2003 was a year of reinvention for the Irish dance scene, as dance recession which had been the talk of UK dance mags in 2002 finally had some effect over here.
Apart from Donnacha Costello and Dave Donohoe, Irish dance producers have failed spectacularly in their efforts to make a lasting dance album. While Swedish producer Jesper Dahlback co-wrote ‘Disarmed’, his partner in crime is Corkonian Mark O’Sullivan, and their debut is one of the freshest electronic albums of 2005. Apart from their ability to deliver timeless acid trax – ‘The Difference’ and ‘Life Is Everywhere’ – there’s the prickly indie pop of ‘Sweetness In Time’, the downbeat, Joy Division-styled doom of ‘Disarm’ and the mixture of epic dancefloor techno, brooding Dave Gahan-esque vocals and Gothic undercurrents on ‘Where’s The Fun’, ‘Heart Like A Demon’ and ‘Three Souls’. By combining music from opposite ends of the spectrum, DK7 have created something disarmingly compelling.
Every once in a while an Irish dance compilation appears. Sometimes, it's nothing more than a corporate giant flexing muscles or, in the case of the D1 and Bassbin collections, a taster for greater things to come.
When Creamfields hit Ireland for the first time, one of the pioneers oF the Irish dance movement, MARK KAVANAGH, was there as both a performer and a fan. This is what he found. Fields of vision: MYLES CLAFFEY
Hot Press, in association with ritz, presents the definitive guide to the Irish dance scene, incorporating our regular dance column Digital Beat. Your authoritative host: mark kavanagh.
DONAL SCANNELL of Quadrophonic Records responds to a recent Phantom item
which criticised his late now departed Insomnia show on the former Radio Ireland.
MARK KAVANAGH reports on the continuing controversy over the awarding of Dublin's dance radio licence, while, below, EAMON SWEENEY, looks at the still- vibrant world of pirate broadcasting.
MARK KAVANAGH reports on the continuing controversy over the awarding of Dublin's dance radio licence, while, below, EAMON SWEENEY, looks at the still- vibrant world of pirate broadcasting.
Invisible Armies have just released their killer debut EP, A Neutral Space. Richard Brophy talks to Leo Pearson, one-third of the band s core assault squad.
Their name is full of Oriental promise but, far from growing up in the land of rice-bowls and speaking toilets, retro techno-heads THE JAPANESE POPSTARS hail from the mysterious land of, er, Derry.
In a single decade, Irish electronica and dance music has transformed the national scene. MARK KAVANAGH has been involved from the very beginning, as a DJ, activist, producer and hotpress columnist. Here, he offers a personal take on a long and winding but ultimately fruitful road, and reveals some of the new challenges he ll be undertaking as a DJ, producer and recording artist over the coming 12 months
Are you ready for hip hop, be-bop trad? Then EILEEN IVERS is ready to take you to the bridge. SIOBHAN LONG meets the fiddle player with the world at her fingertips.
JEAN BUTLER was at the very heart of the Riverdance phenomenon, as the original Eurovision interval set-piece was transformed into the most successful dance stage-show ever. Now, for the first time, she tells her side of that extraordinary saga. In a blistering broadside, she accuses her co-star MICHAEL FLATLEY of rampant egotism and argues that she's never been given the credit she deserves for the show's sensational impact. And then there's the question of money...
Interview: JOE JACKSON
As the Creamfields dance juggernaut heads towards Punchestown we catch up with the carnvial at Prague in the Czech Republic and offer a preview of what’s to come
He is best known as a musician and a songwriter, but Nick Kelly has a parallel career as a very successful advertising ‘creative’. So much so, that he was recently asked to be a judge at one of the advertising industry’s big international events, the annual Shark Awards.
RICHARD BROPHY journeyed to the Czech Republic to see CJ Boland perform at the Summer of Love dancefest. But the trip included encounters with lunatic drivers and Beretta-toting security men, too. Pics: Peter Matthews.
In a presidential nomination field virtually devoid of candidates of real calibre and charisma, the name of ex-Boomtown Rat and Live Aid hero BOB GELDOF has cropped up again and again. Despite his outright denial that he will run for office, the rumour refuses to die away. Here, in an interview with LIAM FAY, he gives his assessment of Mary Robinson s seven years in the job, and his hopes for the future occupants of Aras an Uachtarain.
