I tend to do my best to keep StompMag as “professional” as possible. In real life i love an equal mix of verbosity and profanity but when reviewing albums or interviewing artists I never feel the need to venture off into either. As such, forgive me for saying but mental health issues are a hideous bitch goddess. Most people probably don’t know it but StompMag was set up as a direct reaction to my own.

I was very happily writing tunes, collabing with all sorts of people, playing gigs all over the country and generally loving the Irish electronic music scene. I was constantly in the clubs, right up the front when the mixing was heated and then trailing to the back to catch my breath and talk in overly excited tones about the hats in this track or the bass work in that track. I was in love with the scene. Then it all went pear shaped.

The first panic attack was unexpected, the second one happened just after a set at a gig, the third one damn near killed me. They went from infrequent to weekly, weekly to damn near daily. Panic attacks became Agoraphobia and all that it entails. Dissociation, derealization, depersonalization. All long words that start with the letter d, all things i had never thought about until i was up to my armpits in them. I had to start canceling gigs which made me feel terrible, then i had to start turning down every offer that came my way, then i couldn’t work anymore and finally i couldn’t even leave the house. I fought it for a long time, i played the gigs i could, I promoted what i could and I wrote the songs that were in my head at the time. But eventually I had to take a step back, what was going on in my head was making me into a liar and I couldn’t take that. Better to step back and heal up, watch from the sidelines than risk further injury.

I was no longer part of the scene that had embraced me and made me feel welcome and been so supportive of this upstart new guy who didn’t know what he was doing and merely wanted to express himself with music. I felt like I had lost something…so I set up StompMag. A dual purpose vehicle to help cover the talented people that exist in this scene and also a way for me to feel connected…involved. I did the best I could on the days when i felt good enough to do it. Last year some 150,000 people came to the site and read about the artists we were talking about. So that’s something.

Over the last year with the help of family, friends and a few mental health professionals things have improved.  Social situations are still largely impossible but i can leave the house, I can focus and feel good enough for enough time to write a track. Even though my good days are still the equivalent of your bad days (you don’t want to know what my bad days are like) I have more of them now than i have had in a while.

Eventually as the fog started to lift i began to understand how lucky I am and how blessed I have been to have people in my life who can help me and that I have access to professional help. The sad truth is that not everyone is this lucky and even if they are, they may not make it through the dark place they find themselves in. It seemed fitting to do something with StompMag that helped other people who are going through similar trouble and so the Headscape LP and vinyl idea was born.

I have contacted 9 Irish producers who have all agreed to both write a track for a digital LP (I’ll also be writing one myself) and contribute samples for a sample pack. When all 10 tracks are in, myself and StompMag contributors Rob DC and Liam Griffin will be deciding on the best 3 or 4 tracks (depending on length) to go on a 12″ vinyl (my own track will be exempt from selection). Both the LP (each purchase will also get you a sample pack) and the vinyl will be available for sale and all the funds that are raised will go to Headstrong , an organisation that is doing some amazing work with young people who are suffering from mental health issues and may not have access to the resources they need to help themselves to get better, and to get a handle on what they are dealing with.

In young people in Ireland, suicide is the leading cause of death. This is a worrying and heartbreaking fact. When someone is going through such hardship and pain that they wish to end their own life it’s simply heartbreaking…to think that some of these people may not even have had the chance to work with others who might be able to help them is simply criminal. The stigma around mental health issues in Ireland is enormous. Casual misunderstandings of the basics of different afflictions is rampant, and oftentimes all people will actually know of an issue is the Hollywood stereotype that is portrayed in too many films and TV shows. Rather than run the risk of people considered a “loon” people choose to suffer in silence and this is just not good enough. Headstrong is one group that is looking to change this, to offer help to those who need it and to break down the stigma around mental health in Ireland…and they deserve support and I will be doing what i can to help them.

