Pyg Out

City centre pub Pygmalion has been making its trademark ‘Sundays In Dublin’ a day of unrest for the last two years, with house and techno shaking the walls from 6pm on. To celebrate its St. Patrick’s Day birthday, there’ll be two special parties, bringing over a special guest for the third time, Berlin’s Pan Pot on March 16. There’ll then be an epic Sunday-style free bash on Paddys Day itself (March 17), from 4pm to 3am, with seven residents all night. Pygmalion’s Ian O’Shea says, “It’s been a hard few years for us, but I think we’ve proved that Dublin has a love for Sunday and early clubbing”. For more info, check out www.facebook.com/pygmaliondublin.

Also on Paddy's Day, the legendary U2 owned Kitchen club in Dublin re-opens with a party featuring all the clubs new residents, including Lorcan Mak and Dave De Valera. Check out www.thekitchennightclub.com for more details.
Celebrating a birthday this fortnight is the grand old dame of Northern Irish clubbing, Lush at Kelly’s, Portrush. Narrowly missing the accolade of longest running night in Ireland (won by fellow Northerners, Belfast’s Shine last year), it marks a decade and a half of dance-floor thunder March 12 with bass house hero of the moment Afrojack. The Black Eyed Peas producer is backed by Lush’s long-term resident and all round chairman of the board Col Hamilton and Derry’s finest, Audiofun and The Japanese Popstars. For more details, see www.kellysportrush.co.uk.
The latest Irish producer to launch a successful attack on the top of the Beatport charts is Brian Taaffe. Releasing Scottish duo Dynamode’s moody tech-house bruiser ‘This Man’ on his own Spacepig label, the tune has risen to No. 5, supported by remixes from labelmate Ryan Thompson and Brian’s own remix, which ups the energy and funk of the original. Brian has also been handpicked by Irish clubbing legend Mark Kavanagh as a remixer on the upcoming 10 year re-release of his ‘Bad Boy’ hard house classic. Hear a preview at www.soundcloud.com/mark-kavanagh-bad-boy-brian.
Another Irish clubbing veteran Tony Pugh has been teaming up with Play FM chief Karl Lambert recently under the moniker of Grooveboy to steady success with releases out on labels worldwide, including Mistique in Croatia, New York’s Open Bar and Russian label B&Q Recordings.
“We’ve also collaborated with Soulfinder and have put out the track ‘Open Minds,” says Karl of their latest anthem, out March 15. Also garnering attention is ‘Atmosphere’, an almost ambient house track under their new alias Genetic Rhythm.
“We wanted to make something completely different, full of melodies and harmonies. It was lying around for a while. We gave it a new lease of life and it got signed straight away.” Hear Karl and Tony at www.playfmdublin.com on Wednesdays (Karl) and Sundays (Tony).
He’s Electric favourites Blumenkraft have had their remix of Bailey’s ‘In My Veins’ given the dance royalty seal of approval. It’s been signed to seminal U.S. house label Strictly Rhythm. Hear a preview of the track at www.blumenkraft.info.
“Last year sold out far quicker than we’d ever hoped for, so for 2011, to quote Roy Schieder, ‘We’re gonna need a bigger boat!’”. So says organiser Jon Averill of this years Airbound, an annual Ireland/London house music boat-trip down the Thames next month. “We’ll be having a live performance from the acid house brass band Brassroots, along with an audio-visual set from local boy DJ Kormac, and a load of other Irish DJs,” explains Jon, “Seeing as it’s called Airbound, next year we should really be having it on a plane.” Another organiser, John Mahon, adds: “A bunch of Micks in London playing tunes in a bar is nothing unusual, so I’ve tried to make it a bit more eyebrow-raising. Also, on a boat you have a captive audience. You’ve no escape. You either get into it or swim to shore!” Tickets have just become available, for more information have a look at www.airbound-london.net.