Deaglan
New Member
AUTAMATA (Live+Visuals)
+
ANGLE
(French electronic 4 piece)
CrawDaddy, Old Harcourt St. Train Station, Dublin 2
Tel. 01 4780225
Saturday January 29th. Doors 8pm.
Tickets 16€ from Soundcellar, Road Records, City Discs, Comet Records, Freebird Records, Big Brother, and Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.ie ) Ph: 0818 719 300
Ken McHugh brings his Autamata project back into the live arena at CrawDaddy on Saturday January 29th. A local producer of some note, with David Kitt’s ‘The Big Romance’ on his list of credits, McHugh branched out in 2003 with the release of Autamata’s debut album, My Sanctuary.
It's a record that via its beguiling mix of real instruments and electronic programming takes you to an entire gazetteer of contrasting map references: Country/City. Happy/Sad. Pastoral/Urban. Acoustic/Electronic. Noisy/Ethereal. It is, as Uncut magazine had it, "The sort of record the traditionalists among us always hoped sequencers and bedroom friendly digital recording would create."
The show will feature a four piece live band including drums, bass, guitar and female vocals as well as Ken's own synth's, samplers and a spell binding backdrop of specially created visuals. The transition from studio to stage has been well received, with Hot Press claiming it was 'One of the best gigs I've seen in quite some time... mightily impressive’.
Support comes from the highly acclaimed French electronic act Angle, who will be making their first trip to Ireland.
Their textured layers of bass, drums, squelches, loops and hushed vocals have bridged the gap between the worlds of post-rock and electronica to create a unique ‘indietronica’ sound, drawing comparisons with Hood, Tarwater, The Notwist and Bark Psychosis.
Watch out for their melancholic deconstruction of The Pixies ‘Debaser’, which somehow works!
AUTAMATA BIOG
Autamata is the creation of Dublin-based artist/producer Ken McHugh.
Even Ken McHugh - aka autamata - doesn't quite know how to describe the breathtaking eclecticism of his debut album, My Sanctuary. "A lot of people ask me and I still haven't worked out the answer," he admits. "It's influenced by just about everything I've ever heard and you can't even begin to pigeon-hole it. The only answer I have is that I hope you can put it on and by the end you feel you've been taken somewhere."
Actually, it's a record that via its beguiling mix of real instruments and electronic programming takes you to an entire gazetteer of contrasting map references: Country/City. Happy/Sad. Pastoral/Urban. Acoustic/Electronic. Noisy/Ethereal.
From the limpid beauty of 'Out Of This' to the irresistible electro-pop beats of 'Jellyman', Autamata introduces the Bjork-influenced experimentalism of 'Registered User' and the joyful Lambchop-meets-Lemon Jelly vibe of 'Jive County'. Add to this the floating trip-hop of 'Let's Normalise' and change direction once more with the clanging industrial beats of 'Little Green Men' and its extraordinary orchestral coda.
My Sanctuary is a record that as soon as you think you know where it is headed, then it immediately takes a no-hand-signals left-turn somewhere else entirely.
This proved too much for the major labels who wanted to sign autamata. "They all liked different things about it," Ken recalls. "Then they all said, 'but we can't put out a record like this. There are too many ideas. You've got to concentrate on one style'."
Of course, in the real world, real people don't compartmentalise music in such narrow-minded fashion. "Exactly," Ken says. "The only people who think like that are marketing people. So I told them to piss-off and decided to put the record out myself."
My Sanctuary was released in Ireland on his own Left Hand Records in 2003 to wonderful critical acclaim and has now been picked up by the London-based independent, RGR.
Hot Press readers poll voted it 'Best debut' & 'Best dance act', the Irish Independent claimed My Sanctuary as 'One of the best Irish albums of recent years' and the Irish Times agreed; 'Altogether a real treat'.
Yet given Ken McHugh's own personal musical odyssey, the kaleidoscopic diversity of My Sanctuary becomes far less surprising. Born in Co. Mayo in West Ireland, he grew up playing Irish traditional music. At school he got into the Pixies and Nirvana and played in rock bands. After moving to Dublin, he discovered sampling, dance music and breakbeats and fell under the spell of acts such as Orbital. When he grew bored with that, he became fascinated by the sonic adventures of Bjork and Stina Nordenstam. Then he fell under the three minute pop perfection song-spell of Brian Wilson.
Working in various Dublin studios provided both on-the-job training and the cash to buy his own equipment and set up his own studio, which he calls Area 51. His artistry continued to develop via producing records for other artists, including acclaimed Irish singer-songwriter David Kitt's album, The Big Romance.
All the time he was making his own music and biding his own time until he was convinced he was ready. "I felt like I was serving my apprenticeship," he says.
