TRACKLISTS:
1 - The Strand Cinema
2- Light Through Trees
3- Strike The Match
4 - Atlantic
5 - Grand Central Terminal
6 - Pensive Clap
7 - Transitions
8 - Elephant In Castle
9 - Monarch
10 - Last Words

Release Info:
On 24th March Belfast music producer, Phil Kieran releases his sixth album THE STRAND CINEMA.

The electronic music producer and DJ whose catalogue of collaborations namechecks acts as diverse as Agoria, Green Velvet, Roman Flugel to Nitzer Ebb, Depeche Mode and David Holmes is set to release his 6th studio album The Strand Cinema on the 24th March 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, Rough), radio (The Northern Bank Job BBC R4) and theatre (East Belfast Boy).

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 recognisably 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” utilises intense, almost gargling electronics, that drone with a foreboding and ominous tone, but also produces fractured moments of light, beauty and poignancy.

Created during Covid Kieran’s method was “To literally be like a tuning fork and ask: What's in my chest? If I were to describe what's inside me, and what's going on in the outside world, If I had to score that in a film, what would it sound like right now? I guess I sort of soundtracked my own life”

“One positive side of lockdowns was that we spent more time in natural surroundings where I’d make field recordings. I’d also record acoustic sounds: cello, violin, percussion, guitar etc and then create my own sample bank from all these single one-note sounds. So, creating your own loops and drones. 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.
The idea of nature and humans versus technology is the concept behind the album’s A/V show which debuts in Belfast in March before touring. Featuring works by 11 artists from across the worlds of film, animation, advertising, architecture, computer science and dance such as Scottish BAFTA nominated Simone Smith, LA based director Frederico Marzio Vitetta who is famous for skateboarding films like ‘Wet Dream’ with Spike Jonze, to futuristic CGI from BAFTA nominated Kris Kelly and a video from contemporary dancer Oona Doherty. onscreen visualisations that explores The visuals explore nature and technology along a timeline from past, present to future with cinema as a loose reference point with varying degrees of utopian versus dystopian moods###

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Tracklist:
(A1) Wasps Under A Toy Boat (Planetary Assault Systems Remix) (B1) Missp (Tom Demac Remix)
Info:
Now that's a massive piece of vinyl! The news about an upcoming remix package for tech-house-maestro Phil Kieran should be enough to raise techno lovers attention. However this time the buzz is even bigger as we managed it to get Luke Slater's cult project PLANETARY AUSSAULT SYSTEMS aboard! Yes, you heard right, the project that helped shaping the image of former techno überlabel PEACEFROG is on remix duty here and the PLANETARY AUSSALT SYSTEM does what we expected... and even more! The "Wasps Under A Toy Boat" remix is a mental technomonster with only one message in his head: "Let's go crazy on the floor!". Cocoon head Sven Väth had the pleasure to test the remix a couple of times and smashed the floors to pieces everytime he dropped that gem - one of 2015's biggest techno highlights so far! The flipside features a Tom Demac remix for "Missp" which breathes cool 80s air with its bassline and almost industrial beat programming. We hear early Detroit club hymns here or the sound of Berlin in the 90s as Demac merges rough beats and stop and go effects with the new-wave-feeling of bands like the Liaison Dangereuse or Propaganda. The result is funky and musical but at the same time electronic and entertaining with enough power get us on the dancefloor. The vinyl-edition as well as the 4-track-digital edition of this release appears timeless and incorporates contemporary elements as well as cool 80s and 90s vibes. This is a package that will make the hearts of those in the know race faster. Two outstanding remixes taking the originals (released on COR12045 & COR12049) to the next level!
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"Empty Vessels EP" is Phil Kieran's debut on Electric Deluxe.
First making his name as much-loved resident DJ at the legendary Shine club in his hometown of Belfast, Phil Kieran has transitioned from local hero to main stage headliner in grand style.?His debut Album "Shh" was released with one of the worlds leading techno labels in 2009, Cocoon recordings. For more than a decade now, Phil Kieran and Speedy J have deeply respected each others music, and shared profound knowledge and interest in pushing music with technology. ?When hearing "Empty Vessels" for the first time, Speedy J's attention was immediately sparked.
The A Side "Empty Vessels" starts off the EP with a stripped down, swinging Groove. Custom subtle, tripped out sounds flavored from Industrial, House, and just straight alien and disturbing origin are shifting, moving and melting this unique techno hybrid. The B Side "Empty Vessels (Gary Beck remix)" is dedicated to the dance floor in a more traditional form, while far from following a template. A cool groove, dusty bass drum and huge rim shots create a framework for noise build-ups and Gary's own treatment of the already deranged original sounds. In all weirdness, the mix leaves no doubt about direction: it grabs you with brute uplifting energy and sends you straight to rave heaven.
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With a well-earned remix refill, Cocoon Recordings is taking a bow before the Belfast-born DJ and producer Phil Kieran, whose "Shh" album from last year, like rarely another album release, was able to proof how fresh, futuristic and complex modern Techno can sound. The record starts with the Berlin-based duo Pan-Pot, which had releases on Ware, Mobilée, SCI+TEC and Sender, and turns "Blood of Barcelona" into a subsonic work horse that sends shivers down the spine fans of reductionist Techhouse á la Dubfire and Radio Slave. Also the Dutch newcomer talent Egbert van der Gugten ennobles his remix with a comparably hypnotic bass line, but lets his track drift into the sunrise with Dub elements and a choir layer so beautifully that you indeed wish for an endless loop here. The same track is reworked by Patrick Kunkel - Cocoon's head of digital distribution - over nine and a half cliff-hanging minutes somewhere between harmonic ostinato sounds and pumping Techdub Guy-Gerber-style. "Playing With Shadows" has been remixed by Kevin Gorman and Ingo Boss deals with "Blood Of Barcelona", just as Pan-Pot. The sextet is completed by Matador's digital-exclusive remix of "Dirt", a track with distorted cellar noises and an unmistakable plucked bass, that is always carried by an organic warmth, in spite of all surprising noises and sounds. That's how versatile Techno can be in 2010. More

