We featured Zvuku awhile back in our Strings Series and he now has a new EP out on Heat Death Records. Full of beautiful post-minimalist drones and ambient textures, this collection is well worth checking out. It is released on 15 March and you can pre-order now on bandcamp.
Second Square to None are proud to present Gland & Conduit's debut album, "Ore". To celebrate its release we are hosting a launch gig in The Joinery, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7 on Thursday 24 February. Support will come from Brian Conniffe and Suzanne Walsh, with SSTN resident FYODOR warming things up. Admission is €6. The gig starts at 8pm, make sure to get down early for maximum sonic delight. Bring your own body odour!
Consisting of two familiar faces on the Irish music scene, Herv and Meljoann, the Gland & Conduit project is an experiment in free form sound design, electroacoustic composition and brain-cleansing noise. Standing in stark contrast to their respective solo output (melodic breakcore blasts / squishy R'n'B flavoured electronica), yet retaining a distinct impression of these two musical voices working in harmony, "Ore" is a half hour journey through fragmented, distorted sonic environments.
Traces of circuit bent toys mingle with glitching synth drones and a spidery rhythm track on opener "Anal Duct Nodding", while "Pulling" sounds like R2-D2 might after having been dropped in a bath of sulfuric acid. Amid the noise lurks fragments of melody and rhythms you could almost tap your foot to. "Tanning" is a prime example of this, with splattered Amen breaks making a brief appearance among sampled pots and pans and collective-unconscious synchronising high frequency synths. This is sharp edged music, no doubt, and the wasabi palette cleanser analogy holds true: Gland & Conduit will grab your attention, scrub out the bad influences of overheard radio music and leave you feeling fresh and alert.
"Ore" will be available through the Gland & Conduit subsite for free or pay-what-you-can download on 24 February.
Conjuring sonic waves from a calmer part of the ocean, Brian Conniffe and Suzanne Walsh will entrance the listener with evocative musical shadowplay.
Brian Conniffe is a cross-genre, experimental musician who has worked with a long list of collaborators including Nurse With Wound and Martin A. Egan, his work directly stating inspiration from such non-musical sources as hypnosis, linguistics and ritual magick, making for a style which fuses the darkest psychedelia with disquieting ambience.
Suzanne Walsh is a multi-disciplinary artist, musician and writer, who both writes, sings and collaborates with different artists including E+S=B, Gavin Prior and Aine O'Dwyer amongst others, as well as studying fine art in the National College of Art and Design. She is interested conceptually in playing with both how music is written and performed as a vocalist, and exploring the boundaries between styles, while puzzling over how exactly one might mend the Cartesian Split.
FYODOR
Square Waves Radio host and turntablist FYODOR, a.k.a. Fionn Wallace, and the "FY" in noise duo FYED will be warming The Joinery's main room with a DJ set. Check out his weekly show on UCD radio for a fascinating mix of local and exotic musics ranging from freak folk to Gamelan.
Mentioned previously, the Miserithan EP by Rory St John is now available to purchase from Bandcamp. Tight, kinetically propulsive grooves that will appeal to techno purists and casual listeners of the genre alike.
Beautiful ambient electronics from Linda Buckley out on Irish contemporary classical label Ergodos. Luscious textures of processed sound languidly unfold into delicate forms of light and shade. Available on bandcamp for a mere €3.
Second Square to None is proud to announce the release of A Shadow ‘Ebb and Flow’
It features three tracks of high-quality ambient post-rock/electronica that bring to mind acts such as Fennesz, Stars of the Lid, Colleen & Tim Hecker.
‘A Shadow’ is Dublin-based musician Keith Murphy. From an early age Keith experimented with recording, using cheap tape recorders to capture songs and instrumental music with his acoustic guitar.
Keith progressed to incorporate all manner of stringed and percussion instruments coupled with any guitar pedals or sound processing gear he could manage to get his hands on. After studying composition for a number of years he began combining this broader instrumental palette with more advanced recording and sound manipulation techniques and a more developed and unique compositional voice.
The sound world he creates is founded on the combination of minimal instrumental material and dense processed textural layers in slow moving progressions. The influence of artists such as Fennesz, Colleen, Fabio Orsi and Tim Hecker can be felt in A Shadow’s music.
Keith also performs with the Dublin based band ‘The Eclectic’ who have released two EPs and are currently working on their debut album.
Hot off the press, some very very bleak dark ambient from ConchĂșir O' Drona, a.k.a. From The Bogs of Aughiska, and one half of relative spectrum-opposite duo Drugzilla.
Taking inspiration from his west-Clare surroundings, with a pinch of mythology and bucketloads of Grim, this debut emits a heavy, cold fog of doom.
Take a listen to the standout track ""The Great Sea Stack at the Cliffs of Moher" on his Facebook page.
We have been eagerly anticipating a monster set of mutant electronics from Sunken Foal for awhile and this release absolutely delivers. Sinewy synths and gnarled beats combine with glassy tones, twisted samples and acid squelches to form a captivating mix of floor-movers and lyrical electro-acoustic passages.
Abrasive textures, thundering beats, eerily dissonant melodies, arrangements full of unexpected dynamic shifts; all combined with contrary genius*. Yes, Ed has some new tunes out on Takeover Records that really deserve to be played as loud as possible. Features vocals by Scurvy Lass (Niamh de Barra) also.
As a special New Years present Cignol has a new EP out on Alphabet Set for free download.
5 tracks of expertly crafted cinematic electronica with a slighly sinister edge from cignol, PLUS 3 top notch remixes from, volitune, eutechnic and vertical 67.