I hope to get the releases out (funds will be raised via Kickstarter – anything above and beyond the costs of the mastering and pressing will go to the charity), I hope to work closely with promoters around the country to do fundraising nights and i hope to pull off another couple of events with assorted artists/photographers who have already expressed interest in helping out with the project.

I’ll be announcing the involved producers over the coming weeks, for now i would just like to thank them for agreeing to partake in this project and a special thanks to those who have been involved in hammering out idea’s with me via email and i will have more details on the project coming soon. I’d like to thank the folk at Headstrong for all their advice and support.

This may take a while to pull off, the issue we are trying to tackle is enormous and important and I want to treat it with the respect and gravity that it deserves but if you are reading this and think you would like to help then get in touch. When the LP and vinyl drops i will be looking for people to blog it, Facebook it, Tweet it, hit up anyone you know and convince them to buy it, when the Kickstarter goes live make a pledge, when the gigs happen head along.

For a small donation and a little bit of your time you could literally change, or save, someone’s life.

-SF

I first came across Mark Byrne playing one Thursday night in the Twisted Pepper. At what is a predominantly student night, he brought the crowd with him on the harder, less hook driven parts of his set. He dropped out of deep rhythms into vocal grime tracks with a confidence bordering on arrogance. All the while maintaining control of the floor which belied his youth.

Having discussed the Stomp Mix series with Shatterfreak, we decided we’d keep it for such occasions as these, local lads who deserve a bit more attention for being bloody good and original on the mix.

So first a bit about Mark. He got a start running the top floor in the Twisted Pepper on Thursdays once a month for Mr. Jones under his own banner. Juice has held down a monthly residency ever since at the weekly Junior Spesh night. Mark has a useful turn of phrase for explaining the arrangement, “The way I always describe it is Junior Spesh is Arnott’s and Juice is the Levi’s store in Arnott’s…. We run inside it but we do our own thing”.

He says the main aesthetic with Juice has just been to have a good time without any pretentious vibes.  The focus is on bass music, but the more up-beat side of things, exemplified by their 1^st birthday guests last week, Bok Bok & L-Vis 1990,”…they are two artists who get a lot of plays at Juice and I like what they represent…As you could probably guess… from my mix I am a big Night Slugs fan.”

When thrown the old music journo cliche, ‘What do you think of the scene at the moment question?’ Mark points to some smaller collectives such as Nexx and B-Side running through Junior Spesh as the guys on the up. He also flags asshole like behaviour as being on the increase in Dublin town, “My only problem with the whole bass and alternative music culture is the pretentiousness that can often come with it. There are a lot of music snobs out there. It’s not cool to be an asshole”.

It sure ain’t.

And the mix? “This mix is basically just songs I like and was done on CDJ 1000s and a DJM 400”

Consensus has been reached at Stomp that its a stomper. Plenty of change ups, wonky bits, diva vocals and even a sly Wiley instramental. Enjoy.

Tracklist :

1. Randomer – Stalker
2. Martyn – Left Hander
3. Christian Martin – Waiting
4. Zomby – Alothea
5. Zomby – Black Orchid
6. Velour – Scent of Romance
7. T.Williams – Break Broke
8. Nguzunguzu – Mirage (Girl Unit remix)
9. Wheez-ie – keep yer chin up (Salva Remix)
10. Bok Bok – Look
11. Seiji – Frustratin’
12. Kill Frenzy – booty clap
13. Dj Tameil – Back it up (Mike Q Ego edit)
14. Dark Sky – High Rise
15. Fis-T – Deep Mover
16 Lil Silva – Night Skanker

It’s nice when there is something on the local scene that is worth getting behind for more than the music. Ruckus is just such an event. Always sporting a top notch line up of locals misfits and with the cash that ends up in the coffers going towards the printing costs of the sublime Rabble.

The line up features such local heavy hitters as Don Rosco, A-Force and Lady Grew and Major Grave.

All details can be found here. Make no  mistake about it, this is a night that deserves support.

