"... we never managed to set up a self-sufficient Irish indie network..." (2 Viewers)

[pete]

from http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/1016/1224281223511.html

The biggest change in 10 years is that the barriers to have disappeared. In 2000 it was still considered a novelty if a band took the DIY route to record, manufacture and distribute their EPs or albums. The know-how of self-releasing was not as easy to come by as it is now. Many will remember with a smile how the telephone numbers of cheap, reliable record-pressing plants in the Czech Republic were once considered highly valuable commodities by those self-release pioneers. Most acts were still holding out for that elusive major label deal.

Now the bulk of Irish albums are self-released. It’s no longer a talking point. While you could lament the fact that we never managed to set up a self-sufficient Irish indie network, the music gets out regardless.

My emphasis. Emphases. Emphasises.

Discuss.

 

[Goodbye]

what does that even mean?

 

[Flux]

It doesn't suit his agenda to recall the Hope collective, Dead Elvis etc. Maybe he doesn't know about that period here, he was probably an A&R guy in London at the time.

 

[Naomi Neu]

This is something I am really interested in. Has Irish music always been this good and no one ever bothered listening/looking before? Were there independent support networks in place for bands who didn't have that support on the larger scale we know today thanks to the Internet, are we simply witnessing an expansion of the DIY ethic that's always been in place for local bands?

 

[nlgbbbblth]

seems like a revisionist post with massive memory gaps.

 

[Flux]

I think Carroll has a point about this being a great period for Irish music but I also remember tons of good Irish 'DIY' bands in the Nineties that never got the exposure they deserved. There has always been great music being recorded on fourtracks and shared around a circle of friends but going no further. Even within a ten mile radius of the small town I grew up in there were several musicians/bands writing fucked-up sounding lo-fi classics that should have been heard by the wider world.

If there were blogs/filesharing back then etc many more people would probably have heard that stuff. It's definitely easier for a promising band to become known quickly now eg The Cast of Cheers built up a following before they'd even played a gig thanks to a free bandcamp album being bounced around the nets.

Coupled with better/cheaper recording equipment/software, it's never been easier for bands to record themselves and get it out there. I think we're finally seeing the fruits of all that now. Great music has always been made, it was just pot luck if you heard it or not.

 

[Naomi Neu]

That's pretty much how I reckon it must have been, we can hardly be living in the midst of an extraordinarily talented bunch of musicians. Just because the last ten years saw a boom in people being able to afford instruments, they can hardly have had more talent to play them. It seems more like we're at a point of increased awareness of the local music scenes. I've been looking back at older bands and there's incredible stuff from the mid-nineties that would wipe the floor with a lot of the post-hardcore bands that are doing so well today, in comparison there's no way that music now is better than ever before. And that's from someone who absolutely loves the new bands.

 

[pete]

has it really been 6 years?

http://thumped.com/bbs/showthread.php?12920-Jim-Carroll-in-the-Ticket

edit: apropos of nothing, as someone who hadn't done a music journalism course would say

 

[-Smegma-]

Indie is shit.

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Indie is shit.

Classic Smegma.

 

[Lili Marlene]

If i've learnt anything it's that if it works in America it will definitely work in Ireland. What Thumped needs to do is get the rights to be rebranded "Pitchfork Ireland". Then they'll listen. They'll all listen.







To indie music.





Goddammit.

 

[washingcattle]

Yes but then Thumped will start self loathing, carving it's arms with slogans and there will be a fringe on the logo.

Actually Pete can you give the thumped logo hipster hair?

Just for Halloween even.

 

[Mormon Nailer]

What strikes me about the article is how he initially refers to the court case, IRMA and Fat Franks outburst, then tries to put another perspective, but is too cowed by his corporate masters or just too useless in general to actually address the court case and the issues raised, or how McGuinnes does 90% of his talking with his anal sphincter.

A cowardly chicken shit article. Taking the path of least offence and thinking of he witters on about a subject for a few hundred words no one will notice he has said fuck all if import one way or another.

Mormon notices!

 

[billygannon]

This is reporting rather than commentary. Football commentary. There's always been a Golden Age in Irish music. It's just easier to release albums. What we need, as a nation, is a Dark age of Irish music. That way talented youngsters can be whisked off to monasteries to create astonishingly intricate songs which will be displayed in the Trinity College in 2100.

 

[ann post]

it could just be the bronze age.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Opening all those spoiler tags just wasn't worth it.

 

[pete]

I think Carroll has a point about this being a great period for Irish music but I also remember tons of good Irish 'DIY' bands in the Nineties that never got the exposure they deserved. There has always been great music being recorded on fourtracks and shared around a circle of friends but going no further. Even within a ten mile radius of the small town I grew up in there were several musicians/bands writing fucked-up sounding lo-fi classics that should have been heard by the wider world.

If there were blogs/filesharing back then etc many more people would probably have heard that stuff. It's definitely easier for a promising band to become known quickly now eg The Cast of Cheers built up a following before they'd even played a gig thanks to a free bandcamp album being bounced around the nets.

Coupled with better/cheaper recording equipment/software, it's never been easier for bands to record themselves and get it out there. I think we're finally seeing the fruits of all that now. Great music has always been made, it was just pot luck if you heard it or not.

the internet - simultaneously saving and destroying the music industry.

 

[ann post]

Opening all those spoiler tags just wasn't worth it.

sorry.

 

[pete]

so clarifications have been issued

there’s a line in the piece which says “while you could lament the fact that we never managed to set up a self-sufficient Irish indie network”, this line read “while you could lament the fact that we never managed to set a self-sufficient Irish indie label infrastructure and network together,” when submitted by me and before it was subbed. As I say, a small but important clarification. There was always an indie network, but the indie label network has never happened and probably never will. Many will argue that we don’t need one, but an old label head will always regret that that never happened.

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/ont...-releases-come-to-the-fore-like-never-before/

 

[Vinnie]

"In 2000 it was still considered a novelty if a band took the DIY route to record, manufacture and distribute their EPs or albums"

This is still patent nonsense though