West of Ireland based singer/songwriter David Dee Moore has just launched his new CD titled ‘The sun, the moon, the stars… and other moving objects’ in Ireland on his own independent ‘Carrabawn’ label in CD format available on his website www.daviddeemoore.com. David Dee, originally from Belfast, is returning with a stunning collection of original songs that cross over from a country roots hybrid mix to catchy contemporary Irish melodies. Each song is delicately arranged with some of Ireland’s finest musicians hand-picked to play on the project.
‘I grew up playing with most of the people on the recording in various bands while learning my trade in Ireland. This is a collection of the many different types of music that have influenced me that all ultimately stem from my Irish roots.’
The CD is engineered and co-produced by Donal O’Connor of ‘At First Light’ fame and features Nicky Scott (Van Morrison) on double bass, Paul Harden on guitar, Peter McKinney (Waterboys) on drums, John McCullough (Waterboys) on keyboards, Neil Martin on ‘cello and Colin Henry on dobro, to name but a few.
David Dee started off as a bass player in the Belfast punk band ‘The Ex-Producers’ and regularly played with various local folk and rock bands culminating in the creation of ‘The Loose Connections’ with Niamh Parsons and John McSherry in 1991. He part wrote and arranged the ‘Loosely Connected’ album with Greentrax Records in Edinburgh and produced and wrote the majority of the tracks on the ‘Loosen up’ album for the USA label Green Linnet. He settled in Westport Co. Mayo in 1998 where he now regularly plays in Matt Molloy’s (Chieftains) bar.
David Dee gained a renewed taste for writing and production when he recorded his highly praised 12 track CD called ‘The Almighty Warrior’ for his USA tour in 2010. It was never released in Ireland but will be available to download for the first time later in the year.
UNIT ONE is the debut album by ‘Alien-Pop’ duo NANU NANU, who are are GLITTERFACE (aka Galway siren LAURA SHEERAN) and MIRRORMAN (aka MARC AUBELE). Their unique and diverse ten-track album, which was recorded in Dublin and mixed by ROB KIRWAN (PJ Harvey, Glasvegas, Depeche Mode), will be released on May 31. This innovative electro album is accompanied by a comic book featuring the adventures of Nanu Nanu in various locations and times in Earth’s history. Track five, The Drop, features LA rapper Steve Liriks.
The album launch will take place in Dublin on Thursday May 30 at 6.30pm as part of Tower Records’ Live at Madison. The same evening Nanu Nanu will play live at Whelan’s in Wexford Street.
Little Green Cars have recorded an exclusive EP for deezer.com to coincide with the release of their critically acclaimed debut album. The four-track EP includes three songs from Absolute Zero and a cover of the Bruce Springsteen classic ‘I’m on Fire’.
Internationally acclaimed Irish songwriter, Brendan Graham, has been selected to write the lyric for a specially composed piece of music in celebration of the new arrival to the British royal family.
Brendan, the songwriter behind “You Raise Me Up”, “Rock and Roll Kids” and “The Voice”, was approached to write a lyric for an existing piece of music composed by Paul Mealor, a composer who had been commissioned to write a piece for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. It soon emerged that the lyric was in fact for a specially composed lullaby by Mealor as a thank you to the royal couple and to welcome the new arrival into the world.
The song, entitled “Sleep On”, has been recorded by Hayley Westenra and will be included on her new album of lullabies, “Hushabye”, dedicated to the royal couple and their new baby. The song has already received its first airplay on Classic FM in London.
‘Boa Howl’ is the follow-up to Halves’ 2010 Choice Prize-nominated debut album ‘It Goes, It Goes (forever & ever)’, and sees the Irish trio return with a bolder, more experimental second offering.
