Larne lad Ryan Blair follows his acclaimed ‘Flapjack’ single on Ali Wilson’s hot Tekelec label with a fresh EP on the K90-owned Dataless stamp this fortnight. The Miracle Maker EP Part One features two uplifting trance scorchers, ‘Miracle Maker’ and ‘Just Relax’ and will be followed in April by Part Two. Ryan made his recording debut in 2006 remixing Lisa Lashes for her first Lashed single.
Belfast DJ Jay Kay is currently finishing off wicked remixes and productions for German label Peppermint Jam Records (the home of Mousse T and Boris Dlugosch) and Whoop! Recordings offshoot, Kinky Vinyl.
Two singles from Newtownards DJ Gordon Coutts have just gone on sale. Tech-trance anthem ‘Backstabb is out on Paul Van Dyk’s Vandit imprint, while the gorgeous British trance princess Claudia Cazacu has released and remixed Gordy’s ‘Zulu’ for her Couture stamp.
These singles follow hot on the heels of the County Down producer’s recent remix of Ben Nicky’s ‘Turn On’ single for Infexious.
Winners of Best Live Act at the IDMA in January, The Japanese Popstars are about to drop their ‘Delboy’s Revenge’ single on Gung-Ho!/Ministry Of Sound, to be followed in June by their debut album, We Just Are. The Northern trio recently signed to the ITB booking agency (home of Soulwax, Christina Aguilera and, eh, Whitesnake), and hope to announce a string of major festival dates soon.
Northern Irish star Gleave follows his massive 2007 ‘Firedevil’ single on Detox with a storming tech-trance double A-side pairing ‘Lights Out 2008’ with the pounding ‘Kick Break’. Mr Dobbin is also busy working on some electro-edged house tracks which he will be releasing under the pseudonym, Audio Rehab.
Gleave plays a house set at Belfast’s after-hours club Yello on April 19. Incidentally, the club welcomes back DTPM for its monthly residency on April 5.
The next release from Dubliner Barry Dempsey's Monad Music imprint is out on April 21. It’s a tribal progressive floorfiller from Greek producer and DJ Bobby Deep entitled ‘Warriors’.
Lisburn DJ Mandy Reid, who has been tipped for the top in 2008 by Carl Cox and Paul van Dyk, has remixed John O’Callaghan’s ‘Rotterdam’ and it’s out now on Sander Van Doorn’s label Doorn Records. The track has also been remixed by Dubliner Bryan Kearney and Donegal duo Timmy & Tommy, who called their version the ‘Rotterkenny mix’ after home town Letterkenny.
The pair will be unleashing the third single on their Full Tilt stamp on April 18. ‘Full Tiltin’ is a big-room electro-house anthem which is causing a huge stir on promo thanks to its monstrous remix from Joint Operations Centre, the techno alter-ego of John O’Callaghan.
British DJ Chris Hampshire – owner of the Recover stable of nine labels – has just knocked out a tech-trance mix album Dark Sessions which features four Irish tracks including the previously unreleased Mr Spring’s ASM6502 Mix of John O’Callaghan’s ‘The Assembler’.
The bad news for Springer fans, however, is that his new ‘Not For Rent EP’ is a promo-only release being circulated to European labels and radio. However, as is always the case with such product, there is always eBay.
Leeside-born Corrugated Tunnel has delivered a deep hi-tek soul mix of Rob Hawk’s ‘It’s Jungle’ for Desy Balmer’s new label Dublin Xpress Recordings, which opens its account in May.
The third single from Al Keegan’s fast rising AciiTone Digital label is the Saber Force EP from Belfast techno crew Jet Project and it’s out now, as is the Good Lord EP, the fifth effort from Bodytonic’s Scribble stamp. A five-track EP, it’s the second strike from the Scribble club’s on-fire resident Kormac.
A native of Tubbercurry in County Sligo, John Kearns is now living in Leeds where his music career is starting to take off. The winner of a Creamfields DJ competition back in 2002, John’s first single ‘Little San’ is on Digital Jaxx Recordings under the guise of Lateral Cut Groove.
Pogo celebrates three years of Saturday nights at the PoD on April 19, with Modern Love’s Mark Stewart performing a Claro Intelecto live set and Assquake’s DJ Godfather taking over the live room to promote his For the Freaks mix CD.
Dutch DJ legend Tiesto will be performing an open-air concert early in August in the greater Dublin area, Hot Press can exclusively reveal.
And finally, the full line-up for the second annual Planetlove Summer Session at Fairyhouse Racecourse, Ratoath, County Meath will be announced this fortnight, so keep your eyes on hotpress.com for the big announcement. There will be seven arenas this year and more than 50 DJs, with discounted early bird tickets at the 2007 price of e69.95 currently on sale exclusively from planetlovemusic.com.
One DJ definitely confirmed for the 12-hour marathon is Bryan Kearney. The tech-trance producer will be recording his first mix album at the festival. The CD will be the next in the renowned Live As… series on Discover… THE BEAT GOES ON!