Candy* The TechnoLogic Issue. September / October 2005.
Candy* *Truffle hunting the world over just to keep you informed.
Front cover. Still from ‘Ex-Fat Girl: Fitness Video’. Directed by Mariko Takahashi. For more information visit http://www.resfest.com
This page. Illustration by eBoy.
-----------------------Upfront. -----------------------B+. Bodytonic. Build. Chequerboard. Chymera. DATA. D1 Recordings. DEAF 2005. A guide to Irish electronic music. Delicious 9. eBoy. I Am An Exit. James Murphy (DFA). Jimmy Behan. Lovely Productions. Peter Maybury. Playbeast. Redman AKA. Regular Product. Resfest. Richie Hawtin. Rinzen. SiSi. Trust Me, I’m a Thief. Tado. Wildlight. -----------------------Upcoming. -----------------------Competitions. Watchlist. Sites for sore eyes. Sweet sounds. -----------------------Candy is an bi-monthly independently produced digital magazine. All informations and visuals contained within this document remain the copyright of the creators, they are simply being shown for the purpose of presentation. Should any credits be wrong, please contact us and we’ll set it right next issue. ©2005 Me&Eye www.meandeye.com
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Introduction.
What an exciting few months it’s been. Candy2 went out in mid July and received great positive feedback and as a result the subscription list has ballooned which is deadly. Issue 3 sees us try it all over again with even more content from Ireland and around the world so hopefully we’ll keep you happy right to the very end. Also upcoming we’ve got the very Candy event taking place here in Dublin with Angry, Frankenstyles, Oliver Jeffers and Tado all dropping in to show us their wares!! More information on that follows in the coming pages, hopefully you can make it along.
Back to the magazine, this issue is a showcase of people who use technology to carry out their creative vision and intentions (Techno-Logic... get it?!). Whether it’s spreading their message, creating online communities, challenging media delivery or simply doing exceptional work that has technology at it’s core the following will hopefully give you a sense of the unbelievable work going on in this ickle planet of ours. These are people for whom machines are another tool of expression, not a limitation dictated by the manufacturer’s handbook. This issue sees a few design tweaks, including a smaller font due to there being a lot more content than the previous issues. If you have any comments on this or anything within the magazine, good or bad (we can take it), please fire it through, we want to make sure this chick flies and goes hunting some pigeons. Hope you enjoy. Richard. richard.seabrooke@dynamo.ie
This page. Illustration by Tado.
Contributors.
Aidan Kelly. Aidan Kelly is a creative chameleon involved with Candy since day one. A DJ satisfying Dublin punters for over a decade, Aidan also has been responsible for much of the changing cityscape through his photography and his longstanding relationship with Redman AKA who’s featured in this issue. For this issue Aidan both interviewed and shot the legend that is Eamonn Doyle of D1 Recordings. Since it’s inception one of Candy’s aims was to get an interview with Eamonn/D1 and we’re delighted with the results. More at http://www.aidan-kelly.com
Kate Butler. Kate Butler is another media might to be reckoned with. Not only has she got her own Can’t Live Without show on Dublin’s Power FM radio station but she also writes for The Sunday Times and is involved with D1 Recordings / DEAF in their promotional and media excursions. For this issue, Candy commissioned Kate to compile what she saw as the essential records of the Irish electronic scene so far. The results are in and make great reading but even better listening. To check out Kate on the airwaves click http://www.powerfm.org/ quick!
Arveene. Arveene is one of Dublin’s hardest working DJs running successful clubs like Nylon, Clampdown and guesting just about everywhere else. During daylight too there’s no let-up for him as he’s heavily involved with Red Bull’s music academy programme and it’s through this he’s represented for Ireland an many national and international events, including last year’s Sonar festival in Barcelona. For this issue, Arveene interviewed James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem.
Mark Murphy. Mark Murphy the founder of ChoiceCuts, one of Dublin’s most consistent and respected promoters. Since coming back from the States where he got to hang out with the hip hop elite, Mark and his recruits have pushed the perception and profile of many artists who would otherwise have not got any exposure on these and, more recently, European shores. For this issue Mark got to speak one to one with B+, a Limerick entrenched with some of the world’s leading hip hop fraternity for over 10 years. For more on Mark and the ChoiceCuts empire best get yourself over to http://www.choicecutsonline.com
Asbestos. Also featured in Candy’s premiere issue (and soon to be featured again as one page just ain’t enough), Asbestos has been responsible for some of the most interesting street art this side of London’s Brick Lane. For this issue he has interviewing the Sheffield Superstars that are Tado and from the sounds of it, they had a whole load of fun. For more on Asbestos, best to check this month’s Totally Dublin as Candy’s got an interview with the man himself in there. Otherwise get yourself over to http://www.theartofasbestos.com Desy Balmer. Desy Balmer started off DJing in his native Belfast in the early 90s, inspired by Holmes, McReady, Glen Molloy and Robbie Nelson. He set up Nice & Nasty records in 1992. Since then has released music with a host of Irish and International dance aficionados, such as Matthew Bushwacka, Agnelli & Nelson and Derek Carr. He has been one of Ireland's dedicated underground DJs sticking to infectious techno grooves, deep house and acid house. As a writer he cut his teeth with Bassline/BBm and has since been a prominent figure with M8 (Scotland). He struck a nerve among Irish media with his own project Hold it Down in 2005. For a complete, albeit biased, point of view go to: http://www.niceandnasty.net For this issue Desy got to speak to the one and only Richie Hawtin, a man that needs no introduction.
Michael McDermott. Michael is one half of the team who have brought the revered Mór Festival to life. Aimed at the other end of social spectrum than the likes of Oxegen, Mór brought together some of the best respected stars from leftfield electronica and aural pleasures alongside some of the many innovators in motion graphics for well-received festivals which ran in 2003 and 2004, aswell as having Little Mór’s throughout the year in Dublin. In his other life Michael is responsible for marketing bands like Bloc Party, Stereophonics, Chromeo and The Rakes in his position at V2 Records. For this issue Michael got to profile Halfset, a band who’s album was giving a mention in issue 1 but we’ve been itching to follow up on since. For more on Mór check http:///www.morfestival.com
Candy would like to take this opportunity to thank each one of the contributors for their work, without them the mag wouldn’t be what it is! Cheers.
: SPEAKERS
. Y R OM G N A SOCIATES.C S -A Y R G N .A WWW ES. L Y T S N E K N A R S.COM F NKENSTYLE A R .F W W W . S R E F F E J ERJER V I L O FFERS.COM E V LI WWW.O . O D A T O.UK .C O WWW.TAD DS: UNGE SOUN FUTURE LO . L L I R E V A ON KLASH.IE J WWW.BAC
Candy in association with IDI and supported by Bombay Sapphire presents SweetTalk, an evening of creative chit chat and a good oldfashioned Show&Tell. Get comfy.
4 DAME LANE, DUBLIN. WEDNESDAY 5TH OCTOBER 2005. DOORS 7PM / FIRST SPEAKER 7.30PM. ADMISSION: 5 EURO / LIMITED TO 200 PEOPLE. DRINKS RECEPTION BY BOMBAY SAPPHIRE. LUCKY BAGS FOR EARLY ARRIVERS.
Candy magazine is now available to download at www.backlash.ie To subscribe simply email richard.seabrooke@dynamo.ie Photography & illustration by Aidan Kelly www.aidan-kelly.com
Upfront.
Brian Cross (B+) hails from Limerick but resides in Los Angeles. For the last 15 years he has documented the LA underground music scene and has been heavily involved in its development. In 1990 he went to Los Angeles to study photography at the California Institute of the Arts. While at CalArts he began work on a project entitled “It's Not about a Salary: Rap Race and Resistance” which was subsequently published by Verso Books in 1993. It was nominated as a Rolling Stone Music Book of the Year and made many critics' best book of the year list.
B+. http://www.mochilla.com/ ‘Keepintime” is available now from Ninja Tune. Buy it direct at http://www.ninjatune.net/ninjashop/shopnews.php or http://www.mochilla.com/keepintime/store.htm
B+.
His book 'It’s Not About A Salary' gave the reader an excellent insight into LA's burgeoning Hip Hop scene and culture. People from Ice-T, Eazy E, Ice Cube, Dre and Cypress Hill all feature in this overview on the different ideals, views each crew represented and their relationship with Hip Hop culture at the time. This was also a time of high racial tension in LA and it not only is a great read, but a massive insight into the artists view on life in Los Angeles. The book is currently out of edition and can fetch up to 400 euro on Ebay Since the publication of the book, B+ has continued to work in the L.A. hip-hop community. His first album cover work was for the Freestyle Fellowship (Inner City Griots). Since then he has done an estimated one hundred more for artists from Mos Def, RZA, Cappadonna, Q-Tip, Eazy E, Los Super Seven, Long Beach Dub All-Stars, Ozomatli, Jurrassic 5, Dilated Peoples, DJ Shadow, Company Flow, Blackalicious, Money Mark, David Axelrod, South Central Cartel, Warren G, Yusef Lateef and Yesterday's New Quintet. He was the photo editor of Larry Flint's ill-fated yet highly influential Rappages magazine from 1993-1997. >>
In 1995 his video for DJ Shadow’s ‘Midnight in a Perfect World' brought Brian's talent to a worldwide audience, the video is sequenced perfectly with DJ Shadows melancholic masterpiece - Earl Palmer (session drummer for the likes of Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Duane Eddy, Frank Sinatra, the Monkees, Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Otis, Neil Young and Elvis Costello) featured in the video and it inspired Brian to come up with the idea of putting 4 session drummers from 30 years ago to get together in a room with a group of deejays who are on top of their game and were familiar with the drummers work through drum samples featured on Hip Hop tracks thus the idea for Keep In Time came about. Paul Humphrey, James Gadson, Derf Reklaw etc in a room with Cut Chemist, JRocc, Babu, Madlib, Nu Mark. This was documented in the film and it resulted in an amazing live performance that shook Los Angeles Art and Music scene and sent ripples out across the globe. When NWA, House of Pain, The Pharcyde, Cypress Hill came out, B was there, When DJ Shadow, Quannum, Jurassic 5 came out, B was there, taking photos, exchanging ideas, documenting the work. New Labels like Stones Throw, Tres, Mochilla etc come out and B+ is right there providing his slant on things, taking photo's, discussing music and supporting all the artists' creativity. Truly, one of Ireland’s most elevated artists, his legacy has brought together many up and coming artists and his follow up to Keep In Time, Brasil In Time should be another world of music B lets the world have an insight into. The following are some excerpts from an interview between Brian and Mark Murphy of Choice Cuts… Words by Mark Murphy.
All images by B+.
The idea for Keep In Time, when did it strike that it would be an exciting project to undertake? In and around 1995/6, I came up with the idea for a photo shoot, a photo story if you will of the drummers from back in the day coming together in a room. Getting them altogether and the time involved was a hassle. Billy Higgins told me the only way that I should do it was to pay the drummers, pay them for their time. It took us 4 years before we got the financing for it and in 1999 a magazine called Tokion gave us the money to go ahead with the shoot, but in 4 years things change. There must have been a good bit of organizing, a bit of a generation gap between both collectives; did the deejays and drummers hit it off from the start? Yeah, the organizing was long, a lot of waiting, but definitely worth it. Everyone was cool, they are all musicians who like to meet new people, but after the initial introductions the drummers stuck to themselves and the deejays likewise, there was a generation gap, nothing major, but there was a void. A key moment that broke all this down was when Cut Chemist started to freestyle with them and Jrocc started freestyling with doubles of Cannonball Adderley's 'Humpin' these were the moments that made me go Wow! - This is the shit. It's the shit that is impromptu that lights up the room (everyone sparked together), like for instance the other night we had a party with the Brazilian Samba School and Madlib was about to spin on the turntables and Eric Coleman (Mochilla Partner) jumped on and we had drumming and turntables going side by side, the Brazilian samba players don't usually go for this thing, but this was something special unrehearsed - it was a trip. The trick was to get them all to play, create this raw energy in the room, no rehearsals, minimal sound checking and this was where the synergy was.
All images by B+.
The video for DJ Shadow's 'Midnight in a Perfect World' What influenced you making this? A lot of thought and brainstorming went in to Midnight in A Perfect World, initially I had my own ideas and Shadow had his, every couple of days we would meet up to discuss them further and go and check out videos, films etc for inspiration. Then one day Shadow said that we couldn't do the video right unless we have mistakes. The samples that Shadow would use in general were more often than not, a section in the recording that might have a glitch or was a unique moment in the recording, this had a radical implication on how we approached the video, Josh articulated this point and we were also fortunate enough to have Eric Zumbrenan as our editor, he made beats, and went to become Spike Jonze's editor on 'Being John Malkovich' and had a great knowledge of beat making, he understood where each sample was assigned to on the MPC so he used this knowledge to great effect when editing, he did a great job and still works with Spike to this day. >>
Another interesting point to mention is while we were shooting the video to 'Midnight in A Perfect World' we only played the original samples he used to make the track, not the Shadow track. We were fortunate that the record was already huge outside of America and the US record label gave us a decent budget and full creative control. It has now gone onto become a cult video where MTV/VH1 and the likes use it to explain sampling to their audiences. We were also heavily influenced by Syd Barrett's First Trip (Pink Floyd) a film he made in Art College, we liked the idea of using every format we could get our hands on, dodgy 80's formats, bad video tape, battery powered super 8, black & white etc. What music are you checking for at the moment? A lot of the LA stuff coming out and material that has not dropped yet is the stuff I'm really excited about. Anything with MFDoom, Madlib, J- Dilla, some Silhouette Brown from London, the new Roy Ayer's LP is a great listen. Also on current rotation are stuff like Sa Ra Creative Partners (Ubiquity). Labels like our own Mochilla, other labels like Kajmere, Stones Throw - these guys are all working hard putting out quality music. The Platinum Pied Pipers their LP is dope also, they had a female vocalist Georgia who features on 2 tracks on the PPP album, she sounds similar to Bjork, she also makes her own beats, which is cool. Lots of stuff going on in LA at the moment, I'm glad to be around it all, it's exciting as it is all under the radar of the mass media at moment, but some of it is definitely going to blow up. From feedback I have gotten from Irish designers / photographers / artists you are very much an inspiration to them. What is your motivation? My motivation is something I arrived on back in the mid - late 1990's, myself and Eric Coleman had worked with many people by this stage, I would be more schooled in the Arts, he would be more intellectual about his work. After many discussions about our work we came to the idea that if the equipment did not fit in the backpack (Mochilla is Spanish for backpack), we don't do the shoot. There are so many photographs to be taken, by having a limited amount of equipment, it forced us to see what's there, what can we shoot, as opposed to the standard post production process and generating a false reality. We wanted to have our own style, just like in hip hop culture, artists want their identity - we just want to capture great photos. We were also lucky in that we were able to set up a colour printing studio in the basement and learn about colour schemes, which has helped out work and defined our style. >> All images by B+.
In the mid to late 90's Eric and myself came up with our principles for photography work. We asked ourselves what was important to us about photography, what was the spark? The mistakes are! A critical Danish film maker called Lars Von Triers, his crew had rules for making films like 1/ use only natural light 2/only use a certain amount of equipment 3/ you cant overdub 4/ you can’t overproduce - These little things came to mind while we were thinking about our style. Your career path should not be measured on the money you make, Charlie Parker changed music forever but died with nothing, but he made a huge impact and difference in the world, people like John Coltrane, these guys left their legacy in the form of their craft, they contributed to their art, they did not have to compete, that's what separated them from the rest, its great to influence people or be influenced, but there is a line between being influenced and mimicking and everyone should understand this. Obviously, if someone is influenced heavily by your work, then this is the biggest compliment you can receive, but to bite his or her work is a different story. There have also been many dark moments for us, the fact we were being shown love from all the artists and people who mattered to us is great, but while we received all this kudos from the artists we loved and respected, we were being shown no love professionally, people were directly and indirectly biting our style. I love photography. I have worked with the likes of Freestyle Fellowship, Mos Def, Missy Elliot, Wu Tang, Easy E, this is all great when these artists approach you because they respect your work and would like to involve you in one of their projects, but it was always something I never chased down. If they want me to work - cool, but I am not going to go out and sell myself to them, thus other commercial photographers would get their foot in the door for projects, but this is here nor there; like with most things I prefer to take a still in a room of a few unknowns, rather than take photos of people that already are photographed everywhere - it's not my thing, it's the little moments when you catch a photo you didn't expect. You can understand why you take photographs; they are the ones that motivate me - trying to capture the moment.
All images by B+.
The new film Brasilintime is just finished- when is this scheduled for release? What are your plans for this project? Brasilintime will be finished for Sundance, we will do a few limited private screenings to help get the project into more festivals, then we will get to work on the remix LP which will be a great project, the film itself is a 2 hour feature length - but a documentary as opposed to a movie; it is Essayistic as opposed to being a Linear documentary, it goes off in tangents, intersects with certain sections with the film, similar to a Prince Paul LP (laughing) it is basically an insight into the correlation between American and Brasilian music.
Choice Cuts. www.choicecutsonline.com
Mark Murphy (DJ Scope) is from Dublin and has been promoting music for six years and DJing for seven. His influences range from Jazzy Jeff and Kenny Dope to Kate Bush and he incorporates these various influences into his DJ sets, which are never less than eclectic and the ethos of his own musical style incorporates his loves of break beat, hip-hop, soul, reggae, funk and disco. He spent a couple of years working, digging and DJing in both San Francisco and New York (1999 and 2000) before returning to Ireland to set up something of his own. Choice Cuts has now gone from strength to strength and is well known for its approach to bringing quality music and culture to the masses.
In Mark's career so far as a DJ he has supported acts such as; DJ Shadow, Basement Jaxx, Jungle Brothers, Jazzy Jeff, Groove Armada, Breakestra, Quantic Soul Orchestra, The Rebirth, Q-bert, Massive Attack and Cut Chemist. He has also played in most major clubs in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, either as a residency or through promoting his own club night as a guest. International gigs have seen him return to Los Angeles to play the legendary Funky Sole and The Rootdown Hip-Hop club as well as playing in London, Manchester, Gothenburg and New York. Mark's ability as a DJ is well known, but in the past few years he has also taken to promoting the music he loves and in doing this has become a mentor for other up and coming DJ's as well as being the Irish representative and contact of the international DMC organisation. Mark has also run the Irish DMC's for three years and this year will see the competition making a much anticipated visit to Cork, the European Capital of Culture for 2005. Mark and Choice Cuts have now become synonymous with quality music. Some of the artist's Mark has nurtured a relationship with, promoted and brought over to Ireland include; The Quantic Soul Orchestra, Alice Russell, Breakestra, Qbert, Percee P, The Rebirth, Lord Finesse, Beat Junkies, Andy Smith and MonkOne to name only a few.
Lord Finesse rocks Choice Cuts.
His interest in hip-hop culture and quality music has also extended to running workshops. In 2004, he developed the 'Cutting Edge' programme with Loughlin McSweeney (another integral part of Choice Cuts) at the Festival of World Cultures in Dublin. The programme consisted of a series of interactive presentations and production workshops relating to the art of DJ'ing. As well as that, they presented a history of DJ'ing and screened international documentaries. Mark also writes and has contributed various articles and commentary to publications such as The Irish Times and The Event Guide and is working on various projects for 2005 including a special presentation of the documentary 'Keepintime' with LA-based Irish photographer Brian Cross (B+) at the end of August in Dublin. Projects such as these are testament to Mark's enduring ability and respect in his field.
Bodytonic. http://www.bodytonicmusic.com http://www.backlash.ie http://www.pogo-dublin.com http://www.discotonic.com
The Bodytonic crew. Who needs the Dream Boys.
Left. Garnier at the Bodytonic Arena at this year’s Electric Picnic, the best arena if the chatter on music forums is to believed. Here’s the next year, hopefully the sore head’ll be cleared by then...
