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
Esentially a hip-hop version of Dirty Dancing (yes, that bad) Save The Last Dance is a crushingly predictable affair of the all-too-familiar 'boy meets girl from opposite side of the tracks and they get together through their mutual love of dance' variety.
The dance revolution, and the strong DIY ethic that it has engendered, have largely been fuelled by advances in digital technology and easier access to home recording equipment. Many successful artists operating in the dance arena today started out experimenting with basic keyboard/drum machine and home computer set-ups, before upgrading to more advanced equipment.
englebert humperdinck s legendary career stretches over the past 30 years. Now, however, it s reinvention ahoy! as he releases . . . a dance album. adrienne murphy meets The King Of Romance and is told she has a beautiful handshake .
Was the recent court ruling by a district judge in Galway demanding compliance to a 45-minute dinner break in the city s nightclubs on the eve of the Heineken Weekender a coincidence, a well-thought-out publicity stunt by the local Gardam, or an attempt to crack down on Galway s dance scene? Richard Brophy examines a puzzling amendment to Ireland s licensing laws.
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
Annual article: Phil Kieran and DJ Papillion were two of the outstanding names in a fantastic year for dance music, says Mark Kavanagh. Plus the dance charts of 2005.
Leaving behind his desk job, Paul Oakenfold has enlisted a galaxy of stars to perform vocal duties on hs new album Bunkka including Tricky, Nelly Furtado and, uh,
Hunter S. Thompson
THE PRODIGY may be one of the biggest dance acts in the world but, increasingly, they’ve been developing a rock ’n’ roll attitude. As the band line up for their Friday night headlining slot at Féile, techno guru LIAM HOWLETT talks to STUART CLARK.
Funk, Disco, Breakbeat and a testicle-admiring Gary Numan. All this - and more - is to be found on the new Plump DJs album. Ronan Fitzgerald meets the Glaswegian dance mavericks.
A whole album of deep and funky house from Mr Barry isn’t exactly something to get the pulses racing, Do Your Dance has enough moments of interest to make it worth a flick
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.
German dance music may be characterised by the likes of Paul Van Dyk, Sven Vath and Hardfloor, but the country has always boasted an underground
alternative. Richard Brophy talks to one of its main proponents, Pole.
Prinzhorn Dance School want to be sparse, but while interesting sound designs can keep sparing music afloat, this displays only the most grudging regard for the listener’s patience.
Luke Unabomber explains how Manchester’s electric chair night has progressed from a “shitty little club” into one of the UK’s most successful dance events, with special guests, mix cd on release and worldwide touring dates. It’s about the music, apparently
The Queen of re-invention is at it again, and this time it’s all about dance music. Co-produced and co-written by Stuart ‘Les Rhythmes Digital’ Price, this album is a creative leap into ‘future disco’ that captures the thrill of the iconic superstar’s earlier hits.
End of the millennium psychosis techno? Political partying house? Dance music with a social conscience and a sense of humour ? If you re looking for all of the above, then look no further than Green Velvet s new LP, Constant Chaos . On the soapbox: Richard Brophy.
Thanks to their distinctively guitar-saturated sound, French outfit RINOCEROSE have carved out their own niche in the already crowded Gallic dance scene. Interview: RICHARD BROPHY.
I like to think I give Japanese cinema a fair shake, but I never quite caught the bug for Masayuki Suo’s internationally successful McRom-com, Shall We Dance. As dinky male menopause yarns go, it wasn’t bad, but you couldn’t shake the feeling that had it won you over completely, it was surely the first rung of some twelve step programme to bourgeois rehabilitation and a subscription to an interior decorating magazine.
The end may indeed be nigh for discos and dance clubs in Ireland, with the Government s proposed changes to licensing legislation putting over 10,000 jobs and 650 businesses at risk. Mark Kavanagh reports.
It s taken ten years, but AGNELLI & NELSON have finally made it to the top of the DJ pile with their Hudson St. album. COLIN CARBERRY meets the Ulster dance merchants whose superstar fans include U2
Don’t fret though, because here come the fearsome, fighting fivesome to lift the spirits. While not in the calibre of ‘Keep On Moving’ and ‘Everybody Get Up’, ‘Let’s Dance’ still manages to assemble all the relevant factors – disco beat, vocoders, J’s daft northern rapping – to come up with an indentikit pop hit.
The Gardaí have been accused of beligerant and heavy-handed tactics in their closing down of a Galway dance party. STUART CLARK hears both sides of the story.
In Auckland, it was punk rock, gang wars, heroin and prostitution. In Cavan, it s rolling countryside, a recording studio in a church and more dogs than you could throw a stick for. It s been a long way from there to here for BRENDAN PERRY, the former partner in Dead Can Dance who now has a solo album on release.
Interview: NICK KELLY. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
Backstage at Creamfields, JOHN WALSHE talks to FATBOY SLIM about the joys of fatherhood, being one half of the posh and becks of the chemical generation; sharing a hot-tub with Baz Luhrman and how he got Christopher Walken to tap-dance
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
2FM dance guru Mister Spring has re-compiled his The Fifth Nine album, after objections to several questionable samples on the initial Spanish pressing.
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
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.
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.
Under the X-Press 2, Ballistic Brothers, Black Jazz Chronicles and Black Science Orchestra guises, Ashley Beedle has been responsible for all manner of funky, soulful dance music. Now he s gone and put together Influences, an album that documents his twenty-year-long obsession with music. Words: Richard Brophy.
The incomparable Dead Can Dance – reunited after seven years for a European tour that kicks off tonight in the Olympia – have created a sound that diverges sharply from anything else in contemporary rock/pop, drawing on ancient and sacred musics from around the world.
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.
Jamie 'Jimpster' Odell releases his debut album under his Audiomontage guise. Snert is far removed from the dance floor, looking primarily to soul, jazz and almost easy listening textures.
We were very proud of the album at the time, and listening back to it recently I really enjoyed it. But we "danced the devil" away from ZTT as soon as we could.
Fabric’s clubby mix series takes a sideways step with this deep, dubby and beautiful selection of off the wall dance tracks from Hull’s finest, Baby Mammoth and Beige. Think Carl Craig and Basic Channel meets Maurice Fulton and Jimi Tenor and you’re halfway there.
In anticipation of the Guinness-sponsored SOUTHERN SOUL AND DISCO FESTIVAL '98, which takes place in Cork over the June Bank Holiday Weekend, ADRIENNE MURPHY shares a chinwag with MIKE G of New York rap luminaries THE JUNGLE BROTHERS, and gets the lowdown from the highly-touted AOIFE Nic CANNA on what it's like being a female in the testosterone-dominated world of DJing.
There’s a fair helping of standard Faithless tracks on Outrospective. The sinister dance epics ‘We Come 1’ and the dark and dangerous ‘Tarantula’ come from a familiar place. But the magic of Outrospective lies in the unexpected, which is magic thankfully in abundance.
Noko, squadron leader of dance cosmonauts Apollo 440 talks about his new album Millennium Fever and the small matter of what the universe will be like in the year 2,000. Ground control: John Collins
Having scored huge chart success with the dance anthem ‘Maniac’, acclaimed Irish DJ Mark McCabe is now broadening his musical horizons with his intriguing debut album, Music From The Fourth Place.
Basement Jaxx have never been purveyors of any kind of pigeon-hole dance music. From early excursions like the ragga-influenced ‘Flylife’ to the anthemic Latin groove ‘Samba Magic’ and especially on the 1999 album Remedy, they’ve always experimented with a varying array of styles and steals.
Operating in the interstice where Sonic Youth meet the Jackson 5, Brighton dance-rock outfit The Go! Team are deservedly brewing up a storm with their debut album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike.
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.
Pete Tong has long been one of the most influential figures in contemporary dance. His latest project sees him joining Heineken in their search for new djs, via the Heineken Thirst Extravaganza.
James Zabiela was spinning tunes in his bedroom when he won a Djing competition. Before he knew it, he was opening for Sasha and helping to save dance music.