Heard the one about the Irishman, the Bronx and the tab of industrial-strength acid? Stuart Clark hadn t either until that most eligible of bachelors, David Holmes, talked him through the mad month in New York that inspired his Let s Get Killed album.
Prince may be content just to party but in a four-page special the Hot Press journalistic elite takes a look at everything 1999 has to offer. And then some.
The future is here. Well, somehow it always is. And, as usual, it is both familiar and strange. Nothing seems to change, but one day you turn around, it is 1995, and you are cybersurfing on the internet, summer seems to last all winter, ambient-acid-techno is bubbling away on the radio, your fax machine shows up on the Antiques Roadshow and papa’s got a brand new drug.
While Ireland's club scene is often praised, sometimes excessively, there is no parallel between the standard of Irish nightlife and the quality of indigenous dance music production.
Cutting edge techno-tronica DJ John Braine’s dream of putting out a compilation of Irish dance music produced by members of an internet discussion group was recently realised, a year after he first asked for musical submissions from fellow IE-Dancers.
While last September's Homelands Ireland debut was unquestionably a great day out, the sleeve notes here take the hyperbole to new found hyperbollocks levels.
The worldwide magazine "plague" of recent months - which took out Melody Maker, Select and countless American mags - finally reaches Ireland, as two youth-culture titles, clubbingdotcom and d'Side, close down
Synergia 03 is an enticing, and occasionally exciting, snapshot of contemporary Irish club culture, showcasing the pristine sounds of established names and emerging talents alike.
Synergia 03 is an enticing, and occasionally exciting, snapshot of contemporary Irish club culture, showcasing the pristine sounds of established names and emerging talents alike.
Planetlove has always represented the best of Irish dance culture. Now celebrating its tenth anniversary, the event is going from strength to strength.
t’s all going on north of the border this fortnight with a new imprint launching in Belfast and a Derry electro duo giving Beyonce a banging make-over.
2FM dance guru Mister Spring has re-compiled his The Fifth Nine album, after objections to several questionable samples on the initial Spanish pressing.
The final year of the millennium saw dance music reach to more creative, dizzying heights than before. Digital Beat was there every step of the way. Report: Richard Brophy.
No longer the poor relation, Ireland now has a dance scene that's as vibrant as any in the world. KEITH MARTIN takes a look at the DJs, clubs and record labels who are at the centre of the decks industry here.
There are a glut of new Irish dance releases to tell you about, not least the fantastic debut album from Third Eye Surfers, also the first Irish hip-hop collection.
There are a glut of new Irish dance releases to tell you about, not least the fantastic debut album from Third Eye Surfers, also the first Irish hip-hop collection.
Temple Bar Outdoors announced the launch of the first ever Latin Quarter Festival, which will run over the August Bank Holiday Weekend and features a host of international and local musicians and DJ’s as well as a street carnival experience across Dublin’s Cultural Quarter.
Two of Ireland’s top electronica composers are in celebratory mood after releasing a killer collaboration – and to mark the event they’re embarking on a brief tour of the country.
Superstar DJ duo The Glimmers are giving their long-awaited debut album away for free on their forthcoming tour. So it's a good thing they're swinging by Ireland.
It was a year when all manner of ecological malaise seemed to come home to roost. In particular the Sudan was in turmoil, putting our own nasty little problems of smog, toxic waste and criminal fish kills into sharp relief –
Five years ago no-one would have believed it. But with dance music reaching new heights of popularity, Irish rock ’n’ roll is engaged in a desperate fight for its very survival. Reporting from both sides of the battle line: Stuart Clark
As his first solo series concludes on Channel 4, respect is due to SACHA BARON COHEN,
creator of ALI G, comedy s king of keeping it real.
BARRY GLENDENNING says Bo selecta!
Following the demise of the Music Board last year, hopes are high that the incoming Culture Ireland committe will herald a new era in state support for traditional music. Plus the usual round-up of trad and folk news from around the country.
Joe Derrane is honoured by the US National Endowment for the Arts; Shane MacGowan pays tribute to Yeats; plus the usual round-up from around the country.
Q: Which top Irish quiz-masters’ pathological obsessions include Something Happens, Shamrock Rovers and the amount of shopping days left to the next Suede gig? A: George “You Started, So I’ll Finish” Byrne
