Radie Peat

EU Funded ‘Avante-Garde Eurovision’ Event EuroNoize To Debut May 2019

~ Michael Stevenson ~ Leave a comment

This May 23rd at London’s Scala comes the inauguration of an event which promises to turn Eurovision’s concept on its head, featuring a selection of European artists from the world of experimental and noise music.

The brainchild of artist and promoters Pil and Galia Kollectiv’s fascination with the Eurovision Song Contest, this one day conference will bring together a selection of 11 representative “punx and weirdos” to perform a single original song together, all being live streamed to an international audience, who in keeping with Eurovision will have a chance to vote for their favorite act.

Among the acts which will be appearing is Ireland’s Sissy. Known for their outspoken feminist politics and pro-choice activism, the lo-fi punk group may be the most melodic entrants of the bunch. ‘Sail and Rail’, their take on Enya’s ‘Sail Away’, garnered much attention for its brilliant parody of anti-abortion rhetoric. The song featured Radie Peat from experimental folk outfit Lankum, who are also well known for their political engagement. Read Lankum’s interview with Hot Press from earlier this year here. Other entrants in EuroNoize are cult Estonian group Winny Puhh, who actually competed in Estonia’s pre-Eurovision competition in 2013, as well as Russian experimental electronic trio Asian Women on the Telephone.

Pil and Galia Kollectiv are working with The University of Reading, Kunsthall Oslo and ARE Prague, alongside recieving EU funding for the project. Currently living in London, they were born and raised in Israel, ironically the controversial host of this year’s song contest. Seeing Eurovision on television growing up, they were struck by the program’s over the top spectacle: “the requirements on the one hand to represent an increasingly meaningless idea of national identity and on the other hand some kind of recognisabley Anglo-American popular music”. With EuroNoize, they hope to take their Eurovision fascination in a weird and boundary pushing direction. Continue reading →

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‘The embarrassment Irish people had about their music is long gone’ – Lankum’s Radie Peat

~ Michael Stevenson ~ Leave a comment

For generations of shoppers in Dublin, the electronics store Peats was part of the city’s retail fabric. Peats of Parnell Street – as it was affectionately known – was the place where many of us bought our first Walkman or turntable or in-ear headphones.

Then, in 2013, after nearly 80 years on the high street, it closed down. In an environment where big chainstores and homogenous pan-national business survives and local services struggle, few were surprised, but many were greatly saddened by its demise.

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Lankum: ‘Dublin folk miscreants’

~ Michael Stevenson ~ Leave a comment

Lankum, a four-piece group from Dublin comprised of Ian & Daragh Lynch, Cormac Mac Diarmada, and Radie Peat, is truly one of my favorite current acts.

They set incisive original songs with material taken from the traditional repertoire to fiddle, pipes, concertina, and guitar accompaniment.  The result is a thick and captivating sound with intense, penetrating lyrics that makes their website’s motto, “Dublin folk miscreants” as apt a description of the group and their music as you’re likely to see.A short while ago, Ian, the group’s piper, reached out to let me know that the band would be embarking on a short U.S. tour this January, with stops in Brooklyn, Vienna, Va., Sellersville, Pa., Cambridge, Mass, and Barre, Vt.  Longtime readers will remember my very enthusiastic reviews of their albums “Cold Old Fire” (which was recorded under the group’s former name, “Lynched”) in 2014 and “Between The Earth and Sky” last year, so you can imagine my excitement – it’s great that American audiences will have a chance to acquaint themselves with their music [ . . . ]

Read more at IRISH ECHO: Lankum: ‘Dublin folk miscreants’ | Arts & Leisure | Irish Echo