The Miami Winter Music Conference (WMC), now in its 30th year, saw action from a string of Irish artists. WMC is regarded as the premier electronic music industry conference of North America, with delegates from over 70 countries converging on Miami Beach for 400 events, seminars, parties and workshops.

Matador had a busy week at Miami. He was the only techno artist to feature at Jamie Jones’ Paradise party, and also made an appearance at Paco Osuna’s Mind Shake event. His track ‘Da Hustle’ has been number one on the Beatport techno charts for the past month, reaching number 17 in the overall Beatport chart. It was the only techno track in the Top 80.
Ian O’Donovan, meanwhile, released his track ‘Crimson Flare’ on John Digweed’s Bedrock Records for their WMC compilation. Orla Feeney also has a new track out on a compilation by Drizzly Records, alongside other big names such as Paul Oakenfold, DJ Shog and Wavetraxx.
John Gibbons has been busy of late with releases and his Club Educate imprint. He has a new collaboration out with Dark9ine on Carrillo Music LLC, titled ‘Kaska’, which also features on a WMC compilation by the same label. There’s also a new compilation out on his Club Educate imprint, titled Club Educate Vol.3. It features tracks from Kenny Tynan, CubixRube and Junior J.
Chymera released a track on Josh Wink’s Ovum Records for their Winter Warmers Vol.4 compilation, and he was in good company, featuring alongside Ben Klock, Alexkid and Harry Romero. Mano Le Tough’s remix of ‘On My Mind’ by Sasse featured on the Moodmusic Records WMC Survival Kit 2015. The Drifter released his track ‘You Know Juno’ on Maeve, which he runs with Mano from their Berlin base.
Back home, Bryan Kearney’s Kearnage Recordings has released an EP by Adam Ellis and Fred, called Rebirth. My own latest EP, Talking Through Computers, was released on Dutch label Patterns on April 11.
In clubbing news, Bastardo Electrico have Truss in Cyprus Avenue Cork on April 17, and Neil Landstrumm at the same venue on April 24. Landstrumm’s music career began in 1994, but he has also worked in the field of motion graphics for MTV, Rockstar Games and The Magnificents. Re:Publik, meanwhile, welcome Lee Burridge to the south east on April 18, following a busy tour schedule covering Thailand, Ibiza, Israel and Hong Kong. He performs at Crystal Nightclub. Down in Galway that night, Puzzle are celebrating their first birthday with Misanthrop at Kelly’s.
In Dublin. Melodic have the extremely talented Guti in Opium Rooms on April 17. The following morning, Breakfast Club celebrate their fourth birthday with Detroit native Patrice Scott at the Dark Horse Inn. Breakfast Club is an institution in Dublin’s early hours scene. Later that night, Paul Ritch performs in District 8, with Jimmy Edgar appearing in Hangar and All City welcoming John Heckle to Twisted Pepper.
Blurred Lines launches on April 22, with German minimal electronic auteur Jan Jelinek appearing in Temple Bar’s Project Arts Centre. Interestingly, this is a new concept that seeks to bring acts to non-traditional spaces, with the aim of eroding the barrier between artist and audience.
On April 24, Abstract welcome Gui Boratto to Opium Rooms. A qualified architect, he made the career switch to sound engineer in 1994. He worked with labels such as EMI, Virgin and BMG before changing focus to electronic music in 2005. Since then he has released with Plastic City, Circle, Kompakt and Audiomatique. Finally, on April 25, Hidden Agenda host Vessels & Jack J in Opium Rooms.