My Sanctuary was recorded over a year long period, while he was also working on other projects. Originally, he had conceived it as a purely instrumental album. "I had some very chilled rhythms and beats and noises. But then I realised I also wanted something you could whistle in the shower and so I moved to a more song-based approach."
In addition to Ken himself, vocalists on the album include Carol Keogh of The Tycho Brahe and Cathy Davy, now signed to Parlophone as a solo artist. Keogh played a particularly important role, singing on half a dozen tracks and contributing lyrics.
And in case you're thinking autamata is purely a studio-based project, nothing could be further from the truth. A live band featuring drums, bass, guitar and female vocals as well as Ken's own synth's, samplers and background visuals has already made a powerful impact on the Dublin club scene. They have masterfully taken the album from disc to stage with flair and imagination, picking up live reviews along the way hailing autamata as 'One of the best gigs I've seen in quite some time... mightily impressive (Hot Press March 03).
"I approach my live shows with the same attention to detail as I would in the studio" Ken explains "I rehearse a lot with my band, jamming and trying out new things to really bring the songs to life. Playing live, experimenting, it's the best way to keep developing my songs which is why it's such an important part of what I'm doing with autamata".
Autamata will be bringing their live show to the UK to tie in with a second single in January and the release of My Sanctuary in February.
"There's so many possibilities in combining live instruments and electronic programming," Ken says. "It seems completely natural to me. It's all music and it can work just as well on stage as it does in the studio."
Music is his sanctuary. Let it be yours too.
ANGLE biography
Angle are Frenchman, Sylvain Closier, who plays bass guitar and takes care of samples, buzzes and various other noises, Englishman, Andrew Richards, who plays guitar and endeavours to make coherent noises with his mouth and Woodey Peghuilhan on drums.
Angle’s first record, ‘silence is better than
nothing’, self-released in 2003, was recorded at home using an acoustic guitar and bass, a couple of microphones, a glockenspiel and an old 16bit sampler.
The songs were written, then deconstructed and
rebuilt. Mostly everything was then re-sampled,
filtered, remodeled, tweaked and transfigured.
The result was an ‘indietronica’ record often compared to the likes of Tarwater and Hood, and to Bark Psychosis and The Notwist in particular.
Angle’s latest record, ‘we’ll pick up the pieces nexttime’ was recorded this summer. This time round, the songs are stripped down to the strict minimum; Bass, Guitar and Vocals with a couple of extra sound textures added here and there.
On stage, the addition of drums and loop stations brings more intensity and a new dimension to the songs.
+
ANGLE
(French electronic 4 piece)
CrawDaddy, Old Harcourt St. Train Station, Dublin 2
Tel. 01 4780225
Saturday January 29th. Doors 8pm.
Tickets 16€ from Soundcellar, Road Records, City Discs, Comet Records, Freebird Records, Big Brother, and Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.ie ) Ph: 0818 719 300
Ken McHugh brings his Autamata project back into the live arena at CrawDaddy on Saturday January 29th. A local producer of some note, with David Kitt’s ‘The Big Romance’ on his list of credits, McHugh branched out in 2003 with the release of Autamata’s debut album, My Sanctuary.
It's a record that via its beguiling mix of real instruments and electronic programming takes you to an entire gazetteer of contrasting map references: Country/City. Happy/Sad. Pastoral/Urban. Acoustic/Electronic. Noisy/Ethereal. It is, as Uncut magazine had it, "The sort of record the traditionalists among us always hoped sequencers and bedroom friendly digital recording would create."
The show will feature a four piece live band including drums, bass, guitar and female vocals as well as Ken's own synth's, samplers and a spell binding backdrop of specially created visuals. The transition from studio to stage has been well received, with Hot Press claiming it was 'One of the best gigs I've seen in quite some time... mightily impressive’.
Support comes from the highly acclaimed French electronic act Angle, who will be making their first trip to Ireland.
Their textured layers of bass, drums, squelches, loops and hushed vocals have bridged the gap between the worlds of post-rock and electronica to create a unique ‘indietronica’ sound, drawing comparisons with Hood, Tarwater, The Notwist and Bark Psychosis.
Watch out for their melancholic deconstruction of The Pixies ‘Debaser’, which somehow works!
AUTAMATA BIOG
Autamata is the creation of Dublin-based artist/producer Ken McHugh.
Even Ken McHugh - aka autamata - doesn't quite know how to describe the breathtaking eclecticism of his debut album, My Sanctuary. "A lot of people ask me and I still haven't worked out the answer," he admits. "It's influenced by just about everything I've ever heard and you can't even begin to pigeon-hole it. The only answer I have is that I hope you can put it on and by the end you feel you've been taken somewhere."
Actually, it's a record that via its beguiling mix of real instruments and electronic programming takes you to an entire gazetteer of contrasting map references: Country/City. Happy/Sad. Pastoral/Urban. Acoustic/Electronic. Noisy/Ethereal.
