Beats 'n' Pieces: Courting Controversy

There was much ado about a recent Deadmau5 interview by Ciara Cunnane published in the Daily Star. The aspiring hack (a notable DJ around Dublin) cleverly kept the recording of his rant against the fuss made over DJs whose talents he dismissed as merely playing two tunes at the same speed.

Labelling such operators ‘f***ing c***s’ was, in my opinion, a great way of getting headlines with an album to promote, but others (the less cynical, for example) have argued that it was not such a wise move.
Some of the red-hot Canadian producer’s fans have been busying internet forums, furious that he launched a stinging attack on the very people whose support ensured he had sold out three Irish venues (Trinity Rooms, GPO and Tripod) on his first visit here this month.
He is entitled to his opinion, however, and his music remains a tech-house zeitgeist. Life’s too short to get too worked up over the comments of someone who wears a strobe-lit cartoon mouse-head for a living.
The ‘Not Exactly’ creator’s impressive long-player, Random Album Title, is a compilation of his best bits so far alongside a few new tracks, and it will be followed by what he calls a ‘proper’ artist album debut in 2009.
Northern Irish expat Fergie has been hard at it, completing remixes of Jet Project’s ‘Do It Like This’, Namito’s ‘City of Gods’ and Umek’s ‘Gatex’.
The Excentric label founder has also got reworkings of Christian Smith and James Lavelle’s UNKLE in the pipeline. The Fergster’s next homecoming gig is at Shine in Belfast on December 6.
Former reality TV star Fran Cosgrave has announced he will be launching his own label Komanchiville next year. Fran’s first single, ‘Sextoy’, is on Kid Massive’s acclaimed London house stamp Audiodamage Records, but its release has been put back until December 15.
Fran has also just remixed Sugababes’ ‘Girls’ along with the Audiodamage Allstars.
Dublin-based label Amalgam Audio’s third outing is ‘Gravity’ from New Jersey’s M Ocean, a deep and intense tech-house groove accompanied by a respectfully beefed-up Boshell & Cody remix.
Amalgam’s parent label Omnis recordings, meanwhile, is up to single number 38 with Manuel de la Mare’s cover version of Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’. Watch this one fly.
Mark O’Sullivan has released the marvellous ‘Ghosts of Acid’, which boasts remixes from Stockholm’s Thoverstam and Japan’s Katsuhiko.
Donegal duo Timmy & Tommy follow their globe-conquering ‘Full Tiltin’ single next month with the bass-propelled monster ‘Mixtape’, which features two seismic remixes from the ubiquitous Canadian DJ Preach.
Dublin hard trance DJ Andy Richmond has two new tracks out this month on his Dirty Stop Outs label (through trackitdown.net). ‘Sat Nav’ and ‘Daddy’ do the necessary damage.
New from the ever-prolific Monad stamp is Omnicolor’s ‘Wishful Thinking’, the work of Belgian DJproducer Benn Lian, whose recent ‘Hold On’ single was an online sales success.
Trance producer and DJ Paul Webster has been confirmed as a Gatecrasher resident at Tall Trees in the UK for 2009.
Earlier this month, Paul released his new single ‘Problems’, which comes with a remake from John Gibbons and Scimon Tist.
Gibbons and Tist will themselves launch their Club Educate label next month with their ‘Maktub’ single, a firm favourite of Scot Project.
“We’ve had a good few years working with the POD crew and have many happy memories, but it’s time for us to move on and try something new.”
So said Tayor and the Bodytonic team upon their sudden departure from the Harcourt Street club this month.
Their Pogo and Stereotonic nights will now share space on Saturdays at Twisted Pepper on Middle Abbey Street, where neighbouring venue The Academy has just launched Freaks on Saturday with Al Gibbs from FM104 and all of the old Spirit dancers.
Twisted Pepper’s official launch party will be on the weekend of November 6-8. There will be a live show from LA hip-hop stars Giant Panda and a DJ set from our most respected house DJs, Fish Go Deep.
Looking further ahead, RePublik in Waterford has announced its annual Fish Go Deep Christmas Party will take place across three rooms at Electric Avenue on St Stephen’s Night.
Planetlove has also announced its annual St Stephen’s Night party at King’s Hall, with the bill featuring Armin van Buuren, Lisa Lashes, Alex Kidd and John OSaturday. Meanwhile, trance producer Bryan Kearney has secured the best New Year’s Eve booking of any Irish DJ so far.
He will perform for 45,000 people in Melbourne at Telstra Dome alongside Marco V, Fedde le Grande and Erick Morillo (who plays in Castlebar on October 26) … THE BEAT GOES ON!