ShivThere’s nothing we love more than a good deep dive into the Irish dance music scene and ‘The Breakdown’ does exactly that, and then some. Launching on RTE 2FM this weekend, this two part radio documentary traverses through the development of the Irish electronic music scene over a thirty year period.
Interviewing some of the leading innovators of our time, guests include Bicep, Tommy Holohan, Or:La and Mr Spring to name a few. For the ultimate tune aficionados, the series also dissects the techniques and inspiration behind their biggest tracks.
The two part series will run both Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd Jan at 6PM on RTE 2FM. Produced by Hugh Fowler of Media Tone, ‘The Breakdown’ dives deep with a selection of artists discussing their era of dance music and the aesthetic decisions involved in creating different tracks from the past thirty years which defined the sounds of our dance floors over time.
Episode 1 takes a look at some of the Irish pioneers of electronic music in the early 90’s. We get an insight into some of earliest Irish productions of acid house with Dave McDonnoll of Bumble; we learn about the saturation of the breakbeat sound with Mr Spring, one half of legendary Irish dance act Sound Crowd; and Zero T takes us through one of his earliest drum and bass productions.
In the second half of the show they talk to some producers who enjoyed success around the turn of the millennium. Chris Agnew, of trance duo Agnelli & Nelson, reveals the story behind their chart topping track ‘El Nino’; Shane Johnson, from legendary Cork duo Fish Go Deep, breaks down his approach to sampling with one of their early house productions; Rob Rowland explains how his first release with Dublin independent techno label D1 Records came about; and techno star Matador walks us through some minimal techno.
Episode 2 focuses on Irish electronic productions from the late 00’s through to today. We learn about the aesthetic of the electroclash scene from duo Arveene & Misk; Mano le Tough explains how moving to Berlin influenced his deep melodic house sound; Sias gives an insight into the creation of his garage-tinged breakthrough track, and Or:La talks through how key musical experiences fed into the development of her UK Bass-influenced music. Bicep break down their global hit ‘Glue’; Bobby Analog analyses the construction of his biggest house record to date; Tommy Holohan talks us through his 90s rave-inspired heavy techno beats; and Syn draws on international influences for her hard drum sound.
It’s great to see 2FM support Irish dance music culture and history, major props to Hugh Fowler for producing, we’d love to hear more of this music representation happening on our national broadcaster. We can’t wait to listen to the full show and highly recommend you do too!
Episode 1 broadcasts on RTE 2FM on Saturday January 1st at 6PM, and episode 2 follows on Sunday January 2nd at 6PM.
