Music Feature
Electronic Alliance
Thursday 18 January 2001ie-dance, Ireland's online discussion group for dance and electronic music enthusiasts, celebrates its third year in existence this month boasting an 800-strong subscription. Having successfully forged a more vital sense of community for a previously disparate Irish scene, ie-dance is now poised to realise a more tangible identity with the release of its very own compilation CD entitled 'ALLied'.
Exclusively showcasing the production talents of 11 list members, organisational duties were assumed solely by Dublin-based producer and DJ John Braine, who has ensured that his suggestion was not left languishing in the cyberspace purgatory of the ie-dance digest database. "Lots of good ideas come up for discussion on the list but never come to fruition." explains John. "I decided from the start I could have to commit myself to it, rather than suggest it and hope someone else would do it." While the list may have been lacking a collective work ethic, John was in no doubt that the raw materials were available to produce an impressive finished product. "ie-dance is full of talented producers, with a lot of them just throwing MP3s up on the web - wasted talent. Sticking the lot of us onto a CD just made perfect sense."
John himself provides the CD's opener, arguably the finest and most accomplished composition of all the 12 tracks. 'Intro' is a gorgeous piece of emotive electronica, that will warm even the most hardcore of hearts with its labyrinth of joyous synth melodies. Two tech-house gems follow, with DJ Gord's sullen groove 'Meta-Rhoades' and the minimal deep space dynamics of Random Method's 'Transformation' rivalling the best that this recently-coined genre has produced. The filthy disco groove of Spectrum is Green's 'Schilmschlam' aims for the dancefloor jugular, while Ronan O'Ciosoig, building a reputation for his excellent live techno performances, is represented here by the solid, but quirky house of 'VIP'.
Punctuating this 4/4 splendour are two accomplished breakbeat tracks - Reece's 'Dirt' oozes menace, while Dave Rearden's contribution creates quite the opposite effect. The dreamy female vocal and lush euphoric chords combine to render 'Eve's Beach' one of the more original jungle tracks you're probably likely to hear this year. Techno dominates the latter third of the album with Mainframe's harsh yet playfully constructed 'Pure Addict', Sunil Sharpe's sparse 'Hector Kunst' Manhattan Project's merciless 'Euthymic' and Mass Planck's Millsian 'Planck Tone' all exploring the genre's darker terrain. John Braine's brief ambient 'Outro' finishes off this accomplished and eclectic selection, providing yet more hard evidence that the future remains exciting for Irish electronic music.
James Boylan
ALLied Tracklisting:
1. John Braine - Intro
2. DJ Gord (Gordon Leary) - Meta-Rhoades
3. Random Method (Austy & R Fox) - Transformation
4. Reece (Anthony McCarthy) - Dirt
5. Spectrum is Green (Robbie Dunne) - Schlimschlam
6. Dave Rearden - Eve's Beach
7. Ronan O'Ciosoig - V.I.P.
8. MainFrame (Brendan Murray) - Pure Addict
9. Sunil Sharpe - Hector Kunst
10. Manhattan Project (Jennifer Byrne & Mark Fogharty) - Euthymic
11. Mass Planck (Stephen Salmon) - Plancktone
12. John Braine - Outro
The ie-dance discussion group are at www.egroups.com/group/ie-dance
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