Jack may have built house but these guys are adding the extension. With a deep understanding of their customers, a keen eye for detail and a scary amount of passion and energy this Dublin crew have rewritten the clubbing code over the last 4 years. Like any great Irish endeavour, Bodytonic got started over a couple of pints in a pub. Founder Trevor O’Shea (aka Tayor) was in a Russells in Ranelagh, nursing a sore head with a few mates and decided to set up his own night in 2001. A toss of a coin between Swerve or Bodytonic decided the name, and there and then Bodytonic Music was born. So they were lucky from the start! The initial year or so was a bit of a rollercoaster, within 6 months Bodytonic already had 2 weekly club nights (one at the world famous Kitchen nightclub of U2 fame) and were hosting events in London, Belgium and Chicago. However around this time, late bars were introduced into Dublin, killing off a lot of clubs, culminating in the closure of The Kitchen.
At the beginning Bodytonic was essentially a house party. They used to hold gigs in pubs, cafes, boats, beaches – anywhere they could really. Now though, Bodytonic Music currently run 4 weekly clubnights (Backlash, Bodytonic, Pogo & Scribble), various one-offs (Discotonic and B.A.N.), are involved with various festivals, host various weekly web radio shows, run various websites, host the dance tent annually at Electric Picnic and dj frequently across Ireland, the UK and Europe. They've also started a bi-monthly in Sydney in Australia and have plans to start hosting events in London and New York in 2006. Their Backlash clubnight, set up in 2004 (see Candy2) has went on to become a phenomenon in Dublin clubbing regularly selling out before 12 o’clock every Thursday night. They even persuaded Jacques Lu Cont to play one of his first gigs in 2 years at the club - afterwards he proclaimed it one of the best gigs he ever played. Erol Alkan is rumoured to be booking himself in to play a gig soon, the cheek eh?!!
For the next year or so, Bodytonic travelled a nomadic path of countless venues, with varying degress of success (ie, little & none!!). However it was along the way that Tayor met a lot of the people that are crucial to Bodytonic today. People like John Mahon (organiser), Stephen Flynn (web designer), Jon Averill (graphic designer), Eoin Cregan and many many more now all form an integral part of the operation. Bodytonic is very much a team operation and is run on the basis that no-one person is bigger than the club. Hence why people tend to name-check the group as opposed to individuals. Tayor’s big into his football analogies…
Following on from that came POGO in 2005 at the POD complex in Dublin. Essentially 3 clubs in 1, POGO was an instant success (a first for Bodytonic!). With all sorts of music every week in the club, POGO has been hailed by the likes of DJ T and Ian Pooley as been one of the best nights in Europe at the moment – particularly paying compliments to POGO's electric atmosphere. Everything from breaks & bands to electro & hip-hop is played at the club each week and month. What’s also amazing is these guys show no signs of slowing down. What started off as a fledgling house night in a pub with 50 mates has now become a rapidly expanding music and media company with interests in all aspects of new and fresh underground music & media. Across all their events you’ll hear anything from drum’n’bass, breaks and hip-hop, to synthpop, deep house and funky techno. They’ve even started a monthly night catering for the best in local and international rock, punk and indie music.
Over the last 3 years Bodytonic have had a wide range of acts across the board play at their parties such as Laurent Garnier, Derrick Carter, DJ Sneak, Theo Parrish, Mylo, Erol Alkan, DJ Format, Calibre, Jori Hulkkonen, Jacques Lu Cont, Mark Farina, Who Made Who, Supersystem, Optimo DJ’s, Brett johnson, Ben Watt, Freeform Five, Blackstrobe, Gilles Peterson, Mr. Scruff, Greg Wilson, Unabombers, Yousef, Charles Webster and many, many more. Bodytonic Music now counts almost 50 people in its ranks from djs, graphic designers, photographers, VJ’s, video directors, web programmers, music producers, promotional staff and so on. Many people handle 2 or more roles at any given time. Nearly everyone involved is in their mid-20’s so it’s essentially run by people who have a genuine hunger and passion for what they do. That they stuck it out at the start when they had no good reason to do so is testament to that determination... Essentially, the Bodytonic ethos is all centred around fun, music, media, creativity and hard work. Simple stuff, but done well. It’s all about doing something that’s quality and long lasting as opposed to setting a trend or following fashion… Major plans for the future include setting up a fully functional music download website, a Bodytonic studio for music, media and design, to host and run more events internationally, a clothing label, a fanzine and BAN parties, and to keep having wicked parties every week as their bread and butter nights. There’s talk of other projects aswell, but for the moment they’re keeping their cards close to their chest. Let’s kick their shins or rough tackle them and see if they give in...
Build. http://www.designbybuild.com http://www.sony.net/electronics/like.no.other/ http://www.refillmag.com http://www.weargame.com/ http://feed.proteinos.com/item/2854/catid/5 http://www.designforfreedom.com/mug/mug_build.php Build is represented by http://www.thisisrealart.com/
Build Bird.
When I started Candy I gave myself a whole load of goals ranging from the mediocre (sort out a website / try grow it / etc.) through the mechanical (always plan enough content / make contacts / get interviews / etc.) to the seemingly outrageous, things which I reckoned would take quite a few issues to realise or ignite. One of these outrageous goals was to try get to speak to and interview what I consider to be the best creative forces on this planet. 3 issues in and not only have I got some of Ireland’s leading people in the magazine but I have some of the world’s leading talents in and chatting. Michael C. Place, to my mind, is one of the most inspirational people working in the world today. His tireless creativity, huge output and uncompromising style and attention to detail has made him one of the world’s most respected designers yet he still finds time to mentor others and share his knowledge for the common good. His collaborations with the likes of Refill magazine (Australia), DesignForFreedom and Magmabooks and his appearances at events like DesignIsKinky’s SemiPermanent are greeted with almost superstar adoration yet, in person, he’s one of the most down-to-earth people you could talk to. A keen lover of crisps, Michael’s body of work is testament to self belief and creative intent being able to sit comfortably with a client’s need. Hold tight, you’re in for a blast...
Illustration by Build.
Build for Panasonic™.
10 QUESTIONS FOR BUILD. 10 answers from Us. 01. What is Build? Everything. Michael. Nicola. Brockmann. Betty. You. 02. How and when did it come about? How?, I worked at The Designers Republic for a long time, I got bored with having to be in the studio all the time. We [Nicola & I] had moved to Leeds, I commuted to Sheffield every day, found out I liked Leeds more, started working from home, really, really enjoyed that and figured that this is what I wanted to do. I had been thinking about making the move for a few years, figured it was the right time to make the move and just did it. Quit tDR, travelled for a year. I want to be able to be in a position to employ people, take on interns etc. try and give something back to this industry that has treated me very well. The idea of working for someone doesn't appeal to me anymore. I think the traditional 'studio' format is a little tired, I think having people work remotely is a good thing, having like-minded people who have different skills that you can hire on a job by job basis. When?, September 17th 2001. In my head? '98-99? 03. How does it differ from your previous positions? See above. It differs because it's mine. I love the feeling of building this thing [Build] up from nothing, every day it gets better. We are working towards our own future, we are relying on no-one but ourselves. So I guess the difference is I'm more in control, of the company and our destiny. It's a really nice feeling. I've been lucky [+ a lot of hard work] that every job I have had [and that's only 3! Bite It!, Me Co. & tDR] I've been able to do what I want, be left to my own devices, and credit to Trevor + Ian for letting me do that, it's how I work best. >>
04. What do you believe sets Build apart from others? I'd like to think it's the fact we tend not to differentiate between 'commercial + personal' work, we approach all work with that attitude, whether your a multi-national or a small independent we don't dumb it down. We invest a lot of time in cultivating a look for a client and tend to think ahead, so if it's a logo we are already thinking of how it can be applied in all regions and how it can be changed and updated further down the line. If it's a record sleeve, we think how it will change for the album, the website, merchandise. How I can take it to bits and change it again. Level of detail I think is another factor that makes us stand out from the crowd, I'm obsessed by detail. Be it a very minimal piece or a very complex piece, we'll obsess over every detail. Detail. Detail. Detail. 05. Your work seems to be always both commercial yet still incredibly personal, you obviously have a strong relationship with the clients you work with. What influences and guides you when you approach a brief? I think we are lucky to have very trusting clients! The actual thing we are designing for is the main influence, a piece of music, a product, an idea. Sometimes the smallest thing can trigger an idea, a tiny bit of detail on an object, a snippet of sound on a track can start the process going, something in a conversation with a client, a feeling etc. very rarely a name, usually some incidental thing starts us on the journey. I very rarely look at design books for inspiration, I'm more interested in architecture and photography. I find these two things are more visceral, they trigger an emotional response, I think the best graphic design gives you a feeling, something real, emotion be that a smile or a shiver down the spine. >>
London Electrics ‘LE:01’.
Build products. Visit http://www.magmabooks.com http://www.2ktshirts.com http://www.stereohype.com/ & http://www.idea-mag.com/ for more information.
06. Although you obviously use computers to put your work together it still looks and feels organic, almost handmade. What would you attribute this to? Thank you. I think that down to how I am as a graphic designer, as a person. Design is one long set of experiences and skills that you pick up as you go along. I'm always learning, from a life point of view this then feeds back into my work, technology doesn't interest me, it doesn't lead me. People can be taught how to design, but it's what's in your head and how you apply it that enables you to make that extra leap. You can't escape technology, but it shouldn't shape how you are as a person. I love graphic design, I hope it shows and I think that's where the 'organic' side you mentioned comes from, I care about graphic design, I care about the marks I put down on paper. I acknowledge this gift I have been given, and treat it with respect. I'm a humble person who believes design is a craft, design for print is a craft and I approach it with that in mind. 07. The attention to detail in your work is staggering, so much so that I seem to always find another level of interest every time I look at the examples of work I have. Are you as meticulous in the rest of your life as you are in your work? Thank you. Ask Nicola! Some things I'm quite meticulous about, straightening things on work surfaces, timekeeping [I hate people who are late!] etc. But life outside of design is a blur, Nicola [my wife] is an absolute saint. I have all this clutter about me that I just don't see, that Nicola sorts out [thank you love]. I'm very forgetful of everything but design, which can drive Nicola up the wall at times! >>
Build for Nike™.
08. What other things keep you interested and inspired? Conversation, Art, Film, and dreaming about Yorkshire. My wife is a constant inspiration, when things aren't going well she is always able to pull me out of it. Nicola thinks in a very creative way, she'll always approach something in a very different angle to me which is great. Music is something that I find both inspiring and interesting, I have music on constantly and to be able to make music is the only other thing I would like to do. 09. What’s the future for Build? Keep going on the journey, expand the studio, do our own range of designed objects [furniture, household items etc], further explore the potential of print, dream more of Yorkshire, have kids. Be happy doing what we love. 10. What’s your favourite piece of technology (past/present/future)? The printing press/The Yorkshire pudding tray/Teleporter™ -
Build various music design.
Build various publication design. Clockwise from left: Refill (Australia), Creative Review (UK), IDEA (Japan), Graphic (UK).
Build for Sony™.
Build for Build™.
Signed briefly to Reverb records back in 2002, Chequerboard released his first album 'Gothica' to positive reviews yet unfortunately minimal commercial success. Since then he’s regrouped and pretty much spent the last few years drawing up new plans, shifting them, changing them, binning them, learning about production and along the way becoming a tougher and tougher self critic, hence the enormous pause in output. 'Dictaphone Showreels', a 6 track E.P. due to be released through Lazybird, is the fruits of these toils and it’s well worth the wait.
Chequerboard. http://www.chequerboard.net Chequerboard will be launching his new e.p. November 11th and will perform it live at Lazybird in The International Bar in Dublin November 13th. Before then he will be playing the DEAF launch in The Sugar Club alongside Afronova and others. More at http://www.deafireland.com
“During these recordings I was spending time sifting through dictaphone samples and layering them over each other, finding hidden textures and tones and layering up music around them. I also spent time revisiting my guitar roots and dropped the electronics completely for some of these tracks. I suppose with the first album 'Gothica', I was trying to create a self contained world of mood and characters which I enjoyed a great deal but the problem with this is that then your stuck with a tough decision, whether to continue producing fantasy albums or whether to strip that away and see what's there. So I suppose this is e.p. is much more personal. The guitar is at the centre rather than the electronics and the graphics are made from bits of memorabilia and the titles are all personal references. I also compiled a video which be online in the near future for the main song 'Konichiwa' using old Super8 footage of me and my brothers playing soldiers in 1982.” Chequerboard cover graphics.. Illusration by John Lambert. John Lambert Johnlambert@dublin.com
‘Konichiwa’ video stills. Directed by John Lambert. John Lambert Johnlambert@dublin.com
Chymera. http://www.chymera.org/ Check out Chymera’s live set alongside loads of other brilliant mixes and sets at http://www.undercurrent.ie
A few month’s back Candy stumbled upon an incredible live set by Chymera recorded at the incredible Undercurrent night held in Project Arts Centre, Dublin. Blown away by this mix we decided to find out a bit more of this Cork guy done good in the big schmoke but it seems we weren’t the only one looking to find out more. Following the release of his first full length affair, ‘Chymera - Everybody dies... Even horses’, Brendan Gregory, has exploded onto the Dublin and international scene with a unique sound produced to stun. Ranging from sample heavy dreamy soundscapes to pure floor orientated tracks, the scale and ambition of his work is exceptional. So what are the secrets of Chymera, how did he get to where he is today, we sent our roving reporter out to find out...
The Chymera story started 13 years ago in a small, loft bedroom in a country cottage with the incendiary sounds of Metallica's ‘Ride the Lightning’, borrowed from a new school acquaintance. Up until that point I had been interested in music but generally listened to "pop"... anything that was on the radio. Metallica grabbed me with their focussed aggression and epic style. It was so different to anything I had heard previous to then. After that James Hetfield became my god and inspired me to learn guitar. From Metallica I moved onto various other thrash metal, alternative and grunge bands, all the time practising on refining my metal riffing and soloing. Then in 94, Nine Inch Nails released 'The Downward Spiral" and I was hooked on this marriage of metal aggression and pure electronic noise. That remained a fond style for me, but strangely I never got into "electronic" music until much further down the line... in 2000, when I was in first year in college. A friend had a set of decks, and much like the jump to Metal and guitar playing back in my teenage years, I was very curious and excited by this new, alien concept - the art of DJing. I threw myself into mastering the art and so after flirting with a few different styles in the first few months, techno quickly took over as the dominant force. The energy and rawness connected with me in the same way as metal, industrial and alternative.
At around that time, I was also laying down basic guitar rock tracks onto a 4 track recorder. But I always had the urge to add to more artificial layers to those tracks, and so then it was a logical progression into making my own electronic music. In 2002 I acquired a PC, and starting writing various types of "electronica". And gradually this evolved into the Chymera "sound", what I would describe as melodic, non-loopy tracks spanning electronica to techno. But the whole time I have been into"dance" music, I have also still been listening to alternative, metal and industrial as before, side by side. These styles of music have been a huge influence on what I've done. Incidentally, i've never managed to record a guitar track with electronics that I've been happy with... just one or the other. In 2003, after several minor DJ appearances to date, I had my first live gig as part of the Neuromantek / Bleep Live showcase in DEAF 2003. I have to thank Paul Watts for asking me to play and pressuring to make it a live gig... I had told him I wasn't ready yet, and would rather just do a DJ set. From there on, I started getting more and more live sets, constantly refining the live sound, until I eventually began to support people like The Advent, Miss Kittin, Transparent Sound, Marco Passarani and Joey Beltram, and play at events such as the 2004 DEAF Live showcase,and the Mór festival. In January of this year, I had my first vinyl release, a two tracker electro EP on Invisible Agent Records, which was very well received. Then in May, I released my debut album, on CD only through my own label I set up, Iterate. This was a bit different to the vinyl release, with and array of styles and moods, but it was also very well received and has been selling modestly, the success albeit localised to Ireland and Dublin in particular. I have just signed a deal with DJdownloads.com to digitally distribute the album online, and also stateside, CDbaby.com have taken on the album, so hopefully it will reach a wider audience. That brings us to this point in time. The Chymera "sound" as defined by the recorded output so far is growing suitably different to the purely dancefloor oriented nature of a Chymera live set. So I'm going to focus on the dancefloor stuff. Send it on to various labels, and hopefully get signed… but most likely I will change my name.. so as not to confuse people with the wildly varying styles. And there you have it, the story so far. Music will always be a part of life, I just hope I have the same enthusiasm for it in the future as I do now, and I also hope my style keeps evolving as it has and does not get stale.
DATA. http://www.data.ie
DATA (Dublin Art & Technology Association) is an informal platform for practitioners of digital media & technological art in Dublin. DATA was launched in 2002 by Nicky Gogan (Darklight Film Festival) and Jonah Brucker-Cohen (Media Lab Europe). Monthly meetings (held mostly at the Stag's Head upstairs 'Parlour Bar') provide a platform for artists, designers, programmers, animators and musicians to present their work for discussion, inspiration and collaboration. Over the past three years, DATA has hosted talks from the majority of Dublin Digerati including D.A.D.D.Y., Delicious 9, Ambulance, John Gerrard, Katherine Moriwaki, Fionnula Conway, Dennis McNulty, Paul Murnaghan and Romek Delimata, as well as many international speakers including Michael Naimark, Futurefarmers, Rebecca Allen, Robert Praxmarer, Mark Tribe, Mary Flanagan and Lisa Jevbratt. All in all 22 DATA meetings have been held and it's still going strong. -DATA acts as a unique focus for Dublin’s digital media / art & technology scene with Datagroup, an email mailing list with over 250 subscribers, which acts to publicise DATA meetings but has also become the central focus for discussion, questions / problem solving and publicising of digital / technological events of all sorts in Dublin.
Dennis McNulty. http://dennismcnulty.com
-In April 2003 DATA also hosted DATAbase, a one-day symposium with seminars & workshops with international speakers Desperate Optimists, Boredom research, Thompson & Craighead and Leah Gilliam. DATAbase culminated with DATAbass, a live concert featuring performances by Boredom research, David Lacey, Keith O'Brien and Ambulance, also featuring audience participation using the devices created in the 'MIDI scrapyard challenge' workshop run by Jonah Brucker-Cohen. DATAbase was supported by Critical Voices, an arts council programme facilitating curators to bring international speakers to Ireland.
DATA Flyers. -David Lacey. No URL at present. --
DATA Workshop. -Instruments. --
Amy Franceschini. http://www.futurefarmers.com -James Auger. http://www.auger-loizeau.com/ --
Nicky and Tim. http://www.darklight-filmfestival.com http://simpletext.info -Gameboy™. http://www.nintendo.com --
Mary Flanagan & Jonah. http://www.maryflanagan.com/ http://coin-operated.com --
D1 Recordings. Parnell Street. August 2005.
If anything Dublin town is of legends, both senses of the word not just the typical one. Long winding whispers about the early days, we like to remember a more easy time when things must have been so much better, stories of this night and that time we travelled down to a allnighter the music too has a reverential after taste, hard to find records for a reason. The first bus from Belfast! There’s an inbuilt annoyance to that on some peoples part, its old news heard before not really doing anything different, people get stuck in a moment and in a very young movement, electronic music is moving forward rapidly leaving behind the glorious days of piano driven bridge sections. And with them those stories that had a little less truth to them then first thought. The second interpretation legend has is a worn word that I’m sure Cork city has installed in their own peoples republic dictionary for the rest of time, it’s an individual who has left an indelible mark on their surroundings. People remember people who create landmarks through their formative years they again with a sense of nostalgia but with many thanks for the nights, the endless recounting. This is all very well as it reads but I’m not so sure how it would sit with Eamonn Doyle from D1 and DEAF, it might not impress Dublin’s most recognised techno label and electronic music crew I’m not entirely certain they care for the legend status, there’s too much to do and basking in sunlight is not one of those things on the list. On properly meeting Eamonn for the first time it was apprehensive but yet I was very much looking forward to tackling this interview in the correct way, the dark studios perfect for photos I was in the D1 basement a long history had attached itself to this place, time will tell more of that story. If you didn't know where the door was you could miss it, you could miss the point. Photos and words by Aidan Kelly.
