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2CD
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SIDO 020-21CD
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The Early Years collection has been released to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the music-theater company, Operating Theatre, by composer Roger Doyle and performer Olwen Fouere. Operating Theatre has been active in two phases: the first from 1981 to 1988, and the second from 1998 to 2008. This double-CD set celebrates the first phase, during which the company operated as both a theatre company, integrating music as an equal partner in the theatrical environment, and as a band releasing records.
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LP
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ACOTLPX1
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Dublin's All City Records continue their deep dive into early Irish electronica, jazz, rock, and experimental music with the latest release on the AllChival imprint. A lost gem from 1983, Miss Mauger is the debut LP of Operating Theatre, a little-known proto synth-pop act and experimental theater group led by avant-garde composer Roger Doyle. Featuring the vocals of future Hollywood actress Olwen Fouéré alongside pulsing synths, brass, a vocoder, and the electro acoustic production talents of Doyle himself, it's the first time a Fairlight sampler was used in an Irish studio setting and gives a prescient but alternative take on the new wave sound that came to dominate the charts soon after. Not quite pop nor full-blown electronica, Miss Mauger is a rare creature in the pantheon of Irish experimental music, largely ignored and misunderstood when it was first released, it's now getting the full reissue treatment it deserves -- with two extra tracks thrown in for good measure: "Austrian", which was originally release as an A-side by CBS records in 1981 and "Sir Geoffrey", another recording from that era by the short-lived group. Operating Theatre's short existence as a recording group fizzled out after the act were signed to U2's embryonic Mother label. Only one more vinyl release followed and the group went their separate ways apart from sporadic collaborations. Doyle, the musical maverick at the heart of the act, continues to produce to this day and has released 30 albums. Fouéré, who provided the vocals and a theatric element to the group (an almost essential part of any early '80s synth act) went on to a successful movie career that has recently seen her appear in major box office productions like Mandy (2018) and Fantastic Beasts (2018). This album is a heady snapshot of some early pop explorations by one of the great modern composers and a rare insight into an underground new wave sound that was bubbling up through the Irish capital during the late '70s and early '80s. Cut from the same DIY or almost post punk cloth as our recent reissues of Stano and Michael O'Shea, this is another example of a maverick artist producing largely instrumental work far removed from the mainstream pop industry or what little of it existed in the country at the time. Includes extended liner notes.
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AllChival present a reissue of Michael O'Shea's self-titled album, originally released on Wire's Dome Records imprint in 1982. Having sold his instruments to fund a nomadic 1970s lifestyle, eccentric Irish experimentalist Michael O'Shea was forced to create his own handmade answer to the sitars and zelochords he'd become accustomed to playing on his travels around the globe. Using an old door, 17 strings, chopsticks and combining them with phasers, echo units and amplification, the new device was to become his signature sound, mixing Irish folk influences with Asian and North African sounds in a mesmerizing and soulful new way. Born in Northern Ireland but raised in the Republic, O'Shea was keen to travel and escape the troubles of his home. Wandering throughout Europe and the Middle East, O'Shea found himself living and working in Bangladesh in the mid-Seventies where he learned to play sitar. A later period spent busking in France accompanied on zelochord by Algerian musician Kris Hosylan Harp led to O'Shea's idea of combining both instruments as a homebuilt instrument -- Mo Cara (Irish for "My Friend"). A combination of dulcimer, zelochord, and sitar, O'Shea would play it with a pair of chopsticks, striking the strings softly using Irish folk rhythms mixed with the rich, nostalgic sounds of the many Asian artists he'd encountered on his travels. Perfecting the instrument on the streets, there were further spells spent busking in the underground stations and cafes of London's West End and Covent Garden. His work with Rick Wakeman never saw the light of day but O'Shea's contact with the world of post-punk London ensured his name would live on. Introduced to Wire's Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis via cartoonist Tom Johnston, O'Shea eventually acquiesced to an open invite to record at their studio. Turning up unannounced in the summer of 1981 the LP was recorded in a day in the legendary Blackwing Studios and released on Dome the year after. The first side features the fifteen-minute masterpiece "No Journeys End" with the B side featuring more input from Wire in processing the Mo Chara sound. After an aborted LP with The The's Matt Johnson the following year, O'Shea quietly disappeared from the formal recording world and his brief but unique contribution to the music world came to a sad end with O'Shea's passing in 1991. Remastered and reissued with the approval of both Dome and his surviving siblings. CD version comes with a 12-page booklet.
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LP
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ACMOSLPX1
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AllChival present a reissue of Michael O'Shea's self-titled album, originally released on Wire's Dome Records imprint in 1982. Having sold his instruments to fund a nomadic 1970s lifestyle, eccentric Irish experimentalist Michael O'Shea was forced to create his own handmade answer to the sitars and zelochords he'd become accustomed to playing on his travels around the globe. Using an old door, 17 strings, chopsticks and combining them with phasers, echo units and amplification, the new device was to become his signature sound, mixing Irish folk influences with Asian and North African sounds in a mesmerizing and soulful new way. Born in Northern Ireland but raised in the Republic, O'Shea was keen to travel and escape the troubles of his home. Wandering throughout Europe and the Middle East, O'Shea found himself living and working in Bangladesh in the mid-Seventies where he learned to play sitar. A later period spent busking in France accompanied on zelochord by Algerian musician Kris Hosylan Harp led to O'Shea's idea of combining both instruments as a homebuilt instrument -- Mo Cara (Irish for "My Friend"). A combination of dulcimer, zelochord, and sitar, O'Shea would play it with a pair of chopsticks, striking the strings softly using Irish folk rhythms mixed with the rich, nostalgic sounds of the many Asian artists he'd encountered on his travels. Perfecting the instrument on the streets, there were further spells spent busking in the underground stations and cafes of London's West End and Covent Garden. His work with Rick Wakeman never saw the light of day but O'Shea's contact with the world of post-punk London ensured his name would live on. Introduced to Wire's Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis via cartoonist Tom Johnston, O'Shea eventually acquiesced to an open invite to record at their studio. Turning up unannounced in the summer of 1981 the LP was recorded in a day in the legendary Blackwing Studios and released on Dome the year after. The first side features the fifteen-minute masterpiece "No Journeys End" with the B side featuring more input from Wire in processing the Mo Chara sound. After an aborted LP with The The's Matt Johnson the following year, O'Shea quietly disappeared from the formal recording world and his brief but unique contribution to the music world came to a sad end with O'Shea's passing in 1991. Remastered and reissued with the approval of both Dome and his surviving siblings.
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LP
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ACSLPX1
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All City Dublin presents a reissue of Stano's Content To Write In I Dine Weathercraft, originally released in 1983. Former member of Dublin punk band The Threat, Stano released Content To Write In I Dine Weathercraft, his debut LP, on Scoff Records. Recorded in Alto Studios, the Irish artist eschewed live performances in favor of fusing collaborative, improvised, experimental music with spoken word-poetry. The LP features contributions from fellow Irish musicians and artists such as Michael O'Shea, Roger Doyle, Donald Teskey, Vinnie Murphy, and Detroit-born Jerome Rimson and is a seminal document of Irish post-punk.
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