Irish producer Paul Masterson recently teamed up with Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim. The pair are putting the finishing touches to ‘Bodyrock’, which is Belfast-born Paul’s follow-up to ‘What U Got What U’ Do, a pop hit last year for Fatboy’s Southern Fried label. Paul and Norm will now begin work on a fully-fledged collaboration. Paul had recently recorded some cheeky vocals for Southern Fried’s current release ‘This Feeling’ by ABDC (aka Arthur Baker and Dave Clarke), which were not used on the track but will now form the basis of the Cook/Masterson tune. A spokesman for Masterson confirmed that: “Norman loved the vocals and suggested to Paul that the pair of them use them on a new track together instead” …
Dublin-based breakbeat duo Splitloop are just back from a stint in the UK. Bren and Phil played Supercharged in Brighton and the Breakspoll awards, at which they were nominated for Best Breakthrough Act and Best Single. They also did a cover shoot for their upcoming debut album, which is being released on Supercharged in May and promoted with a full UK club tour. Ahead of that, they are playing the Rocket Festival in Spain in April and are releasing a single from the album, ‘On My Mind', which is currently being remixed by the Drummatic Twins (of Fingerlickin’ Records fame) …
Dublin club Remedy, run by Razor, has confirmed a number of club nights in Dublin this Spring, starting with The Hacker and Damien Lazarus at TBMC on March 12th. On March 16th, Soul Jazz Sound System is at The Sugar Club while en vogue DJ act The Glimmers play TBMC, and drum ‘n’ bass don Grooverider is at The Hub. April kicks off with deep house duo, Matthew Herbert and Jamie Lidell, at TBMC on April 9th. Tickets for all events are on sale now… The next Boogaloo at Galway’s Black Box runs on Easter Saturday, March 26th, and tickets are on sale now ...
Plump DJs and Dublin duo Hustle spin at Redbox on Easter Saturday, March 26th. A night later, Dave Clarke mans the wheels of steel... Fast rising Northern producer Jupiter Ace (aka Gregory Ferguson) plays the Easter Monday Party at Club Matrix, Dungannon, Co Tyrone on April 2nd…           
On a more immediate note, extreme hard dance producer Karim plays Liquid in Bray tomorrow (March 11th), along with John Kerrigan and Senan Shortt… Also, Phunk’dup relaunches in Dublin at Slattery’s on Capel Street with Phil Kieran, and Trevor Nelson plays GPO in Galway … On Saturday, new banging techno club Rustproof kicks off at The Belvedere. DJs include Max Tailwind, Robbie Curran, Grit Greenglow and Bob The Grouch… Also on Saturday, Lush in Portrush celebrates its 9th birthday. DJs are Paul Van Dyk, Danny Howells and resident Col Hamilton… And finally, B&P sends apologies to members of the Deep Fried collective in New York, avid readers of Hot Press all, for having to cancel last month’s show at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances. We will be back…THE BEAT GOES ON!I