The Starling, One Of The Most Original Singers I’ve Ever Heard
Have a listen to this: https://xeno-canto.org/1066013 This is an example of one of my absolute favourite birdsongs. Indeed, the sound of starlings often gets me to do another bit of recording even when I’m really tired and need to go home. When I’m recording birds, I go into such a…
So Then, What the Devil is 14-TET Music?
So, it’s been a good few years since I wrote this: About my journey into 24-TET music. When I wrote that, I was only familiar with our standard, “Western” 12-TET system, and the 24-TET system (also know as the 12 EDO system and the 24 EDO system, EDO stands for…
The Music Of Other Minds
As I write this, I can hear music outside. It’s the music of a mind so different from mine. A brain diverged from my own by at least 300 million years of evolution. It’s the music of, a woodpigeon! The sound of a wood pigeon I recorded: https://xeno-canto.org/977080 WOO-WOO-WOO-WOO!!!!! I…
On “Separating The Art From The Artist”
So, let’s start with an obvious statement. Brilliant musicians are often shitty people. Miles Davis, who re-invented jazz so many times that you can nearly get a good idea of the genre’s history just by listening to him, admitted to beating his third wife, Cecily Tyson. https://www.gq.co.za/culture/entertainment/miles-davis-a-problematic-life-a-problematic-legacy-46651610 So, it’s a…
Sounds That Can’t Be Made, A Late Era Gem From Marillion
Marillion are a band that were in danger of being confined to my list of bands that I’ll never listen to for the remainder of my life. Why was this? Did I hear anything bad about their music? No, quite the opposite in fact. I’d heard nothing but good things.…
Bees, Moths, A Dragonfly, And A Guitar
So sometimes if I’m trying to write about something and I get writer’s block, my approach is, think of a really interesting title, and work from there. So what the devil is this title about then? Well, for the last few years, I’ve gone to Woodpoint to play my saz,…
The Andy Irvine Gig in St Luke’s Was One Of The Highlights of This Year
So a few weeks ago I reviewed Rainy Sundays Windy Dreams by Andy Irvine. Here’s that: And I mentioned in it I would soon be going to see Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny playing in St Luke’s. Sadly, Donal Lunny couldn’t make the gig due to health issues, and I…
Rainy Sundays… Windy Dreams, from Ireland to the Balkans and Back again
In 1979, Andy Irvine released his first solo album. This was far from his first encounter with the music world, he had at this point already been in two quite innovative and memorable Irish trad groups, Sweeney’s Men in the 1960’s, and in the 1970’s, the one, the only, Planxty,…
Handful Of Earth, An Essential Scottish Folk Album With Obscenely Good Guitar Playing
Too often, I end up never getting to see my favourite musicians play, travel anxiety makes it difficult to see them in Dublin, and impossible to see them outside Ireland. And I can be so scatterbrained at times that they will come to play in my city and I will…
Summer Make Good, Soothing and Scary Sounds From Iceland
Iceland’s folk music has to a large extent, been lost to history. In Ireland, or Scotland, Norway, Hungary or Bulgaria, it’s easy enough to find examples of those country’s folk songs to listen to. Sadly, this is not the case with Iceland. However, Iceland has done something different, that many…
Power Windows, A Glorious Meeting Between Prog And Eighties Pop
There is what I feel is an incorrect narrative about Rush’s music that I think too many fall for, even myself at times. And that is, “From Farewell to Kings until Moving Pictures, they had the exact right amount of synthesizers, but from that point on, you couldn’t move for…
The Devin Townsend Concert Of December 2019, It Cured All Of My Sorrows
Content Warning: This won’t just be a concert review, I’ll also be talking about issues related to anxiety and depression. “Ah, that’s a hyperbolic title,” you must be thinking. “It was a really good concert sure, but surely not enough to pull you out of feelings of sadness.” “Surely this,…
I Have Absolute Pitch. Eh, It’s Alright I Suppose
So, years before I realized I was autistic, and years before I was diagnosed with autism, I found out I was actually neurodivergent in another way. That is, I have absolute pitch. So, does this give me a massive advantage when it comes to music? No. Thanks for reading and…
So, What The Devil Is 24-TET Music?
If you’ve known me for any length of time, you will know that I’m unhealthily obsessed with 24-TET music. In fact, when people see me, they will often cross the street, thinking “Oh God, he’s going to talk to me for five hours about 24-TET music”, but it doesn’t work,…
Flying Microtonal Banana, The Album That Started Me On the Road To Microtonal Music
Flying Microtonal Banana gets off to a strange and exhilarating start. The first track, “Rattlesnake”, opens with this very intense wind noise, and then the guitar intro comes in. There is nothing unusual about the tone of the guitar, an electric through overdrive, not too unusual, but the actual notes…
No, Jimi Hendrix Did Not Say Rory Gallagher Was the Best Guitarist In the World, But Let’s Talk About Why Rory was Legendary
It happens every time. I’m having a great conversation with somebody about Rory Gallagher. We’re talking about what a good slide player he was, how Deuce was so underrated, how he couldn’t have found a better bass player in Gerry Mcavoy. And then it happens. I hear those three terrible…
An Unexpected Musical Moment At Woodpoint
I need everything to be the same but also nice things that happen unexpectedly give me great joy. After 36 years I still haven’t figured that one out. So when I’m in West Cork what I like to do is take my saz to Woodpoint and play, the audience mainly…
If My Autism Was All Cons and No Pros I Still Wouldn’t Want a Cure
So this is a follow up blogpost to my previous post “What If An Autistic Person Wants A Cure.” In it I talked about how for some autistic people, they may feel that their autism causes only disadvantages, and no advantages, so they may wish that there was a way…
Autistic Special Interests And Why I Won’t Shut Up About Organs
Oh hello, would you like to have a three to four hour conversation about organs? Did you know that Laurens Hammond wasn’t even a musician and wasn’t in favour of combining the organ he invented with the iconic Leslie Speaker? What’s that, you’re busy? Oh that’s fine, we will continue…
Yes Coming to Play in Cork Was A Dream Come True
Picked Up This Book At The Concert, It Details the History of the Close To the Edge Album, a Nice Souvenir I am beyond overjoyed to say I got to see Yes perform in the Opera House yesterday. I am a massive prog rock fan, and to see one of…
Ponderings Of An Autist 