D1 Recordings. http://www.d1recordings.com
When you started did you specifically think of Dublin 1 as the starting point. An identity more than the place? or vice versa? Well, it was certainly the starting point as far as the name was concerned. Obviously the name goes some way towards how people perceive us and identify us, but much more importantly, peoples’ perception of D1 and our own view of ourselves is defined by our actions and words, so I wanted the name to be kind of neutral while at the same time locate us physically in Dublin. So I figured our postal code “D1” was as good a name as any. I didn’t want the name to suggest any particular musical direction, as I knew we’d be learning and developing as we went along. We didn’t have any real conceptual master plan as far as what kind of music we’d be releasing back then, certainly not in the long term anyway.
In your mind do you associate electronic sound with this side of the city more so than Grafton Street? It’s difficult to see how the specific environment D1 is located in has impacted or influenced the music directly up to this point. Although we’ve been based here for over a decade, the different producers come from all over the city and now as we expand there are a lot more international artists on board, so the environmental impact is now much broader than before. We’ve artists from Dublin, Surinam, Tokyo, Canada, Detroit, Waterford, Maynooth, Italy and London, so we’re quite multicultural at this point, however there’s definitely a common thread linking the different releases. The sound of the label, looking back on it now, reflects more so on my own taste in music than our environment or location. I think it specifically reflects the kind of music I like to DJ when I’m playing out. >>
Eamonn Doyle. Founder of D1 Recordings.
Do places influence your choices? Musically? Personally speaking my main aim is to make music that could only be made by me because of who I am and where I’m from, so in that sense my location makes an impact but in more of a general Irish sense as opposed to it being a specifically a north inner city thing. Musically speaking Parnell Street wouldn’t be the most inspiring place to be, but there’s definitely an inherent Irish sound inside of us that I’d like to explore over the next few years. We have a project in mind that will be specifically aimed at looking into this. I guess that signals a departure from the approach I was speaking about in the previous question. What attracted you to Techno in the first place? My first exposure to Techno in Dublin was though Billy Scurry in the Temple of Sound and Francois in UFO. I loved the facelessness of it, the truly independent and underground ethics of some of the producers and labels behind the music. It all seemed very doable and something I could get my teeth stuck into. I still had a studio left over from my days running DEAD ELVIS so I was able to invite producers like Rob Rowland and Donnacha Costello in to work on music. I love the Dub studio techniques used with electronic music, using the studio as an instrument. A big attraction for me as well was the complete independence as a producer made possible by the technology. I like the cottage industry approach used by most of the labels and the way a specific label will reflect someone’s personality either by the music they make or choose to release as well as the artwork and all the other individual elements that go into a record label. Who do you want to work with? As far as collaborations go there’s not really any electronic artists that I’d be interested in working with right now as the producers I really respect have their own specific voice. I’m into a lot of Irish traditional artists such as Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Lunasa, Iarla O Lionaird. It would be great to have a chance to work with artists like that at some stage. >>
Who’s let you down? I’m let down mostly by myself I think. At this stage I really don’t expect a lot from other people and I try not to let situations or people get to me any more. As far as D1 is concerned my only real interest is in the music so I get frustrated with myself when I don’t put the hours in to making music that I should be. In this business people tend to get forced into administrative roles that they are not necessarily cut out for and I recognise myself in other peoples shortcomings all the time. I’d like to try and step back from the organisational side of things for a while and concentrate on the music, but it’s a bit difficult with the DEAF festival and everything else that’s happening. Obviously there are many people who’ve really annoyed me over the years but they tend not to be people directly involved in the music such as other promoters, venue managers and owners, press etc.
What influences the work, or the process of choosing artists for the label? I tend not to actively seek out new music for D1 as there’s always been a lot of music floating around amongst ourselves and I feel that as long as we’re releasing good music then other interesting artists will gravitate towards the label. Beyond that I’ve always tried to choose music that I’d play or would be prepared to pay for when record shopping myself. You're just Back from America and the States doing gigs? How were you received? Where did you play? That trip went really well. We played at a couple of festivals in Mexico and San Diego. They were actually very different gigs for us as they were much more experimental gigs. We did some improvised gigs with some of the US artists, which were really interesting to do. We also hooked up with an amazing Jazz bass player called Lisle Ellis who we’ll be playing with during this years DEAF. >>
You said before that Dublin people think of D1 and its sound as a variation only of the Detroit or state-side sound But the americans think of it as a sound in its own right, Independent and from Dublin, can you talk about this? Obviously we wear our influences heavily on our sleeves and are sometimes criticised, especially in Ireland, for being a Detroit influenced label, but that’s certainly not the perception of D1 overseas. It’s not something I really worry about. We’re effectively an export label as the market in Ireland is so small so we’re just gonna keep releasing records and hopefully make some exciting music along the way! You also made reference to the Techno idea [the music] becoming smaller not only in Dublin but around the world, more underground? Surely if it’s popular it’s not interesting? I think there’s a lot of interesting popular music out there, unfortunately for us techno has always had a relatively small audience, certainly in terms of the amount of people that actually go out and buy the music. The main earning potential for us is in performance, and I think this will probably become the case more and more even with mainstream artists as free digital downloads increase. People will download a bands full back catalog off Limewire for free and then happily pay 60 euro to see them perform live. As far as underground music being more interesting, I’m not so sure. Personally I like about five percent of all kinds of music be it Country and Western, Electro or chart music. The same goes for every art form. There’s just so much out there, it’s difficult to filter out all the shit unless you really immerse yourself in it. It’s easy to get lost in a specific genre sometimes and not stand back and see things in perspective. It’s a cliché but good music will always stand the test of time. With techno, a lot of the music out there can be quite functional DJ tool material. I kind of like that disposable element, it’s makes things less precious. I like the way you can just get a groove going, cut it to vinyl, release it, hope it gets played out, and move onto the next record.
You referred to the somewhat negative opinion that Dublin has about D1, DEAF and you yourself, what’s your thoughts on that? It’s something I’ve picked up on at times but again it’s not something that bothers me. It’s actually kind of fun and keeps things interesting. I know myself how small an entity we are, even in terms of Irish music so I’m certainly not going to blow anything that might be said out of proportion. That being said, we’ve never been afraid to say what we think or avoid confrontation so I guess we’ve ruffled a few feathers over the years. The label and clubnight are basically platforms I set up for our music and if people are into it and buy the records or come along to the club that’s great and very much appreciated, but we’re not a public service. I don’t know what people expect sometimes but it’s weird how personally some people take things.. I’m not talking about rejected demos etc… I mean people actually get really abusive the more we put ourselves out there and the more we try to do. With D1s club I’ve avoided the promoter / DJ gig swapping that goes on, so in some ways we’re outside of that particular circle. I know there’s a perception that we are quite elitist, but that’s ridiculous, there’s nothing for us to be elitist about. It’s a similar thing with DEAF. We try to be as inclusive as possible within the parameters of what we think is interesting… but that’s all it is, just a collection of events by artists and promoters that we’re into. It’s not a platform for D1 as some have suggested. I think anyone that looks at the programme over the years can see that. If there’s meant to be some kind of payoff for D1 it’s certainly not reflected with reciprocated gigs. It’s not often you’ll see a D1 artist booked to play outside of one of our own gigs in Ireland. I can count on one hand the gigs I’ve played in Ireland outside of D1 events in the past ten years. Maybe I’m just a shite DJ!…. but there’s loads of shite DJs out there… I’m a terrible networker too! Basically, I’m happy enough to play at our own club and get on with things but am always amused by some people’s attitude towards us! >>
Who influences the collective in Design / art / film / musicians? Well it’s a fairly loose collective of individuals at this stage so I’m not sure there’s a common thread as far as taste in design and movies goes, but I take great offence to any of the artists who don’t think that Barry Lyndon isn’t one of the greatest films of all time!!! Apart from that the design is driven by Niall Sweeney, an old friend from art college and his partner at PONY design Nigel (www.ponybox.co.uk). They’re great! They do all that illegible DEAF design! What started "DEAF"? Who do you have in mind for performing in the future? What are the finest memories so far? We do have a DEAF mission statement but I won’t recite it here… it’s very arts grant application kind of stuff. Basically we wanted to do something right in the heart of the city, not a rave in the country, there’s plenty of them already, some good some bad. My favourite moment so far was seeing COIL in Dublin City Hall last year. It was definitely one of the most satisfying shows I’ve been involved in, made especially poignant by John Balance’s death a few weeks later. Highlights to look out for this year – Underground Resistance with Mad Mike performing as Galaxy 2 Galaxy is going to be very special! Also, we have Pamelia Kurstin playing this year. She’s without doubt the greatest Theremin player in the world and really worth checking out. With the idea of D1 not just being a record label and shop what’s next? I really want to concentrate on the label right now and hopefully I’ll avoid the temptation of getting involved in too many other things. I want to focus on making music and pushing the label in places like Japan and Eastern Europe where we’ve had a lot of positive feedback recently. Favourite Equipment Korg Monopoly, Roland 808, Ableton Live & Akai MPC 60.
DEAF 2005. http://www.deafireland.com
DEAF was established with two primary aims in mind: in order to provide a platform for Irish artists working in the electronic media to showcase their work in the company of their international peers and counterparts, and in order to bring this work to the attention of an audience which has largely been brought up to consider technology as nothing more than an ephemeral entertainment-enhancer - and thus incapable of matching art wrought in more traditional mediums. However, setting out to propose that such a thing as the 'electronic arts' even exists is not about denigrating popular applications of digital technology, nor is it about encouraging divisions based around any strict separation between form and function. More so than others, we devotees of the digital arts know that Art can be entertaining - just as Entertainment can be artistically stimulating.
Hence DEAF is all about trying to reveal what to those of us who are already involved seems a given: that opportunities for artistic expression are infinitely enhanced through technological development and experimentation. Today, it is starting to feel as if such ideas are just beginning to gain currency in Ireland, the result of a virtual revolution in access to digital media in recent times, one that has both opened up new aesthetics, and reinvigorated old ones. And thus four years on from our first festival (which was largely founded in club music) it is especially pleasing to us to now be able to present a collaborative performance by veteran Irish electronic music composer Roger Doyle as one of the centrepiece acts at our flagship event. Our programme has evolved as we and our audience have evolved, and as much as we need the fresh-faced exploratory impulse of each new generation, we also need the wisdom of experience to help enrich our travels and to help focus that exploration.
Other festival highlights to watch out for are likely to include Pamelia Kurstin's unique theremin performance and Lisle Ellis's fusion of jazz improvisation with electronics - both at Filmbase, Detroit's legendary Underground Resistance performing live as Galaxy 2 Galaxy at The Village, Kool Keith's long-awaited debut appearance in Ireland (also at The Village), drum n bass originator Goldie performing in the intimate setting of Traffic, and Afro-beat pioneer Tony Allen live in Bia Bar. At DEAF4 05 we know that you can find something to both stimulate and entertain you at, whatever you’re into. Top row. Pamelia Kurstin / Akufen / I-F / Crash Ensemble / Kool Keith. Bottom row. Underground Resistance / David Donohoe / Goldie / Lisle Ellis. Text by Eamonn Doyle. In October DEAF / Candy & Shock team up together to give you a special edition PDF guide to DEAF4 05. Watch the skies!
Under the radar : A guide to Irish electronic music. Text by Kate Butler.
“I would imagine that more people know who we are in London than in Cork just judging on record sales,” says Alan O'Boyle of Decal. The Irish market for electronic music is tiny and any label worth its salt knows to look globally: Decal have sometimes gone without Irish distribution, but never without international. D1 Recordings attempted to set up its own distribution company, but ultimately depends on London's Pure Plastic and the Detroit-based Submerge. Bassbin reckons it sells 60% of its records to the UK market and the rest around the world. “The thing is,” says Donnacha Costello of his Minimise label, “I might sell 13 or 1400 records in a month and maybe six of those of are sold in Dublin, if even.” Press coverage in Ireland, meanwhile, is a chicken and egg affair. If the subject is so specialised, it can be argued by editors, why would general readers be interested in these artists? Where's the totty, one might well be asked when trying to push an unknown, faceless producer. On the other hand, supporting guaranteed Irish music is a bit of a De Valera-ism, and it smacks of worthiness. What has to be remembered, however, is that the pan-global sound of electronic music has always suited those who wanted to move beyond the confines of their cultural roots (even though the whole thing degenerated into predictable, demarcated tribes). There truly is an international conversation going on with electronic music, and the Irish have engaged with it ever since David Holmes and Decal hooked up with Andy Weatherall in the early 1990s. The purposes of this preliminary guide, therefore, is to select some of the best Irish releases in a global context. A stipulation that the music should be Irish has meant leaving out iconic records such as Mark Broom's remix of Rob Rowland's Point Monster (D1), or more recently, Fabrice Lig's mix of Teknik's Sonar (Nice & Nasty) and Breakage's So Vain (Bassbin). But these are the breaks. >>
Decal. Ultramack 004. (Ultramack,1994) ------------------------------As is sometimes the way with these things, Ultramack 004 was supposed to be something else entirely. When Alan O'Boyle and Dennis McNulty met in Dublin in the early 1990s, they set out to make an indie album with layered guitars and an electronic backing. Short on equipment, however, “it became electronica by default,” says O'Boyle. To put it into context, Autechre and Speedy J had both released their debut albums the year before; and Dublin was still mad out of it down at the Ormond and Sir John Rogerson's Quay. There's a naivity in 004 that's very much of this time but it also features the prodigious production ideas that mark all of Decal's work (O'Boyle and McNulty released three albums together but now only O'Boyle releases music as Decal). With names Aurora, Sense and Excelsis, the three opening techno tracks have all the optimism and palpability of club culture. The album eventually slides into yearning ambient, crowned by the remarkable 27.45 minute Poseidon, a great hypnotic, immersive sea. There's nothing worthy or dull about 004. Yet it isn't an exercise in bland hedonism and plastic beats either. It's inventive, inspiring, soothing and highly recommended. [See also: Aquatech EP (Trama Industries, 2000); As Decoy, This City (D1Recordings, 2001)] -------------------------------
Daniel Figgis. Skipper. (Black Burst, 1994 & 2000) ------------------------------Skipper isn't an electronica album but it achieves with instruments what many electronica artists aspire to with software and samples. It has been hugely influential on the mushrooming electronica producers in Dublin, spawning a scattershot remix / tribute album When It's Ajar, the Music of Daniel Figgis (Spitroast Records). Formerly the drummer with the Dublin punk band, the Virgin Prunes, Figgis has a long history of leftfield music and general eccentricity. He appears to be remarkably egocentric and has done little new work since Skipper: as last year's composer-inresidence with the Dun LaoghaireRathfarnham county council, Figgis staged a performance at Marley Park, the music at which was mostly reworked from the eleven year old album. What proved more unforgivable, however, was Figgis's rock star moment: at the end of the set, a cherrypicker rose from behind Marley House, with Figgis on top, playing the drums under a spotlight. There is also an element of the absurd in Skipper, but the intrinsically experimental album is so carfeully composed that the playfulness runs through it as a current rather than an electric shock. Probably best exemplified on the seventh track, Lucky Bad Day, what is so appealing about Skipper is the symbiosis Figgis achieves between almost childish tunes and slightly menacing washes. Rather masterfully, he just makes it fit. ------------------------------Daniel’s latest project ‘THE BANQUET’ takes place on the 22nd of July 2006 at the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght, Dublin.
Donnacha Costello. Together is the New Alone. (Mille Plateaux, 2001) ------------------------------Thanks to a prickly personality, Donnacha Costello can seem to have an inflated sense of his own importance. But that would be to ignore his concrete successes. One of the few Irish producers able to make a living from producing electronic music, Costello has been a shrewd, if cautious producer. The second of three albums by Costello, Together is the New Alone is different from everything else he's done, however. It is impossible to discuss it without referring to his personal life. His mother died in 1999 and at the time of recording the album, he had broken up with his girlfriend. Released on the home of glitches and clicks, the German label Mille Plateaux, Together is the New Alone tends towards that genre, but is essentially an ambient album and a sad one at that. There's no denying the sombre mood; it is music to be alone with. Nevertheless, Costello circumvents the pitfalls of making music imbued with emotion and achiness - there is no selfindulgence or fat. It is exquisitely produced and in tracks such as Your New God there are truly elevating moments. [See also: Diversions #2 (D1 Recordings, 2001)] ------------------------------Cover design by www.studiomime.com Photography by Clíona O’Flaherty. http://www.clionaoflaherty.com
Ambulance. The Curse of Vale do Lobo. (Planet Mu, 2003) ------------------------------Ambulance's split personality isn't down to there being two of them. Duncan Murphy and Trevor O'Reilly are a jackin', visceral live act but their recorded work can seem strangely dull. Prone to private jokes and production intricacies, to the outside ear the results can be unfriendly. The Dublin pair were first released by U:Mack, the label run by Decal and Paul Timoney, and they had played at Phunk City, the Friday night club at the Funnel. But in 2000, with the launch of Frontend Synthetics' compilation, The Ground Floor, Ambulance came out as the top dog live act of Dublin's electronica fraternity. The album format, however, has turned up the flip side of their coin proper. The Curse of Vale do Lobo, released on Mike Paradinas's label, isn't entirely free of the Dubliners' foibles but here they have the room to develop a musical narrative that gives up its secrets in the retelling. There are tantalising Krautrock basslines, unsettling backward vocals and dissonance to beat the band. Notably, the first few bars of the opening track, Tickle, are bizarre and off kilter. But these elements are merely decoys. Sweet and squelchy beats pervade the album: Dunk and Trev are groovy after all. [See also: Battlecat remix of Polyp (The Fear, 2002)] -------------------------------
David Donohoe. Statuesque. (D1 Recordings, 2004) ------------------------------Strings, a madrigal murmur and a chugging techno rhythm: the opening track of Statuesque, David Donohoe's second album, is busy. Lest the Swan Should… also has a remarkable grace and fluidity to it, something that pulses throughout the entire album. Statuesque was about to be released by the German label Force Inc under the moniker Nost, but when the label folded early last year, D1 Recordings stepped into the breach. The change in labels has been confusing, however, and the album has fallen through the cracks. Which is a shame as it's one of the most idiosyncratic and engaging albums to have come out of the shuffle techno school since Thomas Brinkmann's Soul Center (I). Grandiose and romantic, Statuesque is the foie gras of techno and possibly too rich a food for some. The overriding influence is 1980s synthpop: aside from the obvious use of Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time melody in Is This The End?, Donohoe also weaves in arch Kate Bush samples. And as anyone who remembers the Utah Saints will know, Bush and rave go together like pâté and toast: heavenly. [See also: Try to Make You Love Me (Minimise, 2000)] ------------------------------Cover design by www.studiomime.com
>>
David Holmes. Johnny Favourite. (Warp, 1994) ------------------------------Listening to this feels like decoding an archaic document: wth two mixes, Holmes captures a lost civilisation. The Exploding Plastic Inevitable mix, named for the cultural magpie's imprint/club night, is dark swirling mid-nineties warehouse techno. The ambient mix, meanwhile, betrays his fruitful association with Andy Weatherall - the year before, Holmes remixed Smokebelch. A soul DJ when he was 15, the Belfast star was prodigious and prolific from the outset. Acid-house, he claims, gave him the opportunity to first get into the studio without knowing what he was doing. Hollywood soundtracks may be seen as Holmes's crowning achievement, but back in 1994, he already sounds like he knows exactly what he's doing. -------------------------------
Calibre. Fire & Water / Interfaze. (Soul:R, 2001) ------------------------------Set to release his second album in October (Second Sun on Signature), restricting Belfast's Dom Martin to one 12” is not remotely representative of what he's achieved. He is impressively successful in the admittedly specialised world of drum and bass. One of the prime purveyors of liquid funk, the sound that dominates dancefloors in the noughties, Calibre released Fire & Water on Marcus Intallex's Manchesterbased label, Soul:R. One of his most atmospheric tracks, it is also, as the title suggests, elemental. A potent bassline, a spooky breakdown and ghostly male vocal sample: perfectly formed.
