The IMRO Podcast

On today’s episode we have an in-depth interview with the godfather of electronic music in Ireland, Roger Doyle. A composer, keyboardist and producer, he’s been writing music for over 50 years.

Starting in the Royal Irish Academy Of Music, he went on to develop his craft at the Dutch Institute Of Sonology and later the Finnish Radio Experimental Music Studio. His curiousity around new technology and recording techniques led him to using the Fairlight CMI - an early sampler and synthesizer that changed the course of modern music. In 1986, his group Operating Theatre released the single Spring Is Coming With A Strawberry In The Mouth. Although at the time of release the song didn’t have much impact, it's gone on to become a cult classic, with acclaimed US singer Caroline Polachek releasing a very popular cover of the song earlier this year. Naturally, we talk about this, and other compositions over the years, as well as Roger’s ceaseless appetite for writing new work. All featured songs are used to be kind permission and available to purchase on Roger Doyle's bandcamp page. His latest album We Who Live Under Heaven  was released on the 9th August.

Featured songs:

1. We Who Live Under Heaven (part 1)
https://rogerdoyle1.bandcamp.com/album/we-who-live-under-heaven

2. Cool Steel Army https://rogerdoyle1.bandcamp.com/album/cool-steel-army

3. Spring Is Coming With A Strawberry In The Mouth (Lopez/Doyle) https://rogerdoyle1.bandcamp.com/track/spring-is-coming-with-a-strawberry-in-the-mouth-doyle-l-pez

4. Coat Hanger Kisses https://rogerdoyle1.bandcamp.com/track/coat-hanger-kisses

5. Solar Eyes https://rogerdoyle1.bandcamp.com/track/solar-eyes

6. Finn-estra (Part 1): https://rogerdoyle1.bandcamp.com/track/fin-estra-part-1

7. We Who Live Under Heaven (part 1) https://rogerdoyle1.bandcamp.com/album/we-who-live-under-heaven

8. Paavo’s Engagement - https://rogerdoyle1.bandcamp.com/track/paavos-engagement

9. We Who Live Under Heaven (part 3) - https://rogerdoyle1.bandcamp.com/track/we-who-live-under-heaven-part-three

Caroline Polachek - Spring Is Coming (Cover): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p95zDvzO5Es

Stockhausen - Hymnen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV4Uy-3b0c8

Roger Doyle explains the CMI Fairlight in 1983: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4RjUIjHlFo

Roger Doyle performs Baby Grand on The Works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEKJD2Avda4

Today's episode of the IMRO Podcast is focused on We’ve Only Just Begun, the annual three night music festival, taking place in Whelan’s in Dublin, on the 8th, 9th and 10th of August.

The festival started in 2018, aims to platform female and non-binary musicians and over the years, its featured acts such as Pillow Queens, Soda Blonde, Sorcha Richardson to name but a few. This year’s lineup features 23 acts, across two stages, and ahead of the festival, Danny Carroll spoke with a couple of the acts performing this week, as well as the festival’s organiser Shauna Watson.

Coming up we’ll be hearing from DeCarteret, a singer from Co. Clare who likes to make lo-fi beats and classical music. We also have an interview with Stella & The Dreaming, an emerging, piano based singer-songwriter from Waterford.

You can find out more about the full line up and tickets at www.weveonlyjustbegun.ie

Tracks featured:

1. DeCarteret - Trip Me

2. Stella & The Dreaming - First Time

3. Stella & The Dreaming - A Short Ballad For Frankie And All That We Shared (in E Flat)

4. DeCarteret - Pray For You

5. DeCarteret - MYAEROPLANE

Follow Stella & The Dreaming here: https://www.instagram.com/stellaboooooooo/

Follow DeCarteret here: https://www.instagram.com/shortladydecarteret/

On today’s episode we’re focused on the provision of Artists Workspaces in Ireland.

Specifically, this episode was made in response to the recent Government initiative, providing €6 million euro in funding towards artist spaces nationwide.

The Pilot Scheme, in collaboration with Local Authorities intends to increase the stock of artist workspaces in cities and towns across the country.

Launching the initiative last month, Minister For The Arts Catherine Martin said “I have been acutely aware of the pressures that artists and creatives, including those in the electronic music sector, have faced in finding suitable workspaces”

This initiative follows on from the 2023 Dublin based Space To Create scheme, which will see the development of 60 artist workspaces in the capital and to find out more about what this will entail, Danny Carroll spoke to three people with a keen interest in how the initiative may benefit artists and communities and whether it goes far enough.