Richie (sound chap) of the !Kaboogie crew has been on the buttons in the run up to the !Kaboogie 6th Birthday party.  The party itself is happening on the 10th of Feb in The Twisted Pepper and in fine !Kaboogie tradition it’s a pretty stacked night with Ms Dynamite providing the cherry on top. For full details go here.

To have a listen to and download Richie’s refix just head over to the Kaboogie website here.

(Featured pic is by Redmonk, I strongly suggest checking out more of his work here.)

mynameisOhn hates money. I assume. Around this time last year he gave away “There Is a Policeman In All Our Heads…” and now he is back with another free EP, “The Thinker & The Prover EP” and it’s well worth buying…let alone downloading for free.

His modus operandi is sample rich, deftly constructed hip-hop flavours that harken back to a time before hip-hop beats became watered down vehicles for lyrics about cars, money and girls. Much like on his previous free EP there is a seeming ghost of a narrative to the work as a mildly offbeat melancholy floats from track to track, occasionally broken up by tunes like “Poppadoms Do Delivery!”.

As per always, it’s highly recommended to give this a download and have a listen.

Well, it’s been a year to day and being honest i am amazed that Stompmag is still going. It’s not just that being ill makes keeping it ticking over awkward, it’s also the fact that things tend to just fizzle out and fade away. Thankfully StompMag didn’t.

First up the thanks, specifically to Liam “Deletia” Griffin and Rob “Hey You in the Bushes” DubCulture for their efforts in seeking interviews and news for the site. Muchos thanks to SubOne, Drokkr, Emmo, Latent Saint, Deletia, SertOne, Bolts and DJ Somatix for the mixes, to Josh G for the EP and all the people who took the time to talk to us in interviews and the like.

Also, massive respect to all the soldiers on the scene who keep putting on events, dragging bags of vinyl and soundsystems and assorted computer related gubbins to venues all over the country and booking some fantastic acts to play pretty much every weekend. Big ups the producers, DJ’s and promoters, the labels owners and gig goers for keeping things alive and always pushing them forward.

I think when people normally have a first birthday there is a gig or something to mark the occasion…but to be honest this kind of snuck up on me a bit as i have been busy with one eye on Ableton and the other on this Sopa saga (Part 2 of that article will be dropping soon).

I guess the best thing to do right now is explore what the plans are for Stomp over the course of the year. There will be more interviews and news, more of the usual, the StompMix series will be making a return in a more organic and natural form…mixes will appear when the time is right and when we find something and someone that can really sow a sonic tapestry. I think the first batch of mixes set a high bar and i never want the quality to dip.

Hopefully there will be some roundtable style articles, as i track down methods of production and hints and tips from producers on the scene and mash them all together in a big “How To” style article where i hope to cajole some of the heads to let us know some of their methods and techniques.

There is also a large and super secret project currently on the boil…something that i hope will provide an interesting end result that not only produces some interesting music in an of itself but also turns into a large scale community project and a handy method of promoting the talent level to be found in Ireland.

Now there has been plenty of things that need to be improved upon but all in all it hasn’t been the worst first year of a new blog and this year we plan on just going from strength to strength. So thanks for reading and feel free to get in touch if you have anything to say.

- SF

As a producer, a lot of time can be spent trying to overcome your inspirations. You strive for something new and something different…but sometimes you just want to sit back and write a tune that pays tribute to those who birthed your passion for music.
SertOne has done just that, dropping a 4 tracker called “Quesadillas” inspired by the work of J-Dilla. You can DL the EP for free but it’s payment worthy, not just because all the proceeds will go to the J-Dilla Foundation and help to fight Lupus but also because SertOne deserves to have this EP do well and raise some cash for a cause that is obviously important to him and many others who were touched by the music of J-Dilla.

There has been a lot of talk lately about Minister Sean Sherlock’s attempt to sneak (yes, sneak) in legislation in Ireland that is remarkably similar in intent to the recent SOPA and PIPA acts which died on their feet in America. The music industry seems absolutely intent on blaming all their woes on piracy and illegal downloading of music and have  been clamouring for the government to do something. After initial attempts to bully ISP’s failed they appear to have gone to the one person capable to automatically signing something they feel can help them out. And so far all the signs indicate that this little bit of legislation is poorly thought out, poorly written and completely reactive.

