All hailing from Ireland’s untamed West Coast MOXIE’s music has a solid traditional backbone, inspired and shaped by the surrounding of the west of Ireland, but with progressive, world and jazz influences creeping into their music it makes for a truly heady and distinctive sound, putting them at the forefront of new acoustic music from Ireland.
IMRO member Man in a Room, aka songwriter and producer Steven Connolly, has just received a nod from Hollywood with a nomination in the Hollywood Music in Media Awards. His song, “Black & White”, taken from his latest album, The Alchemist’s Apprentice, has been selected as a nominee by the committee and HMMA voting academy in the “New Age / Ambient” category.
Hailing from Dublin and self-taught as a composer, producer and lyricist, the music of Man in a Room is influenced by various genres and life situations and circumstances. The album, filled with atmospheric soundscapes, was released in on Germany’s Lemongrass Music label.
Speaking of the nomination, Steven said: “I’ve been a Movie and Soundtrack fan all my life, so to be nominated at this event is a little bit special.”
The awards are set to take place at the Fonda Theatre, Hollywood, LA on 19th November 2015. The awards honour leading composers of music for film, TV and other media, as well as independent composers and songwriters in various music genres.
You can find out more about Man in a Room at his website here http://maninaroom.wix.com/miar.
Conversation Amongst the Ruins is a four track debut EP from Limerick band Randolf & the Crokers due for release on Friday 8th May. It follows on from their debut single Hangin, released in December last year.
The EP was recorded and mixed in the Lakelands Studios in Athlone by Mike O’Dowd and mastered in Limerick by Richard Dowling of Wav Mastering. It showcases a blend of folk/country/blues influences with ear-pricking harmonies which combine to produce a unique sound that has been carefully honed on the local gig circuit over the last few years.
The six piece band formed in 2011, released their debut single and video for Hangin in December 2014 and 2015 sees them release their first physical recording Conversation Amongst the Ruins. The band has played locally in various Limerick venues over the years and has supported O Emperor, Mark Geary, Moscow Metro, John Blek & the Rats and most recently The Lost Brothers.
Conversations Amongst the Ruins will be available on digital release from Friday 8th May.
Tour Dates
08/05/2015 (Fri) – EP Launch, Dolans, Limerick
15/05/2015 (Fri) – Kenny’s, Lahinch
16/05/2015 (Sat) – Greyhound Bar, Kilkee
22/05/2015 (Fri) – Whelans , Dublin
23/05/2015 (Sat) – Monroes, Galway
For more follow Randolf & The Crokers on Facebook and Twitter.
AVA Festival
, in association with Generator NI have announced today that Romain Tardy, ‘Patchblocks’ AKA Sebastian Heinz, Jesse Abayomi and Dave Lievense have been added to the free daytime conference, along with the ‘Howard Street Food’ debut at AVA Festival at T13 in the Titanic Quarter on Saturday 30th May.
Festival organisers are pleased to add the additional names to an already stellar line-up at the free conference, which runs from 10:30 – 15:45 as part of the overall AVA Festival. This year’s festival also offers an eclectic line-up of electronic artists performing, the NI debut of Boiler Room, an inspiring Street Food Market, Record Fair, Skatepark Expose and much much more!
Romain Tardy, ‘One of the worlds best audio visual mappers’ (CNN), will host a talk and exhibit his work during the AVA Conference. Romain Tardy, born originally in Paris, is a visual artists focusing primarily in digital arts. His extensive experience led him to create the now highly established and accomplished visual label ‘AntiVJ’ in 2008 that formed the base of his research and work on projected light. His work has been exhibited in more that 15 countries across the world. AVA is incredibly excited to host his first visit to Northern Ireland and host an exciting presentation and talk about his work to date.
‘Patchblocks’ AKA Sebastian Heinz will host an interactive live demo of his programmable sound machines as a table full of mini synthesisers, allowing visitors to explore the world of sound synthesis. He developed this as part of his research at SARC in Belfast, focusing on the development of technology that blends the border between physical and digital worlds. Since Patchblocks’ first appeared on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, the product has gained interest from musicians, educators and sound geeks across the globe.
Jesse Abayomi AKA Abayomi is a DJ/producer who uprooted his London residence and settled down in Berlin to be an integral part of the avant-garde of the electronic music scene. Being an Ableton consultant, DJ and producer, his deep knowledge and understanding of sounds and rhythms are strongly reflected in his music. Abayomi will join Gavin Timlin & Ben Breslin (Ableton User Group Belfast) to host two demonstration sessions exploring Ableton’s newest and most versatile music creation tool – Push. Each session will start with some practical fundamentals followed by a creative demonstration along with a QA session to close. This will run alongside the Ableton Push Playground – a drop-in music lab where you can get hands-on with Ableton Live 9 and Push.