Deep Burial. The Undead EP. (Fresh Killer Records, 2001) ------------------------------In 1994, Deep Burial was made up of Dubliner Richard Howard, who released the album Blood Sample on U:Mack. By the time of this EP, however, he had teamed up with fellow turntablist, Wicklow man George Brennan. The closest this guide gets to hip-hop, Deep Burial are all about the soundtrack and the sample. Lacking some of the dexterity that we've come to expect from cut-and-paste music, the pair make up for it with cartoonish juxtapositions. Unsettling high-pitched tones and flashes of Bernard Hermann's Psycho get mashed in the scratch on the title track, while the Corpse Killer is a suitably eerie ode to John Carpenter. Expect a new album from the pair in the coming months. -------------------------------
Esoterica. Repetitive Music EP. (Elusive Recordings, 2001) ------------------------------Not all compilation albums are as iconic as Artificial Intelligence, though few Irish electronica labels seem to realise this: the deluge over the past few years can make a dinky EP stand out like a lily in a murky pond. Paul O Donoghue, who runs the open minded Elusive label, put his intriguing Repetitive Music EP out as its first release. Although a little indebted to Ninja Tunes' chill out records, it's impressively evocative. Opening and closing the EP are the stand out tracks, Boy, you know what you are and Repetitive repetitive music. Indeed, O'Donoghue liked Boy so much that he used it to open his wonderful ambientethnic album, In Obscura. -------------------------------
Accident & Emergency. Blue Rinse / Operation. (Looney Toonz, 2002) ------------------------------In London, Jungle gigs tend to be dominated by men in a range of bulky coats, but in Ireland, they're marked by a high female quota. Brian Kenny and Brian Keaveney know their target audience. Lithe and yearning, Blue Rinse throws a soft booo before the male vocal calls out “this is going out to all the older ladies out there”. On the flip side is an ode to the 1995 records of DJ SS: a tremulous melody and vibrating bassline are topped with an all-embracing female vocal. Better known as the DJs Kenny & Keevo, Accident & Emergency are currently out of commission, which is a shame as the Dubliners were the linchpin of this irreverent Bassbin offshoot label. ------------------------------>>
Takeover Sound. New Twist EP. (Takeover, 2002) ------------------------------Now based in Dublin, the Belfast electro fraternity of Takeover had something of a breakthrough with this release. The first track on the EP, Together in the Dark, by Agent Foot & Tyrell (Paul Proudfoot and Neil Wallace), was featured on Radioactive Man's 2003 Fabric mix CD. Subtly crafted with a ponderous bassline, the meaty Together isn't the only stand out track on the four-part EP, however. On the flipside is Get On (the case) by Thatboytim (Tim Smyth): Zippy, unrelenting and astringent, it has the unlikeliest of grooves. -------------------------------
Naphta. Out of Time / One Squeeze. (Bassbin Recordings, 2003) ------------------------------Shane O'Shea is one of the most admired DJs in the Bassbin troupe but his production work hasn't been as successful. Describing the process as akin to herding a group of obstinate sheep together, some of this sheepdog's frustrations are all too audible. Indeed, this selection should probably have been a release by his DJ-friendly and commercially successful stablemates Zero Tolerance (Cian McCann) and Beta 2 (Dom Purcell). Out of Time, however, is rhythmically taut with a menacing, militaristic atmosphere. One Squeeze, meanwhile, is absurd, peculiar and doesn't go anywhere after the first third. But it's got a bassline that would trouble the gods. -------------------------------
Americhord. Enter EP. (D1 Recordings, 2004) ------------------------------With 32 releases out to date, D1 Recordings could easily have dominated this guide. Its back catalogue boasts iconic records by Rob Rowland and visitors including DJ Bone, Mark Broom and Dave Hill, while the offshoot D1aspora has widened its field. But as part of the new guard, Maura O'Boyle's record stands out. Up until this release, O'Boyle was difficult to pin down - she was playing storming live electro and techno sets, and had been released on various electronica compilations as Mcut. Enter EP is an utterly assured handling of melodic techno, with only one track out of four, the sleazy Tighter My Grip, falling slightly flat. -------------------------------
Five Green Circle. Text XXX. (Traum Schallplaten, 2004) ------------------------------The rise of artists such as Akufen and labels such as Cologne's Kompakt has had no small impact on Irish techno producers over the past five years, making for greater rhythmic experimentation - always welcome. Donal Tierney's first release, Growing Shapes, was on D1 Recordings last year, but the Kildare producer demonstrated a surprising sassiness with this foray into micro house. The title track is utterly foxy, featuring deft cut-ups and sliced vocal samples. On the flip side, the cut-ups have a staccato effect on Scream, with manipulated vocals lending a 1980s soul-pop edge. -------------------------------
Rod. All My Love. (FES / Underscan, 2004) ------------------------------Despite some earlier gripes about the ubiquitous electronica compilation, Frontend Synthetics is an exception. Among the distinctive tracks on the label's second compilation, Synthetic Allsorts, was a short glimmer of electronica by Rod Morris. That brief promise has flowered into something special on this EP. The melody on the title track is prominent - not typical for FES - and a stretched, yearning vocal sounds like a heartbroken kitten. It's a little eerie, primal and perfectly set atop a cavernous bass and rattly, clicky rhythms. Spectac (Paul Morrin), who has released an intricate album on FES, brings the house style to bear in a spiky remix. -------------------------------
Delicious 9. http://www.delicious9.com
‘Stars’. Directed by Eoghan Kidney.
Delicious 9. http://www.delicious9.com
‘Stars’. Directed by Eoghan Kidney. Credits include: Animation by Eoghan Kidney, Paul Madden, Eoin Whelehan & Andy Clarke. Technical artist: Tim Redfern. Ruth Negga (Sophie), Domhnall Gleeson (Brian), Mal White (Doctor), Maureen O' Connell (woman in supermarket), Orla & Louise (Keily-FItzgerald casting). Music by Somadrone performed by: Neil O' Connor, Gavin O'Brien, Abigail Smith, Lioba Petrie. Paul Morrin (sound design), Matthew Bolger (recording). Live action shoot: Katie Lincoln (line producer), Conor Ryan (camera), Niall Jackson (runner), Anne Tweedy (producer). Thanks to: Steve Blount, Donal Thornton, Ema Stanton, Brendan McCarthy, Eilish Kent, Jill McGregor, John O'Connell, Peter Foote. Directed and written by Eoghan Kidney
Delicious 9 have to be one of the hardest working creative collaborative co-ops going given the scale of the output. Famed for their music videos which have gained them international notoriety and acclaim, they are also widely known for their infectious and amazing live visuals which have taken centre stage at many an Irish event including DEAF, Mór and a whole load besides. In amongst this, they’ve also found time to produce their first ever short film, a ambitious project which saw them lock themselves away from family and loved ones for months on end in order to pull it off. And pull it off they did, as it recently won Best Animated Short at the 17th Galway Film Fleadh 2005.
‘Stars’ tells a tragic story of a young woman descent into illness due to a fatal neuron disease. Using animation the film constructs a dual reality between our perception and the woman’s altered perception of reality through her hallucinations. The short was made possible under the film board FrameWorks scheme. A ‘Making of..’ feature going back to October 2004 is available to view at blogspot manimator.blogspot.com Delicious 9 will be screening stuff at the DEAF launch on October 7th and Lazybird on October 9th. Caribou will be playing in Crawdaddy on October 8th. They will also be performing their audiovisual show TTMTV at DEAF 2005 (http://www.deafireland.com). All their Caribou visuals are coming out on The Leaf Label (http://theleaflabel.com) and Domino records (www.dominorecordco.com) as a DVD called 'Caribou - Marino' (named after their home town!) in time for Christmas, looks like PSP could get a run for it’s money as the must-have this !!!
So, what is Delicious 9? Paul: Delicious 9 is a group of animators who after playing about with music videos for friends decided to make a go of it themselves and see if they could turn an animation diploma into a living. Well its no pastime anymore and we're not quite living the good life off it but there are enough interesting projects coming in the door to keep us pressing on that little bit longer. Eoin: It came about when we were studying animation in college. There seemed to be nine of us in the class that worked well together when it came to coming up with ideas, and as a result we began collaborating on projects together. Where'd you get the name or is it unbelievably obvious? Paul: Well, most people ask is the nine there because there are nine of us in the group. Initially there were nine, it grew to about twelve or thirteen on some projects and now there are three full timers, Paul, Eoin and Eoghan along with a few del9'ers we call on when a project looks too big for three pairs of hands (Andy, Ray, Mark, Teemu and more). The name came about when we were all hanging around the orchard in IADT (its now been flattened... boo) and one of our mates came up with the name on the spot. It was such a ridiculous amalgamation of two words yet we thought it had a certain sound to it that was distinctive and stood out. How and when did it come about? Paul: The whole delicious9 thing? it started pretty much the summer we finished college in 2000. We were asked to do a visual piece for Roger Doyle’s live performance in Meeting House Square (Temple Bar, Dublin) and we decided to use the name to represent us as a group. After that we started to do music videos for some bands we knew, the first being The Jimmy Cake and from then on it was all go. Eoin: By our final year, we were already beginning to come up with ideas for music videos and visuals, and so the first loose collective was born at that time. For a time there was even more than nine people involved in various projects, and even when the numbers dwindled down we continued with the name, as we still love to bring people in on different projects.
Manitoba. ‘Jacknuggeted’. Directed by Eoghan Kidney.
How do you approach a project, is there a set method? Paul: The set method for each project would be the manner in which there is a multitude of ideas thrown together at the beginning of each project. We usually sit around and each try to push our ideas as being the right one for the project until there is a general consensus that we have a strong idea that is going to work. At the beginning whoever is available to work on the project or wants to work on it will usually sit in on the early development stage and then once we have an idea to work with we each take a role of either producer, director, animator, etc. depending on who wants to do what on the project. This way you not only get a diversity in the look of each project but you can often tailor the right combination of people specific to the type of animation we are going to use for that job depending on peoples strong skills. Eoin: It depends on what the projects is really. For music videos, we've always just sat around listening to the track ad nauseum brainstorming ideas. It's always great when people that are looking to work with us throw their own ideas into the mix too. We get inspiration from all kinds of sources - other video makers, old cartoons, our friends and day to day experiences. We tend to think 24-7 about what we do so ideas can come at the strangest of times! Where do you get inspiration for your work? Paul: Everywhere. Each of us is strongly influenced by music, film, art, humour. Not in any particular order of preference but each del9'er brings their own unique (weird) take to our projects. Personally I get a lot of inspiration from people and their quirky behaviour, foreign films and any work that catches my eye. Eoghan: Everything I like inspires me. I read and go to exhibitions and watch films and browse the net and it all sort of soaks into the back of my brain until I have a project I want to get involved in - then you get into a creative process and all these bits and pieces come out from the back and reconstruct themselves into something new. At the moment I'm really into Italian 60s anti-architecture collective 'SUPERSTUDIO'.. they were sort of into structural deconstruction. I'm also re-reading Disney's ‘Illusion of Life’ because I dismissed disney's influence for so long. and the Stanley Kubrick archive. I'd love to list all the things I'm into. Andy: The original Mr. Men TV series. So simple, but absolutely timeless and ultra charming. >>
What do you think differentiates you from others? Paul: We've found people have told us that when they initially see some of our videos they are puzzled by the story and the character and how they fit in with the music but after watching the videos again they find the characters and storyline grows on them. They start to see a lot more to the video. We put a lot of work into developing something that is more than a once off piece of eyecandy. Eoghan: The diversity of our work. we've done so many different things it makes me wonder what exactly my job is. I'll list em 4 u: we do music videos, short films, interactive installations (one in the project in september), we've helped curate festivals, organise festivals... we've done visuals for said festivals, world tours, raves, gigs and posh theatre productions. we've organised a bunch of workshops like make the video in the ark, VJ workshops in the digital hub, and lately a workshopped short film project for ‘The Den’ with a bunch of kids from Fatima Mansions. Then of course we do 'money' work to pay the rent like secret hush hush undercover freelance work. We teach occasionally aswell. It’s nuts. Eoin: We think it's hard to make that analysis of ourselves, but I think that there's a lot of diversity in our work, which keeps our output new and exciting. We like to try and push ourselves in different directions and mediums. Also the fact that we've had so many people with varying personalities and styles involved in the group I guess. Andy: Our bizarre facial features/deformities.
Highlights so far... Paul: Caribou launch night in london and winning best irish animation at the galway film fleadh. both vey rewarding experiences for what were very labour intensive projects. Eoghan: No Disco del9 special, Warpvision dvd, visuals for Caribou. Working with the DEAF festival was cool. The music nerd in me dug hanging out in the warp offices and Kevin Shields upping our visuals at a Caribou gig in London. Making 'stars' was an amazing yet thorougholy harrowing experience. Eoin: Max Tundra's ‘Lysine’ video. Our first video for a UK based artist. It was so exciting to do and we think it still stands as one of our best pieces. Working with Dan Snaith (aka Caribou) on his tour visuals for the last two years. He like sour stuff so much that he just let us go wild with ideas, and as a result we created some of our best and most entertaining work. And of course winning the award for best Irish animated short for our first Frameworks short in Galway. Great to know that hard work can pay off! Andy: Whole 1 hour No Disco show dedicated to Del9 videos. (During which I became a fiancé!) Ambitions... Paul: Travelling abroad as part of del9 work. To get those ideas I have locked away in my head and finally make them into something great before someone else does it. Eoin: To work with more of our favourite music acts. We're all huge music junkies and there are sooo many people we'd love to create videos for. Also to get the opportunity work on more films. Eoghan: To make a decent feature film. Regrets... Paul: Not travelling as frequently as i would like. it definitely gives you such a wealth of inspiration and really opens you up to new ways of thinking plus it stops you going insane from the amount of work you have to put in during the year. Eoghan: Buying this piece of shit workstation that cost us loads of money and we never use it coz its a piece of shit. We're trying to sell it on Ebay but ebay.ie is a piece of shit as well and doesn’t work. Eoin: Not setting this whole idea up when we all spent a Summer in New York!! But no real regrets about what we've been doing since we started. The real regret would have been if we hadn't given this a go in the first place, Andy: Not getting a business person in from the start. >>
Daemien Frost. ‘Duck Gait Parade’ Directed by Barry Murphy.
Do you reckon it's easy to be successful in Ireland? Here at Candy have a theory known as the Father Ted Theory, ie, the majority of Irish people don't seem to want to believe something is successful unless they can buy it back from abroad (John Rocha / Lainey Keogh / Pauric Sweeney / Paul Costelloe / U2 / etc.). Just to test this theory, we're just wondering what the effect was following your amazing video for Luke Vibert on Warp Records. Did it do anything to raise your profile and workload or, tail between legs, is Candy wrong? Wouldn't be the first time. Paul: In Ireland a lot has to do with a little bit of luck and who you know. There is a certain amount of your Father Ted theory evident in some of the bigger older institutions but more people we are dealing with are waking up to the UK system of looking for young innovative groups or people rather than solely dealing with an established institution. The benefits are you can work with a larger pool of ideas and styles so, for example, in advertising you don't run the risk of everything looking the same. The Luke Vibert video got recognition at a couple of screenings and festivals in the UK and in Canada. The great part for us was seeing it included in the Warpvision DVD alongside Warp stalwarts such as Pleix and Chris Cunningham. Eoghan: For a completely accurate answer to your question our website tracker says we've got 306 hits that came from a link on the warp site. so it raised our profile by exactly 306 people! Madonna didnt ask us to do a video or anything if that what u mean. Eoin: Sometimes you think that when a certain piece of your work gets seen in a certain outlet, that it'll open the flood gates for you, but we've learnt not to rest on our lauresls in these scenarios. We don't need to be reminded that there is a lot of competition out there and that for every bit of recognition you get, there is a lot of people to impress. We just aim to make our portfolio as strong and diverse as possibly each time.
Left. The Mixmasters. ‘Nonsense’. Directed by Delicious 9. Right. ‘Yeti’. Directed by Andy Clarke.
What's getting you all excited at the moment? Paul: My upcoming holiday in Toyko. I've been planning to go there for over a year and a half now. First time going to that side of the world and I can’t wait. Hopefully I'll be aiming to waste a bank load of cash on ridiculous stuff. Our new DVD with nice packaging. Can’t wait. Eoghan: For me, all the new software and technology that keeps popping up. And the transparency of the net is amazing. You can learn so much from forums and production blogs. and modeselektor's new album is wickd. And that ‘Alarm will sound’ album of Aphex covers is deadly. The alarm ringing outside our office all day is getting me very excited as well but not in a good way. Eoin: We've recently put together a DVD of some our recent work, which should see the light of day in the not too distant future. There is a lot of exposure beckoning through more film festivals as well. Andy: Being a father. What's your favourite piece of technology? Paul: Autosave and the bicycle. Eoghan: Amiga 500! Eoin: Hand blenders. And x-ray glasses. Andy: The microphone & hamburger shaped telephone.
Luke Vibert. ‘I Love Acid’. Directed by Teemu Auersalo.
eBoy. http://www.eboy.com
What is eBoy? A band playing art
Famed around the world for their pixel piracy, eBoy is Steffen Sauerteig, Svend Smital, Peter Stemmler and Kai Vermehr working in 2 studios in Berlin and 1 in New York. In recent times they have been responsible for a whole more besides, including a veritable cornucopia of creative wares and have also found some time to collaborate with uber-designer, UK’s father of style, Paul Smith. So, without further ado, let’s get stuck in and show you peeps some treats while having a cosy chat.
How and when did it come about? We met sometimes to play multiplayer games and worked together at small little free projects ... it was in 1998, the internet was evolving and we thought it could be cool to make something together.
All questions have been answered together by all four member of eBoy...
Pixel (immediacy) or Paper (permanence)? Why? Digital work is much more mobile, flexible, uptodate and doesn't mess up your place. But real objects (as paper) reach different senses than just the visual one. Who do you work for? Wired Magazine, IDN, Amazon, Arena Magazine, Attenda, Paul Smith, AXE, Bizz Magazine, Blender Magazine, Brazen, Bungalow Records, Carraro, Computer Arts Magazine, Creative Review Magazine, Coca-Cola, Create Online Magazine, Die Zeit, Die Woche, The Face, Design Plex, Diesel, Edge Mag, Egg, Electronic Gaming Magazine, Levi's, ESPN Magazine, Expo 2000, FontShop, Gamecity, Geo Magazine, Grooves Magazine, Nestle, MTV, Fortune Magazine, Boston Magazine, Paopaws, Pentagram, VH-1, The Guardian, Renault, DaimlerChrysler, Adidas, Nike, Kellogs, Der Spiegel, The New York Times Magazine, SAP, Honda, Spin Magazine, Replay and many more... Aswell as your client work you also produce a wide range of self produced items from tees and books through fonts to wrapping paper and cards. What was the reason for doing these? Are you a good client? We enjoy producing real stuff... >>
Previous page. Berlin eCity. This page. eBoy Brandbots.
Below. London eCity.
One of the most interesting collaborations which you have done is your work with British superdesigner Paul Smith. Can you tell us how did this come about, did you approach them or did they come to you? He saw our posters in a nice little bookshop called "Magma", bought a lot of them to cover his showroom and asked the owner for our telephone number. After that he visited us in Berlin ... Either way, what made it so appealing to do? We really like his mindset... and Paul is a VERY nice guy to work with. Any other interesting projects that you're working on? On our own toys. Aswell as pixels and vectors, I see you're taking things into the third dimension. Can we expect a motion piece from eBoy soon? Or a game? Maybe ... :) What does the future hold for eBoy? Pixels, toys, an eCitybook (finally) and ... let's see ... Favourite piece of technology ever? The Machine (see http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/tech.html)
Left 3. eBoy ymie’s. Right. Cam you dig it?
eBoy giftware. For purchase information visit http://www.eboy.com
eBoy eCity chaos.
Left. eBoy tee. Right. eBoy ‘Hello’ book. For information visit http://www.eboy.com
Pixel perfect.
A bomber & Bruce.
Various eBoy illustrations.
