SOME REMAIN, NATALIA BEYLIS, FIEND, RISING DAMP (Live Performance)

Fri. 17 Nov. 6.30pm, €15

The opening night of Spilt Milk kicks off with a blistering blend of punk, hardcore and experimental music. The line-up features festival debuts for Sligo four-piece Some Remain and Galway-formed Fiend. No stranger to Spilt Milk, Natalia Beylis performed in 2019 with BB84 and provided an audio piece for our 2021 Idir walking trail. She returns to play solo in 2023, her live performances are known for seemingly incongruous sounds layered atop of each other to spawn strange juxtapositions and garbled parallels by exploring the sonic potentials of found objects, cassette tapes and field recordings. Rising Damp return to Spilt Milk as three-piece band, their sound fuses experimental music, EBM and post punk. Known for their unconventional performances, their songwriting delves into subjects as diverse as brutalist architecture, cannibalism, and thought-provoking themes of corporate metaphor and innovation.

SECRET SONIC CINÉMATHÈQUE

Sat. 18 Nov. 3pm
FREE

Venue: Serious Business

After their rapturous reception at ArdVoltas the Secret Sonic Cinémathèque return to Sligo as part of the Spilt Milk festival. Joined by local luminaries Owen Kilfeather and Tara Baoth Mooney, the group will be performing live part-improvised soundtracks to an eclectic selection of film clips.

Secret Sonic Cinémathèque is an events series, where an ensemble of musicians create rolling live scores for short silent films, playing a live and semi-improvised soundtrack that interprets the narrative and visual elements of the film material. Each musician serves as band leader for a score for a chosen film, and at least one further final short film, chosen by the audience by means of a vote on the night for a particular style or genre of film, and previously unseen by the group of musicians, is scored live, sight-unseen, by the ensemble, by means of finalé.

Andrew Mooney is a musician, band leader, sound designer, improviser and composer dwelling in the wilds of West Wicklow. He's lead sound designer for DEEP VR, a cutting edge breath based virtual reality project, as well as lead sound designer on an amazing VR experience named The Shape Of Us, where he uses ambisonic recording, as well as traditional sound design techniques. You can see him play live with AMOON — a mostly instrumental band producing sonic vibration to tap your foot to — and Secret Sonic Cinémathèque – writing and performing contemporary scores for old silent films.

Diarmuid MacDiarmada is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Sligo. He is a veteran of the Irish music scene and a founder-member of the ArdVoltas Arts group. He is currently making music and art in a number of projects including the Secret Sonic Cinematheque.

Andrew Edgar is a creative technician and audiovisual practitioner. His practice is broadly collaborative, and includes creative projectionism, video mapping and lighting design. He has been providing production support, custom live visuals, projections and lighting installations for a variety of events and performances for over a decade. Since 2016, with Secret Sonic Cinemathque, he takes on production and projectionist roles, as well as playing the part of the ensemble's master of ceremonies.

LOOSE ON THE STREETS

Sat. 18 Nov. 7–10pm
FREE

Take a riotous ride with artist Karen Browett and friends, exploring life after lockdown. A personal and playful video piece saturated in the punk aesthetic.

Loose on the Streets by Karen Browett
2022, Super 8, 17 mins

CRYING LOSER, NIMF, MOUNDABOUT, COOLGIRL, MOHAMMAD SYFKHAN, E THE ARTIST, CÁIT (Live Performance)

Sat. 18 Nov. 6.30pm, €25

Saturday night sees a night of eclectism and wild tonal shifts over two-stages. We are delighted to bring Moundabout, the collaborative project of Paddy Shine (Gnod) and Phil 'Langero' Masterson (Los Langeros/Bisect/Damp Howl) to Sligo. Their sound is like ethereal megalithic folk desert mantras if such a thing existed. Arklow’s NIMF unearths inner meaning in her music,  portraying the uncanny through ætherphone, retrogressive sample use, and electroacoustic soundscapes. Mohammad Syfkhan is a singer and bouzouki player originally from Syria, now based in Carrick on Shannon, Co Leitrim. He blends songs and music from various traditions from the Middle East and North Africa to create his own blend of ecstatic party music.

Elsewhere, expect no-wave weirdness from Cork’s Crying Loser, Coolgirl blends found sounds with heavy synthesizer melodies, while Nigerian-Irish atmosphere artist E the Artist’s performances are a cacophony of multicultural harmony and dissonance. The night will culminate with a high energy DJ set from Cáit; highly regarded for their fun atmosphere, as well as for their sensitivity and attunement to dancers, Cáit’s selections are sentimental, while always forward thinking; blurring the lines between past and present in exciting ways.

JUNIOR JAM: DEN BUILDING WORKSHOP with PULLED & LIVE PERFORMANCE WITH THE CLUMSY GIANTESS

Sun. 19 Nov. 12pm – 2pm
Workshop & Concert

General admission (ages 6+): €10 (includes up to 1 adult and 2 children)
Please note that all children must be accompanied by an adult.

A fresh instalment of Junior Jam returns for Spilt Milk 2023, our dedicated event which introduces experimental music to young audiences. This outing sees a special performance from The Clumsy Giantess, the collaborative persona of interdisciplinary artist Tara Baoth whose work encompasses sound, performance, textiles, drawing, and video. Mooney’s work moves around sound, spoken-song, and spindly line drawings which she often makes while writing new material.

For this year’s event, we invite young explorers into their own fun, sensory space starting with a den-making session and then relax inside their own creations to a performance from The Clumsy Giantess.

SUMINAGASHI PAPER MARBLING WORKSHOP with RUTH CLINTON

Sun. 19 Nov. 12 – 2pm
Workshop, €5pp

An introduction to suminagashi, the art of Japanese paper marbling, with artist Ruth Clinton. No experience necessary and all materials provided.

Suminagashi or “floating ink” is the process of marbling plain paper with water and ink which yields beautiful and surprising patterns, ranging from simple to complex. It originated in Japan as early as the 12th century. Artist Ruth Clinton will guide participants in the technique of creating this beautiful marbling effect, opening up the door to endless possibilities of application. A relaxing and fun activity to unwind to as the festival draws to a close.

Ruth Clinton is an artist and musician living in Sligo. For over ten years she has shared a contemporary art practice with Niamh Moriarty, as well as pursuing a solo painting and videography practice.

DREAM ALFALFA, ELAINE HOWLEY, WHITE SAGE (Live performance)

Sun. 19 Nov. 3pm, €10

The final performance of Spilt Milk offers an opportunity to unwind on a dreamy Sunday afternoon with three artists all making their festival debuts.

Elaine Howley is a Cork based vocalist, musician and producer notably of The Altered Hours, Crevice and Howlbux. Her work features collages of analogue processes and experimental soundscapes which create a rich and immersive experience. Her debut solo album The Distance Between Heart and Mouth was released in 2022 to widespread acclaim and she has since performed solo on tour in the UK, Ireland and Europe throughout 2023

White Sage is the solo experimental project of Andy Walsh (little gem records/little gem band/ GODHATESDISCO/ I HeartThe Monster Hero). Dreamwave music to ride your bike to. Experimental spacewave for astral projecting yourself to the surface of other realms, within and without.

Dream Alfalfa are a band from County Sligo formed in 2022 by Milo Cummins and Hugh McSweeney. Their sound, influenced by funk, post-punk, jazz and folk, often incorporates catchy synthesizer lines, sliding fretless bass and soul-inspired piano. Though the group began as a way of developing demos written by Cummins, the band often performs these compositions in loose arrangements, pairing them with spontaneous improvised passages.