E-drums, synths and home digital pianos – as Gerry Forde explains, Roland have been at the cutting edge of music technology for decades, and show no signs of slackening off.
While most teenagers are furtively getting their first grope in behind the school bike shed, 16 year old Alexander Roland is making spine tingling, never ending acid grooves.
GODZILLA (Directed by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. Starring a pathetic computer-generated monster and a host of actors so bad it would be cruel to quote their names.)
Coronas' drummer Conor Egan tests the new Roland HD-1, which has Roland's legendary V-Drum know-how at its core and which they've heralded as an "all in one drum kit for the masses."
Phuture are the creators of 'Acid Trax', and the people who introduced the Roland 303 'acid box' to the music world. They are arguably one of the most influential groups ever. So why are they still doing day jobs? Richard Brophy talks to original member Spanky and new addition Professor Trax, and reports on a travesty of justice in the dance world.
The guitar is back – and how! Instrument sales are healthier than they’ve been in years. but that’s not the only good news from Ireland’s music equipment shops.
A Guy Called Gerald rose to prominence with classic acid house tracks like ‘Voodoo Ray’, but there’s a world of a difference between his back catalogue and this current incarnation. Inspired by Detroit techno and Berlin minimalism – Gerald moved recently to the German capital – rather than heads-down Roland-torturing, the focus is on violent, Sender-style basslines and tight, jacking workouts like ‘The Stink’. He also touches on the spooky otherworld of Drexciyan electro and outros with the atmospheric, Derrick May-esque ‘Sweet You’. If you expected merely a succession of 303 tracks, you’ll be disaapointed, but if you’re adventurous and take this full trip, you’ll come up smiling.
Twenty-four years is a long time to spend working up to a debut solo album, but Roland S. Howard follows his own wayward star.
Whether participating in the jagged juvenalia of Melbourne’s Boys Next Door, lending his trademark flicknife guitar …
The dance revolution, and the strong DIY ethic that it has engendered, have largely been fuelled by advances in digital technology and easier access to home recording equipment. Many successful artists operating in the dance arena today started out experimenting with basic keyboard/drum machine and home computer set-ups, before upgrading to more advanced equipment.
The biggest ever music exhibition in Ireland will cover all aspects of the entertainment business – with something for every music fan. What’s more, it is happening at the perfect time for Christmas browsing.
Recently the Netherlands government moved to follow the Irish example and ban "magic mushrooms". But pro-civil liberty groups have rallied to stall the planned prohibition.
New York, London, Paris, Munich, everybody’s talking about Mylo’s music. The 25-year-old dancefloor maestro here sounds off to Steve Cummins about touring the globe, the challenges of following up his acclaimed debut album, and why maruading chavs won’t be enough to dissuade him from moving to Essex.
PROFESSOR POE senior sat in the kitchen with his head in a sound magazine, chuckled to himself, took another sip of coffee and read on. It was an article on the latest innovation in speaker design with one party saying that they had a new invention and another party introducing the same idea but with a different name saying it was theirs.
He used to be a music journalist but now rapper Cadence Weapon is lighting up the hip-hop scene. The Canadian tells us he's not quite as clean living as he's made out to be.
Belfast superstar DJ David Holmes has once again produced the goods with his soundtrack for Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Twelve, this time finding inspiration in sleazy European electro and superfly acid jazz. But not, however, elephant porn.
By the time you read this I may be an ex-person, having just received a poison pen letter threatening to do a number of unspeakable, and probably illegal, things to me. It s a good one as these things go, unsigned, of course, written completely in capital letters violently gouged into the page, with a sprinkling of misspellings and words like arsehole , fucker and bastard underlined twice and three lines under bolox and cunt . Can t be a regular reader, then.
Danish This is Your Life specials; Bob Monkhouse game shows and seling petrol to Bobby Robson . . . Nick Kelly hears the untold story of Prefab Sprout from Martin McAloon bassist, founder member and sibling of songwriting genius, Paddy.
Looking for a guitar/ bass/ amp/ drumkit/ keyboard/ sampler (circle as appropriate)? hotpress.com does the hard work of finding the best deals, so that you don't have to
Sexually outrageous on stage, potty-mouthed Canuck Peaches turns out to be rather a sweet-heart in person. And for the record: no, she’d rather you didn’t stick your hand up her crotch.
The Tarzan’s Ambition Best Of album commemorates the achievements of one of this country’s finest songwriters, Doctor Sean Millar. Here, peers & contemporaries pay tribute to the great man.
He created great songs out of the good, the bad and the ugly and earned the respect of people as diverse as Bob Dylan and Hunter S. Thompson. In this previously unpublished interview Warren Zevon, who died last week after a long battle with cancer, reflects on his sweet and dirty life and times.
