Given a choice, most musicians prefer to run free and wild with a live audience than to be fixed in a disc. That’s the case in Cork anyway, where the live music scene is famously eclectic and dynamic. Well 2020 has paused much of the running about, but online gigs, micro-events, music videos and open air improvisations have kept the musical imagination moving. And of course people have been at work in home studios, working on fresh material that has yet to be performed live. This album showcases just some of the original work that has been bubbling away out of sight over the last year. It has been lovingly curated by Tony Langlois and Arty Pawsey.

This album doesn’t album capture everything going on in Cork, where the traditional music scene is vibrant, dance and hip hop is strong, and dozens of bands make a living night after night by playing other people’s music in pubs. But it is a snapshot of the more leftfield scene, for which Cork has a long reputation. It offers a taste of the less commercial end of the spectrum, where rules are broken and new musical languages emerge. A mix like this shows a coexistence between the avant-garde and more tuneful approaches, and in Cork there really is a great overlap between the two; everything and anything can be food for the ears.

And this is where IndieCork comes in. Our annual festival was established to be a haven for independent film talent, music and the media arts. It’s a happy coincidence that this album features no less than four previous winners of the IndieCork Music prize, which celebrates musical originality in any genre. The festival is is run as a co-op, which, besides bringing world-class material to Corkonian audiences, also serves the musicians, film-makers and art-lovers who collectively own the organisation and keep it determinedly independent. Like the music that you’ll hear on this album, IndieCork is ever surprising, challenging and brimful of creative juices.

This album is dedicated to the memory of Günther Berkus, (1951- 2020) an inspirational maverick musician, technologist and proud winner of the IndieCork music award in 2015. The last track on the album is fittingly his treatment of the sounds of Cork’s famous Shandon bells.

Artists

  • Nudy Boy Nature
  • John Byrne and his Skeletal Showband
  • Danny McCarth
  • Mark Waldron Hyden
  • Fixity
  • Elaine Howley & Roisin Kelly
  • Dock Collective
  • Pretty Happy
  • Jake O’Driscoll
  • Chris Somers
  • These Are Atoms
  • Harry Moore
  • Like Chandeliers
  • Perish
  • Sam Clague
  • Mantua
  • Günther Berkus

Credits

  • Curated by Tony Langlois & Arty Pawsey
  • Artwork: Marcin Lewandowski / soundofphotography
  • Designed by Double Marvellous
  • Produced by IndieCork Festival 2020

Thank you

  • To all the musicians and sound artists who have offered their work to the album.
  • Alison ‘Little’ Forbes, Robin Parmar, Councillor Dan Boyle, Solamh Kelly, Albert Twomey, Mick O’Shea, Antony Ryan, the IndieCork Festival committee and organisation.
  • Cork City Council, Blacknight Solutions

’Still, Life – Cork’s Lockdown Sounds’ is now available to download for €10 or the CD is available to buy now for €15 (includes free download) from: https://indiecork.bandcamp.com/album/still-life

Thank you for supporting local artists.