Tumbling down the heap

No Chorus: OPP: I was on the Asleep the Compost Heap Podcast

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:40:01 -0500

No Chorus: OPP: I was on the Asleep the Compost Heap Podcast: nochorus: Download episode from...

Can’t resist reblogging anything skrill

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:26:37 -0500

Can’t resist reblogging anything skrill

This is very funny but probably mad old. I found it in a...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:53:44 -0500

This is very funny but probably mad old. I found it in a pitchfork resident frequency column about bass in music.

too funny

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:39:33 -0500

too funny

Asleep on the Compost Heap Episode 1

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:35:00 -0500

Asleep on the Compost Heap Episode 1: Episode 1 has landed! Please do let me know if you like it. I...

Noveller’s Glacial Glow album is...

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:22:23 -0500

Noveller’s Glacial Glow album is fantastic.

cokemachineglow:

Noveller :: “Ends”
Album: Glacial Glow (Weird Forest/Saffron; 2011)

Follow this link for the asleep on the compost heap podcast tumblr

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:08:00 -0500

Follow this link for the asleep on the compost heap podcast tumblr:

http://podcastheap.tumblr.com/

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:59:31 -0500

http://podcastheap.tumblr.com/

Magic Flying Nun stuff

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 06:01:11 -0500

Magic Flying Nun stuff

handsomeyoungstranger: 10. Irish music in 2011 (How to win...

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:11:37 -0500

handsomeyoungstranger:

10. Irish music in 2011 (How to win friends and influence people)

Everything above was released in 2011 and is interesting, worth listening to, and Irish. I’m hoping that things I’ve written count for more by way of endorsement than a photo of stuff does, but it’s a helpful illustration: another ton of interesting, independent music has come out of Ireland in the last year, and it seems set to continue. Which is great.

The lack of discourse around it isn’t great, though, and it’s making me uneasy. Ideally, the music comes first and it’s Irish second, but not all of it reaches a critical audience beyond Ireland. Within Ireland, the culture of music writing (about Irish music) is dominated by the news cycle, by streams and releases and synopses. There’s exceptions, and sometimes there’s even good exceptions - it would be rude not to single out Those Geese Were Stupefied, especially Karl’s Interview Project as a whole - but there’s an awful lot of “here’s this, and it’s good”.

“Here’s this, and it’s good” serves the bands pretty well (and the bands are nice and will often link back), and the news cycle is a useful service to listeners, but it’s more like PR than music writing and when there’s music actually worth further consideration, it’s really selling it short. (The print media reviews are fine, but necessarily short, and though there are some good interviews with musicians, that too is coming from the band side more than the critical, so it’s not enough by itself.) ‘Curation’ is bullshit, angry-making bullshit that needs to stop - it’s an actual discipline and implies a level of research, interpretation, adaptation of the method of presentation, and cultural preservation, not just picking a series of things you like.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with the news cycle - it’s being done well and it’s popular for a reason - but it’s not enough on its own. I’m not sure where it’ll come from, but 2012 needs to bring some longer writing and deeper reviews.

—

CDs:

Seeping Into Cinemas - 100,000 Times

The Former Soviet Republic - The Former Soviet Republic Is Made Of This

Big Monster Love - Game Over

Land Lovers - Confidants

Goodly Thousands - s/t EP

Rhino Magic - Get Going

Popical Island #2

Cassettes:

Porn on Vinyl - Old Folks’ Home

Catscars/Test House - double split EP (Test House are from Brooklyn)

Charles Hurts - s/t mini-album

Quompilation #1 (#2 incoming)

Patrick Kelleher/School Tour - double split EP

The #1s - Italia ‘90

Tieranniesaur - Tieranniesaur!

7”:

Patrick Kelleher & Squarehead - Attention To Detail/Just A Tragedy

The Last Sound - Only The Lonely Know The Glow Is Failing/Turbochant

We Are Losers - Sunset Song b/w Cheerleader

Enemies - Coco et Moi (RSD 2011)

Squarehead - Midnight Enchilada

12”:

Girls Names - Dead To Me

Patrick Kelleher and His Cold Dead Hands - Golden Syrup

Sea Pinks - Peripheral Vision EP

Sea Pinks - Dead Seas

Squarehead - Yeah Nothing

(Notable things-I-only-have-digitally omissions: Ginnels, Hello Moon, ▲▲Last Days of 1984▲▲.)

—

20x2011 is an unordered list of things about music in 2011. (Incidentally, ‘Irish’ above is intended in a 32-county, Northern-and-Republic-of sense.)

Photo

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:37:03 -0500

The Christmas thought fox - I’m attempting to paint for...

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:38:56 -0500

The Christmas thought fox - I’m attempting to paint for the first time in years (11 years really).

Them's The Vagaries: #28 - The Cuckoo Clock of Doom

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:19:00 -0500

Them's The Vagaries: #28 - The Cuckoo Clock of Doom: themsthevagaries: Karl and Sean sit down and...

MACINTOSH PLUS - ” リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー “ mysterious...

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:50:43 -0500

MACINTOSH PLUS - ” リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー “

mysterious little ditty from the dying-computer/ melty 90s TV school of psychedelic art mush that produces stuff like James Ferraro.

from wolfpupy

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:08:38 -0500

from wolfpupy

My friend and I had seats for RTE’s front line show...

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:41:00 -0500

My friend and I had seats for RTE’s front line show earlier tonight. The discussion, about emigration, didn’t really take off. Sadly, we didn’t get to ask our questions (above).

Poo-powered machinery

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 11:07:50 -0500

Poo-powered machinery: It’s like something out of Myles na gCopaleen except they’re...

The Guardian review had a piece today where writers and artists...

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 10:59:00 -0500

The Guardian review had a piece today where writers and artists designed alternate bank notes as a sort of clever visual feature to go along with a semantic essay about money.

Anne Enright had a go at Irish money and came up with the brilliant design above…

our old £20 with a prescient line from Yeats printed up the left hand side.

Classic front page on Ireland’s daily Star. My mate Adam...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:31:27 -0500

Classic front page on Ireland’s daily Star. My mate Adam posted this on Facebook, immediately initiating a funny game of alternate headlines. These included ‘Selection Boxed’, ‘DECK the Halls’, ‘Christmas Punch’, and my personal favourite…’Season’s Beatings’.

Ian Maleny reactivating his blog ft-bt: “The universe works on...

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:28:39 -0500

Ian Maleny reactivating his blog

ft-bt:

“The universe works on a math equation that never even ever really ends in the end.
Infinity spirals out creation, we’re on the tip of its tongue.”

Been considering starting a new blog for my own sake recently, just to get some opinions out in a place that wouldn’t be disgracing any more established publication. Then I remembered this was already here and practically unused for its original intent so I figure we just carry on as if nothing has changed. Expect lots of half-formed opinions and ideas that don’t make much sense but just go around and around in my head all the time without solution. Really it’s just so I can post more Modest Mouse videos. If you know me personally, you’ll probably already know my Isaac Brock anecdote so I won’t recall it here.