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Daisies of Light

by Daisies of Light

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1.
Prontias Neachtain - The Wooden Spoon 03:17
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2.
Townie Boys - Clarissa 01:40
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3.
The Secret Block - Little Mysteries 03:42
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4.
The Celestial Country Workshop Band - Workshop Band Notebook VI 03:14
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5.
Soul Ravers - The Borris-in-Ossory Handcar 02:42
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6.
Diarmuid MacDiarmada - The Meerschaum Tram 11:02
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7.
Prints - Sacred Heart 02:10
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8.
The Secret Block - Turning into Snow 06:28
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9.
Prontias Neachtain - That Sentimental Portrait on the Old Scullery Wall 02:49
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10.
Diarmuid MacDiarmada - 4XCR 11:33
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11.
Prontias Neachtain - The Third Secret of Fatima 01:22
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12.
Prontias Neachtain - Vatican III 11:34
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about

The recordings collected here represent the efforts of Arcana Hibernia to gather together a body of work that can be called ‘Radical Country and Irish’. This collection centres on the extant documents of the work of Prontias Neachtain who made live experimental soundtracks for the legendary ‘ Durrow Warehouse Parties’ on the outskirts of the town of Durrow, Co. Laois in the mid-eighties.

The parties were fuelled by a massive haul of expired cough-syrup found in the same warehouse, which created a particularly intense delirium for those who partook.

Neachtain made his music on a Fairlight CMI that he had repaired himself having recovered it from where it was dumped outside Windmill Lane studios in Dublin. The Fairlight allowed him to ‘sample’ his beloved Red Hurley records as well as set-dancing instruction tapes, and to translate these fragments into immersive experiments in sound with the help of various sound-manipulation devices.

These events happened in the well-documented gap between the end of ‘punk’ and the beginning of ‘grunge’ when pretty much nothing was going on. In this gap, the effect of Neachtain’s loops and experiments made using C&I as source material was like a light in the black; the effect was incendiary. Attendees still talk in rapturous terms about their experience at these events.

Also present in the mix are one-off moments like the Townie Boys’ ‘Clarissa’, which, admittedly, is unrepresentative of their usual output; similarly with Soul Ravers’ departure here from their trademark pristine minimal techno. The tunes from The Secret Block are included for their genuine but unconscious connection to the idea.

The Celestial Country Workshop Band was an attempt to bring a number of veterans of the actual C&I / Showband scene into an open-ended, experimental situation. While many participants were unable to embrace that ‘freedom’, the ones who remained, including Larry Kartoffel, Tony Herrington and the legendary D.J. Hooker, found the work extremely liberating. Attempts to find other workshop ‘notebooks’ are ongoing, all leads welcome.

Many of the other tracks on this compilation represent the arguably more self-conscious efforts of composer and life-coach Diarmuid MacDiarmada to define what a Radical Country and Irish music might be. Diarmuid maintains that C&I is the only Irish cultural entity that truly stands on its own two feet and exists as a genuine groundswell of local enthusiasm. As Bollywood is to India – so Country and Irish is to Ireland.

For that very reason it is felt that a compilation like this one, as variegated and diverse as it is, is a vital testament to a somewhat unlikely notion. Radical Country and Irish Forever!

credits

released May 25, 2021

This album was compiled by the tireless souls at Arcana Hibernia.

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Arcana Hibernia Dublin, Ireland

Arcana Hibernia is dedicated to the cultivation and preservation of weird and wonderful Irish things.

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