Dave Lievense, owner of Mass Motion Studios, will be joining his Psycatron partner Paul Hamil (Inflyte) along with Bicep and Timmy Stewart at the AVA Conference to host a talk specifically focusing on the Next generation of electronic music production. This heavy-weight panel of electronic producers will delve into the production, approach, the process and techniques along with the hardware and software that they use.
LAB Records is delighted to announce the signing of 17-year-old Irish singer / songwriter Eve Belle – with her debut single ‘Too young to feel this old’ is available on May 18th.
Based in the tiny rural town of Gortahork in County Donegal, Eve first captured the imagination of discerning Irish fans and industry alike during a trio of performances at the iconic Ruby Sessions in Dublin, an acoustic night famous for hosting the likes of Ed Sheeran and Hozier early in their careers.
Belfast based wordsmith, Malojian, announce the release of his new album ‘Southlands’ on May 18th. The highly acclaimed artist has received support throughout Ireland and the UK, securing airplay nationally and recording a session with BBC Radio 2. The first single, ‘Communion Girls’ is the perfect introduction to the album sound and gives a little taste of what you can expect from this release.
Not the first time these two artists have performed on the same stage. Cork Singer Songwriter Cormac O’Caoimh will open this very special concert having just received an excellent 4 star review in Mojo magazine, the biggest selling music mag in the world. He wil be accompanied by Martin Leahy. Following on will be world renowned Dublin based Classical Guitarist and Composer Pat Coldrick who has just released his latest album Cityjam.
Forming a tapestry of styles very different from each other but held together by the threads of creativity, artistry and vision for this instrument and lyrics by O’Caoimh, which define him in so many ways. Audiences are in for a thrilling mix of superb world class performances.
The profile of unique Irish singer songwriter Miles Graham has been steadily growing in Britain. It might have something to do with recent live performance on BBC Radio 2’s Weekend Wogan in Jan 2015 and the talented Irishman has been capturing attention on UK radio throughout since, with many top presenters including Graham Norton, Jo Whiley, Jonathan Ross, Ken Bruce giving the Dublin native regular spins on BBC Radio 2 and respectively on Cerys Matthew’s BBC Radio 6 Music show. Cerys Matthew’s saying ‘He blew me away’ on her show after attending his show at KPH, London in Feb.
Dublin band 
Sleep Thieves have recently announced their Irish & European tour for Spring/Summer 2015 consisting of venues and festivals.
Having recently released a video for the title track of their album the band are looking to bring their electro sound to the masses as part of their tour around Europe.
Saturday 16th May – Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, Ireland
Thursday 21st May – The Grand Social, Dublin, Ireland
Sunday 31st May – Forbidden Fruit, Dublin, Ireland
Friday 5th June – The Stillery, London, UK
Saturday 6th June – L’almentation Generate, Paris, France
Saturday 13th June – Bare in the Woods, Portarlington, Ireland
Saturday 27th June – Killarney Festival, Killarney, Ireland
Saturday 3rd July – Just Like Heaven, Padova, Italy
The 9th annual Sonic Vigil, Ireland’s primary improvisation and sound art event, is set to take place on Saturday 2nd May in St Anne’s Church, Shandon, Cork City. This year’s special guest will be Christina Kubisch, the renowned multi-award winning German composer, recordist and installation artist. Kubisch’s work spans multiple media and includes an extraordinary number of performances at many of the world’s most significant festivals, recordings on many different labels, and diverse solo exhibitions. Kubisch appears at 6 pm.
Every year since 2007, Cork has played host to Ireland’s most significant free improvisation event. SONIC VIGIL brings together outstanding improvisers, sound artists and field recordists from Ireland and abroad in a multi-hour celebration of cutting-edge, radical sonic experimentation. 18 remarkable musicians are placed into a randomly-generated timetable, producing instant, unknowable and unexpected interactions: sounds of kaleidoscope beauty, teetering on a tantalising abyss of risk make for an immersive, mesmerising and ever-evolving experience.
Hein Schoer, musician and soundscaper and developer of the remarkable Sounding Museum – a trans-cultural exploration of the sonic identity of our world – appears at 4 pm.
The event takes place from 2pm to 8pm. Audience members are free to come and go as they please, and are invited in amongst the musicians, encouraging an exploratory approach to hearing and allowing an exceptional sense of intimacy that breaks down performer/audience divides. Unparalleled anywhere in Ireland or abroad, SONIC VIGIL displays an approach to performance and sound that is unique, extraordinary and inspiring.
Sonic Vigil is supported by Cork City Council, Gruenrekorder and the Goethe Institute. Sonic Vigil 9 is managed by Danny McCarthy, Mick O’Shea, Karen Power, Irene Murphy and John Godfrey.
Sonic Vigil 9 features Arif Ayab, David Bremner, Mikael Fernstrom, John Godfrey, Paul Hegarty, Anthony Kelly, Danny McCarthy, miXile, Harry Moore, Irene Murphy, Katie O’Looney, Mick O’Shea, Robin Parmar, Karen Power, Caroline Pugh, Nick Roth, David Stalling, Sean Taylor.
Admission €5