First off, we’re going to hear from Coilin O’Reilly. As well as being the Chief Executive of Carlow County Council, he’s the chair of the Rural Development, Community, Culture and Heritage Committee, also known as the RCCH.

Coilin was kind of enough to give some background on how the initiative came about and some of the practicalities of what it will entail.

Also giving us his perspective today is Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Sinn Fein TD and spokesperson on the Arts.  Aengus is of the opinion that the initiative and 6 million euro put forward is “a modest amount”, and makes the case for more investment in the arts and its value to Irish society.

Finally, we hear from Dublin City Council’s Arts Officer, Ray Yeates. Ray represents one of the local authorities trying to source and redevelop spaces for use by artists.

For any musicians listening, wondering when they’ll be able to move into a workspace, it’s going to take a minute or two, but we hope you find this episode interesting in the meantime.

On this episode of the IMRO Podcast, we have an interview with the ambient lo-fi artist Hevi.

Hevi, is a Turkish musician and producer based in Istanbul. Since 2018, he’s been producing lo-fi hip hop inspired by themes of nighttime and nostalgia.

Currently he has over 519,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, and in this episode of the IMRO Podcast, he spoke to Danny Carroll about his musical journey.

From using a free trial of recording software with $5 earphones, to working 12 hour days in his family butcher shop, creating music in the wee small hours of the morning…
 
Featured Music:
Good Old Backyard
Snow
Solitude After A Party

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4vv1FFVqxnHyQFLmWxjizb?si=cGhtFuhDSPG0QCnXrHleEA

Today have the third and penultimate conversation from our Label Focus mini-series presented by Zara Hedderman. So far we’ve heard from Willie Stewart of Nyahh Records and Joey Edwards from Pizza Pizza Records and in this episode, you’ll hear Zara speaking with Michael Roe, label and artist manager with Faction Records. 

Faction Records is coming close to reaching a massive milestone of 20 years in business after it was founded by Ken Allen in 2006. You may remember a compilation CD from around that time called Faction One and featured bands like Director, The Immediate, Republic of Loose and Future Kings of Spain amongst others. Today, populating Faction’s roster of artists are a number of firm favourites with critics and audiences such as Sorcha Richardson, Niamh Regan, Martin Hayes, and Jape. 

Over the course of the chat Michael delved into the many ways that the industry is changing and how he and his colleagues at Faction work with their artists to develop their careers and prepare them to build their audience base and engage with international markets. In this regard, the conversation explores different elements of the business-side of the artist-label relationship and how important it is to have a plan but also not fear failure along the way. Zara and Michael discuss the impact of artists self-releasing their music and how that’s changing the overall landscape and the importance of the relationships artists build with various media outlets and journalists. 

We’ll have another episode, the final one in this series, very soon, but until then, here’s Michael Roe of Faction Records.

Keep up to date on Faction Records here:
https://www.instagram.com/factionmusicie

Music featured:

Annamoe Drive - Procrastination
https://anamoedrive.bandcamp.com/track/procrastination

Niamh Regan - Madonna
https://niamhregan.bandcamp.com/track/madonna

Séan Joyce - My Face
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrE9V3Ccs7I

In this episode of the IMRO Podcast, we report back from the Music Current Festival 2024.

Music Current is an annual contemporary music festival produced by Dublin Sound Lab, and taking place in the Project Arts Centre and Contemporary Music Centre in Temple Bar. The festival showcases contemporary Irish and new international electronic music as well facilitating workshops, professional development classes and public panel discussions.

This years festival took place in April and Danny Carroll spoke to some of the people involved as well as doing a bit of interactive volunteering.

Over the course of the next half hour we will hear from  the festival director Fergal Dowling, the Irish sound artist and performer Lara Gallagher, and Pieter Mathhynssens, the co-artistic director of Nadar Ensemble, a Belgian contemporary music ensemble, that Danny performed with during the festival.

0:00 - Danny Carroll intro

1:18 - Fergal Dowling Interview

7:40 - Lara Gallagher Interview

15:45 - Nadar Ensemble rehearsal and interview with Pieter Mathhynssens

Featured music:

Tak Ensemble - Mouthpiece 28 (composed by Erin Gee) and featured on the Oor:

Eryk Salvaggio - Flowers Blooming Backwards Into Noise:

Lara Gallagher - Leap Of Foals

Nadar Ensemble - Drie (rehearsal audio) - composed by Serge Verstockt

Lara Gallagher - https://laragallagher.art/
Nadar Ensemble - https://nadarensemble.be/
Music Current - https://www.musiccurrent.ie/2024/

On today's episode we’re bringing you the second installment of a mini-series of conversations from Zara Hedderman that explore the various practicalities, challenges and, of course, the joys of running a record label in Ireland. In the first episode, we heard from Leitrim-based Willie Stewart of Nyahh Records, who shared great insights into the label’s catalog and more, since that episode has come out there’s been announcements of exciting forthcoming releases to come from Nyahh so do keep an ear out for them!

