Music for 18 Machines is a reimagining of Steve Reich’s minimal 1976 piece Music for 18 Musicians which focuses on synthesizer performance. It was conceived by Simon Cullen (Synth Eastwood, Lasertom, Ships) with help by Neil O’ Connor (Somadrone) and was presented live in the Button Factory in September.
Featuring 18 synthesizers on stage, unique visuals by Anthony Murphy of Shadowlab and a shaker by Liam Caffrey, it was a breathtaking show, part installation, part experiment, part live gig and part hypnotism. The precision and craft, the production and detail in the show was world class and no doubt we’ll be seeing it again soon. It deserves to be seen.
Eoghan Kidney’s short film above goes through the work involved and features some footage from the night.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
