MOOT Alternative Xmas List 2014

SATURDAY, 13th of  December, 2014

Last year we put together an Alternative Xmas List so this year we decided to do a quick one again. We believe it is important for people to stray away from spending their cash on products from mass producing conglomerates and instead focus on purchasing from independent suppliers. The act itself gives a strong political message regardless of how engaged in politics you are. You also end up giving something to someone that is far more unique and personal than any of the mass produced shite people usually end up with come Santy time. Death.

1. Feral House

A favourite of MOOT, Feral House deliver some amazingly off the cuff publications that deliver trails of thought that delve into subject matter most publishers dare to thread. They are offering discounts online this holiday season.

"Feral House has been publishing innovative and celebrated non-fiction books since 1989. Movies have been made, cultural trends influenced and political crimes exposed by our small, independent press. Headquartered in Port Townsend, WA, Feral House publisher Adam Parfrey has also co-founded the new imprint, Process Media, with Jodi Wille, formerly of Dilettante Press."

Visit their Shop here

2. Nine Lives

Nine Lives Is a an Independent store based In our home town of Kilkenny. They Boast a host of all kind of alternative merchandise with a keen eye for design that is unfounded else where In Kilkenny.

"Nine Lives is an independent streetwear brand founded in 2011. Our passion for art, design, movies, subculture and building connections with artists informs every decision we make. The tee's we design are created for ourselves, that is we make tee's we want to wear! We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!"

Vist Nine Lives Online Shop here

3. Loveclots

A bit of shameless self publicity with this one. Loveclots Is an independent screenprint publisher run by members of MOOT. Still in its infancy Loveclots holds a range of screenprinted zines from its webstore.

Visit Loveclots webstore here

4. Champion Sound Records

Champion Sound Records advocate the work of some of Ireland's most innovative up and coming Electronic Artists. In their webstore you will find some amazingly well produced records and merchandise.

Visit the Champion Sound Records Online Store here

5. PogoBooks

Pogobooks have some of the most extraordinary art book publications available from its webstore. Beautifully designed and diverse in content, just scrolling through Pogobooks archive is a delight. We very much recommend purchasing one of their publications to smell and hold.

"PogoBooks is an independent publishing company  focused on affordable limited edition art books, catalogues,  editions and zines in small print runs. We believe in a future  printed on paper, and conceive the printed artwork as a unique artform.  PogoBooks is a platfom, an archive and collective for  contemporary arts and photography. The Berlin-based publishing-house was founded by Claudio Pfeifer in 2010. " Visit the Pogobooks webstore here

MOOTCAST005 : BLONDE MEAT | NEIL QUIGLEY (BPTHU!) MIX.

Sunday, 16th Of November, 2014

The latest of our MOOTcasts 'Blonde Meat' a mix by Neil Quigley.

In our latest Mootcast Composer and Sound Artist Neil Quigley puts together a mix of eclectic styles ranging from Post Punk, Experimental Electronic to Vietnamese Pop, Jazz and Techno creating a strange concoction that leads the way to a surreal bright and alert soundscape. Enjoy.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Tracklist:

1. -Mathias Spahlinger - Störung
2. -Jim O'Rourke - I'm Happy
3. -Stockhausen - Struktur VI
4. -Basil Kirchin - Heart of the North
5. -Ivor Cutler - Egg Meat
6. -Daphne Oram - Studio Experiment No.1
7. -Hanatarash - My No. is 9999999999
8. -Five Go Down To The Sea - Jumping Joley
9. -Polar Bear - The King of Aberdeen
10. -Tim Blechmann - 無題長音 (Wuti Zhangyin) (Excerpt)
11. -David Tudor - Pulsers
12. -This Heat - 24 track loop
13. -Dettinger - Blond
14. -Chris Watson - Los Mochis
15. -Naang Naang - aue tueng pi aay mi yu laue
16. -Esplendor Geométrico - Criba Mecánica
17. -Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet - Flutter (Modulation for High -Tone)
18. -Units - High Pressure Days
19. -Daphne Oram - In a Jazz Style
20. -Yellow Magic Orchestra - Lotus Love
21. -Spin Marvel - Black Dogs Company
22. -Myles Manly - Dog
23. -Kunaicho Gakubu - Oshikicho Choshi (Fragment)
24. -Arthur Russell - Let's Go Swimming
25. -Matthew Herbert - October
26. -Lakker - Kleure
27. -Hanatarash - Space is Meat

