IAN BRENNAN: Home
"Music and other forms of art are by far the most effective kind of social-work that exists. A single, nameless one-hit wonder brings more comfort to the world than almost any single psychologist can hope to in a lifetime." --Ian Brennan
Ian Brennan is a GRAMMY-winning producer with three GRAMMY-nominated records (Best World Music- 2011, Best Traditional Folk-2006 and 2007).
Amongst other projects, he traveled to southeast Algeria to record with Touareg rock legends, Tinariwen, for their 2011 release "Tassili" on the Anti- label. He has also produced, Rain Machine, the solo debut of Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio) which was named "one of the 30 best records of the year so far" by SPIN magazine.
In the studio, he has worked with the likes of Flea, Lucinda Williams, David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Nels Cline (Wilco), DJ Bonebrake and John Doe (X, the Knitters), Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney), Bill Frisell, Jonathan Richman, Richard Thompson, and more.
In the field, he has discovered and produced The Good Ones (Rwanda), General Paolino featuring Mama Celina (South Sudan), and the Malawi Mouse Boys. All three albums are the first releases outside of their respective countries in the languages of each band, and the Mouse Boys' was named "the year's best gospel album" by Songlines Magazine, UK.
In August 2012, ATO Records released the career retrospective "Italia 1988-2012" of Italian alternative superstar, Jovanotti, featuring four world-premiere tracks, two of which were co-written with Brennan.
As a live-promoter he has presented artists as diverse as Green Day, Fugazi, Merle Haggard, film-maker John Waters, Kris Kristofferson, Tammy Faye, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Peaches, and the Vienna Boys Choir. These and related activities have raised over $100,000 for local charities and political causes.
As a writer he was first published at the age of nineteen and has contributed to publications such as Guitar Player and Zero Magazine. He is also the author of the non-fiction book "Anger Antidotes: How not to lose your s#&!".
"Nepotism and academia are both antithetical to major pop-culture revolutions. Innovation has almost, without fail, routinely risen culturally from the bottom to the top, not from the aristocracy that now rules much of the misnomered 'indie' rock world. Pop culture is rarely a trickle down affair. Be it James Brown, Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, Louis Armstrong, Grandmaster Flash, Johnny Rotten, Woody Guthrie, Kurt Cobain, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Django Reinhardt or Eminem, many of the most important artists historically have originated from less than auspicious circumstances." --Ian Brennan