Boa Howl features a mix of confident upbeat tracks side by side with slow experimental pieces, resulting in a cinematic, surreal journey over eleven songs. Guest vocals appear courtesy of Gemma Hayes, a fan of the band for some time. Canadian musician Elaine Kelly-Canning features on harp and added string performances come courtesy of local Swedish players. ‘Boa Howl’ refers to a summit on a mountain in China dubbed ‘White Boa Howl’, which the band felt captured the surreal nature of the songs. Musically, the album was inspired by a wide range of influences – from The Flamingos and Joe Meek, to Clouddead, to traditional Malian music and the 1950s orchestral arrangements of Gordon Jenkins.
Recorded over two weeks at Svenska Grammofon Studion in Gothenberg, and produced by Halves themselves, Boa Howl was created with the use of a vast collection of instruments, amps and vintage microphones. Eleven songs were recorded live on 2″ reel-to-reel tape by Oskar Lindberg, Gyorgy Barocsai and Halves’ live engineer Ciaran Mangan. The album was recorded using the infamous Neve analog mixing console previously owned by Queen and used by the likes of Johnny Cash and Aretha Franklin.
One of Ireland’s most intriguing acts, Halves is Brian Cash, Elis Czerniak & Tim Czerniak.
The trio blend a vast range of instruments, acoustic and electronic, to create an evocative, cinematic live experience. Their five releases to date have met with universal critical success, as well as earning them ardent fans from Tokyo to Seattle. Their live show is truly captivating; a mix of synched visuals, strings, brass, and electronics, anchored by soaring guitars and dual drummers.
In 2009 Halves made their debut TV performance, topping the viewers’ choice poll on RTE’s ‘Other Voices’ series. More recently the band played twice at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin Texas to great response, and have also played Eurosonic, Canadian Music Week and London Calling. Halves have supported the likes of British Sea Power, Mercury Rev, Low and PVT, and were nominated for the Choice Music Prize for their debut album.
Halves will play several live shows in Ireland over the summer including a record-release live performance at Tower Records in Dublin on July 6th, a headline performance at The Button Factory on July 13th, The Model Arts Centre in Sligo on July 20th, Bourke’s, Limerick on July 25th, Cypress Avenue, Cork on July 26th and a show at the Forbidden Fruit festival.
‘Boa Howl’ will release nationwide on July 5th 2013 through HATEISTHEENEMY Records on CD, deluxe gatefold vinyl (includes free mp3 download), and digital.
The Chapters second album Blood Feels Warm is due for independent release on 17th May 2013. The album focuses on heartfelt blissed out Americana that feels both live and experimental in its production and tone. The self-produced sophomore effort celebrates varied instrumentation played by many friends throughout the recordings and this collective spirit has spilled over in to the live show. After a hugely successful fund:it campaign the band are looking forward to the release date.
The Chapters hail from Dublin, Ireland. Their well-received debut album Perfect Stranger was critically acclaimed and saw the band tour Ireland, England, Italy and Germany. Having previously played with legends such as Neil Young and Chuck Berry the new look Chapters begin a series of countrywide dates.
Fri 17th May – Caffe Formenti, Carlow 8pm
Sat 18th May – Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin 8pm
Sat 1st June – Happy Valley Festival, Thomastown
Sat 3rd Aug – Castlepalooza Festival, Tullamore
Sun 4th Aug – Indiependence Festival, Mitchelstown
On the 7th of June 2013 Moya Brennan and Cormac De Barra are set to release their brand new album ‘Affinity’ which features both Moya and Cormac trading talents on harps, vocals, keyboards and bodhrán and backed by a host of incredibly talented local musicians. ‘Sailing’ is the elegant lead single to be taken from the much-anticipated 12 track album which has been independently produced by the duo and mixed by John Reynolds and Tim Oliver. Moya and Cormac will make three special appearances to celebrate the release of the album in both Dublin and Donegal.
The album ‘Affinity’ is the result of a merging of two of Ireland’s most acclaimed musical minds. Both Moya and Cormac hail from highly respected musical Irish families and have grafted to become legendary musicians in their own right.