Disco house and electro are credible dance music flavours, but Les Rythmes Digitales Jacques Le Cont has nonetheless been slated for his love affair with the 80s. In an exclusive interview with Digital Beat, Le Cont defends his musical passions.
While one Irish Ronan is currently attempting to break the US market, another already has. COLM O'HARE meets RONAN HARDIMAN, the music composer behind Michael Flatley’s successes and discovers a considerable solo talent
Producer, DJ and now a part of acclaimed dance/rock tie-in, Alloy Mental, Belfast-based Phil Kieran talks about his favourite mixing equipment and explains why we should mourn the passing of vinyl.
Ian Pooley s third album, Since Then, is his finest to date. It s also potential crossover material, but that doesn t make any difference to one of house music s most gifted producers. Richard Brophy investigates
Phuture are the creators of 'Acid Trax', and the people who introduced the Roland 303 'acid box' to the music world. They are arguably one of the most influential groups ever. So why are they still doing day jobs? Richard Brophy talks to original member Spanky and new addition Professor Trax, and reports on a travesty of justice in the dance world.
Currently promoting his debut solo album The Ideal Condition ahead of his appearance at Electric Picnic, Paul Hartnoll made his name alongside his brother Phil in Orbital, one of the most significant dance acts of the past 20 years.
In between starting a family and touring the globe with Bell X1, David Geraghty has managed to find the time to squeeze out a second solo record, The Victory Dance. He talks about dealing with bat infestations, bestriding U2’s ‘Claw’ stage and tackling the fraught subject of 9/11 in song.
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.
Playing Live at the Marquee on Thursday 28 June: Having caused something of a sensation on the back of their smash hit single ‘Everytime We Touch’, the German-based Cascada are now bringing their infectious brand of dance-pop to Cork.
The most exciting merger of rock and dance since the heyday of The Stone Roses, the Happy Mondays and Primal Scream – meet The Rapture. Words Paul Nolan
For a man with 200 production credits to his various aliases, chris cowie is still relatively unknown. this is all set to change with the release of his best behaviour compilation. richard brophy meets the man of many monikers
David bickley, aka Mobius of hyper[borea], tells Olaf Tyaransen about dance music as gaeilge, Bronze Age atmospheres and how he came to throw his Hot Press Award off a cliff.
Now that minimal techno has become a trendy cliché, it’s time for the cutting edge of dance music to find a new direction. Trentemoller has pointed the way with a compelling new album.
Hard house is this year s biggest dance craze, and it was born at the most renowned
after-hours gay club in the world, Trade. MARK KAVANAGH talks to LAURENCE MALICE,
the Caligula of clubland , about excess, success and his Irish roots. Photographs: Myles Claffey
What promoters and clubbers perceive as Garda heavy-handedness in the -war on drugs- is making life increasingly difficult for dance venues across the country. STUART CLARK reports.
Colin Dale has had a long and impressive career. His love for music and his talent have cut through the dance scene s rampant egos and petty policking. He spoke to Richard Brophy
Unofficial curator of the New York club scene and head of a creative emporium many have described as a contemporary version of Warhol’s factory, LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy is rapidly emerging as one of the biggest players in the U.S. underground. He tells Barry O’Donoghue how it happened
Having survived the Stone Roses and a spell in jail, IAN BROWN briefly toyed with the idea of a career in gardening before re-inventing himself as the man most likely to bridge the gap between rock and dance. Ahead of his appearance at Homelands, he talks to RICHARD BROPHY.
Derrick May is often referred to as The Godfather , The Legend and The Innovator , the creator of dance music s most magical moments. But does he really prefer trainers and jeans to Versace and Patrick Cox? Richard Brophy goes beyond the exterior.
Swayzak continue to be refreshingly out of step with dancefloor norms. Richard Brophy hears about the duo’s latest offering – club grooves for your sitting room
Minimalist practitioner, aficionado of asceticism and producer of note – Germanic groove technician Steve Bug is shaking up the continental dance scene in idiosyncratic and dynamic fashion.
Dance is dead, says Roisin Murphy, but if any act is going to raise it from the grave it’s Moloko, proud authors of the over the top and utterly sincere Statues, an album of tremendous pop songs that recapture the glory of classic disco.
Fresh from his recent success with the Xpress-2 collaboration 'Lazy', David Byrne reflects on a musical journey that began in 1977 with the legendary Talking Heads
From a commercial point of view it hasn't exactly been all sweetness and light for SONNY CONDELL but his new album Someone To Dance With should bring a smile to his face. Interview: Siobhán Long
The musical template remains largely unchanged, but the combination of galloping, melodic bass and searing twin lead guitars – at times oddly reminiscent of Thin Lizzy – is hard to resist.
The musical template remains largely unchanged, but the combination of galloping, melodic bass and searing twin lead guitars – at times oddly reminiscent of Thin Lizzy – is hard to resist.
They sometimes dance in the streetlight, thrown across the centre of the yard in the shape of a triangle. Sometimes they stop to snuggle up to each other. They don’t know that we’re watching them.
Surviving the exit of Darren Emerson, as well as various personal traumas and professional challenges, Underworld have re-emerged with their most positive album yet in 100 Days Off
Or not without crediting your sources at any rate! Their first three Top Ten singles sampled Annie Lennox, Kate Bush and Phil Oakey. Here modernist electric dance crossover ???? Utah Saints argue the morality - as well as the aesthetics - of sample-theft, explain its problems, name the guilty men, and then glimpse a vision of the future playing support to U2 in Portugal. Interview: Andy Darlington.
They’re mates with Humanzi and have hung out with Juliette Lewis. Give it a little while and Leeds dance-rock outfit The Sunshine Underground will probably be stars in their own right.
They may be about as prolific as giant pandas, but now the waiting is over. The mighty LEFTFIELD are back with their first new material in almost five years - the new album Rhythm And Stealth - and it looks set to have the same genre-redefining impact as their debut long-player Leftism. BARRY GLENDENNING talks to mainman PAUL DALEY about media critics, professional jealousy, John Lydon, banned videos and that Guinness ad.
In a 25th anniversary rose-tinted special, Hot Press' dance correspondents select their 25 most influential floor fillers. The editor's decision is final and all that
Or how a short-term model, aspiring novelist and Indie kitten became a sophisti-cat and lived to twitch her tale. Peter Murphy meets the multi-layered Sophie Ellis Bextor
They're fronted by a dead ringer for Xena, Warrior Princess; they've just won the Heineken Hot Press Best New Band Award; and, like inbreeding, they're big in Alabama. They're junkster, and here, deirdre o'neill and graham darcy tell jackie hayden exactly what they've been up to since they first "trespassed" on the American Dance Charts.
Gaspard Augé of acclaimed electro duo Justice on the group’s stunning live performances, upstaging Kanye West and putting the humour back into dance music.
A glimpse into Glen Hansard’s tour diary while on the road with The Frames' fourth album For The Birds (2001) - including reflections on their first landmark Olympia show (March 30th, 2001)
The twisted dance-punk of Hard-Fi is inspired by the angst of suburbia. But that hasn’t stopped them reaching for the stars – or breaking into an airport.
Earlier this year, the dance music community was shocked by the sudden departure of Darren Emerson from Underworld. However, the band continues to blossom, embracing new technologies and ideas to remain at the forefront of electronic music. Richard Brophy catches up with Rick Smith to find out more.
The debut solo album from Moloko singer Roisin Murphy embraces the avant-garde end of dance music. But it's still a great pop record. Interview by Peter Murphy.
“I hate these questions,” cries David Holmes, DJ, re-mixer, producer, free associate, film-scorer and friend to the stars. Yet he gamely faces the pan-ish inquisition that is the hotpress mixed grill
The Prodigy may be one of the most potent acts on the dance scene but they've got a rock'n'roll attitude to live performance. STUART CLARK finds out why from the prodigy himself, LIAM HOWLETT.
Sliabh Notes are a trio of renowned traditional musicians who play dance music that long preceded the breed that flourishes these days in the club scene. Siobhan Long pays a visit to them in the best place possible to hear the music: a wedding reception in Kerry.