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neilquigley.org

themootartgallery.org

Noise, Texture & Conversion

Wednesday, 5th Of November, 2014

In early September 2014 Composer/Sound Artist Neil Quigley collaborated with Stephen Morton at Loveclots Publications on a project that brought together 20 individual screenprints with 20 unique tracks on his new album 'Noise, Texture and Conversion'. The following is a reflection on the project between the two.

ON THE ORIGINS OF THE PROJECT:

Stephen : Neil came to me with the idea of doing a print and audio collaboration. I was open to experimenting with something different to the work i had been making with Loveclots which was mainly graphic and figurative imagery, Neil's idea was more abstract and conceptual, so was intrigued to see how it would go and see what i could learn in the process.

Neil Quigley : The project started out as two separate ideas and over time the ideas informed each other so much so that they became a single project.

The fist idea was to create a series of digital images that consisted of patterns, data maps, noise and glitches. Then to apply or convert these images to a tactile medium like screenprinting, I thought that it would be an interesting way of illustrating artifacts of both mediums and how they relate to each other.

The second idea was to develop a way of creating and releasing music that would make it exclusive to each listener. I wanted to create a piece that was specific to each user/customer but also have it devoid of any sense of tailoring towards them, which was an idea that comes as a reaction to having targeted “content” advertised to me online. I would rather not remember that I spent two hours watching videos about the Ultimate Warrior last night but my what to watch suggestions won't let me forget, it becomes part of my temporary identity, my recent interests to be capitalised on.

Eventually these ideas melded together as both explore using artifacts of conversion and the perceptual phenomena to do with noise and texture, both sonically and visually.

ON THE PROCESS:

Stephen: For the project i just worked from a purely technical stand point to help facilitate Neil's ideas and also try some new techniques. I was interested in experimentation with gradients when printing so the project allowed me to do that. The image itself was also the largest screen-print i've yet to make so that was pretty new also. The whole process of printing it was trial and error and pretty chaotic but with screen-printing you can become pretty chaotic and expressive within the process and still get some very controlled results. 

Neil: When I brought the idea to Steve he was quite enthusiastic about the projects and was very helpful with the technical aspects of screen-printing, which is a medium I haven't worked with. The process of printing and the fact that we embraced the singularity of each print heavily influence the writing of the music. As the series of prints progressed we tweaked aspects of each printing, which is an idea that I took for the randomly generated track on the album. Each version of the randomly generated tracks over the 20 versions of the album has slightly tweaked parameters.

ON THE COMPLETION OF THE WORK:

Stephen: The most difficult part was in contextualising the finished art piece with the music. The outcome here is not common place, this is always a difficult thing to overcome, your dealing with peoples expectations of how art and music should come together, conventionally art is used to decorate and package the music. With this project it was not the intention,  there is more of an even balance in place with the print and the digital download, the print isnt there to decorate the music but is instead an intrinsic part of the piece itself, its a print to be hung on wall in a space and the music is to be downloaded and listened to, the unique recording on the album shares its characteristics with the print and in this moment you are experiencing something that is completely unique, their siblings arent direct mass produced duplicates but individual things, i think this is a very nice thing to experience. Its good that people try break down these fairly uniform conventions of how these two mediums work together, it will lead to more new and exciting things.

