Beats & Pieces

The digital offshoot of Fish Go Deep and Mark O’Sullivan’s Ork Recordings imprint returns in the coming weeks with a double-headed disco-tech monster. It’s an all-Ireland affair that gives rising Dublin producer Liam Dunne (aka Lmd64) the freedom to reconstruct two of Cork’s finest combos – Stanley Super 800 and Exit: Pursued by a Bear.
The second release from Donegal’s rising electro-house duo Timmy & Tommy on their new Full Tilt stamp has just been released on promo ahead of full distribution later this month. A tried and tested anthem, ‘Sir Tuffner’ is beefed up by a fresh remix from Polish ace Greg Kobe.
Now settled in Barcelona, Chymera follows up his Irish Dance Music Award winning ‘Wish’ single on NRK with a two-track EP of slick and deep techno house, ‘2 Below’ and ‘Saphiron’.
The fifteenth single from Galway-based house stamp Elevation is a six-mix blend of deep house and deep techno from Belgian infographist Pedro Cali entitled ‘Patiente’.
Limerick student Phil Neary has signed two slamming hard trance tracks to the US label, Ocean Drive Records. ‘Gangway’ is released on March 10 and ‘Excimer’ follows on April 10.
Phil has also signed an electro-house EP to Receptive Records in England. Out on March 31,
the featured tracks are ‘Sax it Up’, ‘Rude Bass’ and ‘Katch Ya’.
German techno producer Arne Weinberg has remixed a track from an EP by Detroit legend Terrence Dixon for an April release by Dublin-based techno imprint Nice and Nasty. Other remixes follow from Octogen and Nasty Bobby.
Dublin trance producer Paul Webster’s remix of Lanai’s ‘Troubled Soul’ has just been released by Dutch label Captivating Sounds.
March 22 sees the launch of ‘The Good Lord EP’ from Dublin hip-hop club/label Scribble. Resident beat-master Kormac is hosting a party to celebrate at Pogo at PoD.
The March line-up at award-winning Portrush club Lush! is breath-taking. Danny Howells plays a four-hour set on March 8, Ferry Corsten spins for three hours a week later, and the Swedish mafia Axwell, Henrik B and Steve Angello jet in for the monster Easter Monday spectacular on March 24.
And with two successive bank holidays in March, clubs across the country are getting frantic lining up the big guns for the St Patrick’s and Easter celebrations.
Collective Music welcomes London pioneer Ben Sims to The Hub on Saturday March 15. Support comes from Electric City founder Giles Armstrong, whose own club brings its fifth birthday celebrations to a climax on Thursday March 13 at Wax. Gigolo Records lynchpin act DJ Hell will perform a three-hour set and tickets are €15 from Big Brother Records in Temple Bar.
Italian techno superstar and Meganite founder Mauro Picotto plays The Savoy in Cork on March 14, while in Galway on the same night hard dance queen Lisa Lashes and trance phenomenon John O’Callaghan are at GPO.
One half of Deep Dish, Washington DJ Sharam (of ‘PATT’ fame) will grace the hallowed DJ booth of Tripod in Dublin on March 16. Advance tickets are €25 (including booking fee). Elsewhere in the capital that night, Eddie Halliwell plays The Ambassador – this is guaranteed to sell out – and Tidy Boys and Scot Project both play The Vaults.
In Tralee, Horan’s welcomes Judgement Sunday hosted by Judge Jules and also featuring local hero Jonno Brien. Room two will be hosted by Clampdown DJs Johnny Moy and Arveene.
And in Waterford, Resistance comes out of retirement for a “warehouse” style party at its spiritual home Club Ten. Dave Clarke and Green Velvet have agreed to co-headline the bash with support from Phil Kieran, Alan Simms and the Resistance resident, Niall Power.
The Mezz room hosted by Republik is headlined by Donal Dineen with support from Gavin & Mac and Dave Bennett. Tickets are on sale now at BPM Records in Waterford and Wexford and via Ticketmaster.
On March 17, Under the Stairs at Hogan’s Bar will host its first all-day session. Guest DJs include David Kitt, Anya Stafford, Billy Scurry and Today FM’s Donal Dineen.
Legendary London club Turnmills has yet to officially announce the full line-up for its Last Dance weekend over Easter, but all three nights are almost sold out. Beats & Pieces hears Fatboy Slim and Chemical Brothers are both playing on Saturday March 22 and are doing the gig for free. See www.turnmills.co.uk for more details.
Easter in Dublin means the return of glamour house club Hed Kandi (and DJs Phil Faversham and Jim Breese) to Tripod. Advance tickets cost €22.85 including booking fee.
Ahead of all of that, Choice Cuts welcomes two hugely important hip-hop innovators, Peanut Butter Wolf and James Pants (from New York’s Stones Throw camp) to Crawdaddy on March 13.
Hip-hop fans can also look forward to the first ever Irish appearance of the Brooklyn maverick, DJ Spinna, on Sunday May 18 at 12 at the Bernard Shaw. Rumours abound that the Bodytonic crew running this hostelry are about to take over the lease on a leading Dublin city centre nightclub.
Ed Banger Records’ chart-topper Mr Oizo (christened Quentin Dupieux and best known for his 1999 number one ‘Flat Beat’) will perform at Dublin’s Tivoli Theatre on May 10. Tickets are on sale now from City Discs in Temple Bar and from www.tivoli.ie… THE BEAT GOES ON!