Mixing with the best

Tom Stephan has asked Mark McCabe and Jay Cisco, aka Digitribe, to remix his first single of 2006. The high-octane house affair, ‘I Love It’, is due to surface on Twisted New York in February.
McCabe, host of 2FM’s weekend breakfast show, and club DJ Cisco have also completed a remix of Autamata’s ‘Summer Son’, which includes a cheeky sample likely to be a hit with mash-up club DJs.
Belfast DJ Micky Modelle enjoyed massive success in the UK this Christmas with his Country Clubland party mix CD. It’s the third in a series, all of which have sold between 25,000 and 30,000 copies, according to the former Tuff Twins producer.
Micky has also just signed his ‘Dancing in the Dark’ single – not a Springsteen cover – to All Around The World for a sizeable fee, and the label predicts it will be a UK top 10 hit this spring.
Fergie has lined up his first single release for 2006 for Punch Funk Records, entitled The Excentric EP. The Larne lad has also secured a remix of one of his tunes from hot Crosstown Rebels duo, Tolfrey and Sylvester.
The fifth release from Dublin hard dance label Hard Sounds is currently in the shops. It features three collaborations, from Lucyfer & Steve Gillen, George E & Steve Maynard and the label’s owners Karl Davis & John Kerrigan.
Other Irish releases worth scouting for include Desy Balmer’s Nice & Nasty Remix of Richie Parker’s ‘Brazil’ on KKD and David Donohue’s ‘Care Of The Teeth’ on D1.
Trance producer John O’Callaghan’s biggest tune of 2005 – Inertia’s ‘The Chamber’ – has been included on Armin van Buuren’s new DVD compilation, and is currently being championed by Tiesto. Its follow-up ‘The System’ is now in the can and ready to go.
Tiga’s album, Sexor, looks set to be the first big crossover dance album of 2006, when it hits the shops on February 3rd. A couple of weeks later, the Canadian star will perform a DJ set at Dublin club Spirit. It’s his first Irish date since last summer’s BudRising show at Marlay Park.
Massive Attack precede their 2007 album Weather Underground with a double-CD compilation, Collection, this March. They are being tipped as headliners for this year’s Electric Picnic festival at Stradbally in September.
Italian rave star Mauro Picotto says Planet Love’s sold-out Winter Party at King’s Hall on St Stephen’s night was the best gig he has ever played in Ireland. Planet Love will return to the same venue on Easter Monday, April 17th with Spring Party. No line-up details have yet been confirmed.
Belfast club Shine reopens for 2006 on January 28th with a four-hour set from Soma Recordings founders, Slam. In Dublin, 515 at PoD reopens a night earlier, February 27th, and Way Out West’s Nick Warren is the special guest. While the first guest flying in for Pogo at PoD this year is Nathan Fake on January 27th.
Electric City’s spin-off event, Electric Shock returns to Temple Bar Music Centre in Dublin on Saturday February 4th. Flying in from Florence is the mythical Alexander Robotnick, the 50-something Italo disco legend and singing laptop DJ.
Joining him on the night will be Berlin’s femme fatale, Ms Ellen Allien, dubbed the renaissance woman of electronic music as she owns the Bpitch Control label. Ahead of all that, Electric City’s hallowed turntables are graced by Rotterdam’s Speedy J on January 26th.
Two new clubs are aiming to liven up Temple Bar in Dublin in 2006, and both are running weekly at The Hub. Dave Ingham and Tomo Tighe will be residents at The Twisted Wheel on Fridays, with Desy Balmer running Don’t Hold Back on Saturdays, with the exception of the last Saturday of each month, when the fantasy festish night Faith takes over.
St Patrick’s Eve is already looking like the first big date on the clubbing calendar, with Paul van Dyk and Godskitchen scheduled for the Point, and Revolution at The Vaults in Dublin boasting an impressive line-up in each of its techno, trance and hard house rooms.
Irish hero John O’Callaghan will be joined at Revolution by the DJ hailed as ‘the future of trance’, John Askew, while the techno room features three Londoners – Dave Randall, Lady Bianca and DAVE The Drummer.
The hard dance room will rock to Paul Glazby, Ian M and Justin Bourne, and a host of Dublin DJs such as Slim Jim and Scorchio will be spinning in each area.
Deep house fans living outside of Cork will be thrilled to learn that you can get a free weekly Podcast of one of Leeside station Red FM’s best dance shows, Go Deep with Ireland’s subterranean superstars, Greg and Shane. Log on to their www.fishgodeep.com website for details.
The popular DJ school, DJ and Digital Music Academy, makes its first appearance of 2006 on Saturday and Sunday January 28th/29th. This intense and informative course covers all aspects of the profession, from where to buy records and how to mix them, to producing your own.
Individuals who run every facet of Ireland’s booming DJ and production industry are involved in the DDMA.
To get an application form for the January academy, please contact Modern Green on [email protected] (or call 01-454 9311)…THE BEAT GOES ON!