The Small Hours
After an absence of several months I've started tuning in to Donal Dinnen again. One of the founder's of RTE's legendary 'No Disco' and long time host of his own late night show 'The Small Hours" on TodayFM, I've been a fan for years.
Long before Lastfm.com, Pitchforkmedia or music blogs, Dr Donal was my musical reference of choice. Since my early days in college I'd tune in as often as possible from 11pm for what was a guaranteed 3 hours of brilliant music in an otherwise, bleak, NME inspired world of pseudo-alternative music on the Irish air waves. (Tom Dunne has a lot to answer for). Dineen's knowledge and collection of music is truely incredible and he has introduced me to many great artists over the years, the likes of Aphex Twin, Lali Puna, Sparklehorse, Susoma Yakota, Autechre, Board of Canada, the magical Lacklustre.
His fondness for low key electronic tunes and avant-garde electro was something that always made sure I returned regularly despite his muffled mutterings in between tracks. Thank god for that play list. Anyway between all the excessive hype, the endless recommendations and reviews online you could spend your entire life reading and wading through half a rain forest of column inches of musical guff when the best way to get in to music is to listen to the damn stuff.
That's what I love most of all about the small hours. Just as you'd be nodding off, Dineen would play a track that wormed its way into your semi-conscious mind, forcing you to bend your ear dangerously to the radio in order to catch the song title. Invariably it would be another gem and another excuse to head to the record store, something which I haven't been doing all that often lately.
Here's a favourite of Dineen's, the legendary Aphex Twin. A penny for this man's thoughts I'd certainly give.
tags:[Music]
Published by PMC.
Long before Lastfm.com, Pitchforkmedia or music blogs, Dr Donal was my musical reference of choice. Since my early days in college I'd tune in as often as possible from 11pm for what was a guaranteed 3 hours of brilliant music in an otherwise, bleak, NME inspired world of pseudo-alternative music on the Irish air waves. (Tom Dunne has a lot to answer for). Dineen's knowledge and collection of music is truely incredible and he has introduced me to many great artists over the years, the likes of Aphex Twin, Lali Puna, Sparklehorse, Susoma Yakota, Autechre, Board of Canada, the magical Lacklustre.
His fondness for low key electronic tunes and avant-garde electro was something that always made sure I returned regularly despite his muffled mutterings in between tracks. Thank god for that play list. Anyway between all the excessive hype, the endless recommendations and reviews online you could spend your entire life reading and wading through half a rain forest of column inches of musical guff when the best way to get in to music is to listen to the damn stuff.
That's what I love most of all about the small hours. Just as you'd be nodding off, Dineen would play a track that wormed its way into your semi-conscious mind, forcing you to bend your ear dangerously to the radio in order to catch the song title. Invariably it would be another gem and another excuse to head to the record store, something which I haven't been doing all that often lately.
Here's a favourite of Dineen's, the legendary Aphex Twin. A penny for this man's thoughts I'd certainly give.
tags:[Music]
Published by PMC.
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