Liverpool club Cream has, as expected, announced a major change in their DJ booking policy for 1997. From January the club will be concentrating on resident DJs in its main rooms, and guests will now only occasionally appear in the club’s Courtyard area. The move is a switch back to the original Cream blueprint, and it should herald the beginning of the end for the over-priced guest DJ circuit. The Saturday night residents will be Paul Oakenfold, XPress 2, Paul Bleasdale and Les Ryder. A number of other clubs (such as Ministry of Sound) are expected to follow suit in the new year. And not before time – for years, most of Dublin’s dance clubs offered special guests from the UK on a Saturday night. But as there was no musical consistency, attendances soon began to dwindle. This year only the clubs with a ‘residents only’ policy have been full every Saturday night . . .

We spotted Dickie Rock wiping away a tear or three at the live debut of Dublin techno outfit Lectrosoul at the Furnace recently. The cabaret star was so moved by the proceedings because the vocalist in Warren Kiernan’s new band is none other than Dickie’s son Richie Rock . . . Former Hot Press dance columnist John Collins made his DJing debut at the new drum’n’bass room downstairs at Alien recently. The warm-up set climaxed with a unique finale: a disgruntled punter walked up and lifted the stylus off the record that was booming from the club’s PA, snarling “if you don’t get off the decks now the next arm I take off will be yours” ...

Johnny Moy has done it again. The Dublin jock was ‘DJ Of The Month’ in a recent edition of UK dance weekly Mixmag Update. In the feature Johnny attacked the UK music industry for failing to use this year’s In The City conference to check out the vast array of local talent on offer. Johnny admirably commented: “The British don’t look to Dublin for talent. I can name ten DJs off the top of my head that would blow away the top English DJs.” . . .

Contrary to popular rumour, Dublin’s Ormond Multimedia Centre has not been sold. The venue is booked up until the New Year and future guests include Robert Armani on December 13th . . . PoD’s club promotions manager Paco has quit due to the pressure of the job . . . Euroclub Promotions have taken over Friday nights at Dublin’s Temple of Sound. Clockwork will feature Dave McDonnell and Jason Tang every week, and regular international guests. The highly rated Marco Arnaldi is there this week (29th) . . . Strictly Handbag deserves full praise for the flyer with the hilarious cut-out handbag . . .

Ireland’s most acclaimed techno producer Rob Rowland has notched up a number of MTV plays recently for his ‘Point Monster’ single. The track has also just been remixed by Mark Broom . . . Mysterious Belfast act Graemel have their double a-side ‘Lucid Dream’/’Spiritual Cry’ released this month on Steelfish . . .

The makers of the Peperami snack, Van Den Bergh Foods, are considering legal action against Telstar Records over the inclusion of the Adrian Edmonson “what’s the matter . . . too spicy for ya” sample on their Hotbox single, ‘Too Spicy’. Telstar has refused to withdraw the single, claiming they licensed it from 4 Stroke Records under the clear impression that the sample had been cleared . . .

Patrick Prins’ Movin’ Melodies imprint has signed a label deal with AM:PM. The first release is ‘Don’t Hold Back’ (already an anthem in some Dublin clubs). It’s followed by a quadruple vinyl compilation . . . Tall Paul has remixed Mary Kiani’s ‘100%’ . . . Feverpitch is re-issuing the disco babe favourite ‘Gimme Luv’ by Diddy . . . Paul Van Dyk’s ‘Beautiful Place’ has been licensed by Deviant. New mixes include a hot one from Salt Tank . . . A UK major label recently offered Underworld one million pounds to record just one album . . . The Airscape classic ‘Cruising’ is out again on the Belgian Steady Beats label . . .

Bedrock (John Digweed and Nick Muir) have remixed the React II Rhythm classic ‘Intoxication’ for Jackpot. The duo also has a new single, ‘Set In Stone’, out soon on Stress . . . A second (doublepack) promo of the Dina Carroll single ‘Run To You’ features mixes from Masters at Work and Mindspell . . . Interstate Records have a new mix-CD out soon. Sunday Service covers deep house to uplifting garage, and is mixed by Matt Jam Lamont. The label also releases the debut UK single from Japanese star Tomoki Hirata (pictured) this month. ‘Facing Up’ includes mixes from Deepstate and DJ Disciple . . . Joey Beltram’s new Novamute single ‘Forklift’ features remixes from Damon Wild and Luke Slater . . .

Jonny L’s widely acclaimed 2 Of Us EP is released on December 2nd on XL. The lead cut is tipped as a drum’n’bass track that could cross over thanks to its soulful vocals, and there’s a Photek remix of it included on the second twelve inch . . . Alex Reece has two remixes included on ‘House of Fire’ from Arkarna . . . The Aloof have remixed Baby Fox’s ‘Ladybird’ . . .

The 2FM Dance Show now has a ‘Bedroom Bedlam’ section, featuring one lucky bedroom mixer each week. DJs looking to grab the attention of club promoters and anyone else who’s listening should send a thirty minute mix cassette to Michael MacNamara, 2FM, Donnybrook, Dublin 4. In the coming weeks the show also features mixes from Paddy Sheridan, Donal Scanell and Mister Spring . . . DON’T DROP THAT BEAT!

CLUB CHART

Chart supplied by Paul Hamill, resident DJ at Vital at The Brunswick Club, Belfast (Thursdays).