First up, lets take a look at some of the major claims of the music industry and then lets dismantle those claims and expose them for being the bogus, hyperbolic excuse making that they really are :

In this article on the Irish Times website, we see mention that EMI Ireland’s profits have halved in 2011 “and it attributed this fall mainly to piracy.” In this article over at thejournal.ie you have Willie Kavanagh of EMI claiming “The Irish music business has dropped from €146million five years ago, to under €70 million in 2011.”

Now, that’s about 76 million euro wiped out in a five year span…which is an aggressive and pretty much unprecedented growth of the illegal activity that is piracy. So…is the implication that piracy cost the Irish music industry such an amount total bullshit? Absolutely. Unfortunately for Willie Kavanagh in a previous job it was pretty much my duty to figure out what made customers spend less money or more money, what market changes drove certain habits and how you engage customers to the point of increasing their consumption. Being currently unemployed it seems that EMI don’t have anyone currently doing this for them…so on the off chance the Willie see’s this…hit me up, for the right price i can help you out.

Now then, lets get down to the nitty gritty and look at all the things that have affected EMI’s and the Irish Music Industries bottom line that they won’t actually admit to…because that would mean taking some responsibility for allowing what you do to change dramatically before your eyes and doing nothing about it.

1) The Rise of the Digital Format and a delayed reaction from the music industry – back in the day you bought music in a physical format. This went on for about 60 years or so…before that you either saw music live or listened to it on the radio. These days you simply buy a bundle of information which can be interpreted by a program and reproduced as sound. What’s more, there are countless online services that will stream the music for you, you don’t even need to buy it. You can go on Youtube or Grooveshark or Pandora and just listen. Due to the combo of hi-tech mobile phones with internet access, decent wifi coverage and reasonable pricing from telecoms providers you could effectively stream music on the move. No need for the files to fill up space on your phone that could be occupied by hilarious pictures of cats. None of this happened quickly either…it slowly morphed over a 10 to 15 year period largely in sync with the expansion of the internet and the growing prevalence of information technology.

I’m not sure why…and can only postulate a mildly derogatory theory that it’s because the guys who run the music industry are old, set in there ways and too full of coke and money to change now…it never occurred to these guys to actually sell the music in digital format themselves. It’s not like in the early 90′s you went into a Sony Music shop, or a Geffen Store…you went to HMV or Virgin or whatever and paid the money and got your C.D. They had been farming out sales for a while, so why change the tactic now?

So they sat back, allowed the concept of the online music store to grow and grow but never once thought to actually cash in. It’s clear they didn’t want to control things like marketing, exposure, price points, splits of profits or anything else…because now they don’t when music is sold in it’s digital format. Who does? Well…I-Tunes mostly. As the industry leader the rest just kind of follow their example. And I-Tunes was only really set up as a way to get people to buy I-pods. Napster (remember that?) went down in June 2000 due to legal moves by the likes of Dr Dre, Metallica and Madonna. I-Tunes went live in January 2001. That’s what happens when someone quickly spots that something that is happening illegally could make some money legally. Oddly enough no one in the music industry itself seems to have been the one to make this connection. It was a company that makes hardware.

So what can we surmise from all this? Due to losing control over the way that their music was sold (seriously, go to any major label site and you can’t actually buy the music…the ship you off to some 3rd party online retailer) they also lost a chunk of change as they went from being a provider of something that shops with retail units needed to live, to relying on other people to move their product so they could live.

2) If you live in Ireland, you don’t have to buy music in Ireland anymore – Another nugget that Willie K seems insistent on ignoring is the fact that a massive amount of retail sales have shifted from the high street to the information super highway. I can walk into HMV and buy an album, or  i can buy the same album from Amazon for less money. One of these will count as a money made in the Irish Music Sector (that 146 million) and the other won’t. The labels will get a cut, but a large portion is removed as the sale is recorded in the books of a different country’s economy.

