Mullaney, Nigel

Artist: Mazmoneth
P: 2011
DIN 38
After a period of several years Ray & Nigel are back with a new project with a name change to Mazmoneth, for reasons which will remain unclear. "Music By Mirrors" contains 10 tracks in a continuous mix lasting 59 minutes. The music is beautifully produced and ranges from gorgeous ambient soundscapes such as the opening track "The Vital Spark" through cool grooves with beguiling melodies such as "Spooks" and "De Molay". Mullaney is not only a keyboard player and guitarist but rounds out his multi-instrumental skills on drums and it's always refreshing to hear live drums alongside electronics this sumptuous. Tracks such as "Perfect Absolution" and "Oil On Water" showcase this with percussion playing that adds to great feel and atmosphere found throughout this album.
With "Music By Mirrors" the DiN label continues to expand it's roster of talented artists with an album of music that cries out to be heard by as wide an audience as possible.

Artist: Nigel Mullany
P: 2021
DIN 67
LTD 1000
Nigel Mullaney for many years has lived a life of relative musical anonymity preferring to inhabit the worlds of soundtrack and library music. Whilst he has been involved with several other collaborative musical projects it is only in the last couple of years that he has started to spread his solo musical wings with the album releases “31 Days” on DiN and “The Navigator” on Behind the Sky Music.
The last year has shown all of us how fragile our existence is and how vital it is to nurture a physical and artistic connection to creativity and those that surround us. The Turning is an album that was forged from the concepts and ideas first explored in the album “31 Days” (DiN61), a desire to capture the raw emotion of a live electronic performance coupled with the expression of Jonathan Jowett’s piano playing and Mullaneys work with the Elemental Chamber Orchestra. Modular & Moog synthesisers were used to assemble a deep sonic palette that reflects the emotional concepts of the album fused with a variety of studio sessions, acoustic recordings and Elektron machines. The tracks were all mixed on to a vintage Ampex ATR-102 using an SSL desk and numerous vintage outboard equipment.
The 10 tracks on this album, whilst dominated by modular textures and sequences take this style of composition to new heights in their truly widescreen cinematic landscapes. The opener “Lost At Sea” is a beautiful example of how to create such a journey in under seven minutes. The following eight pieces take the listener on an emotional travelogue before succumbing to the blissful closing of the album with “Nostalgia Bomb”.DiN label boss Ian Boddy curated the track selection and running order to create an electronic music album full of emotional complexity and hope. 

Artist: Node
P: 2018
LTD 2000
Release Date 18.05.2018
Synth supergroup Node don’t do things by halves so when they decided to perform an all to rare concert in London in 2015 they chose non other than the auspicious venue of the Royal College of Music. It’s almost certain that those hallowed halls have not seen such an assemblage of vintage and modular gear before, although indeed that could be said of anywhere else one can care to imagine.The four members of Node, maverick producer and sonic legend Flood, renowned producer and composer Ed Buller, classically trained Doctor of music Dave Bessell and Hollywood film composer Mel Wesson not only have between them a vast arsenal of synth gear to draw upon but they also know how to use it in a live performance. Indeed this is no mean task as without the safety net of a backing track all those myriad knobs, dials and switches have to be manually tuned and set up, a task that took the intrepid quartet plus their road crew several hours to complete.Why bother one may ask in this world of computers and plug ins? Well simply because they can! This is a performance, a unique event never to be repeated. It’s a show where the physical presence of all that ancient, creaking analogue equipment is as much part of the performance as the music itself. And of course there’s the sound these instruments make, a huge pulsating wall of analogue warmth that can rise from a delicate whisper to a mind numbing crescendo of noise at the whim of the performers. “Node Live” includes edits of four tracks from the concert as well as a bonus piece recorded at the groups rehearsal for the event. Released as a limited edition run of 2,000 copies in a beautiful fold out digipak featuring a stunning widescreen live group photo spread across the front and a photographic booklet enclosed this is a must for lovers of Berlin School inspired sequencer music.

Artist: V/A
P: 2022
DIN 70
LTD 500 Copies
INDEX07 is the seventh DiN compilation album and includes two tracks each from the titles DiN61 - 69. The artists on show this time are Ian Boddy, Nigel Mullaney, Dave Bessell, Scanner, Lyonel Bauchet and collaborations between Dave Bessell & Parallel Worlds and Ian Boddy & Markus Reuter. As with the previous six DiN samplers label boss Ian Boddy has mixed and cross-faded the 18 tracks into a continuous ambient mix that not only showcases the albums featured on the release but presents an exciting and varied title in its own right. It also highlights the varied and intriguing music that the DiN label offers on its releases from deep analogue synth grooves through vibrantly melodic instrumentals to powerful, epic ambient atmospheres. An intoxicating mix of the old and new beautifully presented in a slimline cardboard wallet with an extra flap which just adds to the value and collectibility of this release.Since the previous sampler album, iNDEX06 (DiN60) released in July 2019, DiN has not only celebrated its 20th anniversary but has also released its 100th album with “Nevermore” from label boss Ian Boddy. These are significant milestones for a niche independent electronica label with DiN finally getting some of the recognition it so justly deserves.