God is not a DJ

Godskitchen has confirmed that the planned Global Gathering Ireland, which had been scheduled for August 21, will not now be taking place. The organisers were unable to secure planning permission for the outdoor event. The mooted venue, Stradbally in County Laois, is however being tipped for an open-air rock concert instead. Apparently persuading councillors to run a ‘rave’ in the run-up to the local elections was a big no-no, but talking them into a ‘proper gig’ was not that difficult. Who said the times they are a changing?…
Incidentally, a couple of recent outdoor parties on a beach in north County Dublin have proved that there’s life in the old rave dog yet. We won’t mention the location in case there are any members of An Garda Siochana reading, but suffice to say global warming can’t be all that bad a concept if it enables over 1,500 techno loons to dance until dawn on a Dublin beach in April and May. Seriously, the ravers even cleaned up after themselves and recycled their rubbish. Pity all the drunken fools who socialise in Dublin city of an evening couldn’t follow suit – have you seen O’Connell Street at six in the morning lately?…
Dublin DJs Gavin Paisley and Keith Mac are two of the forces behind a new retro rave website, www.dublinclassics. com. The site is a tribute to the first era of Dublin clubbing, ’90-’95, and features definitive charts from the then resident DJs at clubs like the Olympic, Asylum and Sides, a brief history of the period and audio samples from one hundred classic anthems from the period. From my own discussions with the pair, it’s clear that a definitive history of the era needs to be written before the already frazzled memories of those involved become impaired any further. The best way to tell the tale is undoubtedly through as many eyes as possible, as Johnny Moy’s take on what went down in those early years will vary greatly from Mister Spring’s, for example. Contact me through hotpress if you are interested in contributing, whether you were DJ, promoter, dancer, MC or just a regular party-goer…
Dublin drum ’n’ bass DJ Beta 2, resident at Bassbin at The Metropolitan, has signed a single to Goldie’s label Metalheadz for release later this year. Also on a breakbeat tip, Raff and Alan Pullen have just produced their best ever work, a mesmerising nine-minute drum ’n’ bass workout called ‘King Kong’, which samples the original movie and marks a new departure for the hard dance duo… Incidentally, Pullen and Rafferty are co-producers of ‘Psycho’, the new Dalto releases on BHS, which surfaced this month as a one-sided single on BHS. Dalto’s ‘Swarm’ has now been signed up by Jay Pidgeon’s Crash Test Recordings…
London label Bulletproof has signed yet another single from Dublin producer Karl Davis. ‘Fourth Dimension’, made in collaboration with fellow Dubliner John Kerrigan, is out in August. It’s the fourth Davis single signed by Bulletproof…
Albums out this fortnight that are getting heavy rotation on the Beats &Pieces iPod are Throbbing Gristle’s The Taste Of TG (a straight compilation of the pop perverts’ finest hours on Mute), Miss Kittin’s gloriously sexy I Com (the most surprisingly diverse and appealing ‘dance’ album of the year so far, on Novamute), and two albums – both on The Gray area Of Mute – to arouse the interest of Cabaret Voltaire fans. Richard H Kirk’s Earlier/Later is a compilation of the Cabs man’s unreleased projects from ’74 to ’89 that is a revealing insight for anyone remotely interested in how electronic music evolved pre-house and techno (just like the TG album), while the Digital Lifeforms album by Sandoz is where Kirk’s head is at in 2004…
The queen of hard dance, Lisa Lashes has unveiled details of this year’s Lashed In Ibiza parties. Lisa is limiting her gigs on the white isle to just six appearances – including two breaks sets – at the Judge Jules-run Judgement Sundays at Eden. For the full line-ups and dates, check out www.lashedworld.com…
Meanwhile, Carl Cox has announced that he will be playing Space in Ibiza every Tuesday this summer from July 20 to September 7…
Two of the North’s best DJs, Fergie and Phil Kieran play The Radisson in Galway on June 18. Tickets are on sale now…
Summer guests at Dublin Thursday club Eye Candy, which runs at Traffic, include deep house don Kerri Chandler, Copyright (Defected), Brian Tappart (Soulfuric), Seamus Haji (Big Love), Mark Knight (Ministry) and Joey Musaphia (Refunkt)… Rapper DMX plays The Ambassador in Dublin on June 28, Snowboy plays Ri-Ra in Dublin on June 24 and Billy Scurry and Barry Redsetta play The Forum in Waterford on June 19
Mainline have been in the studio for the last couple of weeks putting down some of their bitter sweet symphonies with one of Ireland’s most prolific and talented producers, Leo Pearson (who has co-produced Elvis Costello and remixed U2). At least one major label is keen to sign them up – watch this space…