Next up on Aris is a particularly special one - Ireland's first electronic music 12"- Carrier Frequency's Telecaster Man, a particularly Irish take on the acid house sounds of the late 80's, that still does the job 35 years later. "A nine minute tune with two chords, it's just f-ckin' madness mostly - distortion and drum machines." simply put by one of the artist himself, but it's much more really. The record originally released in 1989 was a collaborative effort featuring the talents of Mr. Spring, Leo O'Kelly of 70's folk heroes Tir Na nOg, and Trevor Knight of 80s synth pop band Auto Da Fe, Mr. Spring, a veteran of pirate radio since his early teens and the local go to studio guy for dreamers and the Depeche Mode and Talk Talk clones of the time, spearheaded the project. Drawing from his extensive experience and technical prowess, Spring had already established his own studio in 1987, equipped with state-of-the-art gear including an Atari sequencer and an Akai s900 sampler. Joining Spring in this creative endeavor were Leo O'Kelly and Trevor Knight, both esteemed musicians with diverse backgrounds. O'Kelly, known for his pioneering work with 70s folk outfit Tir Na nog, brought his unique blend of folk and electronic influences to the table and Knight, a seasoned performer with roots in jazz fusion and new wave. Spring had met them while Djing before one of their gigs and was immediately taken with Telecaster Man. They decided to work together on it as Spring says "We wanted to get a Cabaret Voltaire sound to it and have a bit of fun." Fueled by a shared passion for experimentation and sonic exploration and inspired by the dynamic energy of the club scene and the rapidly evolving sounds of electronic music, the late-night recording sessions in Spring's studio characterized by spontaneity and innovation. The result of their collaboration was "Telecaster Man," a nine-minute tour de force combining distorted guitars, hypnotic rhythms, and pulsating synthesizers. The 12 inch comes with the original and Sinewave mixes plus a new Mr. Spring remix from the original multi tracks rounding it out with the replication remix and a bonus acapella. Full colour sleeve and comes with extended liner notes. More

Arís return with part three of their ongoing series revisiting seminal 90’s Irish dance releases, reissuing the debut release from long standing D1 Recordings luminary Rob Rowland. His 1994 effort M.F.N. is remastered from the original DAT source for the first time, and comes with a fresh remix from young Dublin prog sensation Dylan Forbes.

Dublin’s nascent electronic and clubbing ‘scene’ was beginning to take shape in the mid 90’s; you might have heard flashes of techno at François’ U.F.O. night in The Rock Garden or the likes of Dave Angel in The Temple Of Sound, while Tim Hanigan and Mark Kavanagh’s Red Records nights at The Ormonde pushed a progressive house/trance sound similar to their label’s output. In amongst the weekly revellers at these clubs, you might have encountered a young Dubliner by the name of Rob Rowland - a soon-to-be key figure in Ireland’s techno scene.

Inspired by his formative clubbing experiences in the capital, Rob acquired an Atari ST, Akai S1000, Kawai K4 and a Roland R-5 and sat down in his bedroom to record. Two tracks, M.F.N. and Restless, emerged within 1 week while another track, Act Natural, soon followed. Initially recorded onto cassette at his house, Rob soon managed to book some time into Temple Bar’s Sound Training Centre, a professional recording studio featuring a 16 channel desk and rack effects, to polish up the record.

These 3 tracks resulted in Rob’s inspired debut EP of raw and direct club tracks - a uniquely psychedelic rush of rave euphoria and darkened acid-inspired house and techno. It managed to pique the ears of New York’s Watts Music distribution, thanks to his friend Chris Gough playing them Restless on cassette, who subsequently pressed 1000 copies of the EP onto white label. Miami’s Fluid Audio then licensed it for a full release and acquired a sleek remix from California’s Überzone, which had similar success. All of this, a remarkable achievement for a debut record of underground dance music by a relatively unknown young Dubliner.

Rob would go on to become a key artist on Dublin’s seminal D1 Recordings, a label run out of the capital’s northside on Parnell Street by renowned photographer Eamonn Doyle. Responsible for their first ever release, he would go on to do 6 more records for them, becoming an important figure in the label’s history and Irish techno as a whole.

M.F.N. is an Irish rave gem, and a key blueprint of the Emerald Isle’s obsession with progressive house and beyond. Naturally, we turned to fellow Dubliner Dylan Forbes for a remix, a prolific producer garnering quite the reputation both home and abroad for his modern take on the sounds found on Rob’s debut. His remix cracks the shutters on the darkened psychedelic undertones of Restless, adding an ‘e’-cstatic layer of euphoria fit with added percussion and pump on a fine rework. More