There have been a multitude (dare i say deluge?) of stories in the media about assorted shops closing, massive retail chains with clout on the verge of bankruptcy and an endless train of people going up North to buy their goods. Pretty much every business in Ireland is willing to point out that the new international market of the internet and the closer physical market of Northern Ireland is having an impact on it’s bottom line. Once again, not the music industry. I can assume that by not mentioning it they don’t feel it is a factor, if it’s not a factor then it means they don’t think it is affecting them. Well, it is…because it is affecting everyone.

3) They Can’t Provide a Service or Product People Want – Now this is the real kicker and it’s a tough one to face up to, so i am not surprised they are skirting the issue with a nonchalant whistle. The constant claim is that CD sales are dropping (but they never mention that a huge percentage of this drop is being replaced by digital sales via legal avenues – 25% last year to be precise) so you would expect the sales of something like vinyl ( a more expensive format that costs a lot more to appreciate ) would be pretty abysmal. Well, actually, since about 2009 vinyl sales have been in rude health, so what gives? How come people are not just pirating the material and inflicting the same damage they are inflicting on CD sales?

Because, lets face it, vinyl is a unique product. Last year the Radiohead album “King of Limbs” pretty much accounted for half of all vinyl sales of albums in the UK on it’s own. From this we can draw that if you give people a product they want and that means something to them…they will buy it.

If you don’t you are left in their current situation, where the money they make from a digital sale is far less than the money they used to make from a CD sale.

4) They Have Devalued Their Own Product – Over the course of 60 years pop music changed. People who write about and love pop music will tell you it hasn’t but you could argue they lack a certain sense of distance from a product they use to give themselves credibility. Some things about Pop music are the same (the endless change in trends and styles, the cosmetic driven image game and the nonstop pilfering of underground sounds and styles to keep itself “fresh”) and some are very different…the main difference between the sheer volume of identikit crap that major labels will release. They chase a Number 1 spot, and when that number one spot is achieved they will then groom other artists to have a similar sound and also get to number one. Are we really allowing ourselves to be surprised that the 16 year old girls who love JLS  might not actually care enough to buy the CD when One Direction also have an album coming out next week?

In the never ending run towards turning the unique into a commodity and the talentless into a hit they have basically rendered each iteration of the winning formula to be exactly the same as the last one…and it is not inspiring people to buy music. On the other hand Adele, the biggest selling artist of last year (yes, she sold more units that a certain blonde lady from America who insists on aping all the came before her in the name of “originality”) was signed to an Indie label, XL Recordings. Who also signed Tyler The Creator. And little known acts like The Prodigy back in the day. In short…XL have been showing them for a while that formula is great but a unique artists with their own qualities and strength who appears to be born of the times does just as well. Which brings us too….

5) People Are Happy to Give Away Music (Or Sell It Themselves for Cheap) – Right now there is practically no reason to buy music. If you want music you can find it for free. The proliferation of home recording equipment and programs like Ableton and other DAW’s mean there is an army of people out there making music (Soundcloud now has 10 million users) and lots of them are willing to give tracks away for free and some of them are willing to give all their music away for free. Odd Future built a massive fanbase by giving away apparently endless collections of tracks on their tumblr page, The Weeknd caught massive hype and mainstream attention by giving away free albums and countless others seem to be adopting the model of either giving away tunes and just trying to make some money on the gig front or by selling their own music via services such as Bandcamp.

Now, while this aspect is not a massive factor it is still an important one…the proliferation of information, social media and other such things mean that people are no longer being exposed to music almost solely through the mainstream media. A friend can find a track, but it on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter and before you know it that track has 2 million plays on Youtube. So why would people do this? Why not send demo’s to majors and see if you get signed? Well, a large part of that is the well known fact that actual sales of music don’t do much for an artists bottom line, there is a strong suspicion that by allowing others to invest in your art you lose a degree of control and that by generating hype for yourself you give yourself a firmer footing from which to deal with a label anyway. Some pretty sound thinking really.