Grammy award winner Moya Brennan is the eldest of 9 children born into an exceptionally gifted musical family. She has been the lead singer of Clannad since 1975, releasing 18 albums with the group, including two with world famous sister Enya. Simultaneously Moya has managed to parallel an incredible solo career, with 7 albums to her name. Overall her career to date includes over 20 albums, numerous film scores and performances with many great artists such as The Chieftains, Robert Plant, Paul Brady, Shane MacGowan and Bono. Besides her solo work Moya is both vociferous and active in her championing of Irish arts and culture abroad.
Cormac De Barra is renowned internationally as a versatile harp virtuoso. He has continuously pushed the boundaries of the Irish harp through is work and collaborations with an extensive range of artists including Hazel O’Connor, Julie Feeney and Clannad. He writes and records regularly with his family group Barcó and hosts master classes world-wide in his spare time.
Over the years Moya and Cormac’s reverence for one another has grown strong and they have forged a powerful musical relationship. The past decade has seen the musicians unite their creativity on several projects. Along with their first collaborative album, ‘Voices and Harps’ in 2011, Moya and Cormac have joined forces to host an annual ‘Voices and Harps’ workshop, which is geared towards those with a keen interest in combining singing with harp playing and which is now in its third year.
You can catch Moya Brennan and Cormac De Barra performing tracks from their brand new album ‘Affinity’ live on the following dates:
8th June 1pm, Celtic Note, 14-15 Nassau St, Dublin
18th June Steeple Sessions, Unitarian Church, Stephen’s Green, Dublin
To host over 50 international acts and 50 Irish acts in 5 different venues from 28 – 30 June 2013
If you like music and you have yet to hear of youbloom, prepare to be thrilled by the following information. youbloom is a fresh coalition of international artists and music lovers designed to help new talent develop and prosper. And this summer from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th June 2013, youbloom is coming to Dublin’s fair city to bring you no less than 50 of the best ‘brave new music’ artists from all over the world, along with 50 local ‘brave new music’ acts who will be flying the flag for Ireland.
youbloom@Dublin shareholder Bob Geldof is absolutely thrilled that youbloom is taking place in his home town.“youbloom@Dublin is an amazing opportunity for independent bands/artists and has the potential to become Dublin’s SouthbySouthWest”– Bob Geldof
The 100 multi-cultural and multi-genre artists have been chosen from the youbloom international platform by its A&R team which is headed up by Lindsay Reade (Factory Records – Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, 52nd Street), legendary A&R man Nigel Grainge (Thin Lizzy, 10cc, The Boomtown Rats, Sinead O’Connor, World Party, The Waterboys, The Steve Miller Band) and 6 members of the youbloom team in Ireland, the UK, EU and US.
Artists will be travelling from all corners of the world to play in Ireland’s bustling capital this June 2013! You can expect to see performances from 14 different countries including the US, UK, Denmark, Norway, Germany, France, Spain, Gibraltar, Israel, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Austria and Switzerland. The bands will be performing in five of Dublin’s best venues over the weekend, namely the Mercantile, Odessa, Workman’s Club, Grand Social and Twisted Pepper. On each night, in each venue, there will be a distinct musical flavour, be it electro, reggae, soul, jazz, metal, indie, rock or a clever cocktail of them all. There will be something to please everyone’s tastes so be sure to slink your way into each venue to get a great spot for the live acts!
youbloom is a development programme created for unsigned artists, and for both live and online discoveries. The programme is driven by a love of new music, a desire to give back to the community and to support the emerging artists of tomorrow. It is a community of fans, promoters and artists that have a single overriding interest – the promotion of new artists and their music.
In order to ensure the coalitions growth and implementation in Dublin this year youbloom will be supported by Dublin City BID (Business Improvement District) under its Dublin Town.ie programme.
“youbloom is evolving into a cross between a grassroots new music Live Nation and a music industry LinkedIn” stated youbloom founder and CEO, Phil Harrington. What started with a focus on new artists competing for fan votes in the youbloom Music Awards in 2010, is now growing into a global network of live events and annual festivals, (delivered by a network of local promoters under the youbloom brand), all connected through the youbloom.com website. youbloom.com provides a platform for fans to discover new artists, where they have the tools to create relevance for the artists they love and would like to see live.
