Tralee DJ Jonno Brien is fast emerging as one of the big international success stories of the year so far. The Kingdom’s award-winning spinner, a resident at Horan’s who runs his own club nights Fusion and Homegrown, got a taste of things to come when Dutch legend Marco V included O’Brien’s next Full Tile Recordings single ‘Be Alright’ on his new compilation Unfold Volume 3.

Since then, the Kerry native has signed ‘Jawbreaker’ to one of the world’s most renowned techno imprints, Naked Lunch, and has knocked out a white-hot bootleg mix of Leftfield & Lydon’s ‘Open Up’ that is being caned by Carl Cox, Marco V and Justin Robertson.
Beats & Pieces reckons its jockeys for position as O’Brien’s finest hour alongside his own composition ‘Rewind’, a bass-propelled Dubfire-styled fusion of house and techno that has been snapped up by hot French techno stamp Starstraxx that could be one of the big records in Ibiza this summer.
Northern trio Japanese Popstars– aka Decky, Gary and Gareth – are currently writing the follow-up to their much acclaimed Gung Ho album, We Just Are, the title track of which is being released as a single on May 18.
‘We Just Are (Finalizer)’ now comes in a full vocal version that has become a highpoint of their gigs.
In the meantime, We Just Are is being reissued on March 30 complete with a second CD of remixes, by this columnist’s reckoning the first Irish album ever to get such a release.
Trance phenomenon John O’Callaghan has revealed some of his favourite tracks on his forthcoming second album, Never Fade Away, which is released on Armin van Buuren’s Armada imprint in May.
“To be honest I really like all of the tracks on the album,” O’Callaghan said, “but for different reasons.
“Club-wise, ‘Broken’ is really getting huge reactions. I wanted at least one track on the album to have my tech-infused style that I am somewhat known for. And on the other hand, the album title track holds special meaning. I wrote that track as a completely instrumental ambient piece, which is really calming, and the soft vocals on top just broughe out the soul of the song even more.
“Another big one club-wise right is ‘Don’t Look Back’, where I tried a more old-skool trance sound. I tried to make it as simple as I could with some classic sounds, and the effect seems to have worked in the final track. I really can’t wait for the album to come out.”
The next outing on Dublin-based house label Monad Music is from Australian DJ/Producer Fulcrum aka Gavin Martin, who has been a permanent feature on Melbourne’s renowned party scene since 1996. His Stasis EP goes on sale this fortnight.
Desy Balmer’s Nice & Nasty label unleashes Orlando Voorn’s ‘The Beholder’ this month with remixes from Marco Bernardi and Cork ex-pat Mark O’Sullivan.
Midlands DJ Johnny Pluse teams up with XFM DJ Eddy Temple Morris’ band Losers on ‘No Shooe No Booze’. The b-side sees Pluse on a solo mission entitled ‘Radiators to Stun.
South Dublin native Marcus Lambkin – better known as Shit Robot – has almost completed work on his debut album for DFA, which will be released later this year. Its first single, ‘Simple Things (Work it Out)’ features vocals from Ian Svenonius of The Make Up, Nation of Ulysses and Weird War fame and is out this month. 
Northern house act Discount Rhinos have dabbled in disco on the glittering new single ‘Pills & Champagne’ on Bryan Spence’s Sharpie Style Records. Among the four storming mixes are a tech-infused pumper from Discount Rhinos and a sleazy electro bass workout from the always-exciting English crew Paul Anthony & ZYX.
Christian Boshell’s Amalgam Audio is about to release a tune from French house producer Da Fresh that has the amusing moniker of ‘The Frog’.
Belfast label Bass Division Music’s third single will be Paper Nation’s ‘Brand New Day’, described as “blissful summer house”. It came from the same studio as Northern DJ Jay Kay’s storming rendition of Lil Louis’ seminal ’80s house anthem ‘French Kiss’ which is available now from all the main online DJ stores.
Hard house don Karl Davis is releasing Pure NRG 2 next month, and the unmixed compilation album can be pre-ordered now from toolboxmusicshop.com. Davis plays three English clubs this month: Twist and Requiem in London and Hi-Oktane in Leeds.
Long-running Irish techno label, D1 Recordings, has just released Mark Broom’s deep and dubby Deal Or No Deal EP along with Make Up Tips for the Elephant Man Part 1 EP, which is the first part of a triple album from a mysterious Dublin producer Educution… THE BEAT GOES ON!