Annie Nightingale on BBC Radio One is Dance Music s fixture for insomniac clubbers. But for the BBC s first-ever female DJ this is just the latest incarnation of a career that began, sort-of, by insulting John Lennon. ANDY DARLINGTON reads the book, sits in on the show, and even finds time for an interview.
The man formerly known as Dennis Pennis, Paul Kaye, has made a return to form as hedonistic DJ Frankie Wilde in the new Ibiza-set comedy, It’s All Gone Pete Tong. A rollicking mockumentary following the fortunes of its errant lead character, it aims to do for the dance scene what This Is Spinal Tap did for heavy metal.
One of the highlights of this year's Witnness festival Basement Jaxx drop hints about their forthcoming third album, explain why Brixton is so important to their sound and preview the live show
He s only twenty three years old, but rest assured you ll be hearing a lot more about DJ Hyper in the not too distant future. Richard Brophy profiles one of the newest faces on the break beat scene.
Pete Kushnereit and Rene Lowe, better known as Scion, have released a mix album of Jamaican-inspired electronic tracks by the elusive German technocrat Maurizio
Never met a dyke he didn t like! Joe Jackson boogies the night away with Zrazy, one of Irish music s most determined combos. 1993 saw this radical lesbian dance due release their debut album in the face of widescale indifference from the national media and here they tell of their struggle to assert their music and sexuality against overwhelming odds.
Falling snow, falling bodies and equipment, and music to fall in love with: it’s Australian mod-disco anarcho-samplers THE AVALANCHES. Text: KIM PORCELLI
Never met a dyke he didn’t like! Joe Jackson boogies the night away with ZRAZY, one of Irish music’s most determined combos. 1993 saw this radical lesbian dance duo release their debut album in the face of widescale indifference from the national media and here they tell of their struggle to assert their music and sexuality against overwhelming odds.
and didn’t like what he saw... Fatboy Slim tells Stuart Clark about an encounter with Man Utd so unpleasant that even Zoe Ball is thinking of switching her allegiance to Brighton. Plus: the highs of Normstock and the lows of So Solid Crew
You mightn't expect to find Ireland’s sharpest new indie talents tucked away in a rural abode, but that’s where The Immediate have decamped, ready to lead the fight against MySpace while making the punters dance.
With the release of their fourth and finest album "For The Birds", THE FRAMES have zoomed straight into the Irish top ten for the first time. Now, with critical acclaim ringing in their ears, and their glowing fanbase sensing that something special may be about to take place, they prepare to take the Green Energy Weekend by storm. could it be their time has finally come? Interview: KIM PORCELLI. plus mainman GLEN HANSARD gives us a glimpse inside his private diary. out of frame: MICK QUINN
He’s collaborated with Bono, Mick Jagger, and Destiny’s Child, hung out with Bill Clinton and co-wrote the biggest selling rap album of all time. but that’s only the beginning. The multi-talented Wyclef Jean here discusses George W. Bush, the death of his father and why Michael Jackson might not be such a strange guy after all
"I want to see just how far country music can go and still be country music." So says Lee Ann Womack - and her new album puts flesh on that aspiration.
The enigmatic DJ Shadow - aka Josh Davis - on why the time is right to speak politically, how hip-hop is regaining its radical edge and why most advertising sucks
The star-spangled story of how Richard Melville Hall learned to relax and love sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. "Don't tell anybody but I'm actually the lead guitarist with Slipknot," he informs Stuart Clark.
DAVID HOLMES is about to leave his native Belfast for New York City, where he will record his third album. STUART BAILIE took a final opportunity to speak to the artist also known as Homer. On the agenda: Hollywood soundtracks, rumours of brawling, past glories and future plans.
Pics: MICHAEL TAYLOR.
For close to twenty years, MARTIN CAHILL led the forces of law and order a merry dance. Known as the General, he was suspected of masterminding virtually every major crime committed in Ireland – but for as long as matters, the Gardai had been unable to pin anything on him. And when he was brought to court on petty charges, he posed outside for press photographers, dropping his trousers to reveal a pair of Mickey Mouse boxer shorts. Last week, however, the game was cut brutally short when Cahill was blown away within 100 yards of his South Dublin home by an IRA hit squad. Report: NEIL McCORMICK.
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.
This resolutely downbeat record is earnest, straightforward acoustica, with heartfelt vocals and a small palette of instruments – often stripped down to just guitar and voice.
The presence of Madonna feels almost incidental, as Price deals in back-beats and a pounding glib electro-clash. What comes out the other end, sparkling yet full of post-modern grit, is a Madonna song for people who don’t like – or even are actively hostile towards – Madonna.
THERE IS a town in California called San Luis Obispo. I arrived there one rainy day to discover that smoking had been banned in all indoor places where the public gather, including bars, restaurants and hotels. Things got even worse, I learned, since that awful day in 1992 when a few of us lit up under a dripping tree on the sidewalk.
In the increasingly bland, one-dimensional world of dance music there’s nothing better than discovering that the renegade, maverick spirit still exists.
With dance singles going sour quicker than milk in a mid-day Saharan coffee shop, the singles here already sound dated. Thank God then for 'Celebrate Our Love' which is just different enough to get by.
New York producer Abe Duque used to make music that was too adventurous and off the wall for dance floor friendly consumption, but somewhere along the way - probably when he was co-producing Gigolos boss Hell’s last album, ‘NY Muscle- he saw the light.
The Burden brothers and their 430 West label have been responsible for some of the finest dance floor house and techno to come from Detroit over the last decade.
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.
Hacker is the black-clad bloke in the background as Miss Kittin sings about fame and VIP areas, and ‘Reves’, his second solo album, is far removed from glitzy synth-pop. Instead, ‘Reves Mecaniques’ – translated as ‘mechanical dreams’ – makes no concession to dance music’s mainstream.
The industry may not have always liked them but their fans couldn’t be more passionate. Ten members, four studio albums, three managers and two major labels later, The Frames still managed to add up to more than the sum of their parts. Peter Murphy, with help from Glen Hansard and other key players brings the story of the band up to date in this, the final part of our two-part special [Photo Mick Quinn]
At times stripped down and linear, and at other points abstract, textured and metallic, Lidbo's hissing, wispy arrangements rarely reach anything that resembles a dance floor tempo
Veering on the abstract, this Italian producer manages to keep the focus on the dance floor using plunging, bleepy basslines and intricate percussive touches.
The duo’s classic dance floor sound is well represented here, with soaring, epic strings and plaintive vocals fused with moody bass undercurrents on ‘This World’, ‘Known Pleasures’ and ‘Human’.
‘Wavescraper’ provides a fresh slant on John Tejada’s intricate dance floor techno, with rougher than usual basslines complementing the lush melodies and hypnotic riffs.
'DMT’ isn’t ‘India In Me’ part two: a hypnotic dance floor track, its rolling, intricate rhythm and twitchy percussion boast snippets of trancey melodies that sound functional rather than inspirational.
At the outset, it sounds like ‘Magdeburg’ is just another run of the mill acid track, but the warm trance chords and distinctive, dreamy strings make for an effective combination of studied musicality and dance-floor hedonism.
‘...Day’ is one of the more melancholic moments from ‘Paradolia’ and the Actress version is also DJ-unfriendly, imploding in a gnarly wall of bass. However, the Lusine remix uses austere drums to drag Smoke’s outpourings onto the dance floor.
NYC’s finest return from their suspiciously long hiatus with a Ewan Pearson/Paul Epworth-twiddled track about nothing really that sounds, well, pretty much like The Rapture. Good to dance to and nice to have them back and all, but we were expecting a little bit more.
Can you dance to minimal? Adam Beyer seems to think so and, on his first Fabric mix, ditches his usual panel beating techno madness in favour of a more considered selection from 2 Dollar Egg, Dominik Eulberg and Reinhard Voigt.
I guess that a Johnny Cash dance mix was somehow inevitable, yet nothing can prepare you for how utterly depressing this piece of crap is. As heard at football matches, European holiday resorts and dodgy nightclubs up and down the land and, in a word, hateful.
