Donnacha Costello

Though Donnacha Costello first began producing music back in 1989, it wasn’t until late 2000 that he globally emerged as a truly remarkable producer. Long recognized as one of Dublin, Ireland’s most talented producers, Costello may have began his musical career in 1989, but he first began to dabble in minimal electronic music around 1996 after completing his philosophy degree and immersing himself in the concepts of Steve Reich and John Cage. In fact, his inspiration led him away from Dublin to New York City, where he took his minimal take on electronic music a step farther, integrating the dub aesthetics and crackle sounds practiced by artists such as Pole. In 2000, he started his own label, Minimise, where he released a trio of EPs before catching the eye of mammoth German experimental techno label Force Inc., who asked him to record an album for their label. Embracing new software-driven production technologies, Costello spent summer 2000 creating the music that would appear later that year on the Growing Up in Public album. Benefiting from the massive reach and prestige of Force Inc., the Dublin artist catapulted from little-known cult status to one of the most exciting up-and-coming producers in the experimental techno realm. Through the remainder of the decade, he was remarkably prolific. He released the albums Together Is the New Alone (Mille Plateaux, 2001), 6X6=36 (Minimise, 2006), and Colorseries (Minimise, 2007), the latter two of which were compilations of conceptual 12″ releases, as well as a number of 12″-only releases. In 2009, he connected with the Poker Flat label and recorded Before We Say Goodbye, which was issued early the following year. ~ Jason Birchmeier