Today, we make the journey (in our imaginations, at least)  from Leitrim to County Louth, parking up in Dundalk where we’ll hear from Joey Edwards - co-founder of Pizza Pizza Records, sound engineer extraordinaire and musician in his own right. Founded in 2018, Pizza Pizza Records, is an independent artist-led label, and it struck gold with its inaugural release Wednesday, the critically acclaimed and Choice Prize nominated debut from Just Mustard. That album not only announced Just Mustard as an act that audiences outside of Ireland were getting excited about, but it immediately asserted Pizza Pizza Record’s reputation of a label working with the best in Ireland’s independent acts up and down the country and certainly one worthy of being bookmarked to keep up with the buzzing  independent scene. Today, the label’s roster has expanded to include Clara Tracey, Elaine Malone, Trick Mist, The Altered Hours, and Larry and Elephant.

In this episode, Zara and Joey talk about Wednesday’s impact on Pizza Pizza Records and the initial period of operating as a label, how they maintained momentum and how things progressed from that first offering. Notably, Just Mustard have since signed to Partisan Records – with Fontaines DC and Aoife Nessa Frances as labelmates – and Joey, who co-manages the band, reflects on the ways that working with Partisan has inspired different ways to keep Pizza Pizza going sustainably while keeping audiences engaged. In this regard, community and connection – aside from providing a platform for excellent independent Irish artists - were two things Joey kept circling back on when discussing the label’s evolution and the general DIY climate both locally and abroad. We touched on the role of physical media given Pizza Pizza’s viny-forward MO and its importance within the foundation of DIY communities whether it’s finding like-minded people in local record shops or in the queue at the merch table after a gig. You never know where a conversation will take you!

Thanks so much for joining us again, and for all your wonderful feedback on the Nyahh Records conversation, it’s greatly appreciated. We hope you enjoy learning about Pizza Pizza Records in this episode and maybe afterwards are inspired to set up your own independent label. We’ll be back soon, but until then, here’s Joey Edwards of Pizza Pizza Records.

Featured songs:

Larry - Liar
https://larrymusic.bandcamp.com/album/larry

Just Mustard - Deaf
https://justmustard.bandcamp.com/album/wednesday

Elaine Malone - My Baby's Dead (Redux)
https://elainemalone.bandcamp.com/album/pyrrhic

0:00 - Zara Hedderman intro link

3:20 - Pizza Pizza Origin and Joey’s background in music

11:00 - Label Model or inspiration

13:00 - First release, Just Mustard’s debut album Wednesday

19:30 Co-managing Just Mustard, learning from other industry experts

25:30 - Changes since Pizza Pizza began in 2018

27:10 - Vinyl focus for the label

33:20 - Creating a sense of community via records

35:30 - Discussion on streaming and valuing music

38:10 - Elaine Malone

43:45 - Advice for other people considering starting a record label 

On today’s episode, we are focused on something different - an initiative first started in February 2019, called ‘Me & My Music’  

‘Me & My Music’ brings together Musicians and Students in secondary schools across the country

The workshop series teaches students the fundamentals of songwriting and allows them to create an original composition over the course of a school day.

They also get the chance to meet a professional songwriter and learn more about the music industry and their creative process.

In recent months, songwriter and educator Luan Parle has been hosting these workshops and I caught up with her (and her special guests) in a couple of schools to find out more.

So, over the course of this episode you will be hearing from Luan and the music students at St. David’s in Greystones, we meet the Wicklow singer-songwriter Anna-Mieke, we speak with the students at Loreto school in Dalkey, and also hear from musician Ronan Kealy, better known to you and I as Junior Brother.

0:00 - Danny Carroll intro link

1:30 - Luan & St. David’s Class writing a song

8:30 - Anna Mieke interview and performance

(featured songs Seraphim, Warped Window)

 https://annamieke.bandcamp.com/music

18:40 - Junior Brother Interview and performance

(featured songs Good Friday, Hungover At Mass)

 https://juniorbrother.bandcamp.com/music

22:15 - Students at Loreto Dalkey

23:20 - Niamh Penston, teacher at Loreto Dalkey

In the first of a series of interviews focused on Irish record labels, today Zara Hedderman brings us an in-depth chat with Willie Stewart of Nyahh Records.