Ellen Alien’s label is on the money with ‘Washing Up’. Built on an undercurrent of dark bass attitude, a spiralling, howling analogue riff comes out of nowhere to guarantee its dance floor appeal and ‘big tune’ status.
Timely release from this NYC collective – sounds like a mix between !!! and LCD, with the right amount of Detroit, Berlin, glitch and lo-fi white boy funk in it to keep in interesting. Better still, this has songs you can sing. And plenty to dance to. Natch.
Drum’n’bass pioneers turned soul bores 4 Hero rope in a who’s who of dance artists – including Goldie, MAW, Jazzanova – to rework their back catalogue with varying degrees of success.
Affected have pout some fine dance floor releases this year and ‘Patterns’ is no exception. Alternating between metallic, 303 soaked grooves on one side and ominous, crisp electro on the flip, D_Code keep the standards high.
The title track delivers a pulsing dance floor track that’s a halfway house for Plastikman-style acid gurgles and Border Community pastoral trance and which seems to go on for ages.
The sleazy ‘Melting’ offers minimal dance floors some much needed sexual energy, while the title track’s dubbed out drums and noisy electronic riffs offer a journey to the farthest reaches of space(d) age techno.
If you thought German dance music alternated between tops off Teutonic trance and willfully obscure experimental electronic music, then think again as DJ Hell takes to the controls for the second mix CD from legendary techno club FUSE.
‘Addicted To The Night’ is the product of countless late-night listening sessions, its pulsing 303 groove and Popnoname’s fusion of 90s trance euphoria with warm Italo melodies resulting in a unique dance floor experience.
Last time out, on the impressive Gotham album, New York’s Radio 4 were doing a strikingly accurate impression of latter day Clash, all dub basslines, dance rhythms and righteous anger.
Whatever the scepticism that this whole new dance thing generates, even the hardest cynic has to admit that the punters are going for it and there are a few great records coming out of it. Klaxons' latest is one, as was New Young Pony Club’s ‘Ice Cream’. ‘The Bomb’ isn’t quite up to the standard of either but is nice enough in its own, detached electronic way. Still what any of this has got to do with rave is beyond me.
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.
‘Tagesschau’ is a beautifully melodic, string-led workout that’s probably too deep to work on most dance floors. Jackmate’s remix factors in some clipped beats, while these new school rulers of the deep provide the necessary drive with the understated, tranced-out ‘Nachtjournal’.
if the highlights include turgid trance and hard dance mush from the likes of Tiesto, Macro V and Ferry Corsten, we can only wonder at how god awful the club’s lowlights could have been.
It's all about the remixes here. Adaptor's take features slamming, flat beats and dirty acid lines, not unlike Guido Schneider in house mode, while Pier Bucci turns in a melodic, intricate groove that packs a mighty dance floor punch thanks to its humming bass.
Misc leads the mighty Sender’s charge with the label’s most banging EP yet. The lead track is like Raumschmiere in 4/4 techno mode, as grating industrial noises are juxtaposed with supernatural chords and stomping beats, while a wild, distorted bass bullies its way onto the dance floor.
One of the leading lights in European minimalism delivers a mix that spans a wide range of dance floor styles: sure, there a number of stripped down tracks, but there’s also new school acid house from Tigerskin and ADJD and Claro Intelecto’s deep techno classic, ‘Chicago’.
Bruno Ponsanto deals in intricately crafted, stripped back mid-tempo funk. Fear not though, there are clubby thrills on the lead track, which applies Ponsanto’s sense of adventure to the dance floor, as glitchy sounds and a rolling groove climax in a metallic intensity.
A resonating bassline and old school acid sounds provide the basis for a bleak dance floor track that consolidates his status at the top of his chosen profession.
A taster for Phoniques debut album, X Attack highlights the German DJs love of classic Chicago house, as a resonating bassline and old school acid sounds provide the basis for a bleak dance floor track that consolidates his status at the top of his chosen profession.
A few years back, Underworld were viewed as one of the most important bridging links between the mediums of rock and dance. Album number two Second Toughest In The Infants had consolidated their enviable position as darlings of the rock press, and 'Born Slippy' had blown up the mainstream following its inclusion on the Trainspotting soundtrack.
Providing track after track of top quality house, the well-named 1999 is sure-fire party music. This classy dance gem was put together by Cassius, a French duo peopled by Phillip Zdar and Hubert Boombass. Before their most recent incarnation, Zdar and Boombass worked individually and together in La Funk Mob, Motorbass and L'Homme Qui Valait Rois Millards. With 1999, they capture a fresh house sound that scintillates on the cusp of the new millennium (whatever that might mean).
De Costa drops more broken beat, stripped-back techno: there’s the busy, glitchy lead track ‘Coxtone’ and the combination of groovy bass and clicky beats on ‘Lazy Monday’, which consolidate Noir’s reputation for making dance music from the outer limits.
The mysterious Missing Link is inspired by IDM and industrial, as well as club techno. In places, these EPs veer into DJ unfriendly seven/eight time signatures. Counteracting this experimentation are the lead tracks, where murky basslines, hissing percussion, and a sense of space have the required dance-floor effect.
Like Seefeel meets Rhythm & Sound, ‘First Point Of Aries’ is an echoing, reverberating sound scape, its layers of static white noise constantly evolving and changing, but never making it onto the dancefloor. Thankfully, the lurching bass of ‘Celestialls’ is quicker to make dance floor advances.
Plak usually adheres to the rules of dance floor engagement, but when Hardvision and Lee Van Dowski get together as HTMSOAW, these structures go out the window. This EP combines the beauty of Warp’s melodies with busy, stop-start metallic backing tracks and acid lines that reach deeper than a nuclear submarine.
She might hate dancing but Chloe sure knows a thing or two about making other people get up on the dance floor. Apart from using an obvious big tune - Tiga’s ‘Pleasure From The Bass’ - this mix focuses on house music’s acidic, minimal side, with great cuts from Steve Bug, Kiki, Robag Wruhme and International Pony.
Josh Wink’s label shows its diversity on this compilation: alternating between lush techno from David Alvarado, Steve Bug’s minimalism, D’Julz 303 fixation and Yann Fontaine’s deep house, ‘Fall Collection’ is a fine collection of underground dance floor music.
Camea & Insideout give minimal the dance floor oomph it needs. The jacking 'Nothing Shocking' and the wiry funk of 'Azimuth' twist and turn through FX-laden percussion and heavy drums, while Rohr and Xavier's version of the title track adds powerful claps. This is a wake up call for all the plodding minimalists.
My My member Lee Jones delivers a tune that will warm even the hardest heart. ‘There Comes…’ is a melodic, tripped out groove that references UR in space techno mode and Larry Heard in well, Larry Heard mode, which is as far out as dance music gets.
She’s not the worst singer in the world and this isn’t the worst collection of dance pop tunes ever released but somehow it’s hard to believe in the former Ginger Spice. The jazzy Norah Jones/Katie Melua influenced title track and the Kylie-like ‘Superstar’ are all that remain in the brain after several spins of this entirely unnecessary release
Claro Intelecto has chosen a more laid back approach than usual. Still looking to Basic Channel for inspiration, ‘Instinct’ ebbs and flows along in an understated manner, while ‘Post’ is deeper, as soft-focus piano chords pitter-patter their way across an aching, dubby backing. Too relaxed for most dance floors, this is ideal mood music.
Swayzak’s latest single features some of 2005’s best remixes. Brun and James Taylor lend the sparkling, pristine melodies of ‘Snowblind’ a dubby dance floor bias, and Mathew Jonson adds a live, shuffling drum and a deep bass to the angelic cacophony of harmonic chords that already dominate ‘Another Way’.
You've got to hand it to them for their energy. The pace of 'Henrietta' is frenetic throughout - and it's a lot of fun to dance around to. With the current overload of young post-punk rockers clamouring for attention in the UK, The Fratellis may have a difficult time standing out. This is a strong debut single though, so if things go right for them, they could be bumping shoulders with those pesky Monkeys and Chiefs in no time.