Neil: When we finished the piece we didn't know what it was, there is no real hierarchy of value between the print and the music, both are too connected, too informed by each other. This makes the project hard to contextualise into a specific medium, which in turn makes them difficult to market, so at least there's only 20 of them. The work itself is essentially an in depth demonstration of certain aspects of Noise, Texture and Conversion and what each of these words or concepts mean and the difference of their meaning when applied to both sonic and visual art.

NOISE, TEXTURE AND CONVERSION IS AVAILABLE FROM LOVECLOTS PUBLICATIONS HERE

NEIL QUIGLEYS WEBSITE IS HERE

STEPHEN MORTON'S WEBSITE IS HERE

MOOTCAST004 : RAGGASWAGGADAGGA | RICHIE KABOOGIE (DJ SET)

Friday, 31st Of October, 2014

MOOTcasts 004. Badman Dancehall Set by Richie Kaboogie.

The latest In our series of MOOTcasts brings us a drooping clogged out and top drog Badman Dancehall  DJ set In 'RAGGADAGGASWAGGA' from Dublin Based producer Richie Kaboogie. With an accompanying digital Illustration by Stephen Morton of Loveclots Publications. Sit back, unwind and most of all enjoy.

"90's and 00's badman dancehall. All 7"s bar 3 digital bonus bombs..."

download here

1. Bounty Killer - Cellular Phone

2. Lt. Stitchie - Almighty God

3. Sizzla - Ultimate Warrior

4. Jr. Gong - Jamrock (sleng teng remix)

5. Wayne Wonder / Buju Banton - Reunion

6. Buccaneer - Kill A Sound

7. Spragga Benz - Shotta

8. Mega Banton / Barrington Levy - Here I Come

9. Burro Banton - Let Them To Time

10. Anthony B - Burn Out The War

11. Virgo Man - Gal U Dis

12. Roundhead & Powerman - Diamond

13. Roundhead - Cruise Control

14. Spragga Benz - Certain Bwoy

15. Ward 21 - Don't Push It

16. Vybz Kartel ft. Ray Charles - Golddigger

17. Elephant Man - One

18. Chico - Bad Man Dem

19. Beenie Man - Good To Stay

20. Capleton - Chaaka Fi Dem

21. Flourgon - Girl's Room

22.Beenie Man - My DIckie Dickie

23. Capleton - Deh Yah (hiphop remix 1)

24. Macka Diamond - Nuh Frien Mate

25. Alozade - Bad Out Deh

26. Ninja Man - The Pastor

27. Busy Signal - Black Belt

28. Busy Signal - Busy Busy - remix

29. Buccaneer - Skettel Concerto

30. Ward 21 - M16

31. Burro Banton - Cold

32. Vybz Kartel / Shabba Ranks - Love Punnany Bad

33. Buju Banton - Body Count

34. Sizzla - Baylon Homework

35. Lil Toby - Now Thing

36. Bounty Killer / Assassin / Vybz Kartel - Final Showdown ​

for more check

 http://www.kaboogie.net/audio/item/drizzle-crackle-sizzle-dancehall-mixxx/

(80s and rub-a-dub selections)

Visit : Loveclots.com for more on Stephen Morton

IN THE MIX w/ Flying Saucer//3//AUG 4TH 2014

Monday, 4th Of August, 2014

Number 3 In our series of MOOTcasts.

Coming at you from a dusty room In Minneapolis, Minnesota; Flying Saucer brings us the 3rd In our series of Mootcasts. A blazing journey of deep dusty Summer House tunes through those sweltering hot suburbs up along the vast expansive motor ways and deep into the bowels of the city. This one is banging. Enjoy.

