The David Acheson Podcast

CPI Archive 2008: Ever wonder about the math that underpins music? Me neither. Well, it's a good things that Professor David Acheson of Jesus College in Oxford is there to do that wondering for us. He spoke with Andrew Hamilton.

HAVE you ever wondered how opera singers can shatter a glass using only the power of voice? Of why some rooms (often bathrooms) are the perfect place for singing? The amazing truth behind this is that every object in the world, humans included, has a special frequency all to its own. Something as inanimate as a chair or even a block of concrete has a very specific musical note at which it cannot help but vibrate and dance. This, is the math of music. The world, when looked upon through these scientific eyes, can resemble an enormous piano, with endless notes that sound for every object, animal or even person. “My view of the world and mathematics is a very personal one really, it’s what I think mathematics is really all about and why it is so exciting. Mathematics, in my view, has a magic all of it’s own. For ex- ample a few years ago I discovered a new theorem; it’s an anti-gravity theory which is very very similar to the famous Indian rope trick. So for me mathematics is very exciting and all about surprises,” said Professor Acheson. 

CPIArchive2008d · The David Acheson Podcast

Mary Coughlan Podcast

CPI Archive 2008: The healing game. Down but nowhere near out, Mary Coughlan has used the public as a psychologist and her music as an open therapy session. She speaks candidly to Andrew Hamilton about working through her marriage break-up and using the shards of that experience to create her most exciting album in years.

A LIFE lived in public is a fragile existence. While all the world has moments of weakness, few have their dirty laundry aired in the pages of the tabloid media for the amusement and entertainment of friends and strangers. Yet so it was for Mary Coughlan on the spring of 2005. The break-up of a 13 year relationship with husband, Frank Bonadio, and his subsequent relationship with Sinead O’Connor had somehow transformed her hardship into media fodder. And as “text-gate” began to take on a life all of its own, Coughlan had reached a breaking point. Confused and alone she knew one thing, she had to get away. She left Ireland quickly, but not to run way. She left to write and to work the heartbreak out of her soul. “Oh Jesus ya, I had to get the whole thing out of my system. It was just after my Ma died and I had left my ex-husband and all of that. I went down to New Zealand and off to Australia. I had a curious affection for New Zealand and I did so well there that they ended up inviting me back to be artist is resident,” she said.

 

CPIArchive2008d · The Mary Coughlan Podcast

The Sanskrit Podcast

CPI Archive 2008: Northern sounds: In music, timing is just about everything. As they prepare for their moment to shine Andrew Hamilton chats to Sanzkrit frontman Dave Marron, the latest offspring of the new northern scene.

FEBRUARY 2006, and the world begins to spin for Sanzkrit. Tipped by Hotpress and others as one of the hopes of the year, the Monaghan four-piece seemed on the very cusp of something. An EP was released and well received, and all seemed just right for take-off. But even then, as the buzz began to gather around them, the band showed that most unusual of characteristics, patience. Still adjusting to life as a four- piece, somewhere deep inside the Sanzkrit psyche they knew that the timing wasn’t right, they just weren’t ready. Their time would come, but just not then. “Yeah, that EP was the first thing that really launched us nationwide and a lot of things started to kick off for us from there. The reviews were positive so we knew that we were moving in the right direction. There was a bit of a buzz in the area with bands like The Flaws starting to get a lot of interest from record labels who were coming to the shows. We were playing at a lot of those shows with The Flaws so instead of splashing out and getting a loan to record an album then, we decided to hold out and see would a deal come through. We held back from doing it all DIY at that stage. I guess we were very young and we didn’t have the fan base. I think it might have been a waste at that time, you know, we didn’t want to record an album that people wouldn’t hear. We want- ed our debut album to be special and the last thing we wanted was for our first real piece of music to be falling on deaf ears,” said Dave. 

CPIArchive2008d · The Sanzkrit Podcast

The Lisa Hannigan Podcast

CPI Archive 2008: Sewing it alone. With a new album and a new musical life, Lisa Hannigan is an artist on the up. Andrew Hamilton chats to the soft spokes songstress and find out about making music as a cottage industry and life after Damien Rice.

LOOKING in from the fringes, all seemed calm. Six years had brought unriveled success; countless gigs in sold-out venues, three million album with all the trimmings. The kingdom was theirs to share. On March 26 last however, all that changed. On that day Damien Rice announced to the world that his professional relationship with Lisa Hannigan had “run its creative course”. Suddenly, and for the first time in her career, Lisa was unemployed. While the exact ins and outs of the ending of this musical pairing remain a mystery, Hannigan’s six years on the road with Rice are times that she remembers fondly. "I never really found it [working with Rice] stifling. I mean, I met wonderful people during that time, a lot of the people that I am still working with. To get to travel and play gigs and see how that works, and then to do recordings and learn how that worked, I learned so much from that and had a lot of fun doing it at the same time,” she said. 

CPIArchive2008d · The Lisa Hannigan Podcast

Unseen Sounds: The Van Diemens Podcast

CPI Archive 2008: REARED in Miltown Malbay on a steady diet of trad and roots, J Healy was a soul destined to sing. From his earliest days, playing on the accordion at the feet of his father Jack, his life has been propelled forward by sounds and words. Trad was his first love, but it wasn’t until years later when he would discover the music that would truly drive him forward. Word by Andrew Hamilton.  

“I grew up in a house full of music. My dad played the button accordion and a lot of trad music. He played the piano and the accordion as well, he gigged all his life and just loved music. I started off playing guitar and bass and a bit of banjo and the fiddle. When I left west Clare to go to college in the NCAD in Dublin I saw Rory Gallagher on the TV one night. I was blown away. He had the whole lot: the passion, the power, the image, the balls and the honest," said J. 

CPI Archive 2008c · The Van Diemens Podcast

The May Kay Podcast

CPI Archive 2008: Anointed since conception, karate rockers Fight Like Apes are about to fulfill their musical destiny. Ahead of the launch of their debut album next week, Andrew Hamilton chews the fat with head monkey, Maykay.

FIGHT Like Apes are a band of contradiction. Too filthy for pop, too sugary for punk and too technologically inept to be takes seriously in the world of electronica. Devoid of a category they invented their own, and are now the undisputed kings of the world of karate rock. Yet the contradictions don’t stop there. Whether through their live set (all head-butts and handstands), general image or lyrical references to cutting people with glass, the Apes have garnered a reputation, in some quarters at least, for being that bit aggressive. That image is something they were keen to ad- dress when putting together their debut album. “People will hear a different side to us in this album. I think that songs like ‘Tie Me Up In Jackets’ and ‘Knuckle Head’ are a bit of a new side to us, something that people maybe haven’t seen yet. I mean, those songs were written a long time, back at the same time as ‘Jake Summers’ or ‘Digifucker’, but they are different,” says Maykay. 

CPI Archive 2008c · The MayKay Podcast

Unseen Sounds: The Serious Mischief Podcast

CPI Archive 2008: STARTED life as west Clare’s first reggae covers band, Serious Mischief have taken the long route to composition and original music. Words by Andrew Hamilton. 

After a decade in the shank, the Lahinch five piece are branching out and are expanding their unique musical canvas. Serious Mischief go into the studio next week to record their debut album. Still centred in reggae, the album promises to be an infusion of different styles, sounds and attitudes. “It’s unique music all right, and it’s not necessarily all reggae either. There is all sorts of influences on the album - we are not strictly sticking to that genre. But reggae is where we are coming from so that might be the most apparent,” said Jon. 

CPI Archive 2008c · Unseen Sounds: The SeriousMischied Podcast