The Analog Festival, taking place over Friday 13th . . .Sunday 15th July, is a celebration of all things innovative in modern music. "It is going to be a comparative journey through various types of loud music, " clarifies Gary Sheehan of Note Productions, who were brought on board by the DDDA to select acts and organise the Analog festival. Note Productions have been responsible for bringing over some of the more interesting acts to this country in recent times including Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau and Malian legend, Toumani Diabate, who played in Iveagh Gardens last Summer. "The brief the DDDA gave was to go off and organise something unusual and innovative, " says Sheehan. "They are looking for some pretty adventurous stuff rather than simple crowd-pleasing entertainment. You would expect a festival like Analog to be happening in a city like Berlin rather than in Dublin."

"It is deliberately meant to be a selection of contrasting acts rather than a programme that showcases only one genre, " adds Sheehan.

"What links the performers though is that they are all doing something new and challenging."

Beginning with a Friday night double bill of jazz/hiphop/breakbeat experimentation from The Cinematic Orchestra and DJ Food and DK, the festival will be starting with a bang.

Saturday's line up will have an even more international flare with performances from Berlin-based Tarwater, Irish act Cap Pas Cap, and Konono No 1 from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The latter are a particularly interesting act, for those who don't already know them, as they feature traditional African instruments alongside their own homemade instruments and amplification, assembled from scavenging in junkyards.

Wombles eat your heart out.

It is Sunday night's performance from legendary New York composer, Glenn Branca, however, that is sure to be a talking point for the rest of the Summer. 'Hallucination City: Symphony for 100 Guitars' was originally commissioned by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and performed at the World Trade Centre in 2001.

One hundred electric guitarists combine their aural powers to "create an epic, loud yet utterly moving symphony of massed guitar tones." In order to do this Branca will be recruiting 100 local electric guitarists and bass players. Anyone interested can sign up to the challenge but availability for two days of rehearsals before the show is required. "Essentially Branca is playing around with the idea of a symphony where people expect cellos, brass and all the rest but instead you have 100 guitarists, " explains Sheehan.

"The chords played are not that complex so the impact comes from the sound of massed guitars. Recruiting local guitarists makes it unique because no two performances ever sound the same. It also becomes a guitar camp for three days. The fun people have doing it is half the process."

As said, tickets for all the the events are free but can only be obtained from the Analog festival's website.

"Although we are already over subscribed, tickets should still be available so I advise people to sign up, " says Sheehan. "They're going to be allocated by lottery before the event." Analog will see Grand Canal Square transformed into a 2,500 seat capacity outdoor for the duration of the programme.

For more information on tickets and acts check out: http: //www. analogconcerts. ie/