Update to my post bsky.app/profile/iris... - Currently that project has been delayed by a family of new projects that need to happen first. One of them is gradually going public now: using my AI model to help me find the past 30 years of my own human errors in irishtune.info so I can fix them.

For the data nerds among you, the machine-learning test datasets I published last year are now easier to dig into at huggingface.co/datasets/ala... - and are still also hosted at www.irishtune.info/public/MLdat...

Who wants to collaborate on an academic publication about my tune-identification AI?

Announcement time! Bad news: I will now take a long break from adding new albums, having finally finished all the pre-2020 albums in the to-do pile.

The irishtune.info Data Explorer got a data refresh (last refreshed in March). Explore the complex picture of tune rhythm and mode popularity among irishtune.info users. public.tableau.com/app/profile/...

An album full of violinistic, thoughtful, tastefully accompanied slow airs.

Mighty stuff out of Sliabh Luachra. Flute and fiddle to keep you at it all night, with a bunch of new tunes by Francis keeping things fresh.

Top-class music for experienced set dancers: tight, clean, melodeon-energized, fast but smooth, and above all it entices the feet to batter.

An album to put you in mind of an evening of craic at a rural rambling house, but with Benny of Danú fame on the box. Doff of the cap to making Off to California listenable again!

At long last this sadly out-of-print treasure of Sliabh Luachra music is represented in irishtune.info.

Sweet music harvested from a wide range of sources, all softened and deepened by Charlie's careful handling.

Fluent North Connaught fiddling with a lovely lift to it.

A remarkable album not only for Fergal's mastery of a huge musical range from sublime to jocular to frenetic but also for Ryan's pianistic artistry.

These Waterford and Cork lads make seamlessly beautiful music that clearly benefited from spending their formative years together.

Finally closing this notable 1991 gap. Not only the recording debuts of future big names Cathal Hayden and Donal Murphy but also just plain happy music.

A surprisingly successful blend of music from opposite corners of Ireland, plus Scotland, with unsurprisingly excellent duet work from Bríd and Tony.

Excellent piping from the Bay Area, although Tim came originally from the Philly community, including time with Ed Reavy.

Lovely touch on the box from an unexpected corner of the world, and it's nice to hear Brian get out from behind the piano for a change, even while he's there, too!

Masterful piping across an interesting range of the piping repertoire, from older to newer and and from core to rare.

Happy to add more of Elaine's harp, her first solo album, released just weeks after the high-end Avalla album she featured on.

Tight tunes from a New York-centered trio filtering the tradition through their taste for Donegal repertoire, the founding New York trad fiddlers, and piping repertoire.

Finally closed this gap in the canonical flute albums. You can't have too much Matt Molloy.

A young Dublin duet with an old sound, contributing meaningfully to the illumination of mid-20th-century musicians Ella Mae O'Dwyer, Nora Hurley, Ellen "Nell" Galvin, Mollie Myers Murphy, plus the better-known Aggie Whyte.

Careful, steady, and well-matched, this dyad explore bookish corners of the tradition.

Big flute-fiddle sound, threading the needle perfectly between high energy and a measured pace that leaves time for some swing and lift.

Four top-class musicians sailing the edges of the tradition, sometimes trad and sometimes beyond the horizon.

You can hear their sisterhood in their matching performances and their Clare origins in their tasty repertoire. With a very nice lift in their jigs and a definite modernity in their reels.

Centered around Johnny O'Leary's grandson Bryan, the Conifers also played music of band members from Donegal and Clare.

Done! Compare the accuracy metrics of my latest tune-identification AI model vs. my December 2024 model. The tests are defined at www.irishtune.info/public/MLdat... "mAP" = "mean average precision" where 1.0 would be absolutely perfect tune identification of tunes the model had never seen before.

Timezone automatic detection is now working again when you set your location at www.irishtune.info/my/location.... so that your Practice Machine will know what time it is for you.

Couldn't wait to share my excitement at the in-progress improvement already showing just 10 hours into initial training of the new version of my tune-identification AI. The green line is tune-identification accuracy of the current training progress; the other line is from the December 2024 model.

Nineteen of Liz's compositions, all new to the Tunography, played by the composer with her inimitable drive and bite.

Even amid the hectic recording year 2018 for Mike, this first recorded duet album with his lifelong pal Dezi comes out tightly in sync and more trad than you might expect!

Banjo played at an easy Clare pace but with a Connaught bounce and a 1920s forward timbre.

This 2018 album prompted one promoter to write: "The Manchester Irish music scene’s best kept secret is out." Overall a fashionable, enjoyable take on trad, including 12 new compositions from Angela and a few other living composers.

No harm in having 17 more tunes from Frankie on record, always with more ideas in his lively bow.

Among the fetching songs are also some good tunes from Adam Shapiro's East Clare-flavored fiddle.

Matt Molloy modestly called this his "things to do when you're 70 CD" in an RTE interview but he plays as consummately as ever, still one of the GOATs.

If your next road trip needs flute-fiddle accompaniment, look no further to have an enjoyable journey through a wide range of tasty tunes.

Their most recent album to date, their 18th(!), released in 2018. As their Wikipedia article says: "an American female super group."

Florence does a great job representing North Clare concertina music: gentle, precise, and borne along on a constant sense of lift.

Rich music and great tunes here from the unexpected angle of East Galway-inspired banjo, including some unusual combinations with viola, low concertinas, and a big wet box.

As promised, I'm adding back history of earlier albums from this Australian group who deserve wider recognition. Here's their first "official" album from 2002.

New publication: "The Field Guide to Paddy O'Rafferty" at www.irishtune.info/public/paddy...

Time for some Sliabhy tunes from Julia Clifford's son Billy with Gerry on a remarkably civilized-sounding Stroh fiddle.

Yvonne's fiddling transports to a universe in which she found a magical place that simultaneously evokes both late Tommy Peoples and Martin Hayes, perhaps not coincidentally the two people who wrote testimonials for this album.

Enjoy an entirely fun outing of great banjo picking set in rural northern Ireland.

Josephine's inimitable accordion voice remains as lyrical as ever, this time offering 9 of her compositions and a Joe Liddy composition all new to the Tunography.

Any musician should envy Bobby's ability to pump out such lively and naturally musical tunes over a 60-year recording career!

Gorgeous work, in which the trio achieves sweeping orchestral textures - even when not double-tracking - in their arrangements, taking full advantage of the melodic ranges of fiddle, concertina, and bouzouki.