Pos Artist TitlE LABEL

1. CHICANE ‘Offshore’ Modena

2. BEAT FOUNDATION ‘Shelter’ Skinny Malinky

3. GRAEMEL ‘Lucid Dream’ Steelfish

4. TARANTELLA THREE ‘Natural’ Whoop

5. DINA CARROLL ‘Run To You’ Manifesto

6. SLACKER ‘Scared’ Loaded

7. ALEX WHITCOMBE ‘Coming Home’ Skinny Malinky

8. PUMPKIN CLUB ‘Mekong’ Whoop

9. HERCULES ‘Skin On Skin’ Jackpot

10. SOUL SURFERS ‘Slip’ Limbo

BUZZ BEATS

The Hot Press Hype Chart.

The Buzz Beats Chart is compiled with the help of leading DJs and dance stores and is updated weekly on Saturday nights on Micky Mac’s Dance Show on 2FM between 8 and midnight.

POS ARTIST TITLE LABEL

1. HOLE IN ONE ‘Life’s Too Short’ Manifesto

2. JX ‘Closer To You’ ffrr

3. SLACKER ‘Scared’ Loaded

4. PAGANINI TRAXX ‘Zoe’ Ital. Moonlite

5. JAYN HANNA ‘Lost Without You’ (Remixes) VC

6. PROPELLERHEADS ‘Take California’ Wall of Sound

7. AMEN ‘Passion’ (Van Dyk Mix) Positiva

8. DIDDY ‘Give Me Love’ (Remix) Feverpitch

9. MULU ‘Desire’ Dedicated

10. 808 STATE ‘Lopez’ (Propellerheads Mix) ZTT

11. EXTRACT ‘Remember Last Summer’ Belg. Yeti

12. PAUL VAN DYK ‘Beautiful Place’ (Remixes) Deviant

13. BEAT FOUNDATION ‘Give Me Shelter’ Skinny Malinky

14. GARBAGE ‘Milk’ (Remixes) Mushroom

15. OCTAVIA ‘Equinox Project’ Fluid

16. KULA SHAKER ‘Govinda’ (Monkey Mafia Mix) Columbia

17. ARMAND VAN HELDEN ‘The Funk Phenomenon’ US Henry St.

18. THREE IN ONE ‘Down In The Hole’ Fire

19. CHUPHER Chupher EP Limbo

20. LOCHI ‘New Wave Of Acid Techno’ Routemaster

LONG PLAY

Mark Kavanagh sifts through the latest dance albums.

Reactivate 11 (React) features another blistering selection of the banging tunes that have made the series so successful. Mad Scotsman Choci mixes the CD and cassette versions, and the tunes include big favourites from Scot Project, De Niro, Pablo Gargano and Seb.

Trancentral 5 – A Sonic Initiation (Kickin’) is mixed by Return To The Source’s Mark Allen. Members of the Fluoropean community will revel in the double-CD that’s divided into two distinct parts – a full-on bangin’ mix and an after-hours blend. Way ahead of many trance compilations (and there are many), the soundscape is tough and uncompromising with the aid of names such as Koxbox, Anasthasia and Cosmosis.

This is . . . Club Anthems (Beechwood) features a huge selection of hits from Happy Clappers, Baby D and Degrees of Motion, Crescendo, Apollo 440 and Lisa Marie Experience – with the odd exception, it’s handbag all the way. There’s a bonus of a third CD mixed by Kiss FM’s Graham Gold to keep the Christmas party rocking.

Another Christmas party favourite is likely to be Danny Rampling’s Love Groove Dance Party Volumes 3 + 4 (Metropole). As with its predecessor, there is a Glitterball Mix featuring the best house and garage from Deep Dish to Tori Amos, and a Spacey Trance Mix featuring his own favourite bangin’ toons from X–Cabs to S–J. We could criticise the ‘average’ mixing on show, but that doesn’t seem to matter to the general public, does it?

Trance Europe Express 5 (Volume) is the latest quality compilation in the series that has featured the cream of European electronica dishing up exclusive experimental feasts galore – no artist has ever appeared in the series twice. The new edition includes pioneering producers Neil Landstrum, The Advent, Orlando Voorn and Ian Pooley, making it the sort of compilation you would be embarrassed not to have appeared on. As ever, a lavish colour book is included, serving as the latest chapter in the history of electronic music. (I bet they wish they had never used the word Trance though!)

Laboratoire Mix (React) is the long awaited double–CD mix from Laurent Garnier. The French chef serves up a feast of fine house and techno cuisine, his speciality as always blending the traditional ingredients from old fashioned recipes into a unique mouth-watering menu. Chicago House, Detroit Techno, European Techno and some out of this world Acid are all present and correct. With sales of over 100,000 predicted in the UK alone, it’s fair to say that Garnier made the right decision when he quit cooking to start mixing.

ALBUMS COMPETITION: Outlaw Records recently re-opened at 67 Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 2. On top of stocking the widest range of twelve inchers in the country for DJs of all persuasions, they now boast for the first time a complete range of the best dance CDs and mix compilations. They are offering two lucky readers a chance to win a CD album of their choice. To be one of the winners just tell us who was behind the recent hit ‘Insomnia’? Send your answers to Outlaw Competition, Hot Press, 13 Trinity Street, Dublin 2.