Always following trends rather than setting them, this annual definitive compilation for the WMC boasts Sander Kleinenberg’s cool electro/R&B grinder, ‘The Fruit’, Tiefschwarz’s dark bass ‘Issst’ and Roman Flugel’s wired techno stomper, ‘Geht’s Noch?’ They may be cashing in on the underground but at least the silicone-enhanced body fascists will have something decent to dance to this year.
Faithless return with their oddest single to date. Gone is the standard anthemic dance vibe, replaced by punk guitars, brass, pounding drums and even handclaps.
Those lucky people at Lo have happened on a set of recordings by the French 70s electronic disco freaks. ‘Ze After’ is classic Italo Disco, based on warm, squelchy grooves with a dance floor kick – especially ‘Coach Me’ and the rougher ‘I Regret The Flower Power’ – and melodies with an unquantifiable sadness.
Mobilee made its name with tripped out k-hole techno, but London-based Sleeper Thief is focusing on deeper tracks. ‘Full Of You’ starts off with jittery percussion, but progresses into a brooding piece of dancefloor groove. ‘Chasing Rainbow’ is more atmospheric, but once again, the growling bass and dissected percussion will satisfy the dance floor.
Whoever said old punks can’t dance had never heard of Dutch band Oil, who moonlight here as electro producers. With the same white boy guitar, nasal whine and indie strut that Happy Mondays used to sell before things got too druggy, ‘Crack…’ sees the boys’ track bubble with Italo melodies and benefit from a menacing EBM remix from Kid Goesting.
Cajun Dance Party, the band most likely to be sent to the headmaster’s office for being too twee, know all about youthful abandon – they're currently studying for their A-Levels.
What good would summer be, if it weren’t accompanied by a soundtrack of optimistic four-pieces from British university towns going all retro on our ass with their jangly guitar pop?
It wouldn’t be good at all, is the answer. It might be filled with some more meaningful music that wasn’t uninhibitedly derivative.
But, who can dance like an idiot in the park to The Mars Volta? This is why it’s okay for The Dodgems to exist, but for the summer only.
The EBM influence is creeping back into club music and this release, by a Russian artist, integrates robotic, industrial beats and cold, stark rhythms with warm techno chords on ‘Contemplation’. It’s slower than the average techno club track, but, as dance music’s categories become increasingly redundant, that’s immaterial.
Sweden’s premier female singer-songwriter, apparently, Miskovsky has already enjoyed success as co-writer of a Backstreet Boys hit. Here she demonstrates her talents on the breezy acoustic pop of ‘A Brand New Day’, the Shania Twain-like ‘You Dance Just Like Me’ and the melodramatic balladry of ‘Butterfly Man’.
Ironically (or, more likely, deliberately) it takes all of five seconds before the new Scissor Sisters' single awakens in you the urge to get up and dance like a crazy sugar-filled loon. Elton John plays on the track, which is fitting as it is the most Elton John-sounding song the man never wrote himself – lots of ‘70s glam disco flourishes that should guarantee it a place at the top of the charts.
Released on Delsin, Europe’s main flag carrier for the melancholic end of the Motor City spectrum, this album rarely raises the tempo to dance floor level, but Ross compensates with shining, glimmering production that has echoes of Model 500 and Carl Craig.
Northern Ireland’s biggest dance outfit have enjoyed considerable success since the crossover hit ‘El Nino’ in 1998, and currently feature on several Ibiza compilations.
Remember when dance producers weren’t afraid to cut and paste different sounds and styles to create great music? Scandal Inc remember the good old days, as ‘Good Look’ sets old elements, including an infectious hip house rap, haunting electro chords and a classic house vocal sample to a modern track.
Their uncanny ability to blend pop, dance and disco styles with infectious, hummable melodies shows no sign of deserting them. This latest cut taken from their hugely popular Ta Dah album blends Hi NRG rhythms with big power chords and a damn fine tune to boot. Think Blondie’s ‘Call Me’ blended with Duran Duran’s ‘Rio’ and you’re not far off the mark.
Pulling every epic indie trick in the book, Boy Kill Boy come across like a more serious version of the Kaiser Chiefs. So ‘Back Again’ is dabbled in pop tunefulness, whilst front man Chris Peck’s soaring vocal remains franticly over-earnest. It makes for a gem to dance to while drunk. But a spin on the stereo reveals this to be more of the same Britrock drivel, from an act to file under ‘never-gonna-happen’.
Perhaps I’m placing too many expectations upon the nine tracks that made the final cut, but suffice it to say that were it not for nostalgic value, this might well have been the album the discography forgot. Die-hard fans might well be appeased but for anyone seeking cutting edge, grab-you-by-the-cochlea dance music, then you won’t find it in this release.
Claude Von Stroke has come to prominence with a string of sleazy, jacking house releases, so how will his dance floor work stand up over the course of an album? Thankfully, he avoids the mistake of veering into downtempo fluffiness and in the main steers the album through the primal, repetitive pulses he is best known for. Von Stroke's version of Frankie's 'Bullshit' is rough, raw and minimal, but he's at his strongest when he's making bumpy, repetitive tracks like 'The Whistler'.
No, it’s not The Police making a dramatic comeback. But you could be forgiven for thinking Sting and the boys had gotten together again when you first hear Luke Jenners' singing on the new single from the New York electro-punks. Expectations are high for the band’s next album, Pieces Of The People We Love, due in September. ‘Get Myself Into It’ lacks the serrated groove of hits such as ‘House Of Jealous Lovers’. Still, its staccato reggae tinged chorus will make sure it’s another dance-floor filler.
Last year’s ‘We Are Monster’ album showed that Isolee-aka-Rajko Mueller was capable of more than just dance floor abandon, so it seems strange that he takes a step backwards for the follow up.
Shore is far superior to most minimal releases – it is doubtful that many of the hyped names could even sustain their sound over 12 tracks – and Mueller’s love of sensuous deep house (on ‘Initiate 2’ and ‘I Owe You’) as well as sparse acid (’Surfers’) means the album isn’t just a succession of glitches and clicks.
The Nashville foursome The Mavericks breezed into our lives with the unstoppably classy pop hit 'Dance The Night Away' which has gone on to become a permanent staple on our radio stations.
After two years and two limited releases, the Evil Harrisons finally hit their stride in spectacular fashion. Six tracks on a debut single may seem to be a bit presumptuous but, like The Rags before them, they exude the confidence to make it all sound effortless. The pick of the bunch is ‘Some Grand Plan’, a bizarre clash of guitars, vocals that sound like Bob Dylan having a go at rapping and a shuffling dance beat.
The other five tracks are no slouch either, displaying an equally admirable disregard for convention. With both 8Ball and The Rags themselves gone AWOL, this might just be the lot to do it.
Call it the shitegeist. In times of war and pestilence, art gets decadent, and all we wanna do is dance. Scissor Sisters are a tight little NY combo who apply rock dynamics to disco’s lust for the transcendent dance.
We should always make room in our lives for a bunch of eccentric Brazilians peddling their own brand of down and dirty dance music, and just because CSS happened to pop up first doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t give Bonde Do Role a bash. Their own particular remit is a mad take on funk carioca, the sound of Rio De Janeiro’s shanty towns, and one that mixes old skool hip-hop with punishing electro (courtesy of M.I.A. collaborator Diplo) and comically dirty shout-rapped Portuguese lyrics. Solta O Frango translates as Release The Chickens, which is all you need to know.
From the opening bars, you can tell that Soap Opera is the work of a rare talent rather than one of the myriad of faceless producers inspired by Basic Channel. Grummich has developed a distinctive style within the minimal canon and his spiky beats, gnarled bass and deconstructed percussive slivers underpin every track. Irrrespective of whether he is chilling with hypnotic numbers like ‘Incoming’ and ‘Orange Moon’, or going for the dance floor jugular with the mad time signatures of recent single ‘A Roboter’ and the insistent ‘The Animal’, a bold experimental approach defines this mini-masterpiece.
