Beats + Pieces

Belfast ex-pat Paul Masterson is about to return in his new guise of Subway, which blew up when its debut ‘What U Got What U Do’ was signed by Fatboy Slim’s Southern Fried label last summer, with a new single ‘Bodyrock’. What looks like being a very hectic 2005 for Paul began with the release of his remix, again recorded under the Subway pseudonym, of Commander Tom’s ‘Attention’ on Ministry Of Sound’s Data label.

Paul is currently working on collaborations with Frank Trax in Spain and Marc Van Linden in Germany, and the resulting tuneage should surface on the Northerner’s You Clash label, for which he has also recorded a new Yomanda single, ‘Party Carnival’. The Yomanda guise previously supplied Paul with his biggest ever hit, ‘Synths & Strings’. Meanwhile, the workaholic’s new website, www.paulmasterson.com, launches this spring…

Having shot to fame with a remix of Paul Masterson’s ‘What U Got What U Do’, another Belfast born and bred, Gregory Ferguson (aka Jupiter Ace), enjoyed a meteoric rise in the ensuing months, getting signed by London management company Top Draw, and remixing for the No1-selling dance singles label of 2004, Positiva.

Gregory’s hotly tipped debut ‘1000 Years’ recently reached No 1 on Music Week’s Cool Cuts chart and No5 on BBC1FM’s hugely influential Buzz Chart. The track had surfaced on Italian import in limited quantities ahead of its imminent Irish and British release by the re-launched dance giant, Manifesto Records, which pipped the Data label to the post in the race to sign the tune. Gregory’s most recent studio trip was to remix his big fan Fatboy Slim’s forthcoming single, ‘El Bebe Masoquista’ …

Already firmly established alongside Agnelli & Nelson as Ireland’s leading exponent of trance, John O’Callaghan (from Navan, Co Meath) has signed to leading international booking agency, Fresh DJs (www.freshdjs.co.uk). The soaring star of Irish dance has already confirmed bookings in France and Canada, and at top British clubs The Gallery and Passion, while his most recent single ‘Mannix’ was signed by Dutch DJ Armin Van Buuren (ranked No3 in the world) to his A State Of Trance label. It reached No5 in Holland’s dance charts in December. O’Callaghan had previously released singles or remixes on a host of top labels, including Holland’s Gesture and Dedicated, Germany’s Afterglow and England’s Discover.

Next up from the unstoppable youngster are two separate remixes of his tunes by other artists. Canadian star Alucard’s reworking of ‘Skyline’ (which John made in collaboration with Aled Mann and Dewi Roberts under the guise of Stenna) is already causing a huge stir on promo with British DJs like Matt Hardwick. And Fred Baker’s remix of ‘Frostbite’ (John’s collaboration with Dubliner Kevin McKinney released using the moniker Siberian Sun) hits the shops later this month on Dutch label Dedicated…

Belfast duo Psycatron (aka Paul Hamill and Phil Johnston) are buzzing in Britain with their new single ‘7th Morning & Night’, out soon on Dutch demigod Sander Kleinberg’s LMR stamp… The new single from DK7 – Swede Jesper Dahlback and Cork ex-pat Mark O’Sullivan – is out now on the ever-reliable Output label, and it features Oasis guitarist Andy Bell on ‘White Shadow’. It’s a prelude to DK7’s upcoming debut album and it’s paired with ‘Slipstream’, which continues where last year’s acid house anthem ‘The Difference’ left off… Rod Morris’ All My Love, a chilled slice of dreamy melodica with hip-hop beats, is out this fortnight on Front End Synthetics … Phil Kieran (whose reportedly punky debut album surfaces this spring on Skint) has remixed Agoria’s ‘La Onzieme Marche’ (Pias) and it’s out now …

New club Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is back at The Shelter in Dublin on February 5th with Laura Lethal, John Kerrigan and Alan Pullen … On the same night, Back To The Old Skool at McDades in Tralee, Co Kerry features Jonno Brien and yours truly… Co-author of the essential books How To DJ Properly and Last Night A DJ Saved My Life, Bill Brewster is also a damn fine DJ who plays the Footwork 1st birthday at Dolan’s Warehouse in Limerick on February 17th. Tonight at the club (January 27th), Dublin’s scratch-master DJ Mek is guest … Louis Osbourne returns to Electric City in Dublin on February 24th…

And finally, congratulations to globe-trotting Carlow DJ, John Gibbons, whose two-month trial run on Dublin’s Spin FM before Christmas has been rewarded with a permanent hourly slot on Thursdays at 11.45pm. John’s just back from club dates in Poland and Germany … THE BEAT GOES ON!