Beats + Pieces

FM’s Mark McCabe has been speaking to hotpress about the long awaited release of his debut album Music From The Fourth Place, on Universal Records. Due in the spring, the album marks a dramatic shift in style from his previous work – with “a couple of singer/songwriter numbers” mixed in with the broken beats and laidback grooves – and the opus will be preceded by a single in January that features Gandhi on vocals. It’s likely that the album will not be released under McCabe’s own name, as he attempts to lose the image of teen dance DJ which has been a millstone around his neck since ‘Maniac’ became the biggest selling Irish single ever. Not that Mark is turning his back on his roots. The astute producer’s work for dancefloors will continue – it’s just the upcoming album will appeal to a much wider audience, and he aims to establish himself as one of the country’s brightest contemporary talents. In the meantime, Mark and Jay Cisco’s latest Digitribe single ‘What Happens Next’ is out sometime over the next month or two on cool American label Twisted…
Alphamagic for their as yet unnamed new label – watch this space… Agnelli & Nelson are all over the European airwaves at the minute, building up a huge head of steam for the release of ‘Holding On To Nothing’ single, now put back to January. Industry insiders believe it could go all the way to number one. The pair will be playing a live mix on Dave Pearce’s show on BBC1FM on November 16… Phil Kieran’s ‘Youth’ single on Soma was a minor UK hit for the Scottish label… Al Gibbs new FM104 show Freeks On Friday goes out from 9.30pm…
Moby has just released ‘Landing’/’String Electro’ as a digital single, available exclusively from moby.com. In addition to the tracks, a colour CD booklet and CD label artwork is available (in PDF format), allowing purchasers to burn the track onto CD and then print their own packaging. The single can also be transferred onto I-Pods and MP3 players. The single precedes the release of Moby’s self directed DVD 18 + B-Sides on November 10…
Following the recent success of Winterparty 4, PoD has announced another massive event at the Point. Godskitchen will run on November 29, and for your €39 you’ll get to see Lisa Lashes, Ferry Corsten, Armin Van Buuren, Marco V, Scot Project, Guy Ornadel, Robbie Butler and Tiesto (more about him below)… Umek plays The Forum in Waterford on November 29… Danish beats massive The Prunes make their Irish debut at Ri-Ra on November 27th, and on the way in the Most Wanted series in December is BBC legend Gilles Peterson… Promising “the sexiest tunes and the sexiest people” – well, this is 21st century Dublin – Eye Candy kicks off at Traffic tonight (6th). Your weekly hosts are Mr K, DJ Rocco and Mhardi… Its licensing hurdles now jumped, for another year at least, The Savoy in Cork re-opens tomorrow with an appearance by Jazzy Jeff…
The first club to announce details of its New Year’s Eve party is Propaganda at Regal Lodge in Wexford – it has secured the services of the Original 12inch Thumpers and a surprise guest. Meanwhile, Propaganda hosts a Sundissential tour night on November 29. DJs are Nick Rafferty and ilogik… Strictly Handbag celebrates nine years of Monday night madness at Ri-Ra on November 17. Complimentary birthday drinks from Tia Maria for all in attendance… With Enigma hosting a Coloursfest reunion on November 29, one wonders if they will be bringing back the cops too?… The final 110th Street Boogaloo of 2003 runs at Black Box in Galway on November 22…
And finally, the results of this year’s DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll have been published. The Dutch DJ Tiesto beat off tough opposition to retain his coveted title as the No.1 DJ in the World. Now in its tenth year, the definitive DJ Mag chart had an amazing response this year. The vote was almost 50% up on last year, with an incredible 61,529 votes cast. The pollsters received votes from a staggering 120 different countries (there are only 193 in the world). The complete Top 10 is 1) Tiësto, 2) Paul Van Dyk, 3) Armin Van Buuren, 4) Sasha, 5) John Digweed, 6) Ferry Corsten 7) Carl Cox 8) Paul Oakenfold, 9) Judge Jules, 10) Deep Dish. The only Irish entry was Fergie, at number 23, while Lisa Lashes was the highest placed female again, despite a big drop to number 26… THE BEAT GOES ON!