Fourteen years on and people still come up to BRUCE ROBINSON and quote chunks of Withnail & I to his face. But if you don t know more about this talented, opinionated, chain-smoking, wine-guzzling writer/director, then that may be because, to put it at its mildest, he and Hollywood have never seen eye to eye. PETER MURPHY meets the angry older man
The second day of the Music Show brought together James Bond composer David Arnold, Enya producer Nicky Ryan, Christy Moore, Sharon Corr and... The Blizzards
A fresh generation of bands is tearing up the rule book and redefining what it means to be Irish. To celebrate this new wave of talent, we catch up with the best of them.
Hot Press is delighted to confirm its involvement in Music Ireland ’06, a three-day exhibition, workshop, seminar and live performance extravaganza taking place in the RDS on November 25 and 26.
There s very little torture involved in making a record until it s released and then the audience gets to suffer. PETER MURPHY meets the one and only LYDIA LUNCH.
EDDIE IRVINE is Ireland s leading sporting playboy. The Grand Prix driver is a multi-millionaire whose taste for the extravagant runs to owning a private jet, a yacht and around ten cars. Here, the ladies man of Formula One talks to NIALL STANAGE about sex, drink, drugs, rock n roll oh, and driving.
A wide variety of trade exhibitors will be there over the weekend to show you what they've got - from music instruments to recording equipment and software.
At no other stage in the history of human civilisation have there been more Ministry, Cream and I***a 2000 compilations attempting to recreate the pounding sounds of the club PA on home stereos.
This Wigan four-piece with a tenuous (mainly geographical, it has to be said) Verve connection have accumulated a load of accolades and plaudits on the basis of a handful of singles released over the past year.
As Godzilla charges repeatedly at downtown Tokyo, Honda conveys the destruction with an deft use of film grammar – a flick of the tail here, bang goes the neighbourhood there. Panic sweeps a nation. Radiation sickness spreads. The army mobilises. Yet beneath the chaos lurks an elegant melodrama and a taut thriller.
The tunes on Of Pattern And Purpose – are so cool that they offer the kind of pleasing, relaxing, thought-disengaging, space-creating emotional detachment that we find in Steve Reich or Brian Eno circa Music For Airports.
On record, it is sometimes easy for the quality of Beck’s singing to be lost amid the bells and whistles of post-production. Here, a combination of pristine sound quality and the pared-back nature of the performance allows the richness and emotion of his voice to take centre stage
Dream line-ups are occasions to be celebrated, so when news came through that some of the brightest lights emerging from the UK music scene were to converge on Fabric this Easter Bank Holiday weekend for what can only be described as one of the most exciting gigs so far this year, Hot Press felt it was only right to grab our trusty notebook and a hip flask of whiskey and get the hell down there.
SO YOU reckon dance music is dull, repetitive and only marginally more fun to listen to outside of a club environment than a Black & Decker power drill.
Well, if 2 Unlimited and their thousand zillion beat per minute chums are your yardstick, I'd have to agree.
SO YOU reckon dance music is dull, repetitive and only marginally more fun to listen to outside of a club environment than a Black & Decker power drill.
Well, if 2 Unlimited and their thousand zillion beat per minute chums are your yardstick, I'd have to agree.
Some of the people operating behind the scenes in the Irish music industry have been there, seen that and done it too. So their words of wisdom about how to get yourself tacked up for rock n roll stardom are well worth listening to.
Report: PETER MURPHY
The finalists, chosen from the hundreds of entries received, were all winners of the regional heats that had taken place up and down the country since January
For 25 years Music Maker have been a central force in the Irish instruments industry, their premises in Exchequer Street in Dublin a veritable musical mecca for international and Irish customers alike. Latterly they have expanded into distribution with MIDI (Musical Instrument Distribution Ireland) and were also involved in the initiative to create the permanent memorial to Rory Gallagher being unveiled this week. Jackie Hayden talked to the key players about the Music Maker success story, and even heard the one about the man with the child's organ!
One of Ireland's most beloved dance emporiums has shut its doors, blaming plummeting CD sales. But it may soon be back, as a vinyl-only store. Is the future of music retail in Ireland?
Ireland s recording studios are busy creating the masterpieces that will dominate the charts over the coming year but there are still good deals on offer from some of our most respected establishments.
colm o hare reports.
To make it in the rock 'n' roll business you need a dream, a vision, a sparkle in your eye . . . and tons and tons of equipment. STUART CAROLAN guides you to the best bargains and damnedest deals in this Hot Press Equipment Special.
The first day of The Music Show saw some hot debates, great music and Glen Hansard in stirring form.
Reporting: Peter Murphy, Celina Murphy, Niall Stokes, Stuart Clark and additional Hot Press reporters
Some of the country's leading music industry figures joined thousands of people for the Music Show, a two-day celebration of all that's good about the recording arts in Ireland.
If the Leaving Cert results didn t pan out as expected, don t worry. There s lots of alternatives on offer if you ve got the right stuff. Report: JACKIE HAYDEN.