I Am An Exit. http://www.i-am-an-exit.com/
Louis Patrick aka "I am an exit": I've always grown up around music. My mother was a singer, my father a drummer in a band. But neither of those influenced me particularly as such, they are both into soul and jazz, both styles I have ever been particularly interested in. When my stepfather entered the picture at age 6 however, he brought with him his vast music knowledge and intense devotion of all things musical. Springsteen and Dylan were gods for him (and to many others too obviously). I never got too much into that sort of music, but his enthusiasm for them rubbed off on me and influenced my pursuit of other music styles. It was a bit later on, that my stepdad was responsible for breaking grunge to me, when he turned me onto Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins. At around this time, I was also exposed to harder stuff like thrash metal and progressive metal. My fondness of this I reciprocated back to my stepdad. Then folk and acoustic stuff entered the fray, once again courtesy of my stepdad... the likes of Neil Young and Elliott Smith. He taught me my first chords on the guitar, an Elvis song, though I can't remember the name. I started writing my own acoustic dirges at age 16, recording them down soon after upon the acquisition of a tape deck. The whole electronic thing washed over me until the turn of the millennium, when I heard the sounds of the Aztec Mystic "Jaguar". I had never taken notice of dance music before then, as it was all just repetitive beats and synthetic noise to my ears. I had been vehemently opposed to it,real instrumentation was all I could stomach. But suddenly along came this track which had intense musicality and simple, uplifting melody. And I was hooked. Soon after I had a set of decks, and the genesis of a record collection. Within a short period I was playing at house parties. The style of music I have played has evolved over the course of my Djing life, but techno has always been the basis... and I have always found favour with the more melodic and emotive side of things. I started producing electronically 3 years ago, just on a simple PC,and gradually I have acquired various pieces of hardware, but the PC remains the core of my studio. Analog purists really get on my goat. I look up to the likes of Mad Mike, the force behind detroit legends UR, who has stated repeatedly that it doesn't matter what you make tracks with, its the finished product that counts. I know he only uses analog gear himself, but that's what he grew up with. Detroit techno,more than any other genre in particular, has such intense snobbery surrounding the production methods – "Uh, it’s not true Detroit unless it’s got a Juno/909/prophet etc". Good music comes from the heart. No amount of obscure, temperamental electronics from the 70's is going to compensate for lack of musicality. Some people just get so anal and condescending about other producer's production methods, well where are your tracks?? Let's hear them? My ethos for music is to keep it simple. I like good melodies and effective rhythms. Hopefully I'll be making music for a very long time.
James Murphy / LCD Soundsystem. http://www.lcdsoundsystem.com/ http://www.dfarecords.com LCD Soundsystem’s new single ‘Tribulations’ is out now, their video is available to view online at http://extreme.colonelblimp.com/directors/dougalwilson/movies/
James Murphy & A. N. Other.
“LCD make an irresistible racket aimed directly at the hips.” Blender, March 2005 James Murphy is frontman of LCD Soundsystem, one of the many bands from the reverred Stateside label DFA currently reaking havok this side of the pond with their trademark sound and a complete disregard for conformity. A highlight at both the Sonar and Electric Picnic festivals, James an Co. are firing on all cylinders this Summer so we couldn’t help but be interested. So, ourselves and Arveene from Nylon caught up with the DFA disco infiltrator to ask him a couple of questions.
10 questions from Arveene / Nylon. 1 - favourite disco record in your box right now has to be "give me love" by cerrone. that or "don't you wanna dance" (larry levan edit) by bohannon. or the celestial choir doing "stand on the word" mixed by larry. 2 - who is your biggest musical inspiration the dungbeetle band from nyc in the 90's. suicide. larry levan. mark e. smith. the dfa. 3 - what inspires you that's not musical michael clark. werner herzog. william gaddis. j.d. salinger. 4 - are you single married. 5 - when did you start getting in to club music & djing 1999-2000 6 - how did you come accross the juan maclean he was the guitarist/keyboardist in 6 finger satellite. i was the soundman. i was a huge 6 finger fan. they were incredible to watch. seriously. we've been friends ever since. 7 - what's the connection with johnny moy marcus lambkin--the shit robot. 8 - have you ever had a stalker and if no, do you want one and if yes, why i have had a stalker, and it's really a bummer. it's not funny or fun. it's a fucking head wrecker. 9 - what do you have a passion for outside of music everything, really. i'm kind of an intense guy when it comes to stuff--books, coffee, my head, whatever. 10 - if you could live anywhere in the world, what would be your ideal place and set up be i would live in new york city. i would have pretty much the apartment i have now, plus the one next door to it, but i would own them. i would have a small garage to park my car, and a studio across the street. then i would have a small beach house not too far from the city with another small studio.
LCD Live.
10 questions from Candy. 01. When did LCD Soundsystem start? / Why? kind of started twice. it was a live band first, in like 96 or 97 with myself, pat (the lcd drummer) and our friend britt (from slint, evergreen and the breeders) they both played drums and i played bass. it was just boogie music. it was really just for a few parties. 02. What else are you good at? i make exceptionally good coffee. 03. Do you think most music is boring? i think most everything is boring. 04. Is there an Irish connection? is there an irish connections? seriously? not really. i like ireland and all, and i have friends there, but i get really annoyed with americans of irish decent thinking they're irish and all--getting all excited about going "home". i'm from new jersey originally. i've lived in new york since the 80's. my family has been in america for 170 years... i'm pretty much a typical suburban american. 05. Best gig / Best time / Highlights... i think my favorite gig may have to be barrowlands in glasgow. and a few of the american gigs--seattle. i shouldn't forget tokyo, where i was so sick i had to run offstage between every song and throw up.
LCD Live.
06. Happy? yes. it's the wife's birthday today. i'm taking the day off and being a husband. 07. Are you really famous in New York? not really at all. that's one of the great things about new york--i mean, the fucking olsen twins live here... i will never be famous here. 08. Favourite piece of technology? Why? the camera. i mean, what a fucking coup! 09. Your house is on fire. What do you save? my wife. i throw my records out the window. i grab my journals. that's about it. 10. Where you going tonight? a japanese restaurant uptown called kai. we're getting the tasting menu. after that we're going to a party at tsubi party at their store.
Jimmy Behan. http://www.jimmybehan.com/
When his debut album, 'Days Are What We Live In' was released in 2004, it seemed surprising that this was Jimmy Behan's first long player. What came as no surprise was the quality of the album, nor the warmth of the critical reaction it received. Jimmy has long been regarded as one of the Ireland's most talented producers, and 'Days Are What We Live In' confirmed the promise evident on 2001’s Jimmy Behan E.P., and the Road Relish split single with The Connect 4 Orchestra. "I started making music in 1996 while I was completing a sound engineering course in Pulse Recording College in Dublin. I had been listening to dance music for the previous couple of years and had been excited by the way it could be put together using computers and samplers in a simple studio setup. Like many electronic artists, I came to using computers as a way of realising ideas that I just couldn‚t have, had I just learned to play guitar or something... I just wanted to make records rather than play an instrument as such. I came to a point in my early twenties when I realised I’d never really be happy unless I was making music, so the decision was made, for better or for worse, to do just that. Once I'd made that decision, I felt a weight was lifted from my shoulders and that I finally had a real purpose in life. It’s not always been easy, and there have been sacrifices, but it’s been hugely satisfying at the same time." Although his work thus far has been primarily sample based and despite working in crowded musical terrain, Jimmy has managed to maintain a distinct and identifiable sound. So who are your influences? "Much of the music I've liked over the years would not necessarily be of the kind I'd make myself. In my teens I listened to a lot of guitar music and sixties soul and pop which wouldn’t really translate to a computer setup. I've always been really interested in the sound of records, however, and that’s stayed with me." "I've always admired Stereolab for the way they've carved out a career for themselves on their own terms. Other contemporary people would include Broadcast, Fennesz, The Notwist... I've been introduced to a lot of 20th century composers in the last year too, Boulez, Xenakis, Cage etc. which has given me a more rounded perspective on things. I'd been aware of them in the past but had never really taken time out to study them closer. Hearing Messaien's 'Turangalila Symphonie' for the first time was one of the most humbling experiences I've ever had, I couldn't bring myself to write anything for days after! It's nearly sixty years old and still sounds so new." >>
You're doing the Masters in Music Technology in Trinity College Dublin at the moment - what made you choose to do the course? "I just felt I needed to explore new techniques. I'd been doing the same thing for years. I knew there was so much more to learn and I felt time was just passing me by. Doing the Masters has given me some kind of framework in which I could study these things - it would have taken much longer had I tried to do it in my own time. I think it’s given me the confidence to engage in a wider range of music and approach the whole thing from different perspectives. It’s certainly made me think things through more than I might have done before though its thrown up as many new questions as it has answers, which is quite unnerving at times. I believe you never stop learning and there's always new ground to explore." Were you happy with the response to 'Days..'? Do you think producing a follow up is 'easier' because you have the first album out of the way? "Yeah I was, to be honest. You can't always expect to please everyone but the reviews were generally good and we made enough sales to make it worthwhile, which is all you can really do on such a small budget. Obviously I’ve no real label pressure to get another out quickly though I hope it will be some point next summer." "In the meantime I’m putting together a compilation of remixes I'm doing for various Irish acts which will be out in December. That’s been going quite well and its been enjoyable work. I can approach tracks in different ways to how I might my own, trying different styles and techniques. I did feel a certain amount of pressure with the first album, if only because you only get one chance at your first record and I wanted something I could stand by in years to come while still putting something out that represented what I was doing at the time." "I've never had any great master plan beyond the next record really. I'd love to be able to carve out some kind of living just doing what I love doing most, which is recording, that’s the holy grail really. My musical ambitions can change with every piece I write. I still get a thrill from doing something I feel I couldn’t have done say, six months before. I like that sensation of progress even when the final goal is often quite blurry. I don’t think I'll ever sit down and go 'right, that’s it, here's my grand statement'. Every new piece of music, no matter how much you may like it, will always throw up new possible directions. It’s an on-going process that never ends really. Each release is just a marker along the way, it’s the process that’s important."
Lovely Productions. http://www.lovelyproductions.com
‘Wonderscreen’ various stills. Produced by Lovely Productions / content by various international creatives.
Living in Ireland there’s not much television that warrants the television license, unless you’re into watching a programme host with the charisma of a plank of wood or soap operas set in a Dublin that’s as far removed from reality as Jordan and Peter Andre’s fairytale fantasy of a wedding. One group of people doing the damnest to turn this around are Lovely Productions, and let me tell you, the might as well be sponsored by Cuprinol coz the name says it all. Responsible for ‘Wonderscreen’, these guys searched out some of the most amazing emerging talent in motion graphics, short film and animation from Ireland and internationally, compiled it lovingly and got it broadcast on Ireland’s TV3 network... Lovely indeed and to be highly commended (C’mere ‘til I give you a kiss...). Rather than rest on their laurels though Lovely also produce their own motion graphics and have just finished their own animated short for the film board, 'Changes' - which is a cool mix of live action, illustration and photography and are in the process of developing lots of fresh new TV shows for both RTE and TV3. Their new film, which premiered at the Galway Fleadh a few weeks ago, is up at www.lovelyproductions.com/changes.mov
A Lovely illustration.
‘Changes’ stills. Produced by Lovely Productions.
‘The Lovely Show’ stills. Produced by Lovely Productions.
Peter Maybury. http://www.softsleeper.com http://www.threadpulls.com http://www.serverproject.net http://www.emigre.com http://www.subrosa.net http://www.fallt.com http://www.tu-m.com/tump3.htm# (there’s a Peter Maybury track here in MP3s archives [along with loads of good stuff])
10 years ago and Ireland was a very different place to the creatively and culturally diverse place it is today, it was a time of ham, cheese or ham & cheese sandwiches. Being a design student in Limerick at the time, I used to have to take the train to Dublin in order to get supplies, pop into Reads newsagents on Nassau Street to get fresh crisp copies of Raygun and Bikini, then on to The Douglas Hyde Gallery to get Eye magazine and finally to Makullas to get my fix of cool, all courtesy of Niall Sweeney (see Candy1).
On one such trip though I was lucky enough to come across a magazine that defied everything that had come before it in Ireland. It was Code magazine, a limited edition publication written by people passionate about the subjects but more importantly it’s design is what threw me the most. This was a document that was suggestive of the future Ireland, the possibilities, the energies, the hopes. For me this was the document that grounded my belief that creativity was rife on this island, this was proof.
The designer behind Code, Peter Maybury, has been a constant source of intrigue and inspiration to me over the years since as his work is always radical, never apologetic yet still is completely involving and accessible. He is one of the purist designers working in Dublin and I believe he has shaped so much of the way people see creativity in Dublin, yet he’s never played the superstar, opting generally to put his head down and focus on the next revolution either through his design, his music or his many collaborations and projects. The following is simply a snapshot of the body of work that makes this man so impressive so sit back and enjoy...
CODE4. ........................................................................................ temporary release, dublin, 1996 52pg self-cover [ 254 x 254mm ] magazine + sleeve cover printed 2 colours / inside and slipcase printed 1 colour on off-white on uncoated stock. designer: peter maybury, editor: ian sen. http://www.softsleeper.com/CODE40.html ........................................................................................
How long have you been creating your work, visually & aurally? well there are probably a number of starts. i began art college in dublin in 1987, studying then in london up until the end of 1992, and i’ve played in bands of one sort or another on and off since i was about 15. i started my design practice when i came back to dublin in 1993. this has developed in an informal way into a home studio working with my wife mariepierre, making books and catalogues, websites, self-published books, video and photographic projects and works for exhibition. i've taken photographs since the early days of art college, and do so on a continuing basis. some of this gets used up in studio work, and some will be for exhibition. i began making electronic music in 1999, pretty much as soon as the technology became available and affordable to me. up until then the cost of recording was such that it seemed to me only to suit a band with songs rehearsed and ready to record. once hard-disk recording became affordable it meant that the process of composing and recording could become completely integrated. you were now able to begin with the vagueist of ideas – a sound – and work out from that. being essentially released from the financial limitations of recording, you could now explore sounds and process more freely. since 2000 i have been releasing electronic music as hard sleeper. on the emigre music, fallt and sub rosa labels. .......................................................................................................
What are your influences and inspirations? technology; systems; process; other people; my surroundings; music; film. i think all experiences shape and influence you, and this was one of the key things that clicked with me when i was studying in central st. martins - to be always outward looking. emigre magazine (soon to publish its last issue) has also been a continued source of inspiration, obviously through the design work it showcased and discussed, but also as a model of an independent entity with such integrity which has had such a huge impact worldwide. i have a wide variety of (sometimes long-term) associations with clients, and this too has influenced the direction of my work. ....................................................................................................... >>
MADE. ....................................................................................... garrett phelan, 2004. [ 165 x 240mm ] 4 colour litho printed. hard cover with cloth taped spine and end papers / cover screen-printed, inside 2 x 16pg.colour sections, 7 x 16pg one-colour sections + 4pg. fluorescent interleaf and 7 different paper stocks. http://www.softsleeper.com/designMADE1.html http://garrettphelan.com/ ........................................................................................
The White Stag Group. ........................................................................................ irish museum of modern art, 2005. hard cover bound with paper, printed and foil-blocked inside 168 pages printed in 2 colour and 4 colour process sections on varying stock / endpaper with extra flap for CD, CD printed 2 pantone colours. http://www.softsleeper.com/imma01.html ........................................................................................
Your design work is incredibly varied in terms of the clients you work with. Was this a concious aim of yours? If so, what do you look for in prospective jobs? If not, what do you think it is about your work that makes clients want to work with you? when i started the design studio i just looked to the obvious places – to things i knew a little about. over time and through association this naturally expanded, but i imagine many design companies have a wider client base. in prospective jobs i have an obvious need to make money, but i don’t see the point in wrecking my head doing things which i find utterly irrelevant. to lesser or greater degrees i look for a collaborative relationship with the client, or at the very least that my role and my approach are understood. my personality will naturally influence the work, but with every project i look for a strategy and a visual language specific to the content. after that i look for the highest production values and the most effective use of budget. and we work hard. .......................................................................................................
I’ve always known your work as that of huge commitment to creativity yet always with clarity of purpose and understanding of audience, something I would consider quite pure in method. Do you think that it’s becoming harder for creatives to resist such clarity, what with technology offering unbelievable arrays of instant techniques and effects? Also, how have you resisted / embraced these in your own work? i try to let the content and context dictate the visual language. i’ve never been particularly drawn to effects offered in software. i always try and reduce the design down to the elements which are really doing the work and if an element is superfluous it gets dumped. i don’t aspire to minimalism, some of my design work is busy or complex, but often the complexity is embedded. paper combinations, binding, typography, cropping, sequence, white space all play an equal role. ....................................................................................................... Is there any work that you just wouldn’t take on, be it for personal, professional or ethical reasons? yes, many things. i don't think it's possible to live in the western world without being to some degree hypocritical. as consumers or even as members of society there are so many things to which we are intrinsically saying ‘i accept’. with any given thing you are invariably dragged into other things by association, with which you may not agree with or approve of - you become an inadvertant participant. but i think i have to at least try not to. so the work i do and how i do it are obvious starting points. ....................................................................................................... >>
DEAF 2003 programme. ........................................................................................ 4 page insert by peter maybury. the design of these pages makes a visual correlation to a hard sleeper. / peter maybury track on the DEAF ’03 CD. the track entitled ‘slowbeat pt. 2’ can be downloaded here: http://www.softsleeper.com/audio.html http://www.softsleeper.com/deafprogramme01.html http://www.softsleeper.com/DEAF1.html http://deafireland.com/splash.htm ........................................................................................
Collaborations are something you seem to thrive on and be involved in on a constant basis. What makes them so appealing for you? funny, i wouldn't have thought of mysef as a big-time collaborator, since a lot of what i do i do independently, but yes in many cases i would regard my design work as a collaborative process, and i'm collaborating / sharing ideas in the studio every day with marie-pierre. / in music i collaborate with two other people in a gtr/vcls, bass/electronics, drums context in the band thread pulls. the reasons for collaborating here are obvious as collaboration is at the core of music of this kind; all of the material is derived from group improvisation. there is a strong visceral appeal to making music in this way which acts as a perfect counter balance to making electronic music. / i’m also part of serverproject, making site-specific networked electronic performances of spontaneously derived sound/music. this is a very rewarding way to work, as with four of us working freely like this a very rich array of sounds and textures develops. often the best participation in this is to sit back and listen. / and i've just begun a collaborative project with marie-pierre. out of an initial need to make a video for projection at a hard sleeper gig in lille in october, we've expanded it into the videoprojection, which will be based on still images and small amounts of video, and a book project which will be produced with an accompanying CD of music from the performance. / so what makes collaborations so appealing? i suppose because the canvas is more expansive, you’re introduced to and contribute new ideas, and your views are challenged. in a strange way all these different activities create a kind of balance; they all relate to and shape each other. ....................................................................................................... >>
Music and design seem equally close to your heart, what do you see as the merits of each that dissuade you from persuing one solely? well firstly there’s always a graphic / visual need in relation to audio – CD covers, booklets, projections etc., so of course i’m interested in that. but there are many ways in which both disciplines inter-relate, particularly in terms of process. graphic design for me is always about balancing the rational with the intuitive and this is the approach i have to making music. there are structural/mechanical elements which must work with organic, spontaneous and otherwise irregular elements. in both i employ systems and try to embrace chance elements. and besides both are magnetic – i constantly get drawn from one to the other. ....................................................................................................... What do you think of the state of Irish design? i would like if there were more-evolved design, printing and binding traditions in ireland. i think i’m in a lucky position in that i am able to work in areas which interest me, and these help fund my other pursuits. there was maybe a point when it would have made commercial sense to take on staff and to expand, but this was never really an option for me, as it seems to me that at this point you get separated from design work and move more toward commerical concerns. ....................................................................................................... What’s the future for Peter Maybury? finish renovating my house; more self-published books; more hard sleeper releases; exhibitions, a new thread pulls CD; more really. ....................................................................................................... What’s your favourite piece of technology (past/present/future)? i think the single most gratifying piece of technology is my G4 powerbook. the projects that are closest to me all originate here. .......................................................................................................
left: UTOPIAS. Left 3.
residue. Right 3.
........................................................................................ the douglas hyde gallery, exhibition catalogue, 1999. 48 pages printed in 5 spot colours + black.
........................................................................................ the douglas hyde gallery, dublin, 1997. editor / text : john hutchinson cover printed pantone + metallic inks inside printed 2 spot colours throughout
http://www.softsleeper.com/designutopias01.html ........................................................................................
http://www.softsleeper.com/designresidue01.html ........................................................................................
aerial [ vol. 1 ]. Top left.
an anthology of noise and electronic music [ vol. 2 ]. Top centre.