It was a safe bet that this year’s CREAMFIELDS festival at Punchestown racecourse would be the dance event of the year. hotpress brings you the vibe and the visuals. Photos: ROGER WOOLMAN
What happens when trip-hop producers stop making credible dance music? On the evidence of James Lavelle’s new Unkle album, they start churning out radio-friendly rock music.
Like the cityscape that confronts her when she looks out her apartment window in Berlin, Damero’s introspective songs constantly evolve. Containing elements of trance, remnants of ‘80s German pop and dreamy techno, she weaves a hypnotic tapestry based on shifting tones and textures rather than dance floor tempos. It’s hard to work out what she’s singing about because it’s mainly in German, but the understated vocals suit the fragile, playful arrangements. After all, in Damero’s monochrome, soft-focus world, staying in the shadows and speaking in code equates to happiness.
Arriving with an armful of Arctic Monkeys connections (management, tours, hometown, early bands), Reverend And The Makers are fortunately far more than another bunch of soundalikes. Their sound is rooted more deeply in dance and funk, with the backing to their debut single proving to be one of those you know it but you don’t bass lines from some or other ‘80s track (The Jam? Teardrop Explodes?). As the title suggests, self-confidence is not an issue and that would be one thing they do share with Turner & co, as well as a love of John Cooper Clarke (who appears on the b-side). Good idea, whether it’ll carry or disappear commercially is hard to call at the moment.
Cast your mind back a year to the release of Warm Leatherette, one of 1980's most misunderstood albums. The critics who scoffed, were looking at the intriguingly ridiculous cover rather than listening to the hot and heavy dance music on the record.
Holy hell, which genius thought this up? ‘Nightjoy’ is as anthemic as it is innovative, layered as it is accessible, as easy to dance to as it is listen to. It is, in fact, a re-recorded version of the Geordie band’s first ever single, which was originally released two years ago on The Immediate’s label Fantastic Plastic. But it’s not dated a day: with Interpol-y guitars and The Automatic’s sense of urgency and melody, it’s just begging for dancefloors across the world over to be filled right this second. B-sides ‘That Pop Carry On’ and ‘Furious’ are worth a listen too, especially as they’re recorded with Justin Lockey of yourcodenameis:milo.
London DJ/producer Will Saul first came to prominence as a breaks DJ, but thankfully, he has subsequently expanded his canon to include seductive house and deep, dubby techno. On ‘Space’, his debut album, he adds some unusual flavours – including African instrumentation – to create a rounded work that has echoes of Mathew Jonson, Charles Webster and the London breaks mafia. So many dance producers talk about making a proper artist album but invariably fail to deliver.
Featuring multiple mixes each of three songs, All Your Life/Sweet Love is an absolute gem of an EP by arch Irish musicians David Bickley of Hyper[boreal] and Ferus O’Farrell of Interference. These stunning tracks – put together in O’Farrell’s studio on the remote West Cork coast – blend O’Farrell’s beautiful folk vocals into some seriously spacey electronica/funky dance beats. Individually, Bickley and O’Farrell are geniuses in their own right; what they’ve created together brings their gifts to a whole new plane.
“Forget what you know about Kelly Osbourne,” screams the accompanying press release. “Get ready for a surprise.” Certainly the '80s dance club vibe which proliferates throughout is an unexpected shift in direction for the young Osbourne.
In the main, it’s an understated affair, with the exception of the stuttering, typically Bpitch dance floor groove of ‘Sucker Pin’ and the smoky, evocative collaboration with Paul St Hillaire.
Kirk De Giorgio’s used to release beautifully fragile dance floor music as As One, and the mid-’90s ‘Reflections’ and ‘Celestial Soul’ albums were responsible for getting me into techno music in the first place. Nowadays, As One favours a jazzier, more live sound, but each production on ‘Folklore 2’ exudes a warmth that sets it apart from wine bar jazz banality. ‘Blueshift’ is a tripped out electro funk that makes nods to Herbe Hancock’s back catalogue, while ‘It’s All Turning Blue’ and ‘Irradiant’ use airy Detroit strings’n’synths to guarantee DeGiorgio’s funk meanderings are magical rather than mundane.
Coldcut have been around since the dawn of dance music and, while they have a propensity to dabble in dull multimedia ‘projects’, this new album resonates on a number of levels.
Sound Mirrors has crossover potential, with the bluesy vocals of ‘Man In A Garage’ and the orchestral ‘Walk A Mile In My Shoes’ outdoing Air or Zero.
More importantly though, Coldcut are sick of electronic music’s inability to make political statements: Mirrors rails against corrupt international aid agencies on ‘Aid Dealer’, and the senseless destruction of the environment on the old school house-pianos-meets-jungle bass of ‘Island Earth’. They are right-on, tree-hugging hippies, but these days, we need Coldcut more than ever.
...or at least a fan of dance music: rumours that Creamfields '02 was off, are scotched as Faithless and Underworld among others are confirmed for the late August bash
What started out as a burlesque dance troupe in LA’s Viper Room and is now the biggest girl pop/R’n’B sensation on the planet certainly gives value for money.
Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge are widely credited for making dance music that indie kids can groove to. Their last album Melody AM, and especially the hit singles ‘Poor Leno’ and ‘Eple’, saw the Norwegian duo heralded as the future of ‘intelligent’ dance.
By now you’re probably aware that Arctic Monkeys really are as good as everyone’s making out. If you’re still sceptical, then just give ‘When The Sun Goes Down’ a whirl.
Confident, edgy, intelligent, witty – this is a record to get genuinely excited about. With a nod to Pete Doherty, front man Alex Turner drops observations on the seedier sides of life. In particular, he has a knack for breathing life into the characters he sings about. Like The Libertines, there’s a dark romantic undertone throughout. Impressive as previous singles ‘Fake Tales Of San Francisco’ and ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor’ were, this is a great leap forward. The fact that Turner is still in his teens merely adds to how exciting their future looks. What a band.
Listening to the echoing sound, the unbalanced mix and the sounds of tapping feet bleeding in through the microphones, you'd swear you were down in your local dance hall
"Today the world is top-heavy with information. Humans are losing instinct and are like domestic animals without masters. Dance is the only way to restore the senses to a body in crisis." - Oguri
This compilation on new label Remote Audio brings together some of the more daring explorations of the style, combining tough dance floor shapes with blissed-out electronic textures
Those who were thrilled by Brazilian producer Gui Boratto’s nouveau techno-trance releases like ‘Arquipelago’ and ‘The Rising Evil’ won’t be disappointed by his debut album. It further showcases his fist pumping style with the buzzsaw bass of ‘Terminal’, the menacing ‘Gate 7’ and the brooding title track, but it’s clear Boratto isn’t content with dance floor abandon. The symphonic ‘Scene 1’ and the soft-focus piano ambience of ‘Mala Strana’ hint that he wants to escape being just another anonymous techno producer. This desire is given full vent with the acoustic groove of ‘Xilo’ and the live, post-punk drums and indie vocals of ‘Beautiful Life’, which sets the tone for an imminent indie-techno explosion this year.
IT WASN'T too long ago that the use of the words 'Irish' and 'dance' in close proximity were enough to conjure up nightmarish images of hearty young lads and lasses hurtling round a community centre to the rousing strains of 'The Siege of Ennis'.
The predominant sound on Fire is of the grungy dance floor techno persuasion Vath himself spins, but there's light relief of 'Je t'aime' and the deep house of 'Cala Llonga'
The Munich label continues to put their music where their mouth is, with a slew of quality EPs and albums maintaining their status as one of Europe’s leading dance labels
Having been available for the past four years as a white label 12”, Tim Wheeler’s collaboration with legendary dance producer Arthur Baker is finally receiving a commercial release.
'Spring Themes' sees Lee focus on deeply textured, spacey sounding material, but this time round the low profile producer has gone the extra mile and injected his compositions with a previously lacking dance floor feel.
