Jim Carrollon music
Dublin Electronic Arts Festival salutes Moore St
This year's Dublin Electronic Arts Festival ( Deaf) will be an Asian-themed event when it returns for its sixth outing in October.
Highlights of this year's programme will include performances from traditional instrumentalists Pamelia Kurstin, Wu Fei and Miya Masaoka in St Audoen's Church on Thomas St, Thai film screenings, a new dance piece from Trevor Knight and veteran cinematographer Christopher Doyle discussing his experiences in the Hong Kong film industry.
This year will also see the return of both the Deaf Junior workshops and the Deaf publication (to be designed by Niall Sweeney), plus showcases from the D1 label's Asian acts, collaborations between visiting acts and homegrown ones, club appearances from DJ Styles and The Boredoms and Eamonn Doyle's photo exhibition focusing on Parnell St's new Asian residents.
According to Deaf's Karen Walshe, it was a natural move on from last year's homegrown theme.
"We want to reflect what's going on in the city centre, particularly around Parnell St where Deaf and the D1 label are based," she explains. "It's very much in your face, yet we feel Asian culture here is not yet celebrated enough," says Walshe
Deaf has certainly changed enormously in scope and content since its 2002 debut, which featured electronic music showcases, club nights and an opening event at Imma with the Crash Ensemble and Donnacha Dennehy.
"When we started out, we had our roots very much in club culture and we were trying to do everything and involve every club and pub in the city. We've done that and we know we can do that, so we've got a lot more focused and we can define exactly what we're going for. We still want to invite everyone to be involved, though, " says Walshe.
The Arts Council have also become important Deaf supporters of late. "Their involvement and funding has been really important for the festival because it shows that we've been given the nod and that we're not just a dance music festival," says Walshe.
[ www.deafireland.comOpens in new window ]
Here come our friends from the north
The Scandinavians are coming. Irish history may tell us to be wary of any Nordic invasion, but there should be little reason to fear the latest bunch of folk from up north heading here for the Hard Working Class Heroes fest.
Some 14 acts from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland are set to join 90 Irish acts at the event, which takes place at the Pod complex in Dublin from September 28th to 30th.
While Swedish band The Concretes (above) are perhaps the best known of the bunch, On The Record's tip is fabulous Danish band Oh No Ono. We caught them at the Eurosonic showcase in Holland earlier this year and feel that Silver Apples fans, in particular, will enjoy their avant-garde electronic pop.
Other acts making the trip to Dublin include The LK, Soda Fountain Rag, LoveNinjas and The Tupelo Honeys.
[ www.hwch.netOpens in new window ]
A new breed of musical pirate
Ahoy me hearties! Turning Pirateis one of the more interesting musical turns scheduled for the Spiegeltent when it's pitched in Dublin for next month's Fringe fest.
An evening of unlikely musical collaborations, Turning Piratewill see the likes of Lisa Hannigan, Paul Noonan, Gavin Glass, Cathy Davey (right), Donal Dineen, The Walls, Mundy, Neosupervital and many more walking the plank (metaphorically speaking, of course).
Aside from the pirate show on September 13th, other Spiegeltent attractions include Marlena Shaw with Mad Professor (11th), Seasick Steve (18th) and veteran funk-soul brother Sweet Charles (22nd).
No sign of Dre's Detox
Dr Dre has found yet another distraction to keep him from completing Detox, the album that's fast turning into hip-hop's version of Guns N' Roses's Chinese Democracy.
Dre filed a lawsuit against his former label, Death Row, over the rights to his 1992 album The Chronic.
The superstar producer claims the label breached the terms of a 1996 deal by failing to fulfil royalty commitments.
Seeing as Death Row has filed for bankruptcy, Dre's move is seen as a bid to stop the album falling into the hands of a third party.
Jim Carroll's blog:Comment on On the Record, check out Jim's Tune of the Week and pick up his other snippets, tidbits and musings on www.ireland.com/blogs/ontherecord