6) They Never Learn From Their Mistakes – As previously pointed out, the Napster Saga made illegal downloading of music an issue…eleven freaking years ago. So they have been trying to find a solution to this problem for over a decade while a whole new problem appeared without them spotting it. Streaming. Streaming is a different beast because the claim is that artists make money each time a song is played. Well…an artists makes roughly three tenths on a cent each time someone streams one of their songs ( according to this article on Rolling Stone). The majority of the money generate from Youtube is due to ads…and labels and Youtube have recently joined forces to throw as many ads at you as they can before you get to see the video you want to see. It’s a basic interruption to the reason people use Youtube (instant access) and another misguided attempt to generate more cash from their artists work…but as you can see from the artist payment not to actually generate cash for the artist themselves. Meanwhile places like Grooveshark don’t seem to be respecting copyright all that much but given the industries track record it should be another 7 to 8 years before they try and actually do something about it.

Now, obviously i am not privy to the data that EMI Ireland has, but all the above are very valid changes to the market and are going to have had an impact on companies bottom lines (Note that i didn’t even point out the RECESSION that has been affecting all businesses for the last number of years…but Willie seems to think that EMI Ireland’s bottom line would have been recession proof). As such, i think we have effectively established that the implication that piracy is the sole reason for the decline of a) sales and b) profits for the music industry to be completely false and more than a little misleading. I know a lot of it will have been quite obvious…but the simple fact is that very few people out there seem to be pointing this stuff out with regard to Sean Sherlock’s plans.

Don’t get me wrong, if someone rang me and told me that a multi-million euro industry had lost half it’s worth due to illegal activities that could be curtailed i would instantly seek to do something too. But the simple fact is that this hasn’t happened, so if this is the type of honey that Kavanagh and his ilk have been pouring in Sherlock’s ear then i wonder if an emotional reaction to the trumped up charges and dangers of piracy have led to the legislation he is trying to bring in…if this is the case then Sherlock needs to start looking at the actual facts of the matter and major labels such as EMI need to start being more honest about how they are losing their footing in a changing consumer market.

That’s it for now…but in Part 2 I’ll be looking at the wording of his legislation and the possible impact that it could have for people like me who keep little blogs to pass the time and on the Irish economy as a whole.

Yeah. I bitch about lists. A lot. The last month of the year is like hell for me as every blog, website and magazine going posts endless lists. I wouldn’t mind so much if the lists were backed up. If we got an explanation as to why No.1 was the obvious choice and why everything else logically feel into step behind it, all nice and neat like a well trained team of huskies and i honestly, sincerely wouldn’t hate them so much. But we don’t tend to get that, so hate them i shall. It just strikes me as an obscure and valiant effort to take one last stab at setting a trend or appearing clued in.

All that said, I do believe it’s important to take a look back at the year and maybe mention some of the people who shone and did something. So here we have it, my number one Irish song of the year. The criteria for entry was pretty simple…the song just had to exist. It didn’t need to be released, it didn’t need to be on vinyl, it didn’t need to do anything other than be within my sphere of experience. Okay, so the tune that won out in the end is released on vinyl but that’s just coincidence i guess. Or not. I don’t know.

There were a lot of people in the mix on this one, so rather than go to all the effort to come up with a top 10 I’m just gonna say what the number one was and then the rest get detailed in no particular order. It’s fun because people won’t know how close they were to winning the (not even a little) coveted prize.

