The Stigma Towards Irish Electronic Artists

When you think of famous musicians from Ireland people usually think of U2, Enya, The Cranberries, Westlife, Van Morrison or Sinéad O’Connor, electronic artists don’t usually come to mind. I’ve noticed that there’s a lack of electronic artists in the Irish mainstream, the most famous Irish electronic musicians are Róisín Murphy who is based in the UK was is part of a British band and Aphex Twin who was raised in the UK so I’m not sure if he counts. There definitely seems to be a preference towards folk, rock, country and non-electronic pop. One of the reasons I thought this was why was because of the country’s low population, but there’s lots of countries with similar populations to Ireland that have lots of popular electronic musicians such as Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, and the Nordic countries. It baffles me why it would be like this because there’s been lots of electronic artists from other countries throughout the years that were popular in Ireland but somehow not electronic artists from Ireland. Northern Irish electronic don’t seem to face the same stigma with many experiencing success including D:ream, David Holmes, Bicep, Paul Masterson, Sham Rock, Phil Kieran. It’s quite unfortunate that this happened because there’s lots great Irish electronic musicians that got overlooked. The first electronic album by an Irish artist was Oizzo No by Roger Doyle released in 1975 and was mixture of classical and minimal electronic music, like many electronic albums during this time it was experimental and while the genre was still in its infancy. During 80’s Roger Doyle formed a band Operating Theater along with singer and stage actress Olwen Fouéré, the project was a mixture of electronic music and theater. Synthpop band Minor Detail had a minor hit with the song I’ll Always Love You which reached number 25 in Ireland and 92 in the US. other Irish electronic artists from the 80s include The Fatima Masions, Auto Da Fé, Stano, Trevor Herion, This Eternal Waiting, Major Thinkers and Fountainhead. During the 90s there were artists that fused electronic music with traditional Irish music, artists who did this include Brigid Boden, Hyper Borea, Dagda, Emer Kenny and Christy Moore’s Traveler album, other Irish electronic artists from the 90s include Perry Blake, Gavin Friday, Leslie Dowdall, Doctor L, DJ Dara, Rare, Tom Fahy, 4th Dimension and Decal. In 2000 the Maniac 2000 (a cover of Michael Sembello’s song) by Mark McCabe and Shelley Bukspan became the first Irish electronic hit, (it was number one for ten weeks) however for the longest time it would be the only Irish electronic hit song, the fact that it’s a novelty song probably prevented Irish electronic music from being taken seriously. In 2006 House duo Fish Go Deep almost had a hit with The Cure and the Cause which reached number 22 in the UK. During the 2000’s there was a significant increase of underground electronic music in Ireland. Irish electronic artists from the 2000s include Alphastates, Jape, Autamata, Lakker, Brídín Brennan, David Kitt, The Tycho Brahe, Boxcutter and Donnacha Costello. Because streaming services during the 2010s there a lot many Irish electronic musicians that would gain cult followings, DJ John Gibbons would close to getting a hit with P.Y.T which reached number 21 in Ireland, other Irish electronic artists include Tiny Magnetic Pets, Solar Bears, Young Wonder, Kalikah, Shit Robot, Sleep Thieves, Le Cliché, Áine O’Dwyer, Talos, Hannah Peel, Le Galaxie, The Japanese Popstars and Ships. During the 2020’s Irish music was finally becoming mainstream with Róisín Machine finally experienced success in her home country with her album Róisín Machine reaching number 5 after her making music for over 20 years she finally got the recognition she deserved. House duo Belters Only’s song Make Me Feel Good featuring Jazzy reached number 1 in Ireland and number 4 in the UK and Jazzy also have a hit with her song Giving Me which reach number 1 in Ireland and number 3 in the UK. Other Irish electronic artists from the 2020’s include, F!onn, Sega Bodega, Biig Piig, Eden, For Those I love, Meljoann, Dreamcycles, Palmistry and Disfreq It’s great that there’s no more stigma towards electronic Irish artists but it never should’ve been there in the first place.