MOOTCAST 003 - IN THE MIX w/ Flying Saucer - AUGUST 4TH 2014 
download here


more on Flying Saucer here

Moot Club Night Video

MONDAY, 28TH JULY, 2014 

Short Video of the recent Moot Night featuring Diosco Na Mbo

MOOT presents Dioscó na Mbó & REPLETE (DJ Set)

THURSDAY, 17TH JULY, 2014 

MOOT returns with a new night of clubbing and dance

On Saturday Night the 26th of July 2014 MOOT will be putting on its second club night since the last one at Brewery Corner  in County Kilkenny Town, Rep of Ireland. Kilkenny Is a small Medieval town. The night welcomes Dioscó na Mbó to Kilkenny an Irish band who seem to be up to their eyelids In tunes and song and dance. They play traditional funk and disco with a contemporary slant using electronic instrumentation and electrified vocals whilst staying  true to their roots playing music. Dioscó na Mbó’s live show has gained widespread recognition in reviews from around the country, as being a thoroughly enjoyable proposition when faced with a Saturday Night out on the town.

REPLETE  a record producer , DJ and host of MOOTS RADIO ON podcast series will be leaving his dimly lit apartment complex to come on down to spin some records as part of his live DJ set. Get yourself ready and  pumping for the sounds of deep house and banging techno.

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Dioscó na Mbó oscillate electrical current at particular frequencys, deposit beats at intermittent junctures, strum guitars with organically created limbs and position unnecessarily convoluted words within sentences.

We aim to do something along the lines of marrying live electronics with the musicianship of a live band. Live drummer, harmonies, guitars, percussion, samples, synths - that sort of shtuff - keys and bass riffs of the disco and funk era, etc...

Since June 2013 the Sligo four-piece have brought their original live set all around the country playing in Dublin, Galway, Cork, Donegal, Offaly, Sligo. They have supported Rhythm Scheme and Come On Live Long and have also played their own shows in The Twisted Pepper, The Grand Social, and Sweeneys amongst others.

"....it sounds beautiful, it’s undeniably danceable, and it has a strange characteristic of mystery running through it, which is probably a good thing given the sudden prevalence of disco. It’s like all that 80s keyboard disco except really good." - July 12, 2013 in Totally Dublin Music Reviews

"After being extremely impressed with their live show, I was unsure if they would be able to deliver as well on record. This track (Brassanova) confirms that Dioscó na mbó are as much a studio as a live band." - Soundblob 08/10/13

http://diosconambo.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Diosconambo

Second In the series of Mootcasts with REPLETE's RADIO ON.

Wednesday, 28th of May, 2014

Continuing from last months entry Into the 'Radio On' series REPLETE plays us some noise, drone and noisy techno recorded from his digital ghetto deep In the heart of MOOT City. Includes Ben Frost, Loops Haunt and Eomac. Enjoy.

MOOTCAST 002 - RADIO ON WITH REPLETE - MAY 28TH 2014  More From REPLETE here

Moot presents RADIO ON with REPLETE

FRIDAY, 11th of April, 2014

"In the late hours of night REPLETE from his studio makes a transmission 'RADIO ON'. A mix of some of his recent listenings compiled together as the first In a series of cast outs from MOOT. Enjoy."

We are proud to announce the first of our MOOTcasts available to listen to from our new soundcloud soundplayer. RADIO ON with REPLETE is available to listen to now.

MOOT 001 - RADIO ON WITH REPLETE - APRIL 11TH 2014

download here

Watching Wrestling

WEDNESDAY, 12th of  February, 2014

Dermot Tobin Investigates a long abiding fascination with Pro Wrestling. Illustration by Stephen Morton.

Watching Wrestling (2014)

Lately, I've been spending considerable time indulging in one of the more outlandish pass-times of my younger years: watching wrestling. What can I say? Partial employment leaves ample time to over analyse things that seem like a complete waste of time. And pouring over old wrestling videos could certainly be qualified as such. Nevertheless, I suspect there may be something more to this nostalgia of nonsense. And at the risk of trying to intellectualise the unintellectual, I'm going to try and explain why.

For the benefit of readers who haven't experienced the madness of professional wrestling, allow me to provide a brief synopsis. Professional wrestling is a hybrid of athletics and theatrical performance in which any number of wrestlers engage in a contest that is pre-determined. The modern form of professional wrestling, popularised by the American based WWE, is an amalgamation of various forms from all over the world, some of which trace their origins to the 19th century. Since a boom in the 1980's, professional wrestling has evolved into a storyline driven phenomenon formatted for mass consumption via television.