The dance media may be calling 2000 ‘the year of hard house’, but for those of us who aren’t obsessed with inventing new fads, this will always be remembered as the year when UK garage and r’n’b broke out from the underground and stamped its Gucci loafers all over the charts, driving its BMW convertible through the clubbing mainstream and pouring its Dom Perignon all over the charts.
LCD Soundsystem's recent single, 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House', is really, really good.
Sadly, the same can't be said of the Parisian dance duo who inspired it.
Aided and abetted by a host of session musicians it consists largely of extended pieces with dreamy, atmospheric textures, ambient dance rhythms and choral-like vocals
Aided and abetted by a host of session musicians it consists largely of extended pieces with dreamy, atmospheric textures, ambient dance rhythms and choral-like vocals
Head Automatica’s 2004 debut Decadence was a dance-rock extravaganza. For the follow-up, former Glassjaw frontman Daryl Polumbo has crafted an altogether poppier affair, full of Fall Out Boy-style harmonies, meaty riffs and powerful choruses.
Albums like this should in theory be reviewed in our main section, but the Back To Mine albums are marketed as post-clubbing chill-out sessions for the dance market.
Following a strong start with a slew of slickly produced soul/dance singles, including 'All Around The World' and 'This Is The Right Time', Lisa Stansfield has failed to live up to her initial promise as a soul diva of substance.
To be the honest, the history of Madonna remixes has been a chequered one. Even during her last golden period, every ‘Like A Prayer’ or William Orbit overhaul of ‘Justify My Love’ was followed by another dull as dishwater 4/4 dance mix of some other tune. Such trepidation, however, can be dismissed when approaching this impressive seven-track collection.
Collections should sometimes carry a health warning.
Temple Records are responsible for this release, a gabháilful of fine musicians, most with Scottish roots, purveying a snakecharmer's mix of slow airs, songs and dance tunes, played on Scotland's stalwart instruments. And that's where the Surgeon General needs to step, centrestage, scalpel in hand.
If anyone's going to represent the break beat scene in all its various hues and shapes then it's Rennie Pilgrem. After all, the TCR boss has been involved in breakbeat driven dance music since day one, releasing hardcore bombs like 'Comin' On Strong'.
Despite his qualifications, Selected isn't a brand new artist album, but a collection of his finest moments to date.
MOGWAI
Red Box, Dublin
Well, you can’t dance to them. Big, singalong choruses aren’t really their thing either. And the only movement on stage comes when they move from standing still to sitting down. So what do you actually do at a Mogwai gig?
It's been half a decade since Robert Hood's first Nighttime World installment. In the interim, the minimal sound the former UR member pioneered on benchmark releases like 'Minimal Nation' and 'Internal Empire' has been squeezed dry of all innovation by hordes of copyists, but the jazzy, musical leanings on Nighttime World are still relevant to forward thinking dance music.
Iron Maiden's past few years have seen something of a creative rebirth, with the return of their prodigal lead vocalist and 2003’s impressive Dance Of Death, culminating in this, their 14th studio record, and one that easily matches up to their best work.
Seven hours and ten DJs later, it seems clear at this, the first Smirnoff Experience since the summer break, that dance music is in shockingly good health
The voice of Stardust’s massive hit ‘Music Sounds Better With You’ Benjamin Diamond has the perfect tones for dirty dance anthems, but nothing here comes close to former glory.
In an unusually frank interview, Dave Clarke talks legal wrangles, crap trance, techno survivalism and government sponsored drug conspiracies. Richard Brophy listens in amazement.
I don't know whether the labyrinthine beauty and complexity of contemporary dance music has trained my ear into high expectations, but nowadays rock, pop and punk has to be top class for me to find it remotely interesting. And I'm afraid this latest offering from Green Day – their first album in three years – just doesn't cut the mustard.
Blessed with one of the most powerful and distinctive voices in British dance/pop Heather Small was always a likely candidate for a solo career once M People ran out of steam.
Devon-based DJ collective Elevator Suite purvey a kitschy blend of loungcore pop that at times recalls the studied retro chic of Air – albeit with much more emphasis on the dance floor than the Gallic duo.
SO YOU reckon dance music is dull, repetitive and only marginally more fun to listen to outside of a club environment than a Black & Decker power drill.
Well, if 2 Unlimited and their thousand zillion beat per minute chums are your yardstick, I'd have to agree.
SO YOU reckon dance music is dull, repetitive and only marginally more fun to listen to outside of a club environment than a Black & Decker power drill.
Well, if 2 Unlimited and their thousand zillion beat per minute chums are your yardstick, I'd have to agree.
More than Leftfield, more than Underworld, it was Orbital that managed to translate dance music into a form acceptable to studious (ale drinking) big brothers all over the land
Armstrong has been canny enough to make this more than just the soundtrack to an imaginary movie, the frequent instrumentals combining a massive cinematic scope with the ambition of the best left-field rock and dance artists
Recorded before an intimate crowd in the appropriately named Café de la Dance in Paris in 2006, this stripped-down all-acoustic affair showcases what is arguably Harte’s strongest point – her crystal-clear voice.
You can forget just how central a role Jah Wobble played in post punk pop: as Lydon’s accomplice in PiL; as the dub symphonist of the Primals’ ‘Higher Than The Sun’; as the provider of a blueprint for Madonna’s ge-henna’d Salomé dance routines by way of ‘Visions Of You’ with Sinéad and The Invaders Of The Heart.
Unable to convince as a purveyor of Norah Jones-like smoky jazz (when it’s obvious that Katie Melua doesn’t smoke) or indeed as a jigging teen idol (when it’s obvious she doesn’t dance), tonight the temptation is to dismiss the weird collision of mood-changes on offer here (from anti-war ballads to skat versions of ‘The Love Cats’ to Georgian folk ballads sung in the mother tongue) as a case of talent being spread way, way too thin.
The opening track on Bay Area goth/metal/punk outfit AFI’s new effort beckons us to join them in their macabre dance of thrash melodies and is the first indication of a simple hardcore album being fed to the sharks of over-production.
On the surface, the most amazing thing about the Chemical Brothers in 2005 is that they’re still here. Having been tied in with a big beat scene that, by its very nature, was never destined to last for that long, they have emerged to remain standing tall while the dance movement crumbles around them.
After the initial five minute sequence of bass notes, gradually building in volume, Wobble gave a nod to his drummer and the percussion kicked in. Feet that had tapped began to dance as bodies swayed to the rhythm.
Criticising dance acts for not playing live is a bit like slagging dogs for their inability to fly, but this is the first time I’ve been at a gig where the headliners’ presence isn’t required.
Unless Tom and Ed are triggering the giant clouds of dry ice or pointing the lasers at the balcony, their contribution to tonight’s proceedings is somewhere between zero and fuck all.
So far, think classic '80s Depeche Mode, The Young Gods, Nine Inch Nails, Faithless and Death in Vegas - good goth/dance/pomp rock/freaked out fusion stuff - all shouty and melodramatic but still sweet and smooth
On first listen, the debut album from New York-born Anastacia comes across as fairly innocuous stuff. Not That Kind is comprised of twelve ditties ranging across rock, R ‘n’ B and dance styles.
Each track is a distinct little hit-single, destined for the global Saturday night dancefloor. Some are too twee for my taste, pure bubble-gum, but most of these songs are much deeper and smarter than your average poppy dance tune, with lyrics that reward repeated listening, and a plethora of up-front musical references that read like an encylopaedic history of excellent pop.
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.
For much of the past decade one of the most common mantras heard was from unreconstructed Rock bands claiming that there'd always been a dance element to their music.
Not content with merely nudging a fledgling Skint Records along the way to being one of the world's most successful dance imprints, the avuncular Damian Harris has obviously been determined all along to wow us with more than just his business skills.
One of Ireland's most beloved dance emporiums has shut its doors, blaming plummeting CD sales. But it may soon be back, as a vinyl-only store. Is the future of music retail in Ireland?
Dance music far too often falls into one of two extreme camps - either anal-retentive 'underground values, maaan' or else cheesy, commercial Ibiza-anthems hell.