A part of this youbloom@Dublin weekend is also to nurture this emerging new talent. With this in mind youbloom is hosting a music conference to be held in the College of Surgeons on Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th which is open to any musicians and members of the public wishing to attend. The conference will include panels, speed sessions and roundtables with panelists. Roundtables will focus on songwriting, performance, social media, demo creation, and international marketplaces.
The keynote speech will be delivered by the innovate and irreverent Dave Robinson of Stiff Records (www.stiff-records.com) with a high profile line up of speakers/panelists coming in from across the music industry include Richard Gottehrer (The Orchard/Founder, US), Ralph Simon (Mobile Entertainment Forum, UK), Tom Silverman (New Music Seminar and Tommy Boy Records US), Chris Roe (Billboard / Hollywood Reporter, US), Darryl Ballantyne (Lyricfind,Canada), Nigel Grainge (Ensign, US), Rupert Hine (BMG Chrysalis, UK), Robert Singerman (Exchange/88tc88/CMJ, US), Alex Von Soos (Garnish School of Sound, UK), and Vince Bannon (Getty Images, US). Irish speakers include Donal Scannell, Siobhan O’Dowd, with more to be announced.
Tickets are priced €15 for a night ticket €35 for weekend tickets & €75 for full delegate passes, all tickets available from www.entertainment.ie
Are you a music producer, venue owner, songwriter or band member looking for a particular musician or combination of individual musicians for your next project?
If so, then chances are you’ll find what you’re looking for at The Irish Music Registry.
The Irish Musicians Registry has been set up for individual musicians who are resident in Ireland and are seeking employment opportunities such as recording sessions or live work.
We welcome all nationalities and all music genres as it will create an exciting pool of musicians to choose from. Whether you’re a drummer, cellist, guitarist or Turkish spike fiddler you can register today.
Registration is free.
The site database will act as a valuable one stop shop resource for venues, other musicians, songwriters, producers, engineers, commercial advertising producers etc looking for that vital missing link for their current and future projects.
The Irish Musicians Registry is a jobs creation initiative with a not for profit philosophy. The main focus is to link the Industry to an instantly available database containing a full range of musicians seeking employment and experience opportunities
If you wish to support or sponsor this initiative contact us here
This May and June, The Ark is hosting a series of events combining music and film. “Lights, Camera, Music” is providing budding young musicians and their families with a taste of the worlds of music and film.
The cultural centre for children will be hosting a series of weekend workshops, schools workshops and fun family concerts over the course of the coming weeks.
As well as workshops for the tiniest musicians, a course for primary school music teachers and workshops by composer and saxophonist, Nick Roth and sound artist, Judith Ring, there will be family concerts with Harry Bird and the Rubber Wellies and the Iberian Percussion Extravaganza.
This Saturday, pianist Elaine Loebenstein will be running a workshop called “Not-So-Silent Movies” in which she will set children’s imaginations alight in creating on-the-spot music for silent cartoons and early film comedies.
Composer, Karen Power, will host “Surprising Sounds in Technicolor” later this month, in which she will help children to listen to and discover the musical potential in all kinds of objects. Using the colour in films as a source of inspiration, she will be helping participants create soundscapes for the films.
In June, composer, Brian Irvine, will be hosting workshops packed with musical experimentation, exploration and creation. Brian has written music for Film Four, Sesame Street, and RTÉ, and in these workshops he will use film to inspire participants to create their own outrageous and imaginative improvised musical ideas.
For full details of all the Lights, Camera, Music events taking place in The Ark, visit their website at www.ark.ie.
West of Ireland based singer/songwriter David Dee Moore has just launched his new CD titled ‘The sun, the moon, the stars… and other moving objects’ in Ireland on his own independent ‘Carrabawn’ label in CD format available on his website www.daviddeemoore.com. David Dee, originally from Belfast, is returning with a stunning collection of original songs that cross over from a country roots hybrid mix to catchy contemporary Irish melodies. Each song is delicately arranged with some of Ireland’s finest musicians hand-picked to play on the project.