Based in County Leitrim, Willie Stewart started Nyahh Records in 2021 and it’s described as a “home for sound collectors, noise makers and music builders”. A musician and member of Woven Skull, a filmmaker and no stranger to working within the realm of record labels having operated the Hypnagogic Tapes label, Stewart has been connected to and steeped in Ireland’s underground scene for several years and has become an leading figure in illuminating and spreading the tremendous music being made by artists working within this immersive world via Nyahh.

Wille spoke to Zara about what led to the label’s inception and explored some of the fascinating releases that have come out such as Ian Lynch’s debut solo album as One Leg One Eye, which is a truly captivating body of work that completely transports you right from the moment you step into it. And that transportative quality is omnipresent across the various releases and is something that connects them. Whether it’s the compilations covering Sean Nos singing or experimental music in Ireland between the ‘60s and ‘90s taking audiences to different eras or the wonderful collaborations between Natalia Beylis & Eimear Reidy inviting you to wander through vast and intricately detailed sonic settings, Nyahh’s releases are not only enjoyable to listen to, but they feel essential in what they open the audience to.

In this episode, we hear about the continued interest in Ireland’s underground artists - past, present and future, and consider the elements that have ignited a curiosity amongst audiences. Willie speaks about the passion and process involved in creating the brilliant compilations that the label have put out and  the debut album from Mohammad Syfkhan called I Am Kurdish, which has been critically acclaimed both in Ireland and in international music press and a lot more in between. 

Songs featured in this episode:

1. Mohammed Syfkhan - I Am Kurdish
2. One Leg One Eye - Bold And Undaunted Youth
3. Michael Frank Ó Confhaola - Róisín Dubh
4. Roger Doyle - Tape Piece One

All songs featured can be streamed & purchased via the Nyahh Records bandcamp page: https://nyahhrecords.bandcamp.com/music

You can stay up to date on future Nyahh Records releases and events on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nyahh_records/

On today's episode of the IMRO Podcast we're delighted to bring you an in-depth interview with Moonchild Sanelly.

For the uninitiated, Moonchild is a South African singer, songwriter and designer, one of the biggest in fact - she's collaborated with everyone from Beyoncé to Gorillaz, developing a sound she’s dubbed 'Future Ghetto Funk'.

Originally from Port Elizabeth, Moonchild grew up in a musical family - her parents loving jazz, her brother a hip-hop producer, and her cousins were kwaito dancers

She moved to Durban, where she studied fashion, becoming known as a designer and spoken word artist performing in the cities poetry scene, before later moving to Johannesburg, and establishing herself as one of the most popular voices in South African music.

She’s released two albums to date, with work on her third album nearly complete and in a wide-ranging conversation with Danny Carroll, she spoke about the craft of commercially successful songwriting, collaborations new and old, finding her way in the music industry, plans for the future and much more beyond all that.

1:33 Most recent feature work
4:10 Recording her new album abroad with Johan Hugo (Self Esteem, Mumford & Sons, M.I.A)
7:50 Key themes of her new album
09:10 Collaborating with Self Esteem
10:00 Moonchild’s passion for collaboration, participating in songwriting camps
16:10 Moonchild’s early experience in poetry scenes and studying fashion and finding her sound
21:45 Family influence
25:00 What’s inspiring Moonchild now?
25:30 Moonchild on Damon Albarn
26:20 Learning from Beyonce and being an independent musician
27:30 Establishing an identity, moving to Johannesburg and protecting her look
28:30 Rejecting defeatist mentality
31:30 Anxiety that comes with success
35:00 How to disappear in a crowd
36:20 Importance of Moonchild’s sewing machine and manifesting
39:30 Female empowerment and women in South African society
40:50 Lineage of defiant South Afrian singers making an impact
42:20 Writing for sync and collaboration
43:30 Signature vocal
44:40 Being conscious of her audience and writing hooks
47:05 Influence and impact of her music and representation
49:15 How to sonnetise your emotion - distilling emotion into hooks. Not fearing being commercial
54:30 Writing about relationships
56:50 Reflecting on past experiences in songs
61:50 Plans to make the moon shine bigger 

Featured songs: Demon, Red Eye

Follow Moonchild on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moonchildsanelly
Stream and purchase her music here: https://moonchildsanelly.ochre.store/