So here you have it, my number one Irish production of the year, the fantastic “Litiv” by Lakker, released on 12″ by Killekill.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3hSK_J86kM

The Process : The judgement for me was simple. I had been listening to this and the other tracks that i considered frontrunners. I was trying to listen to them as a producer…what was clear, what was inventive blah blah blah. And, being honest, i was stumped. There was lots of talent in the field, lots of great tracks, lots of solid productions. Then on Wednesday something happened and my mood dropped considerably (as can happen these days). I was tired, i was sore and I put on this track and nothing I have heard this year has rung so true to my mood. The odd sense of forlorn hope this track contains, it’s pained strains and subjugated beat all just made sense and i realised that this tune perfectly summed up my entire year. Those who know will realise that this year has not been nice to me, but in recent months an improvement of my situation has occurred. Where once all hope was lost a fragile and delicate hope now exists. If you don’t get that from this track then i really can’t help you. If you want to argue a different track for the spot then fine…but hey, this is my Tune of the Year and my reasons for picking it are personal, honest and true. The fact that it also manages to be a modern sounding 2-step number without being a Burial clone is a pretty massive plus. Anyway, big ups to Ian McDonnell and Dara Smith, it’s a great tune.

The Rest of the Field: Unless you live your life by the ST Holdings release sheet you gotta stand up and admit we have some talent on this island. Every track below here was close to being my tune of the year, they were just pipped at the post by those two killers, emotion and subjectivity.

SertOne -- Riviera Part 1 and 2 -- this tune probably would have been my number one if i had a better year. Hear that Sert? My anxiety cost you the gold medal and for that i am sorry.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gs1fKM1HUg

Owsey Remix of Skinny Love by Birdy -- Owsey burst onto my radar this year and proceeded to produce some of the best music on this Isle right now. Ridiculously huge atmospheres abound in his work along with a level of inventiveness that makes me jealous.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIeg6O_tabs

Lecs Luther -- Dia Dhuit -- A nice slice of hip-hop from Dublin scene darling Lecs Luther. Was repeatedly played by me this year as it’s one of those tunes that released that you only need 16 bars of interesting music to make a good hip-hop tune…a lot of his contemporaries efforts this year had a bit too much class between the music and the vocal.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCV0-KKlDTg

Nouveaunoise -- Jah -- A huge slice of largely unashamed and unabashed noise. Vury tasty.

Eomac -- That Boy -- Eomac is starting to show that he belongs right up there with the big boys of the UK scene…next year should be a killer one for him and this track is another one i have played repeatedly this year.

Sina -- Remembrance -- Sina came to my attention relatively late this year but his music had an impact. Expect an interview with this kid soon.

Luska -- Eastern Terror -- Big deep atmospheres and beautiful beat work pretty much sums up Luska’s modus operandi.

Nouveaunoise have been making just that on the Irish electronica scene for some time now. Pushers of delightfully inventive and engagingly off kilter music they recently came very much correct with their latest release “Sequence Consequence”.  I caught up with Conor to have  a quick chat about things in the world of Nouveaunoise.

Your most recent release “Sequence Consequence” represents something of an evolution in your sound, drawing in plenty of influence from the UK scene. Was there a conscious effort to push in a new direction or is it just something that happened organically?

I think a bit of both really. We were listening to a lot of new electronic music from all over and had exhausted every drum break we could get our hands on so it was time to try something different.

Not really as we kinda worked that way even when we were living together, we have always just thrown ideas over and back until were both happy. The time difference does slow things down and without Dropbox we’d be lost.

Yeah, we defiantly do. The live shows were great craic. By next summer I’ll be living in Berlin too and we have big plans for the live show along with loads of new tunes to back it up. Were really lookin forward to that.

I wasn’t the best for keeping up with all that was happening, but from what I saw I really liked. I did spend many a night wobble’n round the twisted  pepper though, miss that place loads. As for the production> start early, outa nappies into tunes.

What tracks from what producers have really stood out there? Is there  anything you have heard and just thought “Damn, i wish i wrote that track”?

That Young Montana? remix of “Sweet Me” is defiantly one I’d like to have sitin in our Cubase folder…colossal tune! But man there is a hundred more I could pick, Depends on the day really. Too much good stuff at the moment.
LDFD “Outtacontrol” there’s another unreal tune.

Detroit Sugar Rush…

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