Our music picks of March [Subscriber Podcast preview]
Our monthly episode in which Andrea Cleary and Niall share our favourite music of the past month.
The Best of the Month episode is now Patreon-only. Public subscribers get the first 15 minutes or so of the episode as a free preview. Members get to hear the whole episode on their member feeds or on Patreon direct.
Discussing music from Lonnie Holley, Bon Iver, Adebisi Shank, Chappell Roan, Avalon Emerson, Niamh Bury, Brighde Chaimbeul, Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco, Paddy Hanna, MJ Lenderman and an old choice from Cornelius.
We also chat about what we've been watching lately including Adolescence, Severance, Last One Laughing UK (which I erroneously called Laugh Out Loud),
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20:38
Moving Still's Irish-Arab electronic bangers are having a moment 🔥
Jamal Sul has been making Irish Arabic electronic music as Moving Still since 2016. His productions link his Arabic heritage, with his love of synthesizers, dance music and buzzy bangers.
Moving Still’s music is unique in how it brings together styles of music from the SWANA region (Southwest Asia and North Africa) with European and American club genres like Italo, electro, acid, breakbeats, house and more.
Jamal's project has been in the ascendancy with releases on Cooking with Palms Trax, Orange Tree Edits, Dar Disku and his latest Close To The Shams EP on the Bordello A Parigi label.
His 2022 Boiler Room set from London is an all-timer for me, and his Ouddy Bangers series has seen him put a club edit spin on pop, disco and dance classics from Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco and Kuwait.
I talk to Jamal about all of it: his big gigs, productions, edits, influences, heritage and how Ireland has been slow to catch up on Moving Still until recently. And he picks a selection of songs that has inspired his music (listed below).
Up next on the DJ front for Moving Still is the latest edition of Klub Sukar at Yamamori Tengu on Saturday April 19th.
Tracks played:
Moving Still - Al Disco Haram
Cheick Madani - Laya Habibi
Ragheb Alama - El hob al Kabir
Marvellous Melodicos - sing oh (zagalo mix)
Moving Still -La Titasil Feeya
Haruomi Hosono - Laugh Gas
Omar Souleyman - Warni Warni
Moving Still - Bang of Luban
Ahmed Fakroun - Soleil Soleil
Ihsan Al Munzer - Jamilah
Ettab - Ghorba Wa Moghtaribin (Exile and Exiled)
Chaba Yamina - Sidi Mansour (Moving Still Edit)
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1:17:21
I was duped by an AI musician
Would you identify an AI song if you pressed play on one? Colm Cahalane and Niall explore what's happening in AI and music now, with an example drawn from the Irish music scene in recent months.
Echoing the early Wild Wild West streaming era that we discussed last week with Liz Pelly that gave rise to Spotify's dominance, our chat this week with Colm Cahalane of Irish music Substack blog Fourth Best / Cork label Hausu finds parallels with what's happening with AI and music right now. AI is breaking new ground, and creating new problems and moral issues in doing so.
Colm recently posted a ruminating article on AI on Fourth Best, which talks to an artist called Kawaii Hoe who inadvertently, and relatively innocently duped me into covering their energetic AI-generated hyperpop music on the site - Like I said it's the Wild Wild West.
We talk about this scary new world of not knowing whether an artist is making music entirely with AI or not, and the implications and creative quandary of generated art.
Because you can now make a full music project with AI, does that mean you should? Are AI musicians just really gifted at prompts? Are the outputs music?
As AI music flooded streaming platforms, social media and we cannot put the genie back in the bottle, what’s next? As Liz Pelly’s book shows, Spotify will do what it can to reduce royalty rates so what’s to stop it from replacing real artist’s music with AI-generated music? Isn’t this already happening whether they allow it or not?
* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord community
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1:12:10
Mood Machine - A conversation with Liz Pelly about Spotify
The music and cultural critic Liz Pelly's new book Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Cost of the Perfect Playlist is a deep dive into Spotify's often contentious position in music today.
Liz has been a philosophising on issues brought about by the streaming era's cultural impact for about 10 years now so the book collates a lot of work, thoughts, research and investigative reporting on Spotify and the way it operates.
We talk to Liz about the Swedish streaming giant's outsized influence on the music industry, its gatekeeper effect on trends in music, and how Spotify has emphasised mood and passive listening above discovery and initiative.
We talk about the vast collection of user behaviour on the platform that has lead to artists chasing a more homogenous "streambait pop" sound, how Spotify uses fake "ghost" artists and their Perfect Fit Content system to reduce royalty rates and squeeze out real artists on the platform's popular algorithmic and editorial playlists.
* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord community
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1:04:57
Our best of February's music
Our monthly episode in which Nialler and Andrea Cleary talk about their favourite music of the month.
The Best of the Month episode is now Patreon-only. Public subscribers get the first 20-25 minutes or so of the episode as a free preview. Members get to hear the whole episode on their member feeds or on Patreon direct.
Discussing new albums from Oklou, Horsegirl, Maria Kelly, Puma Blue and songs from Djo, Car Seat Headrest, Deep Thrills and breaking news - nepobaby Lola Kirke.
We also chat about films we've seen lately including A Complete Unknown, Civil War, Companion and pick an Italo Disco classic that featured in The Brutalist and an even better song from the same act.
Listen on Apple | Android | Patreon | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS Feed | Podlink
* Support Nialler9 on Patreon, get event discounts, playlists, ad-free episodes and join our Discord communit
Ireland