Phil Kieran has been in the upper echelons of electronic music, working as a prolific and industry-respected DJ, music producer, collaborator, remixer and composer for film, theatre and media since the noughties. Even before then, Phil describes ‘wisely mis-spending my youth; attending art school, learning and experimenting with musical instruments, dreaming, playing in bands and dj’ing at parties’.
During the 2000s and 2010s, Phil travelled the world, plying his trade as a high ranked DJ in clubs and festivals worldwide. A ‘DJ’s DJ’, his own productions are mainstays in the boxes of electronic music’s most respected tastemakers, decade after decade. His tracks feature heavily on artists compilations and mixes as well as in Film and TV. He has released three solo studio albums; debut ‘Shh‘ on Sven Vath’s Cocoon Recordings in 2009; ‘Blinded by the Sun’ on Hot Creations in 2016 and ‘Life Cycling‘ on Mano Le Tough’s label Maeve in 2019.
Tracks ‘Vitalian House’ (Kingsize 2001), ‘My House’ (Skint 2002), ‘‘Up’ (Bugged Out, 2002), ‘I love you’ (Yoshitoshi 2003), ‘Skyhook’ (Novamute 2007), ‘Missp’ (Cocoon 2008), ‘Wasps under a toy boat’ (Cocoon 2008), ‘Snakes Crawl feat. Bush Tetras’ (PKR 2012), ‘ I think I’m a monster’ (PKR 2013), ‘Hells Bells’ (PKR 2014), ‘Computer Games’ (PKR 2014), ‘Beat Flow’ (Ultramajic 2016), ‘Polyrhytmic’ (Optimo 2018) are amongst his most credited tracks but he has released hundreds of works to critical acclaim, and maybe more importantly to the acclaim of music lovers.
Phil’s chameleon-like, polymathic nature is at its most evident via his aliases and collaborations., whether that be remixing techno-supremos or composing alongside the Ulster Orchestra. He founded bands ‘Alloy Mental’ and ‘Le Carousel’, two live-acts that are poles apart on the electronic music continuum, yet are distinctively recognisable as a Phil Kieran production. Alloy Mental’s body-jacking , punk influenced EBM sound was likened to ‘Nitzer Ebb in a meat blender with the Stooges’ (The Guardian), whilst Le Carousel which was remixed by fellow-auteurs Andrew Weatherall and Roman Flügel has been described as ‘a woozy look back into childhood, a blissed out album of reflective songcraft, tinged with time-lapse psychedelia and shot through with hazy fairground ephemera… reimagined for the dancefloor, filtered through Phil’s unerring techno sensibility’.
Other collaborations include the ‘Fall Rise EP’ (Optimo 2019) with Douglas J McCarthy of NItzer Ebb, whose track ‘Murderous’ Phil also remixed for Mute (2004). Phil and Green Velvet created ‘series #001’ including tracks ‘Michael Jackson’ and ‘Birds and Bees’ and ‘Rocket Yourself’. The pair have remixed each other over the years; Phil reworked Green Velvet‘s ‘Preacher Man’ in 2012 whilst Green Velvet remixed Phil’s ‘Skyhook‘ in 2010 for Phil’s label PKR.
He created a concept compilation with Jochem Paap (Speedy J) called Workshop Vol. 1 exploring the recording techniques used from the 1950s to mid 20th century.
Amongst the producers extensive remixing career; are reworks of Depeche Mode’s ‘Sweetest Perfection’, Agoria’s ‘L’Onzieme Marche’, Nitzer Ebb‘s ‘Murderous’, Groove Armada’s Tripwire and Andrew Weatherall/Asphodells‘ ‘Late flowering lust’. Phil sometimes releases under monikers like Plastic Pervert, Pil Hearin or his alter-ego ‘Burglar Tom’ creating bootlegs.
Presently Phil can be found working in his studio in the Strand. It’s fitting as his recent work sounds distinctly cinematographic and expansive, doubtlessly influenced by his surroundings and his recent focus on composing music for film, which has included a BAFTA long-listed short ‘Rough’ and soon to be released feature film ‘Nightride’.
A new album and a soundtrack album will be released later this year.