Phil Kieran has been in the upper echelons of the electronic music game for more than a decade, but is only now releasing his debut album under his own name. Known for rocking clubs and releasing a string of killer twelves, Belfast-based Phil has hooked up with German powerhouse Cocoon in recent times. Sven Väth's label is now about to release "Shh", a groundbreaking piece of work that will undoubtedly gain Phil plaudits across the board. "Shh" seems to not only reference every sound Phil has ever loved in music, but is formulated in a completely fresh and futuristic way. Listen carefully and you can detect elements of dub reggae, old hardcore like LFO, hip-hop, early 90s electronica such as Autechre/Black Dog and other Warp staples, as well as the futuristic techno that Phil excels in. For the album Phil went back to old sound lab recordings dating back to the 1950s and 60s. Utilising some of these sounds in the initial construction, he built up tracks using a combination of old samples sourced from original and weird places and some live new instrumentation as well. There are live drums, some electric/acoustic/bass guitar and live keyboard playing as well as some choice guest vocalists.
"I tried to use all my knowledge from when I first got into music to try and make an album that captures everything I've ever loved about music," Phil says. Phil has synthesized his myriad of influences into one radically beautiful whole: blissed-out vocal samples, space age electro, cavernous bleeps, fizzy technoid 4/4 beats, glistening glitches, crackers crackles, early R&S sounds, warm keys, acerbic bassline undertows, dense echoes, Orbital cinematics and randy robotics all feature, but really this is an album far greater than the sum of its parts. It's very much a home or car listening album, perfect for post-club play, although plenty of the individual tracks contain discerning dancefloor dynamics too. Cutting his clubbing teeth at Shine in Belfast, Phil now has over 100 dancefloor releases to his name on quality labels like Skint, Soma and NovaMute, and is widely respected throughout the industry among the technoscenti. He's also recently broken into movie scoring, creating the soundtrack for recent Steven Soderbergh film The Girlfriend Experience with fellow Irish compatriot David Holmes. To exorcise some demons a few years ago he created a live techno punk band Alloy Mental, variously melding Joy Division basslines onto pummeling punky T.Raumschmiere-style technoid power-drivers. He also has an impeccable DJ rep that's won him placings in DJ magazine's global Top 100 DJs poll, and a guarantee to promoters that he'll inevitably rock the joint to its foundations. But now Phil has just entered the next phase in his career. "Shh" won't be a secret for long: it's almost certain to take its place amongst not only the albums of the year, but as one of the landmark releases of the last two decades.

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Phil Kieran has been in the upper echelons of the electronic music game for more than a decade, but is only now releasing his debut album under his own name. Known for rocking clubs and releasing a string of killer twelves, Belfast-based Phil has hooked up with German powerhouse Cocoon in recent times. Sven Väth's label is now about to release "Shh", a groundbreaking piece of work that will undoubtedly gain Phil plaudits across the board. "Shh" seems to not only reference every sound Phil has ever loved in music, but is formulated in a completely fresh and futuristic way. Listen carefully and you can detect elements of dub reggae, old hardcore like LFO, hip-hop, early 90s electronica such as Autechre/Black Dog and other Warp staples, as well as the futuristic techno that Phil excels in. For the album Phil went back to old sound lab recordings dating back to the 1950s and 60s. Utilising some of these sounds in the initial construction, he built up tracks using a combination of old samples sourced from original and weird places and some live new instrumentation as well. There are live drums, some electric/acoustic/bass guitar and live keyboard playing as well as some choice guest vocalists.
"I tried to use all my knowledge from when I first got into music to try and make an album that captures everything I've ever loved about music," Phil says. Phil has synthesized his myriad of influences into one radically beautiful whole: blissed-out vocal samples, space age electro, cavernous bleeps, fizzy technoid 4/4 beats, glistening glitches, crackers crackles, early R&S sounds, warm keys, acerbic bassline undertows, dense echoes, Orbital cinematics and randy robotics all feature, but really this is an album far greater than the sum of its parts. It's very much a home or car listening album, perfect for post-club play, although plenty of the individual tracks contain discerning dancefloor dynamics too. Cutting his clubbing teeth at Shine in Belfast, Phil now has over 100 dancefloor releases to his name on quality labels like Skint, Soma and NovaMute, and is widely respected throughout the industry among the technoscenti. He's also recently broken into movie scoring, creating the soundtrack for recent Steven Soderbergh film The Girlfriend Experience with fellow Irish compatriot David Holmes. To exorcise some demons a few years ago he created a live techno punk band Alloy Mental, variously melding Joy Division basslines onto pummeling punky T.Raumschmiere-style technoid power-drivers. He also has an impeccable DJ rep that's won him placings in DJ magazine's global Top 100 DJs poll, and a guarantee to promoters that he'll inevitably rock the joint to its foundations. But now Phil has just entered the next phase in his career. "Shh" won't be a secret for long: it's almost certain to take its place amongst not only the albums of the year, but as one of the landmark releases of the last two decades.
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played by Gregor Tresher! More