Beats + Pieces

Belfast duo Electroheadz – producer Jaymz Everett and DJ Micky Modelle – have enjoyed immense success during the opening months of 2005. Their Electroheadz guise has caught the imagination of high-profile supporters such as BBC1FM’s Judge Jules, who played their ‘Out Of Asia’ single on Kickin’ Records eight times. (He has also given airplay to their cheeky bootleg of Nalin & Kane’s ‘Beachball’ nine weeks in a row.) In recent months, Electroheadz have remixed two early ‘90s club classics, The Source featuring Candi Staton’s ‘You Got The Love’ and Nomad’s ‘Devotion’, along with singles from pop acts Pink, Ian Van Dahl and Onyx. They have also just signed a disco-house track (featuring Karen Danzig on vocals) to Ministry Of Sound, and have several “harder-edged” releases under the moniker The Columbians in the pipeline. Micky first shot to fame during the late ‘90s as one-half of the Tuff Twins...
On June 20, Irish rapper Rob Kelly will perform in New York at an MC battle to be televised live across the globe by 16 Bars, a groundbreaking new movement designed to reconnect hip-hop to its roots by promoting three MC battles featuring hip-hop artists from all over the world. Each of the three 16 Bars contests will be judged by votes from a pay-per-view TV audience, text message and e-mail. All email voters must register in advance at www.16bars.com. Rob, who co-founded Acquisition Records last year, will release his debut single ‘Allrite Do It To It’ this summer with a remix by Californian producer, Marc Stretch...
Hot dance albums out this fortnight include Quasimoto’s Madlib-produced dirty hip-hop set The Adventures Of Lord Quas (Pias) and the deep dub reggae grooves of Based On A True Story from Fat Freddy’s Drop (Kartel). The highest profile release is Pictures from Timo Maas (Warners), a surprisingly diverse affair with some great crossover tracks graced by guests such as London Posse’s Rodney P, Placebo’s Brian Molko, Kelis and Neneh Cherry. The most played album on B&P’s iPod, however, is The Herbaliser’s top-notch Take London collection (Ninja) – quite simply, underground hip-hop at its best. There are three soundtracks to the morning after worthy of your attention, too – Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber’s delightful Tosca offering, J.A.C. (!K7) Broadway Project’s leftfield epic, In Finite (Grand Central) and its rather charming French cousin, Vista La Vie’s A Futuristic Family Film (F Comm)...
On the singles front, the laziest bootleg of the year award goes to the Inboots stamp’s second release, ‘Let’s Go To Bed’ by Mure, which sounds like a mere re-edit of the classic The Cure original. Thankfully, it’s paired with BG vs Buzz’ ‘Say What?’, an ingenious remake of The Jam’s ‘Start’, featuring an energetic rap from MC Buzz. Elsewhere, DJ Vadim’s One Self crew return with ‘Bluebird’ (Ninja) from the imminent album Children Of Possibility, and Hextatic’s ‘Distorted Minds’ (Ninja) comes complete with three mind-blowing videos...
The promoters of Global Gathering festival are running a non-stop train clubbers’ train service from Heuston Station, Dublin on the day of the festival. Departing at 10.30am on bank holiday Sunday July 31st and arriving at 1pm in Millstreet, Cork, the Global Gathering Express return journey departs Milstreet at 2.30am arriving back in Heuston at 5.00am.
Limited tickets for the Global Gathering Express package – ¤89 including return train journey and festival admission – are on sale at Ticketmaster and usual outlets...
The mastermind of the Parliament/Funkadelic collective during the ’70s, George Clinton & The P-Funk All Stars play Vicar Street in Dublin on July 22. Tickets are now on sale... Dub masters Sly & Robbie play The Village on June 26th... Tech-house Ebeneezer geezer, Mr C plays TBMC in Dublin on June 18. Drum and bass crowd-puller DJ Hype plays the same venue on July 2nd...On June 25, Scouse house DJ, Yousef, spins at Club Matrix in Dungannon and chart-topper Eric Prydz jets in to Lush in Portrush... Marco V spins at Fabric in Tralee on June 17...
Ahead of all of that late night fun, this fortnight sees the big guns out in force for the bank holiday weekend. Tomorrow, Lisa Lashes plays Mantra in Castlebar (June 3rd), Scot Project is at Fabric in Tralee, and Jacques Le Cont is at TBMC in Dublin. Saturday sees Lashes at The Coach in Banbridge, and Doc Martin at Axis Mundi in Waterford. And on Sunday (June 5th), Lashes finishes her mini-tour at Judge Jules and Irish duo Agnelli & Nelson launch the new Sky club in Dundalk, techno’s Marco Bailey headlines at Junefest at The Vaults in Dublin and the aforementioned Timo Maas guests at Spirit in Dublin… THE BEAT GOES ON!