Beats+Pieces: Dance news with Mark Kavanagh

Following MCD’s takeover of the Godskitchen brand (as revealed in the last Hot Press), a new boutique festival – Global Gathering presents HiFi – will be added to the annual summer music calendar.
Global Gathering presents Hi:Fi Ireland will take place in the midlands on August 5th and 6th, tipped to be at Belvedere House Gardens in Mullingar, Co Westmeath. It will be preceded by two Hi:Fi events in England at the end of May, which MCD’s Brian Spollen is promoting.
Hi:Fi South will run on the Winchester site previously used by We Love Homelands on May 27th, while Hi:Fi North takes place on May 27th and 28th at the Matfen Estate in Newcastle.
Billed as an “indie-dance crossover boutique festival for the iPod generation” Hi:Fi promises capacities of 25,000, onsite camping, a multitude of musical arenas arenas, chill-out areas, comedy clubs, holistics areas and organic food markets. An official announcement on the Irish event will be made in the coming weeks.
This year’s Planet Love festival has been confimed for September 2nd – the same weekend that Electric Picnic takes place at Stradbally in Co Laois – and will run at Shane’s Castle in Co Antrim.
Ahead of that, Planet Love returns to King’s Hall, Belfast on Easter Monday, April 17th, with Spring. Dutch DJ, Ferry Corsten, will be joined by trance DJs Judge Jules and Eddie Halliwell, Northern DJ Gleave Dobbin, and hard dance heroes Yoji Biomehanika and the Tidy Boys.
Galway-based electronica outfit Cane141 kick off 2006 by releasing a free single (downloadable from www.cane141.com). ‘Sing the F-Line’ is an alternate vocal reworking of ‘Take the F-Line, which appeared on their excellent debut album, Moonpool, shortlisted for this month’s Choice Music Award. The band will perform at the inaugural award ceremony in Vicar Street in Dublin on Tuesday February 28th.
Belfast techno and trance producer Aaron McClelland has remixed the forthcoming Stu Allan release, ‘A Feeling’, for Nukleuz. Aaron has also completed his own new single, ‘Gimme Some More’ which has already been played on BBC1FM.
And watch out for ‘F-16’, an as yet unsigned trance scorcher from Belfast ex-pat, Simon Patterson of Dogzilla fame, which has been given several spins on BBC1FM.
Meanwhile, Navan-based trance producer John O’Callaghan’s ‘Mercury’ single has just surfaced in two new mixes on Armin van Buuren’s A State Of Trance label. You can buy them online from armadamusic.nl.
One of the albums of the fortnight is Home Sweet Home (on Distinctive) from the Italian breaks producer Santos, a diverse and entertaining set which includes his big hit, ‘Pump It Up’.
But the best of the bunch is Birdy Nam Nam’s Birdy Nam Nam (KIF), a turntablism masterpiece on which four-strong French crew (who won the DMC World Team Championships in 2002) create an album of original material using sets of decks as their primary musical instruments.
Their mind-boggling artistry can be seen on the accompanying DVD which contains live performances, studio footage and remixes – an essential purchase for all DJs.
Also hailing from France is Missill, whose hip-hop and breaks underpinned mix set, Mash Up (Discograph France), taking in M.I.A, Afrika Bambaataa, Evil 9, Dynamite MC and Plump DJs, is one of the better new compilations doing the rounds.
Hed Kandi (which has just been bought by Ministry of Sound) has just released its latest compilation, a mixed set entitled World Series: Paris recorded at Les Bains Douche.
Also landing in the shops about now are Beginners Guide to Afro Lounge (Nascente), a superb ethnic triple-CD set compiled by Straight No Chaser’s Dom Servini and covering bar, club and chill styles.
Big singles this fortnight include Shapeshifters’ ‘Incredible’ (Positiva), which precedes their debut album, Sound Advice, and features Kelly Marie on vocals. Depeche Mode’s first ever Dave Gahan-penned single, ‘Suffer Well’ (Mute), comes in eight remixes from Tiga, Narcotic Thrust, Alter Ego, Metope and M83. There are also two remixes of the new cut, ‘Better ‘Days’, by Basteroid.
An Old Skool room has been added, by popular demand, to the Revolution DJ festival at The Vaults in Dublin on March 16th, with Slipmatt the first DJ confirmed. Tickets are on sale from Ticketmaster outlets.
Also on March 16th, hard dance heroine Anne Savage DJs at The Nerve Centre in Derry, while techno is the order of the day at Resistance at Ten in Waterford, where Green Velvet and Slam will be flanked by homeboy Niall Power.
PoD’s always sold-out Pogo club treats its regulars on March 18th with a double dose of guest DJ action in the hands of decktician Krafty Cutz and BBC1FM’s Rob da Bank.
New York hip-hop star Qool DJ Marv jets in to cut them up at Choice Cuts at Ri-Ra on March 10th. The CC crew are also bringing in eight-piece LA funk outfit, The Breakastra, to The Sugar Club on St Patrick’s Day, when TBMC in Dublin will host Headman at Mash-Up and The Savoy in Cork flies in The Scratch Perverts.
Dublin techno club Electric City marks its third birthday at Traffic on March 16th with a celebratory set from London ace Ben Sims. And the club is admirably giving top billing to the Tralee hotshot, CJ Fitz, on March 30th.
Launching next month is Audio-Groove, a new Saturday night club in Dublin, which kicks off on March 11th downstairs in Traffic and promises an upfront mix of house, electro and tribal beats. Another new Saturday club, Undertracks, recently opened at Radio City at The Cavern in Dublin … THE BEAT GOES ON!