........................................................................................ tod dockstader. sub rosa, belgium, 2005. 3 x jewelcase CD in slipcase with booklets / covers and slipcase printed 4 colour process, with clear trays.
........................................................................................ sub rosa, belgium, 2004. double digipak CD with 48pg. booklet. cover printed 4 colour process with clear trays. booklet printed 1 colour throughout.
bisk, time. Top right. ........................................................................................ recto/verso CD cover, sub rosa SR112.
http://www.softsleeper.com/designaerial01.html ........................................................................................
http://www.softsleeper.com/designanthology21.html ........................................................................................
http://www.softsleeper.com/design604.html ........................................................................................
pousser-main-jeck-oval, 4 parabolic mixes, live recordings. Bottom row. ........................................................................................ recto/verso CD cover, sub rosa SR199. http://www.softsleeper.com/design605.html ........................................................................................
Famed for his work for Super Furry Animals and, more recently, Kia cars and The Magic Numbers amongst others, Pete Fowler also happens to be one of the most revered and influential character designers. Through his company Playbeast, which he runs with friend Rob Manley, and it’s supporting website, Pete has developed an independent outlet by which he can spread his creative work while also helping incubate and expose other similarly talented people. Had it not been for the existence of Playbeast, who knows whether we would have even been exposed to cardboard engineered genius of Mark James’ Cardboy Series or the all hugging Klong.
Playbeast. http://www.playbeast.com http://www.monsterism.net
Featuring a diverse range of other projects, Pete proves that many fingers in pies can work as his bringing to life of his Monsterism Series sits incredibly comfortably alongside his skateboard deck designs or furniture. The only thing that worries us here is what to buy next...
Monsterism Volume 3 / Woodland series. Available in 8 characters with special limited edition “Chase” colour variants. Designed by Pete Fowler.
Various work. All illustration by Pete Fowler.
How and when did Playbeast come about? Who are involved? Playbeast came about in 2003 when we launched the Camguin soft vinyl figure. I'd established various series of toys with Sony Creative Products and wanted to produce my own toys through an independent company. Myself and Rob Manley formed the company and have expanded it to include several other artists as well as myself. With the saturation of designer toys in the last few years what would you say sets you apart? I just do what feels right for me within my own work and my ideas. I try not to look at the toy world as a whole as I feel toys are just a medium to work with as well as many others. I hope by building up an imaginary world the characters are laced into it and get given a life of their own. We think that the artists we work with have unique talents and are both from different creative fields. Variety and imagination will hopefully make Playbeast warrant attention. When developing a new set of figures, what’s the process? Is it similar for the various designers on the site? My ideas always start as sketches in a notebook, I'll draw and re draw a character over and over until it feels right. I'll have a concept for them, even if it's loose, to hang the characters together on to and develop them as a group. I can’t really speak on behalf of the other designers as everyone has their own way of working. Is there a science to creating commercially successful products or is it best foot forward and anything could happen? I'm not sure that there is a formula for that, the toy scene as such has grown from the fringes quite rapidly and for me, the companies and artists with imagination and original ideas stand out from the crowd. >>
Over the course of Playbeast’s rise, you’ve done everything from skate decks to stationery products, with many a toy, tee and even furniture item thrown in. Do you approach these projects individually or is it with the same method, just happening that these items are produced in different forms? I see these various items as a different or unusual shaped canvas' and different mediums to play with. In the same way as I see working with plastic figures, though they are easier to obtain! Any sign of bringing more of the characters to life in the same way as Pete’s characters have been used in the recent Kia ads and his work for Super Furry Animals and The Magic Numbers? A world of Playbeast movie maybe, or a one-onone fight to the death video game or hell, Chinpira and Cardboy becoming the mascots for struggling West Ireland Hurling teams? Various ideas have sprung up from Monsterism and we are currently developing ideas for an animated short to get Monsterism Island on the map. Similar ideas are underway for Cardboy, so watch that space. Is there any work that you just wouldn’t take on or any company you wouldn’t work with, be it for personal, professional or ethical reasons? Weapons companies. Budweiser...
Left row. Kia commerical stills. Right row. Magic Numbers ‘Forever Lost’ video. All illustration / animation by Pete Fowler. Magic Numbers video available to view at http://www.excellentonline.com/article.php3?story_id=1345
While you all seem to work as individuals, are there any plans to maybe do some more collaborative projects? I think we are all focused on our individual projects at the moment to think about that though something strange could happen. What’s the future for Playbeast? The Tribes of Monsterism Island are the next release to come, a set of 4 figures that will start an offshoot series alongside the others. Sneakerheads will come next from Mark, with a twist on the original Cardboy system he cunningly originated. We hope to release some soft or plush objects and more soft vinyl figures with perhaps more artists from outside of the toy world. What other things keep you all interested and inspired? Personally- music, drawing, travelling, nature, friends, parallel worlds. What’s your favourite piece of technology? It's got to be a tie between the Breville Sandwich Toaster and the zero gravity backpack. (Copyright me).
Below. Cardboy Series 1 by Mark James/ AMDC. Outer case packaging with 8 Cardboys contained. This casing is designed to become the 9th super CardBoy.
Below. Cardboy Series 1 by Mark James/ AMDC.
Below. Klong , created by UK fine artist Simon Henwood is PlayBeast's first Plush release. Klong is a plush with a difference, with long arms and bean filled hands, Klong actually hugs you! Klong can't see or hear you but senses your Kindness.
Left to right. World of Monsterism Vinyl Figures: Janitor back detail. Cam-guin blue variant. Boris blue variant. Cam-guin white variant. Janitor front detail. Designed by Pete Fowler.
Redman AKA.
Below. Schneider TM ‘Reconfigures’. Cover design. Right. Working Class Heroes festival (Dublin) promotional poster. Photography by Aidan Kelly.
Peter Reddy, aka Redman AKA (nope, that’s not a typo!), is a modern designer in every sense of the term. Self taught he has probably influenced more than a few of our social choices due to his striking creative executions for just about every gig in Dublin over the years. Choosing to walk a different line than most (he uses CorelDraw to produce his graphics), Redman has been responsible for the ever changing cityscape through his club night graphics for everyone from POD through to the Influx crew. Non-compromising and positively passionate are two terms which come to mind upon meeting him, he prefers to walk away from work that’s being compromised than stick with it just for the cash. It is this stance though that now stands as a testament in his incredible portfolio and also in the list of people who want to work with him, ranging from some of Ireland’s most progressive creatives who he uses for raw product with which to mold brilliant pieces straight through to clients who want to stand out and so need something unique. One of Ireland’s finest.
Below. Redman logos (various).
How long has Redman AKA existed? 01:01:01 I understand you’re self taught, what have been the pro’s and con’s of this in getting (and keeping) you where you are today, particularly in Ireland? Yes I am self taught, I guess in my opinion it’s been all pro's, my learning was through mistakes and simply doing it, nothing like losing money on a print job to ensure you check the file (pdf's of course nowadays!!) next time around I'm not sure what you mean by keeping me where I am today, that sounds hellish to me, I gotta be moving or it’s over, stagnation! Hopefully my lessons don't keep me in one place, maybe that’s the real lesson of "self taught"? Self-employed too, how have you found being independent in Ireland? Independence is always great, I don't imagine its any easier than working for "the man", but it really depends on what kind of a person you are, I have my own ideas of how things should roll and Redman AKA is about executing them, I will and have walked away from silly jobs on many occassions, that’s the benefit of independence... I decide what happens everyday. Very nice. Your design work is incredibly varied in terms of the clients you work with and the work you do. Was this a concious aim of yours? If so, what do you look for in prospective jobs? If not, what do you think it is about your work that makes clients want to work with you? Maybe I'm a graphic slag and I'll work with any rotter... Maybe that’s why my work is varied... The bottom of the barrel.... That’s where the real work is!!! I like working on different jobs, I don't really pitch for work, I get work based on my existing work, I'm not sure what makes My clients want to work with me... Fear of violence? Sex? Compliments? Re-assurance? Cheap fast graphics? Who knows! Probably the cheap fast graphics if I am to be honest! Aswell as bread and butter work, I hear you also do a lot of collaborations with people for little or no money? What do you get out of this that makes it so appealing? I do too much for no money! I do this because I still like to design, there are things that excite me and things I like to be involved in, if I want to do it I will do it regardless of money or time, I like to be around people that are doing something they are passionate about And really engaged in I find this really really desireable I learn things that way. But ideally I'd like to get rid of the bread & butter work Only be working on stuff I like. Thats the dream, I had a dream designers and clients waling hand in hand etc etc... >>
Who are your heroes and what inspires you? Why? God! So many people inspire me contantly... Here are only a few of them... Phil Lynott / Ray Davies / Morrissey / Bowie / Mick Ronson / Johnny Marr / Douglas Coupland / Richard Yates / Todd Salondz / P T Anderson / Deepak Chopra / Martin McCann / Saso / Fred Perry. Inspirational... Because they all have made great great things And nature, of course... What do you think of the state of Irish design? There is a state of Irish design? Do you need a visa? Below. POD (Dublin) promotional media.
What’s the future for Redman AKA? Something new, somewhere else, with someone beautiful. Those cool sign-off quotations alongside your name on the work you do. Are they a call to arms for the audience or a shorthand for yourself regarding the job? Any other elements we should be looking out for? Hey! I can't tell you that!!!....I'd be depriving you of a vital life lesson....Follow the yellow brick road! What’s your favourite piece of technology? I like my webcam, and I very much like broadband...
This page. Entertainment promotional media (various).
This page. Entertainment promotional media (continued). Top left & second row bottom:SASO cover. Second row top: Gemma Hayes ‘Work to a calm’ cover. First row bottom: Revs cover. Right: Sack promotional poster. Photography by Aidan Kelly.
Regular Product. http://www.regularproduct.com
The first time I became aware of Regular Product was through Co-Op magazine, a brilliant publication put together by Johnny Kelly (see Candy1) and Angry (see Candy2) simply to have a bit of fun by theming each issue and inviting contributions for all over the world. One such interested person was Adam Cruickshank, aka Regular Product from Australia, who’s submission actually made it to the cover (Go on my son!!). Wondering what happened once the dust settled we thought we’d hook up with him and see how the associated fame and fortune that came along with his Co-Op involvement has impacted on his life... Oh, and to have a goo at his brilliant work. Ah go on, give us a look... Please...
So, what is Regular Product? Just a name I use to work under. It's really just the name of my website, but it seemed to take on a bit of a life of its own. To be honest, I'm kinda getting sick of it. Not the work, the name. Although I guess it has more of a ring to it than Adam Cruickshank.
Left. Co-Op magazine (Dublin) cover.
Right. The hole tooth and everything but the tooth.
How and when did it come about? I think it was the beginning of 2000. I'd been doing bits and pieces of work since art school and working fulltime crappy jobs at the same time and my artwork always seemed to disappear once it was done because I was crap at making sure everything was documented. So the name and website was a way to force myself into documenting the stuff I was doing. It was a way to keep track and provide some kind of basket I could throw everything into even though my work varies a lot in terms of style and genre. I guess it was also a catalyst for me to concentrate more on my art and illustration stuff. It provided a kind of focus. Considering the great work you already do day to day, why do you feel the need to so extra-curricular projects? Are you a vampire or something? I don't really know if my day to day work is that great. I art direct a magazine in Melbourne during the day and fit in whatever extra artwork or street work or illustration or other weird little projects I can during my spare time - hence 'extracurricular'. You seem really into collaborating on projects worldwide (including Dublin’s very own CoOp magazine), what makes doing this so appealing. I enjoy getting involved in stuff that people just do because they love to do it. CoOp is a good example of that because its just this cool little mag that obviously isn't made for the money or any ulterior motive. Its also good to be able to hook up with people worldwide who have a similar viewpoint and make something with them. Its also good to get more freedom than working for big clients. >>
This page. Regular Product street art. ‘Curryman’ & ‘Hand’.
Career highlights so far... They're yet to come. Ambitions... I dont have much of a grand plan. I just do the things that interest me and with any luck people will continue to want to get me to do stuff with or for them. I'm going to start making more one-off pieces away from my computer, get back drawing on paper, which is my original love. That's pretty much my only ambition, to keep working. Regrets... Nothing really. Sometimes I regret that after a couple of years exhibiting post art school I went into working fulltime for the man rather working fulltime for myself by painting and drawing all day. But you know, I got bills. The ultimate job you’ve yet to do... Working entirely for myself. Which still kinda means working for other people. But you know. What’s getting you all excited at the moment? Ricky Swallow. Early 70s funk. Melbourne. Collecting old Graphis issues from the 60s. What’s your favourite piece of technology? This is predictably crap, but at the moment it's my iPod. My favourite old pieces of technology are pencils.
This page (left to right). SemiPermanent graphic / ‘Ghosteses’ / Nike ‘Faster than you think’ / ‘Skills’.
Resfest. http://www.resfest.com
Resfest. http://www.resfest.com
Previous page and this page background. Stills from the many features / shorts / presentations / etc. showing at Resfest 2005.
RESFEST's 2005 UK and Ireland tour will kick off with a flagship launch event on Tuesday 27 September, at London's prestigious National Film Theatre, before visiting Glasgow, Dublin, Bristol, Belfast, Nottingham and Sheffield. The UK and Ireland tour follows the global launch in New York City's Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 15 - 18 September. The festival will travel on its most extensive tour yet to over 35 cities around the globe, presenting a mix of original shorts and music video programmes, guest speakers, workshops, parties, and live music events.
Returning to the festival line-up are three shorts programmes, including new and award-winning work from Jared Hess, Gaelle Dennis, Miguel Arteta, Johan Kramer, Eduoard Salier, Chris Cunningham, Nakd Design, and Stylewar; two music video programs “Cinema Electronica” and “Videos That Rock!” including new videos for Chemical Brothers, Dizzee Rascal, Aesop Rock, RJD2, Four Tet, Bloc Party, LCD Soundsystem, Quasimoto, Arcade Fire, Lemon Jelly and Flaming Lips; and “By Design”, a showcase of visually arresting and thought provoking motion graphics and design-based animation.
This year festival organisers received a record 1,750 submissions, as a result of a global search for the most outstanding, innovative short films, music videos, animations, commercials, and motion design shorts. This year's RES features will include a preview of Mike Mill's debut feature ”Thumbsucker” (as will as some rarely seen Mills shorts). A special screening of the documentary film “Just For Kicks” that presents the colourful history and rise of the trainer culture phenomenon. RESFEST will also hold the UK premiere of Doug Pray's new film about Graffiti culture “Infamy”.
RESFEST's flagship shorts showcase Shorts One features the world premiere of English director Adam Smith's 'What Goes Up (Must Come Down)'. Adam's videos for the Chemical Brother's 'Galvanized' and the Streets' 'Blinded by the Light' can be found in the Cinema Electronica programme. The RESFEST 2005 trailer is the creation of filmmaker, animator, graphic designer, and festival alum Stefan Nadelman, whose film “Terminal Bar” was, in addition to being a 2002 RESFEST Audience Choice award winner, also winner of the Jury Prize for best short film at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
The RESFEST showcase of curated programmes and special screenings will include a music video retrospective of the prolific and genre-busting music pioneer Beck; Traktor, a Swedish production collective whose award-winning work includes commercials for Nike, and music videos for Basement Jaxx, Fatboy Slim, and Prodigy, with some never before seen gems from the Traktor archives; the program “Cut & Paste” celebrating works using collage, sampled footage, and filmmaking with a DIY or handmade creative edge; the RES “Triple Threat” programme forecasting three of the most talented up and coming directors on the planet - Nagi Noda, Jonnie Ross, and Francis Vogel; and RES will be partnering with the ground breaking British independent music label XL Recordings, for a series of events including, a full programme of music videos and XL parties in each UK and Irish city. The label XL Recordings is home to artists including The White Stripes, Basement Jaxx, M.I.A., the Prodigy, Badly Drawn Boy, Electric Six and Dizzee Rascal.
RESFEST on tour in the UK and Ireland: ---------------------------------------------27 Sep - 2 Oct, 2005 // London : National Film Theatre. ---------------------------------------------13 - 16 Oct, 2005 // Glasgow : GFT, Centre for Contemporary Arts & the School of Art. ---------------------------------------------20 - 23 Oct, 2005 // Dublin : Irish Film Institute and Filmbase. ---------------------------------------------27 - 30 Oct, 2005 // Bristol : Watershed. ---------------------------------------------4 - 6 Nov, 2005 // Belfast : Queen's Film Theatre. ---------------------------------------------11 - 13 Nov, 2005 // Sheffield : Showroom. ---------------------------------------------18 - 20 Nov, 2005 // Nottingham : Broadway. ----------------------------------------------
Richie Hawtin. http://www.richiehawtin.com/
I doubt you need me to introduce you to Richie Hawtin. Needless to say he is a man of wealth and taste and has been responsible for some of the finest moments in electronic music history. The seminal Sheet One by Plastikman and Dimension Intrusion by Fuse on Warp; The Decks, Effects and 909 mixed CD on Nova Mute; and the countless inspirational remixes, especially System 7’s Alpha Wave. From Hawtin’s music, regardless to guise or label, you get the impression that he is a lab rat, a techno-geek; however, the truth is the opposite. It is 2pm, Sunday. Hawtin finished in Fabric at 8am. He is off to Ibiza later. He arrived yesterday afternoon from Berlin and his schedule for the rest of the year is something similar relentless. The trademark glasses and shaven head have been usurped by a punk-fringe of Aryan ambition and contact lenses that show off his Übber blue eyes, all a part of his new life in Berlin. “I’ve been dancing a lot, listening a lot, going crazy at parties with friends – being part of the scene” extolled Hawtin. Despite an all night session (for both of us) at Fabric, London the previous evening, I shot the breeze with an affable and candid Hawtin who, despite only having a few hours rest he made time to further spread his gospel. His exuberance and erudition about electronic music and clubbing is astounding. Here is a man of at least 15 years touring the world as a techno DJ still full of beans - a man top of his game ready and willing to discuss everything and anything about his art. He can’t say enough. “take as long as you want he says, we have plenty of time” but my head hurts and I have a plane to catch. Not once is he stuck for words, and nothing is taboo. Mind you the coffee was black, strong and sugar filled. “Sometimes I ask myself where does he energy come from, especially the last couple of years which have been really full on” revealed Hawtin.
“It is very easy to play completely progressive, be forward thinking and go right over everybody’s heads but they won’t understand the language you are playing, so its always that balance. That’s what drives me. A search for the farthest reference point the most people can understand” Hawtin does love to fiddle, twist and manipulate sound he also loves to party and his aim is to entertain, after all he is, first and foremost, a DJ. “I never saw myself as a musician. I became one because of DJing and technology. Without technology who knows what I would be doing”, however, “there’s always the question, where does technology end and creativity begin” added Hawtin. Technology or creativity never ends for Hawtin. This is a man clearly not content with tradition and frustrated by the ordinary. People, in my opinion, mistakenly refer to his sound as minimal; however DE9: Transmissions proves that never has a label been so wrongly applied or need to be changed.
>>
Hawtin strips music down to its most basic component, what he refers to as getting close to the edit; and as this produces a deep, pounding groove which I can understand why people call it minimal; however, by stripping several tracks and using them as building blocks to create a unique piece of art he constructs a complex image via deconstruction and fine tuning his art form over-and-over again. This is not minimal; in fact it is the opposite. This is where the lab-rat image comes from, the painstaking edits and re-edits, day and night in the studio, before he is anywhere close or happy for the rest of us to experience his art. DE9: Transmissions is the third in the series of Decks, Effects and 909 series and it is the second whereby Hawtin has employed the editing of loops as the platform of expression. Transmissions is also the first mixed CD to be released in 5.1 surround sound, perfect for the home cinema and after hours partying. In fact for all future mixed CDs and home listening Transmissions may become a landmark, just like Decks, Effects and 909 tour morphed DJing as we know into laptop dancing. Unlike the DE9: Closer to the Edit, Hawtin has given each new track he has created in DE9: Transmissions its own title, despite it being the product of other peoples art. “With using brand new track titles for the music this time I wanted to show that in my mind the mix had again become something different, something partly of me. I put this together and spent all this time on it, I felt I could put my stamp of approval on it by giving the track titles” said Hawtin. “I feel I have enough trust to do what I want. Giving it new titles makes it a little edgy” added Hawtin.