I started watching wrestling in 1994, just as the WWE (or WWF as it was then known) was gearing up for its annual showpiece, Wrestlemania. In those days wrestling played up to the traditional struggle between “good guys” and “bad guys”. The former were characters with whom the audience had a natural empathy. They played by the rules, promoted wholesome living and were always portrayed as the superior wrestlers. Bad guys were dishonest, manipulative and usually relied on cheating to win. It doesn't take a genius to work out why this format was so successful. On a base level, it reflected the conflict between what life should be and what it actually is.

The main event of Wrestlemania X pitted the 500lb Yokozuna, a sumo wrestler whose waving of the Japanese flag stoked the flames of western xenophobia, against the hero character of Bret “Hitman” Hart. Having been beaten by his rogue brother Owen earlier in the evening, Bret was the perfect underdog. For most of the match, Yokozuna seemed to pound him into oblivion. Watching on, I was desperate for the hero to pull off the “unlikeliest” of victories over the villain. Imagine then my elation when Bret scored the 1-2-3 after Yokozuna, while poising himself for the deadly “banzai drop”, suddenly lost balance and fell from the ropes.

When I look back now, I can't believe how ridiculous this particular stunt looks. Yet Bret's post match celebration, in which he is joined by all his “good guy” friends and a host of invited celebrities is a little more interesting. The exhausted Hitman can barely stand, but with the WWF championship belt over his shoulder, all is right with the world again. I'll leave it to the ambiguities of human emotion to explain why, after eighteen years, something about this scene still appeals to me.

Yet, even at the age of eight, I was well aware that Bret Hart and Yokozuna were actually just actors playing out a convenient illusion. But it didn't matter. The ability of the wrestling audience to temporarily suspend disbelief is without equal. Watch any wrestling match and you will see people of all ages, genders, races and creeds embrace the spectacle with maximum enthusiasm. This really does work.

In fact, a few months after Wrestlemania X, I was so disturbed by the prospect of Bret losing the WWF belt to his "evil" brother that I prayed that it wouldn't happen. Not in a metaphorical sense. I remember actually being at Mass, receiving holy communion and begging God to ensure Bret's eventual victory. If ever there was evidence that the WWF was doing a good job, this was it. Though on that particular incident, they may have had some help from the Catholic Church.

After a year or so, the allure of wrestling started to wane. As it happened, I was so disillusioned after Bret lost the belt to Shawn Michaels, a former “bad guy” who had been positioned as the new hero, that I simply stopped watching. For me, that wasn't the way it was supposed to be.

In my teenage years, I tuned back in and found the WWF had become a much more violent spectacle in which a beer guzzling redneck, Stone Cold Steve Austin, had become the new favourite. This coincided with an era when the WWF enjoyed it's biggest commercial success to date. Consequentially, the wrestling world had become a lot more secure with opening up its workings to fans' long held curiosity.

This led to my viewing of a documentary which followed Bret Hart's last year in the WWF.Wrestling with Shadows still ranks as one of the most interesting films I have ever seen. Whilst mainly dealing with Bret's struggle to keep pace with the WWF's new direction, it also uncovers an even stranger backstage world where the line between fiction and reality becomes remarkably vague.

I haven't had much time for wrestling in the intervening years. Hyper communication via the world wide web has left wrestling's previously guarded secrets exposed for all to see. In turn, it is much harder for fans to abandon the knowledge that it's all just entertainment.

I could also put my indifference towards the modern WWE down to the fact that in my ever expanding “maturity”, I've simply outgrown the senselessness of it all. But the fact that I've been spending so much time trying to reconnect with a world where right and wrong is so cut and dry seems to suggest otherwise.

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More on Dermot Tobins writing here