Nialler9's New Irish Music: The Hard Ground, David Kitt, Ryan Vail

A clutch of electronic producers, DJs and producers who left Ireland for a different experience, a wider choice of nightlife and a larger engaged audience in club capitals like Berlin and New York have been making their mark. Artists like Mano Le Tough, The Drifter, Krystal Klear, Orlando Volcano and Shit Robot have been finding receptive audiences elsewhere, which often is reflected back here through headline live shows with the homecoming acts.

Berlin-bound

In Berlin, the Irish/Australian duo of Julie Chance and Jon Dark, who formerly made music as Kool Thing, have allowed that club influence to seep into their new moniker Evvol (another Sonic Youth reference). Before the duo's music was clearly '80s-indebted, now, as evidenced by

Your Love

, there are fresher elements of deep basslines, cascading synth notes and dance music dynamics.

Global music making

In Liverpool, the Portadown producer and DJ SertOne hasn't let geography get in the way of a good tune. His newest track

Lost & Found

, will come out on Cork label Feel Good Lost (who made that Hozier video) but the vocals on the footwork-inspired electronic track were provided by upcoming Australian singer Maribelle.

Pucker up for Cork

Speaking of Cork, The Hard Ground have been releasing a series of three EPs under the

Triptych

name, the final one which will be released, along with a compendium album on Friday April 10th. The band have shown progress in their music making in that time and the latest song,

Pucker

, is a gem of a track. It's released on its own on Friday from iTunes and digital stores.

Just a reflector

In a mirror effect to those who take flight to other places, David Kitt, mostly known in Irish music circles as a singer-songwriter, has found a calling as New Jackson. His electronic project, which melds vocoders and house music to pumping effect, has been released on a label revered for their electronic output worldwide: Permanent Vacation.

For his latest foray into international music releases, Kitt teamed up with the UK producer Fort Romeau for a collaboration on the latter's forthcoming album Insides. The result,

Not A Word

, pairs the best of both producers' sound: the vocoder vocals and pulsing house of New Jackson with the hypnotic textures of Fort Romeau.

Italian Irish

What about those who make Ireland their new home, rather than flee it? Stefano Schiavocampo and Massimiliano Galli are two Italian musicians, living and working here, who make music with two other Irish lads Brian O’Shea and Rossa Cassidy, as SignA. The “minimal-folk” project band have popped up occasionally at small stages at festivals like Body & Soul and Electric Picnic. Their new Lines EP, forthcoming in April, has been trailed by a seductive and sweet number that goes down easy called

Spoonful of Honey

.

Staying at home

Sea Legs

, a mini-album collaboration between Antrim singer Ciaran Lavery and Derry producer Ryan Vail is a promising one. Lavery's Damien Rice-esque timbre is complemented by Vail's downbeat electronic arrangement in a style that recalls, through samples of “spoken word, a Boston and Donegal fisherman, sea gulls, the howling wind and sound of the sea,” the Scottish collaboration between Jon Hopkins and King Creosote,

Diamond Mine

.

Meanwhile, young upstarts The Academic are aiming to become yet another reason for the mayor of Mullingar to beam with pride (beyond a certain One Direction member) with their new single of catchy indie-rock,

Different.

Galway club gets a facelift

For those of you Galway-based who are looking for some real-world entertainment, Electric on Upper Abbeygate Street last week relaunched its main 800-capacity club space a salvaged-window facelift.

he makeover was masterminded by the 23 year-old John Leo Gillen to complement Electric's Factory room which facilitates underground music, The Glasshouse which features an adventurous late-night cocktail bar (pomegranate and sumac sour anyone?) as well as Bite Club, the must-visit rooftop restaurant area with damn good fish tacos.

The club residents include Epoch, Bap to the Future, John Daly, The Disconauts and Eoin Ryan with international guests like John Heckle, Genius of Time and DJ Marquis Hawkes expected too.

Irish Album of the week  

Leo Drezden - Multi-Moment
Post-rock rhythms collide with synthesizer-driven electronica and lush cinematic soundscapes on the debut album from Leo Drezden, a new band featuring Rian Trench of Solar Bears.

[ https://www.goldenplec.com/featured/leo-drezden-multi-moment-album-premiere/ ]