I started to play this type of music while living in Limerick in 2003. I was doing music technology course and was feeling pretty anti-computer, so I started to play a plank of wood with strings on it. Moved back to Dublin, met Gavin and started to focus more on Toymonger than solo gigs.

GP: I'd say my motives are the same as most peoples; blowing off steam, satisfaction in a job well done, Seeing what will happen.......As long as I can remember I've always been fascinated by sound, musical or otherwise. In the first half of the last decade I played in an improv group called Murmansk with people who I still play with in United Bible Studies. Murmansk leaned towards noise a lot, but seeing Andy play solo was one of the first times I'd ever seen noise played live - Ireland is much noisier now but there weren't many people doing it then. I'm not sure how we arrived at this style - we tend to go for it and talk about how it worked afterwards. These days we're both using loops less so our playing is more nimble and more dynamic. We're thinking on our feet more.

  A Shadow - A Postcard From A Rained Out Wedding by sstn-strings

New series here on SSTN, Strings, where we talk to different artists who use stringed instruments about their approaches to using their instruments as tools for sound generation and composition. It is intended to provide a broad overview of different methodologies; covering areas such as different playing styles, extended techniques and effects processing. Each week we will feature an exclusive piece of music and an interview. First up is Dublin artist, A Shadow.

Tell us a little about your musical background.

I started to learn guitar as a teenager when I was big into guitar bands around at that time like The Bluetones and Blur, but particularly Radiohead. I was always interested in listening to different music and by the time I got an 8 track I was recording songs and instrumentals based mostly around the guitar usually in odd tunings I’d pick up from learning Nick Drake or Kelly Joe Phelps songs incorporating whatever other instruments I could get my hands on.

Out now on Centrifuge, download this free release by Herv. Because you'd be silly not to.

http://www.myspace.com/hervmusic
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ewan-Herv/

Click here for programme

Bouncey bass eclecticism from !Kaboogie man Richie !K. Check out kaboogie.net for updates on their dancefloor-smashing gigs, tasty audio downloads and label news.

Tracklist:
peter wyngard - come in
grace jones - art groupie
roska - without it
cooly g - craze refix
tricky disco - tricky disco
spektrum - fit together (cosmo remix)
shed - flat axe
shed - that beats everything!
3mb ft eddie 'flashin' fowlkes - illuminism (sun electric)
phuture - acid trax
anthony_rother - dont stop the_beat
dmx krew - texture mapping
claude von stroke - who's afraid of detroit
james ruskin - torridon void
James blake - sparing the horse
joy orbison  - Hyph Mngo
clark - new year storm
bim sherman - raining dub
efdemin - acid bells (martyn dark mix)
drt - rising sun
yusuf islam - upsy daisy prayer song
sarsparilla - the count
international music system - run away
radioactiveman - manwich (skrewd)
ed chamberlain - styge
depeche mode - but not tonight