From the limpid beauty of 'Out Of This' to the irresistible electro-pop beats of 'Jellyman', Autamata introduces the Bjork-influenced experimentalism of 'Registered User' and the joyful Lambchop-meets-Lemon Jelly vibe of 'Jive County'. Add to this the floating trip-hop of 'Let's Normalise' and change direction once more with the clanging industrial beats of 'Little Green Men' and its extraordinary orchestral coda.
My Sanctuary is a record that as soon as you think you know where it is headed, then it immediately takes a no-hand-signals left-turn somewhere else entirely.
This proved too much for the major labels who wanted to sign autamata. "They all liked different things about it," Ken recalls. "Then they all said, 'but we can't put out a record like this. There are too many ideas. You've got to concentrate on one style'."
Of course, in the real world, real people don't compartmentalise music in such narrow-minded fashion. "Exactly," Ken says. "The only people who think like that are marketing people. So I told them to piss-off and decided to put the record out myself."
My Sanctuary was released in Ireland on his own Left Hand Records in 2003 to wonderful critical acclaim and has now been picked up by the London-based independent, RGR.
Hot Press readers poll voted it 'Best debut' & 'Best dance act', the Irish Independent claimed My Sanctuary as 'One of the best Irish albums of recent years' and the Irish Times agreed; 'Altogether a real treat'.
Yet given Ken McHugh's own personal musical odyssey, the kaleidoscopic diversity of My Sanctuary becomes far less surprising. Born in Co. Mayo in West Ireland, he grew up playing Irish traditional music. At school he got into the Pixies and Nirvana and played in rock bands. After moving to Dublin, he discovered sampling, dance music and breakbeats and fell under the spell of acts such as Orbital. When he grew bored with that, he became fascinated by the sonic adventures of Bjork and Stina Nordenstam. Then he fell under the three minute pop perfection song-spell of Brian Wilson.
Working in various Dublin studios provided both on-the-job training and the cash to buy his own equipment and set up his own studio, which he calls Area 51. His artistry continued to develop via producing records for other artists, including acclaimed Irish singer-songwriter David Kitt's album, The Big Romance.
All the time he was making his own music and biding his own time until he was convinced he was ready. "I felt like I was serving my apprenticeship," he says.
My Sanctuary was recorded over a year long period, while he was also working on other projects. Originally, he had conceived it as a purely instrumental album. "I had some very chilled rhythms and beats and noises. But then I realised I also wanted something you could whistle in the shower and so I moved to a more song-based approach."
In addition to Ken himself, vocalists on the album include Carol Keogh of The Tycho Brahe and Cathy Davy, now signed to Parlophone as a solo artist. Keogh played a particularly important role, singing on half a dozen tracks and contributing lyrics.
And in case you're thinking autamata is purely a studio-based project, nothing could be further from the truth. A live band featuring drums, bass, guitar and female vocals as well as Ken's own synth's, samplers and background visuals has already made a powerful impact on the Dublin club scene. They have masterfully taken the album from disc to stage with flair and imagination, picking up live reviews along the way hailing autamata as 'One of the best gigs I've seen in quite some time... mightily impressive (Hot Press March 03).
"I approach my live shows with the same attention to detail as I would in the studio" Ken explains "I rehearse a lot with my band, jamming and trying out new things to really bring the songs to life. Playing live, experimenting, it's the best way to keep developing my songs which is why it's such an important part of what I'm doing with autamata".
Autamata will be bringing their live show to the UK to tie in with a second single in January and the release of My Sanctuary in February.
"There's so many possibilities in combining live instruments and electronic programming," Ken says. "It seems completely natural to me. It's all music and it can work just as well on stage as it does in the studio."
Music is his sanctuary. Let it be yours too.
ANGLE biography
Angle are Frenchman, Sylvain Closier, who plays bass guitar and takes care of samples, buzzes and various other noises, Englishman, Andrew Richards, who plays guitar and endeavours to make coherent noises with his mouth and Woodey Peghuilhan on drums.
Angle’s first record, ‘silence is better than
nothing’, self-released in 2003, was recorded at home using an acoustic guitar and bass, a couple of microphones, a glockenspiel and an old 16bit sampler.
The songs were written, then deconstructed and
rebuilt. Mostly everything was then re-sampled,
filtered, remodeled, tweaked and transfigured.
The result was an ‘indietronica’ record often compared to the likes of Tarwater and Hood, and to Bark Psychosis and The Notwist in particular.
Angle’s latest record, ‘we’ll pick up the pieces nexttime’ was recorded this summer. This time round, the songs are stripped down to the strict minimum; Bass, Guitar and Vocals with a couple of extra sound textures added here and there.
On stage, the addition of drums and loop stations brings more intensity and a new dimension to the songs.