----------------------------------------------------Artist: Richie Hawtin. Photographer: Alex Gnaedinger. -----------------------------------------------------
The striking thing about the album, other than the fact that it is realised in 5.1 is that listening to it you are enveloped into the mix. Suddenly you hear a note or a loop that you recognise, you check the track-listing to make sure and then, like a total geek with too much time on your hands, you go to the old record collection, pull out the original and compare to see just what Hawtin has done exactly. The first couple pf listens makes this 80 or so minute project last for several hours, which no album has ever done before. This is the Hawtin effect. Through music and technology Richie Hawtin intrigues you. Sometimes you may find his music repetitive, even boring and too deep for clubs but in the end he creates a hypnotic groove that captivates like a snake charmer controls serpents. The added effect is that before Hawtin only had audible charms to captivate you whereas now he also has the visual element. Hawtin believes that technology liberates the DJ. “If computer technologies automate one task, such as beat matching, then the DJ can concentrate on other creative processes” said Hawtin “It’s like tight-rope walking. You are always pushing it to the brink of falling and loosing your balance, but its there in those movements you find the best moments” claims Hawtin. “You have to keep in mind that you are playing to an audience. Everyone has different reference points, different histories. Its all about finding a common reference point where you can move around” claims Hawtin. “it is very easy to play completely progressive, be forward thinking and go right over everybody’s heads but they wont understand the language you are playing, so its always that balance. That’s what drives me. A search for the farthest reference point the most people can understand” added Hawtin.
‘DE9: Transmissions’ is out now on Nova Mute / Minus. Special thanks to: Jonas Stone (ePM) and Seth Hodder (Nova Mute). Text and interview by Desy Balmer.
Rinzen.
“Are you my home?” exhibition (Hamburg) wall graphic detail.
Rinzen. http://www.rinzen.com http://www.rinzen.com/SHOP/shop.html http://www.rmxxx.com http://www.heliumcowboy.com/hc_digilog/rinzen/ http://www.2ktshirts.com/ http://www.liness.net/
Rinzen are one of the most creatively diverse agencies in the world, working on a diverse range of projects both for themselves aswell as “the Man”. Originally formed Down Under they now also run an office in Berlin and this has only added to their fame (and workload) around this side of the world. With work ranging from clothing to exhibitions, Adrian Clifford & Co. approach every project with so much energy you’d need a case of Red Bull just to help you tag along. Candy caught up with them following their recent exhibition in Hamburg to ask them a couple of questions and maybe get a lead into finding out what makes the tick so quick.
Rinzen tees. Visit http://www.2ktshirts.com for more information.
How and when did Rinzen come about? Karl: In the year 2000, in a post drunken haze over the bones of a sacrificial chair. Adrian: It all began with the first RMX project, from there we saw the possibility of joining forces Voltron-style and mastering our destinies in a more colourful fashion. What would you say are the strengths of your work & approach? Karl: Working collectively yet also individually our approach is quite eclectic and adaptable. We are able to work across a variety of disciplines and circumstance. The structure of Rinzen affords each of us the opportunity to travel and work in varying locations and the ability to pursue both group and personal ventures. I think there is very much a common thread that runs throughout our work yet we each offer five very individual perspectives which serves to further enrich and diversify the outcomes for each project, also continually keeping us all interested and inspired what everyone else is doing. Craig: Each Rinzen member has an individual approach and style, so whether one member is working on a project or five are collaborating together, the outcomes are always quite diverse. If its an individual project, just knowing the other four Rinzens will be seeing the final work means the quality of project outcomes (whether big or small) are kept consistently high. From a business perspective, I like the fact that clients deal with the designer directly, that their input into the process isn't obstructed by suits and account managers. Adrian: On a practical level, we have one foot in the world of reductive, indivisible modernist ideals and the other foot in the world of the fantastical – ideally that gives both the tools to tackle anything and also the imagination to first conceive the 'anything'.
Viking.
Now you’ve got such a good reputation you must be in a pretty strong position regarding what clients you take on. What do you look for in prospective jobs? Karl: Projects that provide a challenge of some variety, whether it be stylistically or the opportunity to apply our style and ideas to new and interesting products or outcomes. Anything that provides a sense of excitement really. If we can be excited about it hopefully that will translate into the outcome and in turn excite other people too. Craig: The best jobs usually come from clients who enter the project with an open mind and are happy to see the project mutate and change direction into outcomes that may not have been initially considered. If a prospective client shows a willingness towards new ideas then the project is inclined to be more enjoyable and the outcome more amazing. Adrian: All of that, plus the opportunity to work with interesting content – in the best jobs, the design outcome is made richer by the quality and depth of the ideas/items that you're designing for – the ones where you yourself had made the music, story, product being designed for… >>
Is there any work that you just wouldn’t take on, be it for personal, professional or ethical reasons? Karl: Yes, for all those reasons. On either a personal or professional basis it is necessary to trust and believe in what people are trying to do and our role within that. It is not really in my interest to further the cause of companies or individuals whose motives or products seem dubious or unjust. When people are simply interested in having you apply a 'style' to make their product appear a certain way or align them with a certain group without any real substance or foundation. Adrian: We try to look at it simply as 'good business practice' – trying to make common sense decisions about giving our time and energy to things that won't generate a net negative effect on the world or our business. Although a highly successful commercial company, you seem very involved and open to exhibiting original work worldwide. In the case of your recent “Are you my home?” exhibition in Hamburg what was your thinking behind this and your motivation? Rilla: We don't really see ourselves as a commercial company.. We're just open to new ideas and exploring the new directions that different opportunities bring. When we were offered the exhibition in Hamburg, we were up to our necks in paint.. We'd spent a month painting directly onto the walls at Hotel Fox, and been inspired by the time we'd spent with a lot of the other artists there. In that project we had to be committed to a fixed idea and see it through... so we saw the show as an opportunity to continue painting, but also to loosen up and to experiment. We had to work quickly as we only had 3 or 4 weeks to put the whole show together. Again, relating to this exhibition, you seemed to forego exorbitant prices for more realistic accessible ones (which is highly commendable! Well done!). Was this a conscious decision and, if so, why? Rilla: Steve and I moved to Berlin as we were preparing the show, so we used the show as a chance to explore ideas relating to the move. It was very personal and became a sort of snap-shot of a moment in time. It was never about anything other than experimentation. >>
Left. “Are you my home?” exhibition (Hamburg) work for purchase.
I also see you’re getting more into clothing, both with 2k Shirts and also for your own range Owliness. How did this come about and how’s it working out? Rilla: We've been doing graphics for clothing pretty much from the beginning of Rinzen - we've always gravitated towards things we're interested in - along with music, magazines and interesting events. Liness is a collaboration between Deanne Cheuk, Yasmin Majidi and myself. Deanne and I often talked about how we shared many of the same fashion clients and experiences... though Liness began when we realised we were all obsessive collectors of owl "things" and had a similar inclination for becoming fanatic about particular ideas or motifs. It was only natural that our first collection would be all about owls, and called Owliness... Our second was about boys... Boyliness. We're just putting the finishing touches on the third collection now. What’s the future for Rinzen? Karl: Hopefully bright and prosperous furnished with new and exciting Rinzen applications to a myriad of lifestyle related objects. And perhaps a small army of toys in our likeness to do our bidding. Craig: I'd like to think one day we could work on a minimal amount of client related jobs each year and spend the rest of the time concentrating on our own projects and products. Rilla: One day, probably in the very distant future, we may even update our website! What other things keep you all interested and inspired? Craig: Gloomy skies, Ricky Swallow, Howard Arkley, beer + friends, Aubrey Beardsley, Bret Easton Ellis, Patricia Piccinini, kittens and the other Rinzens. Karl: Opportunities for travel either near or far, even those stolen moments in that other world - the outside. Otherwise most things that are bright and shiny, especially those made of plastic. Rilla: Visits to old bookstores! On the weekend we visited a surreal east German town that had been occupied by the Russians. It has huge concrete pencil shaped bunkers, statues of Russian Cosmonauts and Lenin... and lots of second hand bookstores full of old German and Russian books. Sailor.
What’s your favourite piece of technology? Karl: Anything multi functional that can be attached to your wrist - calculator watch, talking watch etc. Plus I've forever lamented the loss of my Nintendo game watch I had as a child. Rilla: Speaking of clocks, I loved my owl clock. You could spin the analogue hands around, press a button and the owl would open his eyes and show the time digitally. Dad pulled it apart to figure out how it worked...I've never seen it again. Adrian: Corkscrew bottle opener.
Below. Fox Hotel (Copenhagen) customised rooms. More information at http://www.project-fox.org/
Rinzen. Various illustration work.
SiSi. They also have a spate of popular mix CDs, most of which can be downloaded from this link: http://www.queeporganicmusic.com/artisthtml/mix110thstreet.htm Anocht FM http://www.rte.ie/rnag/antaobhtuathail.html
If you ever wondering where the term “Wild West” came from, chances are you ain’t been on a heaving dancefloor when these 2 guys drop track after track of molten wax. '110th Street' has been on the go in Galway for almost seven years now. Originally conceived as a blaxploitative-themed house party by founder Cian Ó Cíobháin (presenter of 'An Taobh Tuathail' on Anocht FM, the club began life wigging out to a funk/soul/disco soundtrack on occasional Saturdays in Galway's intimate Town Hall Theatre setting. The night blossomed spectacularly regularly selling out days in advance, so much so that when the demand arose to take on extra dates at the venue, Cian invited producer Cyril Briscoe (Dextris) on board as co-resident DJ. After the Town Hall, '110th Street' spent a brief stint throwing parties in the Radisson in early 2002, before locating to GPO then Galway's epicentre for dance music. The step up to a bigger room meant that they needed to find a 'bigger' sound and this was initially done through playing various versions of house music. During a trip to London, Cian heard Erol Alkan play one of his early gigs at 'Bugged Out!' and was inspired by what he heard. Like '110th Street', he was freestyling through various genres but with a punky electroclash sound (a sound that was to mature into the synth-based electro-house sound of today) at it's core. '110th Street' drank from this fountain and was reborn. During the GPO years (2002-2004) - '110th Street' pushed the electro-house sound before any club in Ireland did, bringing Erol over for his debut Irish gig as well as other like-minds, including 2ManyDJs & The Glimmers. Cian & Cyril spread their wings with a shortlived but influential residency at Dublin's Red Box while also enjoying a year-long monthly residency in Cork's Redz venue.
SiSi.
Their sets since 2002 have drawn primarily on an electrohouse sound, with nu-disco, punk-funk & techno as well as a few indie anthems and an occasional camp 80's tune in the mix: their main aim has been to fuse together all the sounds that make them groove, but with a firm party aesthetic. After new owners took over the GPO and proceeded to destroy its long held position as the home of dance music in Galway, '110th Street' jumped ship. Enter The Vic - a space in the city centre that was lying practically empty, attracting a handful of people at the weekends where naff 70's & 80's hits were the order of the day. After a handful of trial dates at the venue late last year, '110th Street' began a fortnightly residency at the venue in rotation with Galway's '091'. The crowds have been flocking to the nights, which have seen old friends like Erol & The Glimmers make appearances, as well as the '110th Street' debuts of Wilkes from Optimo (Espacio) & 'Nodisko's Zak Frost. Cyril and Cian use the name SiSi for their studio productions. They have re-edited and remixed tracks by Underworld, Doves, Mylo, Martin Hornveth & Riton. One of their re-edits will be released by a prominent English label before the end of the year. Currently, they are focusing their energies on the launch of another club night in Galway. This night - called 'The Hive' - is a return to the house party ideal with a music policy that draws on the disparate sounds that fuel Cyril & Cian's own late-night parties back at theirs: from 50's doo-wop to glamrock, through mutant disco & Blondie, with Prince, punk & pop songs aplenty in the mix. Venue to be announced soon.
Trust Me I’m A Thief. http://www.trustmeimathief.com/ http://www.goodtimejohn.com http://www.theredneckmanifesto.com Somadrone will be releasing their first recording (double album) with a launch gig in The Project Arts Center, October 22nd. Support is provided by another TMIAT act Schroedersound and Swedish electro pop duo The New Heat. Goodtime John releases a new EP 'Ol' Death Whisper' September 29th - There will be a launch in Road Records on that date at 7pm - Free in. Both release will be available in good record stores and of course as mail order and download from www.trustmeimathief.com Interested in what’s happening in digital music in the meantime, get them fat fingers clicking and wander over for tea and cake at... http://www.trustmeimathief.com/news_service.html
Trust Me I'm A Thief was founded last year with it’s first release ‘The Monkeys In The Zoo Have More Fun Than Me’ by Jape and label launch last September. Set up by Brian Mooney, the label was developed simply as a platform for releasing music he liked. He teamed up with his fellow ex. Idiots band member Andy Osborn, who had a mucho big interest in the digital end of the music spectrum and the rest is history (recent!) Andy works on the online side of the label, which won a digital media award early on this year. They got a big shiny heavy marble grave stone for their troubles. The label’s plan is to release as much good quality music as it can, and also to continue exploring and delivering this in the digital domain, and all domains, and to explore getting this music out to the wider world, no matter how many bank jobs we have to do. TMIAT are known for firsts... they were the first record company to release a record on Christmas Day and they were the first Irish record label to make its releases available in download form, as it has so far enabled them to make their releases available a tenner cheaper than they sell in the shops. Who's robbin' who? Pushing boundries. Cutting edge music. Stealin’, strokin’, robbin' ya blind. Buyi’, sellin, dealin’ and wheelin’. dealin’... >>
Clockwise from top left. Jape / Schroedersound / Beautiful Unit / The Redneck Manifesto / Goodtime John.
TMIAT official stance on IRMA suing downloaders: If they are concerned about content being stolen why don't the PPI or IMRO sue the major labels for gross incompetence in not protecting the content of their artists, through proper digital rights management protection? Then the musicians union can sue the PPI or IMRO for suing the artists for loss of income because they are busy contesting legal action. Then the Internet Service Providers can sue the artist's management for loss of revenue because they are no longer making available files to transfer on P2P networks. As we know, its only music fans that use the Internet. Then the CD pressing plants could sue the makers of P2P networks, purely because they feel left out and are losing ground in the print media for exposure and free advertising. Then portable player market executives will remember that pressing plants exist, they can sue the pressing plants for trading in nostalgia, who can counter sue for not understanding what they are being sued for. Then the music fans could form a lobbying body, and sue Shamrock Rovers Football club for wearing Celtic jerseys, just to get used to being in court. Celtic jerseys could be digitised by the music fans, shared on the net, and Shamrock Rovers could claim loss of revenue and counter sue the Music Fans because they are in court anyway. Then Metallica could take over Shamrock Rovers, get rid of the Celtic Jerseys, and kit out the team in Metallica merchandise and employ the Corrs as cheerleaders at all Rovers home matches. The Corrs management, not wanting to miss an opportunity, could sue themselves for managing a band when they could have been managing a football team. Then the FAI could sue IRMA for bringing the game into disrepute. The makers of cassette tapes could then seize an opportunity, suggest that Ireland is handed back to the British, abandon any further plans to sell the C90, form a political group to lobby the government to have all lobbies washed down, and those found sharing lobbies across P2P networks forced to play their music behind closed doors for the next subscription period. This whole issue of illegal downloading reminds us all that the safety of away fans at concerts is of Paramount and Universal importance. Until the fans are given the ability to transfer themselves from one club to another on P2P networks without the risk of being stuck in a backlog of digital traffic of boy bands and pornographic jpegs, there can be no future for either the clubs or the men who wear their green and white hoops with pride, or what ever colour hoops they are into.
TMIAT official stance on pants: Pants pants pants. TMIAT stance on information dissemination: Link link link. TMIAT philosophy: Release good music, and get as many people as possible to hear it, and be prepared to do time for it. Lots and lots and lots of time. Detained at our own pleasure so to speak. TMIAT stance on Candy: We like CANDY. TMIAT stance on stances: Get out of the way of the telly. TMIAT stance on track by track music download selling: We like releasing albums in download format with full cover art. We are very very very old fuckin fashioned like that. TMIAT wise statement 01. You can always tell the winners at the pressing plant. They're the ones coming out by the ton. TMIAT wise statement 02. The internet will never catch on. It’s only eye candy.
Tado. http://www.tado.co.uk/
The irreverent humour of Mike and Katie has been infecting our vision as Tado since 2002. From Sheffield, they’ve been serving up a diet of sharp teeth, vibrant colour, cute monsters and vinyl toys. Ever since I clapped eyes on their style I’ve been hooked to the mix of Japanese animation and odd ball ideas and I’m not the only one. Over their few short years TADO have done everything from designer toys to customized cars, from magazine covers through to clothing range and also worked for a wide client base that includes Fitch International (British Airways), Wieden and Kennedy (Honda UK), MTV International, NMI Group / Candyspace (UK), Camper Shoes (Taiwan), Future Publishing (UK), Kidrobot (USA), Flying Cat Toys (HK), Playlounge (UK), Tokion Magazine (USA), Time Out (UK), Leeds Metropolitan University (UK) and CBBC. And with their new Dunny toy Miss Oonishi just released by Kid Robot we should all be very scared, the world is about to get a whole lot more Tado crazy. If you’re lucky enough to be in Dublin on Wednesday 5th of October for Candy’s very own SweetTalk event you can witness the madness firsthand. Text and questions by Asbestos. http://www.theartofasbestos.com
Who and what is Tado, where are you from & when did you crayon lines first cross? TADO is mike and katie, two furiously hard working small people from Sheffield! we met whilst on the Graphic Arts and Design degree at Leeds Met Uni in 2002. How did your relationship develop into the beast that is Tado? It was a tutor of ours who first suggested that we work together. Our first piece was a 2 minute flash animation based on the story told on Willow Pattern plates. We found that our two styles matched up really well and so carried on together. When it came to graduation we had already decided that we wanted to carry on into the professional world, so we set up here in sheffield and took the leap! That was 2 and a bit years ago. We're still here in shef and loving every second of it! :) How long has it taken for your two styles and techniques to merge into one Tado aesthetic and was this a natural process? It was a very natural process. We found our styles quickly merged together, even while we were still at uni. These days it can ve very confusing trying to remember who has drawn what sometimes! We know we have a very low bordem threshold when it comes to styles so we are always looking for new tricks to try! How important is the use of dramatic colour in your work and how has this evolved since you started out? When we first started working together we never really considered that our colours were distinctive, but its something a lot of people seem to pick up on! Our work relies on colour a lot and like everything else we do, our colour palette seems to evolve constantly! If you look back across our work theres certain colours and combinations that crop up again and again. We like to think that a lot of our work is easily recognisable because of the colour schemes. What were your favourite cartoons when you were kids? Mike - BANANA MAN!!!!!! Katie - Carebears :D Are you innies or outies? We're both innies and proud!!!! What would your last meal be if you were on death row for colouring outside the lines? Mike - Vegetarian Cottage Pie, with yorkshire puds, veggies and plenty gravy. Followed by ice cream with that magic chocolate sauce that sets hard! Katie - Obviously rice-chan topped with sweet'n'sour and some dried squidlings... Mmmmmmm! >>
Who's influenced the Tado way of illustrating? That would be an impossible question for us to answer!! we have so many influences we could never pin em all down. In terms of other artists/designers/illustrators some of our faves include Genevieve Gauckler, Devilrobots, Geoff McFetridge, Jon Burgerman, Nathan Jurevicious, Camille Rose Garcia, Yoshitomo Nara, Takashi Murakami, Tokyo Plastic and many many more! Our biggest influences over all are our friends who are doing similar things. Do you see your own personalities coming out in the work? Of course!! haha! its slightly worrying at times, but yes, theres definitely a little bit of each of us in each piece! What's your favourite condiment? Good old Ketchup!!!! What was the last thing you lost? Er... We both have to say we cant remember! it cant have been that important tho! :P:P Do you find your emotions and moods emerging in your work? Yes! definitely! sometimes you can look at a persons work and instantly tell that they had a lot of fun doing it - hopefully this comes across with some of our stuff too. Teddy bears or dolls? Mike - Teddys!!! Katie - Dollies!!!! You're off to Asia soon, tell us about what you're up to there. We're heading out to the Monster Taipei Toy Show in Taiwan! we're really excited as its the first time we have been to an event on this scale - we're expecting utter madness! we will be launching our new 'Ryoko and The SissyFists' toys at the show so we're really excited about that. Its also going to be a great opportunity to catch up with a lot of old friends and finally put a lot of faces to names! >>
Are there any new Tado toys on the horizon? Yes! we have a whole heap of stuff in various stages of production. Our 'Fortune Pork' mini plush toys have just shipped out to stores in the past couple of days, so they should be on the shelves really soon. These will be quickly followed by 'Ryoko and The SissyFists' mini-figures which should be released in early autumn sometime... We have various other projects in the works as well but we'll get torn limb from limb if we mention them!:) What’s next for Mike and Katie? Who knows!? We're itching to get our teeth into some more animation work - we recently worked with some friends of ours from an animation company which has given us a whole heap of ideas. In terms of long term plans, we would definitely like to travel some more, perhaps USA next year and also Japan. We just want to carry on as we are really and meet more friendly folk! If you had one wish, what would it be? That we had enough money to open our Chow Chow kennels that we've been dreaming off......
