From psychedelic folk explorations to a club night focused on underground music, the focus on Ireland will also engage several artists within the festival’s daytime programme via a workshop and talks. Within the first part of the festival are two concerts by artists who have been diving deep into Irish idioms and folklore for inspiration in creating dark and sometimes mournful walls of sound.
A combination of song, playful improvisations, and storytelling, Moundabout is a new »pholk« project based in Ireland by Paddy Shine, of psychedelic powerhouse GNOD, and Phil Masterson, of cult groups Los Langeros, Damp Howl, and Bisect. A couple of years ago the duo set out to explore a new form of psychedelic Irish folk music where the listener is invited to see folk as a continuum and eternal vibrancy that predates classical antiquity and Irish civilisation itself. Getting lost in liminal zones, at thresholds where boundaries merge, with their second album An Cnoc Mór (Sacred Bones, 2023), the pair seek to push even further out than ever before where folk meets free psych music.
One Leg One Eye is the new solo project of Ian Lynch, founding member of the experimental folk group Lankum. With a sound rooted in the raw aesthetics of second wave black metal rather than contemporary folk, the project combines drones of distorted uilleann pipes, field recordings, tape loops, analogue synth, voice, and further instrumentation to shape minimalist and transportative pieces that resonate with an immersive sadness. The distinct and sometimes harrowing atmospheres conjured throughout his debut album, …And Take The Black Worm With Me are an exploration of internal and external spaces rooted in his hometown of Dublin. Lynch appears with the project for the very first time, bringing it to stage with guest musicians and visuals from acclaimed Berlin director Lukas Feigelfeld.
Within the second half of the festival, Ireland’s voices in club culture will be represented at venues Berghain and OXI.
GASH Collective is a source of innovation on the more uncompromising strands of Irish underground music while focusing on supporting female, trans, queer, non-binary, and other underrepresented people in music production through parties, workshops and other collaborations. A club night presented together with transmediale shines light on some of the initiative’s key figures, opening with Baptist Goth, who appears live as a fusion of an emo trap idol and a Catholic saint, after which Americhord will drive up the bpm with a dive into deep techno and electronica. ALYXIS deepens the groove with a dark and bassy live AV set that might include interjections from a reassuring chatbot voice and housey pop edits. DJ sets from the collective’s co-founders ELLLL and Lolz span abstract experimentalism, fragmented rhythms, and bass-heavy club bangers, while GASH collective regulars and avid record collectors Eliza and Maeve O'Neill will close with a wide-ranging set drawing on electro, ebm, techno, and acid.
On a separate occasion, ELLLL will share insights into creating and working with collectives based on their own experience founding Ireland’s GASH collective, as part of the A2A Transmission workshop series at Morphine Raum.
Dublin-based Julia Louise Knifefist creates dense, noise influenced dance tracks with sharp vocals and destructive 808sto thrash to.
A true all-rounder with a deep knowledge of the Irish music scene and beyond, Galway-based Shampain co-founded VSN collective and G-Town Records as he continues to sail through uplifting dance sounds worldwide all while propelling his local scene.
Topping off the focus on current Irish sounds at the festival will be beatmaker 40 Hurtz, who is joined by the full-throated holler of wordsmith Hazey Haze, painting pictures of the peaks and troughs of Irish life by a distinct and proud Limerick accent.
Artists talking part within CTM’s daytime Discourse talk programme will be announced soon.
Part of Zeitgeist Irland 24, an initiative of Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in Germany.