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LP
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PKR 003LP
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Phil Kieran releases his sixth album, The Strand Cinema on his own label PKR. The last five years have seen an evolutionary shift for the electronic musician, undertaking more soundtrack work, including for film (Nightride on Netflix), radio, and theater. The Strand Cinema album is a tribute to the art deco cinema building, The Strand, where Phil's recording studio is. A stirring and beautiful record, it seamlessly traverses the worlds of contemporary classical to beautifully elevated dance music with a recognizably cinematic influence. Managing to sound both grand and expansive, as well as minimal and introspective -- it's a record that explores the macro and the micro. The opening track "Strand Cinema", begins with a steady, gentle, looping pulse, almost recalling the kosmische ripples of Cluster, before sweeping and enveloping strings enter, resulting in a track that manages to sound both grandiose and tender in one fell swoop. Lead single "Atlantic" perhaps most perfectly encapsulates the various sonic worlds that Kieran is operating in, merging a bordering on euphoric dance beat layered with infectious melodies, while remaining anchored to organic sounds, as strings and percussion collide with the driving and hypnotic groove of the track. "Strike the Match" showcases Kieran's talents for detail, in a track that feels almost palpably textural and rich in complexity but without feeling overly busy or superfluous; while "Elephant in Castle" utilizes intense, almost gargling electronics, that drone with a foreboding and ominous tone, but also produces fractured moments of light, beauty and poignancy. The album was created from organic sounds manipulated by machines; melted, mangled and hacked with computers but machines only sound as good as the human spirit put into them.
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LP
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PKR 001LP
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LP version. Le Carousel is the new band project from acclaimed Belfast DJ/recording artist Phil Kieran. For Le Carousel, Kieran assembled some of Ireland's finest musicians, writing most of the album while staying in Donegal on the remote west coast. Fittingly, Le Carousel evokes feelings of half-remembered childhood day-trips and windswept empty beaches. Fans of emotive electronica, blissful Balearica, artists like Spiritualized, Slowdive, Pink Floyd, Goldfrapp, Steve Reich, Rothko, Bat For Lashes, and Galaxie 500 should sign up here, although anyone with a heart is going to take something away from this extraordinary piece of work. Limited to 250 bespoke, hand-manufactured, art cover sleeves cut out of the original tour stage backdrop painting. The original image measured 18 feet x 18 feet and is now being broken up into 324 limited edition vinyl albums. Each will be numbered and contain a print of the large image with a grid reference to show where the individual piece belongs.
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12"
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PKR 1201EP
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These tracks are drawn from Le Carousel, Phil Kieran's forthcoming album recorded with a discerning selection of talented Irish musicians. This music is a woozy look back into childhood, a blessed-out album of reflective songcraft, tinged with time-lapse psychedelia and shot through with hazy fairground ephemera. Here they are reimagined for the dancefloor, filtered through Phil's unerring techno sensibility, with more than a hint of the New York post-punk disco. Remixes by techno legend Andrew Weatherall and from the artist himself.
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CD
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PKR 001CD
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Le Carousel is the new band project from acclaimed Belfast DJ/recording artist Phil Kieran. For Le Carousel, Kieran assembled some of Ireland's finest musicians, writing most of the album while staying in Donegal on the remote west coast. Fittingly, Le Carousel evokes feelings of half-remembered childhood day-trips and windswept empty beaches. Fans of emotive electronica, blissful Balearica, artists like Spiritualized, Slowdive, Pink Floyd, Goldfrapp, Steve Reich, Rothko, Bat For Lashes, and Galaxie 500 should sign up here, although anyone with a heart is going to take something away from this extraordinary piece of work. Two influential music figures already sold on the new album are music and film soundtrack producer David Holmes and DJ/producer Andrew Weatherall, who have both remixed tracks. Weatherall has remixed club single "Lose Your Love," while Holmes has remixed the new single "Carousel."
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