Tado toys (various). Available from http://www.kidrobot.com & http://www.ningyoushi.com/
Tado vs I Love Dust. For more on I Love Dust check Candy2 or visit www.ilovedust.com/
Tado logos.
Tado sneakers.
Wildlight. http://www.wildlight.tv
It seems the sky’s the limit for Wildlight. Image by the mighty D.A.D.D.Y. http://www.teamdaddy.com
The Wildlight Channel will showcase fresh and original shortform film content from around the world. The channel is initially aimed at 3G phones and will feature animations and live action shorts that are particularly suited to small screens and a mobile audience. The Wildlight channel has signed up an impressive catalogue of films from leading distributors and filmmakers from around the world. Current partners that Wildlight are working with include: Billy Blob, Monster Distributes, Network Television Ireland, Ferret Features, D.A.D.D.Y, Delicious9, Huric Films, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/The Irish Film Board and over 100 filmmakers from around the world and features a wide range of films, from Sundance Winners to Oscar nominees to viral web animations. “We see a young audience who are mobile and consume media in a fragmented and on-demand style. This audience is watching less and less TV, preferring to spend time gaming, on the Internet and increasingly, on their mobile phones. We want to provide content that connects with this audience” says Stephen McCormack of the Wildlight Channel, “and we believe that there is a demand for innovative and entertaining films that people can relate to” he adds. “The Darklight Film Festival has built up an excellent relationship with filmmakers and production companies over its 6 year history and is recognised as one of the pioneering festivals of its type in the world. This has given us a tremendous head start in acquiring content for the Channel.” says Nicky Gogan of the Darklight Film Festival and The Wildlight Channel, “ We have found that the goodwill attached to Darklight Festival translates directly to the channel, as filmmakers and distributors like to work with a team they can trust, in this new territory.” The channel will go live in Ireland this August, and expects to follow shortly by the UK and North America. It is envisioned that the channel will operate as Video-on-Demand initially, offering 10-15 films a month for download or stream and will later include a “Live Stream” continuous 3G channel. Each film will be in the 1-5 minute range. Pricing is expected to be on an Operator basis, with subscription being the preferred model. “Because it is very early in the development of mobile video, the optimum lengths of what people will watch are still unknown, so we are keeping at films below 5 mins for now and will assess this on an ongoing basis as people get more comfortable with the medium.” says Mr. McCormack, “ We are also on mission to find the ideal type of content for mobile users, we intend to try lots of styles and genres to see what works and what is popular. This is like the 1950s was for Television, it is a young medium and it's version of the 'Soap Opera”, the format that helped differentiate Television from Cinema, has yet to be found” he adds.
Upcoming.
Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition. www.bombaysapphire.com
Bombay Sapphire, the premium spirit in the striking blue glass bottle, is delighted to announce the launch of the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition for young Irish designers in association with Waterford Crystal. The Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition invites emerging Irish designers to create a functional martini cocktail glass inspired by Bombay Sapphire which will be exclusively made by master craftsmen at Waterford Crystal. In addition to a cash prize, the winning designer will also have the opportunity to go to Milan in April 2006 to compete in the global final of the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition. For many years Bombay Sapphire has had a firm commitment to supporting design. Internationally acclaimed designers have been commissioned to create the ultimate martini cocktail glass inspired by Bombay Sapphire for use in global press advertising. Artists such as Karim Rashid, Milton Glaser, Marcel Wanders, Eva Zeisel and Dakota Jackson have all created fantastic martini cocktail glasses over the last decade.
Up to 10 finalists will be selected in Ireland from the entries submitted and their glasses will be displayed at a special Bombay Sapphire event in January 2006, where judging will take place. The winner will go on to represent Ireland at the International Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Finals which will take place at Milan's Salone del Mobile in April 2006. In addition to winning the prestigious international title, the winner will also be presented with a cheque for $15,000! The competition is open to anyone currently studying design as part of a 3rd level course in Ireland or anyone who has completed a third level design course during the past 3 years. Entry forms will be sent to all relevant colleges around the country in September 2005. Bombay Sapphire are delighted to be joined by Waterford Crystal who will oversee the production of the 10 finalist glasses which will be displayed in select style bars in 2006. For more information about Bombay Sapphire’s support for design visit: www.bombaysapphire.com
The success and interest generated by these glasses has more recently encouraged Bombay Sapphire to run glass design competitions for young designers all over the world and 2005 heralds the first year of the competition in Ireland.
Across. Last year’s winning entry from Alexey Sabirullov from Russia.
IDI Design Awards 2005.
Wednesday is the new Friday‌ especially if you're a designer. Come join us at the eight Institute of Designers in Ireland Awards ceremony in the Odeon, Harcourt Street, Dublin 2 on Wednesday the 19th of October 2005. The Awards follow the intense judging, which took place on September 3rd in the National Museum on Kildare Street, at which our international panel of jurors scratched their heads, rubbed their chins and finally made their decisions. We will be awarding the winners with the coveted "EYE" trophies at our prestigious awards night. Winning clients will also be presented with framed certificates and one lucky entrant will walk home with the IDI Grand Prix. Drinks and food precede the awards ceremony and music until the wee hours. At only 20 euro per person for a great night, you could do a whole lot worse on a Wednesday, the midweek movie just won’t cut it we reckon. Tickets are available from Rina Whyte at idi@indigo.ie
Supported by:
Nokia / Darklight Pocket Movie Challenge 2005. http://darklight-filmfestival.com/pages/competition.htm
Nokia Ireland and the Darklight Film Festival are delighted to announce the inaugural Nokia/ Darklight Pocket Movie Challenge, a great opportunity for aspiring and established filmmakers! You are invited to submit your films to the new and innovative Nokia / Darklight Pocket Movie challenge. Films of all genres, including animation, documentary, drama, and comedy are welcomed, with the only constraint being that the films must be under five minutes long and suitable for the small screens of mobile phones. Filmmakers with all levels of experience are welcome! Finalist entries will be showcased on the latest Nokia mobile phones at the Darklight Festival 2005 in Ireland, and the winner will be announced at a special awards ceremony during the festival party. The competition will feature a student and a professional category with first prizes of 1,000 and 3,000 euro awarded respectively. Each of the category finalists will receive an exclusive mobile distribution deal with the Wildlight Channel (http://www.wildlight.tv). The finalist films will also be available for the public to view on the Nokia website. Enquiries should be sent to competition@darklight-filmfestival.com Closing date is Friday 30th September 2005. For information on how to enter, formats accepted, full competition terms and conditions and guidelines go to http://www.nokia.ie or http://www.darklight-filmfestival.com
Competition.
For this issue’s competition we’ve teamed up with Trust Me I’m A Thief who kindly given over a limited edition vinyl boxset from The Redneck Manifesto to the person who answers the following question correctly and once doing so, gets picked out of all the correct answerers (!?)... So, if you want a chance to win this lovely limited edition piece, answer the following question by firing it over to richard.seabrooke@dynamo.ie and we’ll do the rest... What is the name of the Redneck Manifesto’s third album released on Trust Me I'm A Thief last year. A. I Am Brazil? B. I am in a freezer in the Algarve? Answers don’t necessarily need to come on a fridge magnet but such efforts will be noted... Competition closes end of October! Good luck!
Watchlist.
Neubau press print. As featured in Candy2, NeubauBerlin were knee deep in producing their latest book ‘NeubauWelt’. Word reaches us now that they’re nearing the completion of this amazing ambitious project and as you read they’re thumbing through their advance copies, comforted in the knowledge that you’re going to be blown away, so best you put your order in now and give yourself an early Christmas present. Order either from http://www.magmabooks.com or http://www.die-gestalten.de/ For more information check http://www.NeubauBerlin.com Go ape for Gorillaz. Better still, see red. Although it may surprise you, the first time Gorillaz were made into toys was earlier this year by the guys at Kid Robot in the States. While these sold out more or less immediately they’ve ecently released the new Red edition versions which amended graphics and updated colour schemes for all 4 band members. We have the original set here and are still tempted to go again. More at http://www.kidrobot.com and http:///www.gorillaz.com House music all night long as The Chalets release their album. Yep, it’s finally dropped and it’s worth the wait. ‘Check In’ is a solid release from one of Electric Picnic’s highlights and is choc-a-bloc with surprises and other shenanigans. This surely is the joint that breaks them to the masses. Discover it before everyone else does. Check it out alongside the exceptional videos at http://www.thechalets.com or just bite the bullet and buy it at http://www.roadrecs.com/ Amos bring the fight to the competitors with the release of In Crowd Series 10. "To beat the man you've got to be the man. Whether you like it or not, learn, and love it, because it's the best thing going today". The In-Crowd Wrestling Federation was set up by Daphne Pentonville a.k.a. Lord Humungous. It's mandate is to bring back the educational aspects of the grappling arts. The ICWF was a breakaway from the National Union of GrecoRoman Supply Teachers (NUGST) formerly known as the Union of Re-Amalgamated Grappling Instructional Teachers (URAGIT). Objections to URAGIT's Marxist philosophies, both within the classroom and the wrestling ring, provoked terrible infighting amongst the Union's various factions and eventually led to a main breakaway group and the formation of the Social Democratic led NUGST. However, Mr Pentonville then decided that his followers would rather be members of a wrestling federation that occasionally dabbled with teaching issues, rather than be associates of a teacher's union whose members occasionally liked to wrestle. And so Lord Humungous led his followers to form The In-Crowd Wrestling Federation. These days all ICWF bouts are strictly wrestling affairs, although the various protagonists can precede matches with lengthy educational lectures intended to calm and enlighten their overexcitable fans. More at http://www.amostoys.com now.
FakeCake sells some produce (for real). One of our favourite illustrators worldwide is Etsu Meusy, aka FakeCake. We’re not the only ones though, she’s on the roster of 2k shirts and contributes to many publications worldwide. Anyhoo, recently though she’s put some work online to purchase and we want them so bad... More at http:///www.fakecake.com Asbestos, Frankenstyles and other show some love. Yep, local street artists Asbestos and Frankenstyles recently collaborated with other local and UK talent on the streets of Dublin in broad daylight in what can only be described as exceptional. Probably should sit down before you hook up with http://www.theartofasbestos.com/uklove/ Alife revamp their Rivington store in New York. The couteuriers of ultralimited threads and sneakers have come up trumps yet again with the refurb of their gentleman’s club style venue. Buzz the bell at th anonymous looking store way down on Manhattan’s East Side and within seconds you’re in salivating over the merchandise. BRing a tissue. http://www.beinghunted.com/presentations/05alife/01.html And finally, Candy4 has begun prepwork and we’re already getting excited... Issue 4, The Shopping Issue (due mid November), hopes, amongst other things, to give you the definitive guide to buying cool stuff online so if you got any links please share them with the group and we’ll ensure they make it in and people’s Christmas’s will be even more fun. Also, coming in issue 4, we’ve had a chat with the fine people at Colonel Blimp and we’re introducing a new piece, CandyCinema, which will hook you up with their latest videos and director exclusives eons ahead of seeing it on CD:UK via our soon to be activated website http://www.candyculture.net In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek of what to expect... http://extreme.colonelblimp.com/directors/happy/movies/HAP_janelloyd_L.mov http://extreme.colonelblimp.com/directors/dominicleung/movies/DL_bloc_twomore_L.mov
http://www.colonelblimp.com/directors/newwork/ http://extreme.colonelblimp.com/directors/dougalwilson/movies/DW_lcd_tribs_L.mov
http://www.smugglersite.com/new2/DEATHCAB.mov Cool. Hopefully we’ll see you at SweetTalk too, in the meantime... look after yourself... and each other...
Sites for sore eyes.
Interesting online movie about David Carson, the world renowned designer made famous for his work on Raygun magazine which he heralded as “The End of Print”.
If someone has any idea about what the guys who do this are on, please have the decency to let us know... Fantastically fun. http://www.eatpes.com/index.html
http://www.hillmancurtis.com/hc_web/film_video/source/carson.php
Nike do some ultralimited tees and we want them badly.
Where identity goes to die. http://www.logorip.com/
http://freshnessmag.com/content/features/files/0705/nike_co_lab/index.php
I Am Still Alive is a design practice founded in 2005 and located in Brooklyn, NY. They do brilliant work. http://www.iamstillalive.net/ http://www.thefilthcorp.com/ For those who can’t wait for their next Candy kick, check any of these and that’ll see you right through the Winter (brrrr!!!!)... http://www.proteinos.com http://www.thisisamagazine.com http://www.newstoday.com http://www.shift.jp.org
Updated and redesigned, Irish creatives give their 10 cents... http://www.creativeireland.com/ Reel ‘em in... Great motion graphics... http://ericjbauer.com/# http://www.brandnewschool.com/ http://www.hellologan.com/ http://www.psyop.tv/ http://www.lobo.cx/ How rich are you? http://www.globalrichlist.com/ Can you resist?... www.dontclickit.it
http://www.wackypackages.org/miscellaneous/wackytrucks/ http://www.pixelblocks.com Hopefully we’re going to get these guys in the next issue but in the meantime, feast your eyes on this loveliness... www.wearitwithpride.com http://www.wearitwithpride.com/wiwpremixed/ International designers do work for Coke... http://them5.com/ http://theteatime.free.fr/talc/rocky.html And aswell as that, the Designers Republic do this new motion piece that’s going to be shown at Resfest... Yum. http://pho-ku.com/tdr_com/JULIA.mov ElectroDiscoAGoGo... Brilliant mixes and a picture diary you gotta see... http://www.skkatter.net/ Check in the features to see what happened when Lance Armstrong and Futura 2000 hooked up as part of Lance’s final Tour de France push... http://www.nike.com/nikecycling/index_flash.html And here’s another interview with Futura 2000 about the project... http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/tour05/?id=/riders/2005/interviews/lenny_futura05
And here’s the tee... http://www.iloveyourtshirt.com/topic.php?PHPSESSID=4v27p6543o2uf0bv74fdgimag1&forumSubjectId=177¤tPage=1¤tPage2Propagate=1
http://www.wonka.com/games/GTBLASTER.asp Site for an Irish student studying in London, freelancing at The Mill and who expect big things from in the future. http://www.aidangibbons.com/ Download the Channel 4 documentary ‘Pump Up The Volume’, sit back and soak it all up!!! A must see. http://www.music-101.com/graffiti/viewtopic.php?t=1084 Nice prints and stuff... http://www.skunkmunki.com/web/bprint.html http://www.busy-being.com/ MP3’s from the edge... http://wfmu.org/onthedownload.php/0504 Ads aplenty... http://www.leoburnett.com/ideas/legendary.asp And finally, for those heading to London, this is a must as legendary creative Geoff McFetridge (left) crosses the pond for a ‘rarer than hen’s teeth’ presentation and exhibition... http://www.kemistrygallery.co.uk/currEx.php?exhibitionID=41
Sweet sounds. What’s on the Candy iTunes at the moment! How much do we want a new iPod Nano?... This much!* *about the same size a medium adult trout.
SiSi ‘SiSi is playing in my house’. Like a bolt out of the blue this landed on the Candy desk and now it’s Friday night every day. An incredible mix worthy of any international superstar DJ. We reckon you either mail them and hustle for a copy or, better still, head west and see SiSi tear it up live at the regular gigs (see profile earlier). Gorillaz ‘Demon Days’. Back with a vengeance, Damon, Jamie, Del Tha Funkee and the rest have enroled the likes of Shaughn Ryder, Neneh Cherry, Roots Manuva and Dennis Hopper to produce an clever longplayer that’s a huge step up from the previous selftitled affair. Worth buying if only for the brilliant artwork by Jamie Hewlett, famous for his Tank Girl character and comics. Playgroup ‘Playgroup’. Sometimes you got to go backwards to find some gems and Trevor Jackson’s ‘Number One’ is one such track that’s doing it for us at the moment. Steeped in disco knowledge with a modern dancefloor leaning, the opening track on this brilliant album is Summer in a song. The Winter ain’t here as long as you got this on rotation. Goldfrapp ‘Supernature’. One of the highlights of this year’s Electric Picnic, the vixen that is Alison and Co. are back after just over a year with a worthy addition to their catalogue, (the time between ‘Felt Mountain’ and ‘Black Cherry’ was 3 years). Firing off with ‘Ooh La La’ the album never lets up in it’s cool chic character with a sharp edge. ‘Ride A White Horse’ and ‘Number 1’ are also worthy of note.
The Juan Maclean ‘Less Than Human’. From the DFA stable, these guys prove they can’t take a wrong step with a solid album full of what has made their remix work great. Brilliant production and a heavy nod to his influencers (Kraftwerk / Gary Numan / YMO) ensure this record is all about reverb and echo, cheesy drum machines, bips and boops, scratchy synths, and loopy melodies. Can’t see this dropping off the playlist for a long time to come. Jamie Lidell ‘Multiply’. Just when you think you got someone figured out, they go and turn everything on it’s head. Can’t say I’m surprised as Mr. Liddell and his WARP cohorts don’t strike me as the type that just rehash and revamp the same stuff. This is a true soul album showcasing his vocal ability, many drawing comparisons between him and the legendary great, while also flexing his production skills to give it a solid sheen. Isolée ‘We Are Monster’. Okay, so I’m a sucker for those stickers on the front of cds telling you how amazing a release but this time they (they being Laurent Garnier, Trevor Jackson, Jockeyslut magazine, etc.) got it bang on. Starts with a squelchy tickle of bass and a resounding slap of drums, by the second track, the supremely silly, cute 'Schrapnell', you're lost in a toasty hug and smothered with summery kisses. Various Joe Dolan gems. Okay, so it was Friday giddiness, but with poetry like “Oh me, oh my, you make me smile, you’re such a good looking woman” and “When God created a woman for me, he must have been in a beautiful mood”, you can’t even think any badness (raincheck the mass murdering). While the cd’s fun, best get yourself down the cabaret and witness all the middle age mammy’s giving it socks and, in some cases, jocks in the direction of Mullingar’s finest entertainer!! Duck!! Check it at http://www.joedolan.com/
www. candy culture. net Get connected.
Candy’s very own dedicated site is now online at www.CandyCulture.net Over the coming months you we hope to build a site which showcases the very best in Irish and international creativity and culture in many different ways. If you have any comments or suggestion as to what you would like to see up there or you would like to help us make this happen simply give us a mail. Illustration below by Naomi Ryder naomiryder@hotmail.com is taken from the TechnoLogic Series which will be viewable in the coming weeks so keep clicking back.
Next issue. The Shopping Issue. Due to drop November 2005.
www.candyculture.net Š 2005 Me&Eye www.meandeye.com
Candy is supported by IDI, the Institute for Designers in Ireland, of which Richard Seabrooke is a council member. For more information on IDI visit www.idi-design.ie
NEVER FORGET:
Robots are among us.
Illustration by eBoy.