Category Archives: My Sticky Opinions

A Complex Music Composition Project based on Nova Express by William S . Burroughs (part 1)

This is my first post since last summer – but I was not idle – too busy, actually, for spending much time writing articles. I built an installation at the Hilltown New Music Festival, based on the subject of what … Continue reading

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Pierre Schaeffer: Sound Is The Vocabulary Of Nature

It is this year’s theme for submitting recordings to the Hilltown New Music Festival. I felt an immediate urge to respond: “That’s dogmatic nonsense, Mr Schaeffer”. Then I reminded myself of the infamous out-of-context Stockhausen quote about the Nine Eleven … Continue reading

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Sound Spirits – New CD by Evelyn Glennie and Jon Hemmersam

This is probably no relations to the well known American West Cost Distillery … I received Dame Evelyn’s most recent album in the mail today, a superb collaboration with the Danish guitarist Jon Hemmersam. The track listing on the Gracenotes … Continue reading

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A New Departure And A New Piece Of Music

In order to use my Cork City Gamelan sounds for live performance and improvisation, I started using Patcher software. This is an entirely new departure for me, and here is my first Cork City Gamelan piece I recorded on the … Continue reading

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Enough, Enough! (Stock Market Report)

Some weeks ago, Bellows found an electronic toy which makes car and talk noises in a charity shop. He hacked and bent the circuitry, and I recorded the sounds of it and produced some glitchy audio files – originally in … Continue reading

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With A Nod At John Cage: Leave No Traces

Leave No Traces (4.7 MB to download, in the iTunes/iPod MPEG format, opens in a new window) All I needed to make the sounds for composing this music were the two pieces of common Cork City Street Litter which I … Continue reading

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Anticipating My Meeting With Evelyn Glennie

Before I go any further: many thanks to Dame Evelyn for indulging me. Artists and celebrities grant interviews to promote themselves, and they get paid for endorsing products and activities… but there was nothing to be gained for her through … Continue reading

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SOUNDCAST 4X4 (+1) by Anthony Kelly, Danny McCarthy, Mick O’Shea, and David Stalling

Anthony Kelly (left), Danny McCarthy (right), Mick O’Shea (middle bottom), and David Stalling (middle top) at a Strange Attractor performance in the Crawford Gallery SOUNDCAST 4X4 (+1) has become one of the records I listen to often towards the end … Continue reading

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The Gamelan is now on Facebook

I don’t have any interest in maintaining a social network presence – however, it seems almost compulsory if one wants a public project to succeed. So: The Cork City Gamelan Is Now OnFacebook! To be allowed a proper user name … Continue reading

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But… Is It Music?

Interesting, but… is it music? I often get reactions like this to my work. What can I say? I generally reply that if it is made on purpose from sounds (including silence) by somebody with the intention to make music, … Continue reading

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