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Abstract

Reissues: a rediscovery of the past. This process of rediscovery is nowhere more evident than in the current output of the Dublin record label and shop, All City Records. Recently, its owner Olan O’Brien, has been delving into the unknown with a series of reintroduced gems from Ireland’s musical past with its AllChival imprint. Whether it is Quare Grooves, a compilation of Irish-made Seventies groove and funk or the re-release of Dublin producer Stano’s debut album of experimentalist new wave from 1983, the label has been playing a rival role in the recontextualising lost DIY (Do-it-Yourself), electronic and post punk music for new audiences, both at home and abroad, keen to snap up albums from artists previously unknown to all but a few. One key from AllChival re-release is Micheal O'Shea's Mo Chara, originally released on the UK post-punk group Wire’s label in 1982. The reissue of this long-lost one-off debut album in 2019 has revived and reintroduced this singular Irish busking artist to audiences anew, attracted to O’Shea’s mythical music untethered to a single period or place. Through reissue and revivalism, Michael O’ Shea’s singular music returns, its mystery wholly intact. This paper discusses what such reissues bring to the music consumer and considers how lost albums and music from the past, help raise the awareness of the activities that have contributed toward the sound of DIY, electronic and post punk music in Ireland today.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21427/VDJ3-TZ57

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