Ambient but not a dance album, modern-classical without any of the academic seriousness or rigidity that connotes, and finally a world-beating, thoroughly modern pop record, this marvellous debut from Dubliner Daniel Figgis is an impressionistic gem.
A couple of recent outdoor parties on a beach in north County Dublin have proved that there’s life in the old rave dog yet. We won’t mention the location in case there are any members of An Garda Siochana reading, but suffice to say global warming can’t be all that bad a concept if it enables over 1,500 techno loons to dance until dawn on a Dublin beach in April and May.
World Without End is a dance with the dead, a seance of lost souls, a slow waltz with the dark side of human nature. If that sounds like something you’d sooner avoid, then stop and listen with an open mind.
In all, YES! is an unexpected joy, a heady, discombobulating cocktail of rock opera, obstinate punk and feel-good dance vibes. Ignore, if you will, the fact that Do Me Bad Things were ‘discovered’ by the same people that ‘discovered’ The Darkness. For all its calorific riffing and Rocky Horror-esque psychedelia, the true beauty of this record is its newness (as opposed to the novelty) factor. ‘Liv Ullman On Drums’ (featuring, bizarrely, Tom Shotton on drums) is an incredible ragout of ‘70s cop show theme music with hair metal, while ‘Time For Deliverance’ is a spine-tingling AC/DC inspired-Broadway musical number.
Hey, it was messy out there. Nine evenings of dance music across town. Incessant surprises from DJs and the local dance practitioners. The collective shebang was called Digital Belfest, a development from the rock-tastic Belfest events that take place here on regular occasions.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to describe UK garage genii Artful Dodger as the most exciting dance act to emerge since Orbital first got our jaws dropping back in the early 1990s. Welding state-of-the-art technology to a pure pop sensibility, the production duo of Mark Hill and Pete Devereux have racked up four blistering hit singles in a year.
Some good news for clubbing fans – the annual 12 hour dance marathon at Fairyhouse Racecourse is to go ahead in the summer. And this time, it’s got a brand new name.
Sticking to the template that has worked so well in the past (even the press release describes their approach as a “straightforward formula”) means it’s back to the soaring ballads with the odd mid-tempo dance pop-tune and the carefully calculated cover.
Trent Reznor’s working in the wrong field: he makes gothic metal records, with nods to electronic dance music and IDM. He should be making electronic/IDM records, with (perhaps) the occasional shade of heavy metal.
And you can dance to them too, they said way back, and it was the truth. Talking Heads are one of the perfect marriages of modern rock'n'roll. They don't just sound of angles, perspectives and prisms of thought, they actually mean something! And dey got riddim too!! Ah yes, David Byrne is a fellow who knows what it is to be ridden by an angst, and to make it jumpy and funky and fun!
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
NOT FOR the first time, Ireland's echoing America in its current musical climate. Meat 'n' potatoes rock is, if not dead, then dozing, leaving the pop-kids and dance instructors calling the shots.
To most clubbers Smirnoff Experience has become synonymous with cutting edge club-nights all around Ireland, representing house, progressive, trance and, tonight, the harder end of dance music
To The 5 Boroughs resists academic exegesis or undue analysis. It is what it is, and what it is is a vibrant, inventive and engaged piece of work. In the words of Grandpa Burroughs, it ain’t no sin to take off your skin and dance around in your bones.
Body Language is a fair to middling dance pop record that might go down easier if the listener wasn’t aware of how innovative and imaginative Kylie Minogue can be. Right now, she’s stuck halfway between Erotica and Evita, peddling PVC when we need fake leopardskin and warm leatherette.
The glitter cannon has been primed. The pyrotechnics are sorted, likewise a series of 40 foot video screens. A massive sound system will have been freighted in from London. And at midnight on New Year's Eve, a Shine club special at the King's Hall in Belfast will be hailed by much noise and a computerised system sequencing animation, music and samplers - a millennium shindig that's likely to be the best of its kind in Ireland
WHAT KIND of a fucking country are we living in when a publican will offer up to £600 to babes who dance topless on the premises, only to be assailed by a cacophony of dog's abuse?
Planetlove has always represented the best of Irish dance culture. Now celebrating its tenth anniversary, the event is going from strength to strength.
Belfast’s Alloy Mental on supporting New Order at a pre-retirement gig in Liverpool ahead of the release of their debut album and the latest dance news.
The godfather of the modern Irish gothic tradition, Patrick McCabe, has released what critics are hailing as his darkest, and arguably finest, novel yet, Winterwood.
Some offbeat and delinquent music from two weirdos from Sydney and a Canadian exchange student: in the world of Gerling, all is permitted, nothing is taken seriously. This debut album sees them unleash their wilful experimentation, executed under the scrawled motto of 'D-construct popular culture.'
Chicago house label Guidance have a bit of a following amongst “those who know”. And why not? Apart from a couple of misses, their output is generally on-point in a very non-threatening kind of way.
STEREO MC’S
HQ, Dublin
It’s certainly been a while, but the Stereo MC’s remain the same. To witness the pale spectre of main man Rob Birch as bouncy and baggy-trousered as ever, alongside the familiar gap-toothed smile of singer Cath Coffey – well, it’s like 1992 all over again.
As the summer festival season goes into overdrive, Richard Brophy talks to Slam's Stuart Mc Millan about his involvement in the T in the Park knees up in Scotland next month.
Nobody's record collection is ever truly finished, but you can reach a stage of your life where you can be pretty sure you've got a song to hand for every day of the week and every swoop and soar of the heart and body.
KMLA ARE a band who have no difficulty articulating a vision and a sound that?s at one and the same time intrinsically Irish yet insistent in glancing outward at the shapes and colours of music from all over the globe. Rossa O?Snodaigh, one of Kmla?s main movers and shakers sees roots music?s popularity as an inevitable result of the disillusionment with pop and rock formats.
DONAL SCANNELL of Quadrophonic Records responds to a recent Phantom item
which criticised his late now departed Insomnia show on the former Radio Ireland.
French underground veteran I:Cube on launching his own label, collaborating with Daft Punk and RZA, and the diverse influences which inform his excellent new album.
They have the tunes to back up their enigmatic image, and it looks like ¡Forward, Russia! will be storming the Winter Palace of indie rock before you can say “Lenin”.
While the likes of Cream and Ministry Of Sound have struggled, Belfast superclub Shine continues to go from strength to strength. Barry O’Donoghue reports on one of Irish dance’s big success stories
They’re middle-class Irish boys who aren’t afraid to get their funk on '70s style. Meet Kill City Defectors, Kildare’s answer to Red Hot Chili Peppers.
So famous in Chicago that they've named a day after him, Frankie Knuckles has used his position as the world's top house DJ to highlight the cause of people living with HIV.
New York house DJ/producer Junior Sanchez has joined forces with Dutch techno prodigy Laidback Luke to create Riot Society’s impressive ‘Understand Me’.
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.
Producer and musician Daniel Lanois talks about turning his latest album into a film, cutting out the middleman to distribute his own music, and why he's fascinated by Michael Jackson's feet.
He may be a high profile DJ with his own Saturday night show on 2FM, but in his heart Conor G will forever be 15. Just ask his parents who have thousands of his records in their front room!l Photography by Emily Quinn.
May 2nd 1998, Liverpool superclub CREAM make their first foray into the festival world with their star-studded Creamfields all-dayer.
RICHARD BLAGGER BROPHY talks to Cream promoter JAMES BARTON about the event.
Resistance Isn't Futile
EAMON SWEENEY reports on Detroit's pivotal Underground Resistance label, and the controversy ignited when Sony released a 'cover version' of one of the label's best-known tracks.
Norman Jay may have been accused of pandering to the establishment when he accepted an MBE – but he’s still fired by a love of the underground, and a desire to change things.
These words of wisdom belong to jim kerr, a working-class boy from Glasgow who proved that he was as good at scamming it as the next man. Now he's back for one more shot with the new Simple Minds album Neapolis. Interview: colm o'hare.
