Something Strange, Something Beautiful: Shades of Living by Dee McIlroy

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Singer-songwriter and guitar builder Dermot “Dee” McIlroy has created an ambient album that’s both relaxing and strange. I say strange because if you’ve watched many Chris Carter TV series like the X-Files and Millenium-and even Nic Pizzolatto’s True Detective, Shades of Living evokes those moods. It opens with a suspenseful Where it Takes You. And from there, you are on a journey.

Midnight is a fave track as of the moment. It has that eerie synth sound coupled with slow beats – a perfect company for a midnight bike ride. There are also  the Mexican flavoured Bon Voyage and the upbeat The Edge to set the balance. The closing track Spring sounds optimistic.

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Dee McIlroy

Here’s a blurb from his Bandcamp page: “Dee McIlroy’s third album of 2017 (so far) and all completely different genres. This is an album of instrumental ambient chill music that brings you from the dark into light. A mean and moody jazzy start progress’ through various shades, just as in life, to eventually finishing with “Spring”, an enlightening and uplifting final track.”

Guitars, piano, bass, drums, mando, organ and electronic music performed by Dee McIlroy.

Shades of Living has eight tracks and plays around 39 minutes.  Dee also performs with Irish folk / trad group Clanú-made up of Dee McIlroy, Damian McIlroy, Paul Conlon, Niall McIlroy and Fiona McIlroy.

I recommend these Soundcloud artists

I am so passionate about Soundcloud. That is where I hear cool music all the time. That’s where musicians that I respect and admire post their tunes. That’s a place where I love to repost and tweet the uploads of these fantastic artists. So today it’s less talk and more Soundcloud links. These are the musicians that are hot on my list. I hope you enjoy their music as much as I did. And oh, it’s 5 am in the morning here.

Altocirrus

I am not saying I am totally partial to electronic music because I love many types of music. But unlike many people who grew up with The Beatles or Led Zeppelin, the first band album I bought was The Human League greatest hits. Of course U2 followed and the rest is history. But what I am trying to say is that my explosive musical awakening was sparked by electronic music. So that means a lot to me. Whenever I hear music such as this one called Project U A bit of fun.  by Altocirrus  then I get that warm feeling inside. It’s like walking into a familiar territory .

This is a sweet track. The beats are not that heavy. There is a sense of space between sounds. It gives you that floating sensation. It works well with my cup of coffee. So I give you Altocirrus   and hoping your day is as awesome as mine.

 

About the project:

Altocirrus is the inspirational name given to music produced by Sean and Clare McCarthy.
The songs evolve as a reflection of everyday experiences. Considering that we live in the North West of Ireland we experience a lot of different “weather” which you will hear influences many of our tracks.
After their music was played on Harbour FM (102.3 FM) in the UK on Terry Hawke’s show “Hawke Chillout Sessions” to a very positive response and also on One World Radio’s show in the UK “Man of Two Worlds” hosted by Neil Fellowes Geigertek, Altocirrus decided to take it further with a view to releasing an EP and album.
Sean developed an interest in electronic music through listening to music by The Art of Noise, Ashra, Klaus Schulze, The Alan Parsons Project and Afrocelt Sound System. Other musicians such as Pat Metheny and John Martyn are also big influences.
Sean works as a gold/platinumsmith and finds listening to and producing music stimulates his creativity.
Clare is classically trained to play both piano and violin. Her influences are Vivaldi, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Crowded House, Merril Bainbridge and Seal. Clare works as a Clinical Nurse Specialist.
Altocirrus is attempting to build a distinctive sound to reflect their mood and experiences through music.

From the Archive: October Project Live At The TLA 1996 (FULL CONCERT)

 

Whoever tornadoman14 is, he left us with a timeless gem that I was not able to see the first time it came out. I am talking about the full concert of the October Project way back in 1996 after they released their sophomore album Falling Further In. Yes I read the magazine reviews but information was very slow in the 90s.  Finally here it is. And as usual I am captivated by the gorgeous voice of Mary Fahl. She is promoting her single Exiles. It’s a theme from the audio book of Anne Rice called The Wolves of Mid Winter.

Mary Fahl (lead vocals), Marina Belica (vocals, keyboards), David Sabatino (vocals, guitars), and husband-and-wife Emil Adler (vocals, keyboards, melodies) and Julie Flanders (lyrics). Urbano Sanchez (percussion)

Mary Fahl (lead vocals), Marina Belica (vocals, keyboards), David Sabatino (vocals, guitars), and husband-and-wife Emil Adler (vocals, keyboards, melodies) and Julie Flanders (lyrics). Urbano Sanchez (percussion)

Icon by Nouvelle electro


It’s been quiet in the Nouvelle Electro camp lately. But they made a buzz after uploading two tracks via soundcloud. Icon is part of the songs they are recording for their soon-t0-be-released album. Not sure about the album title yet as Paula and Ian Henderson haven’t confirmed made a confirmation yet. The other one is a remixed version of Red Sky (Red Sky (Dulcet Tonez Remix) available for free download. Check it out because it is a different take on the original version we heard last year.

Icon is beautiful. If you love the solo works of Debbie Harry and the 80s recordings of Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark then you will be pleased with this latest offering by Nouvelle Electro. They are sharing what they do to fans in real-time and I know the new album is a goldmine of beautiful sounds.

Electro duo:
Ian Henderson : synths, vox, songwriting, programming, production (Ireland)
Paula : synths, vox, songwriting, programming (UK)