Born in Belfast but now living in England, Greg Downey is one of the fast rising stars of the international trance scene. Greg, who began DJing over six years ago, signed to John Askew’s Discover label in 2005, and has seen his tunes receive much support from DJs such as Paul van Dyk, Armin van Buuren, Eddie Halliwell and Matt Hardwick.
Greg’s first release of 2006, ‘K.I.A.’, will surface on Discover in March, with limited promos already doing the rounds.
Also due in March – on Discover Dark – is John O’Callaghan and Greg Downey’s ‘One Way Ticket’, which is one side of The Collaborations EP that also features John Askew and Matt Hardwick’s ‘Slaves to the Machine’.
Greg’s third outing of the year is a remix, on Motion Records, of Dreas vs Mike Perry’s ‘Arctic Sweep’.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Navan-based O’Callaghan kicks off the year with ‘Vendetta’, a techno-infused dark trancer on Discover Dark.
Phil Kieran looks like having a massive underground hit on his hands with the upcoming Soma release, ‘White Ice’, on which he teams up with Scottish techno innovator, Funk D’Void.
Cork DJs, Greg Dowling and Shane Johnson have signed the first release on their own Go Deep stamp – Fishgodeep featuring Tracey K’s ‘Cure and the Cause’ – to the top UK label, Defected.
The vocal house anthem is lifted from their 2005 album, Lil’ Hand.
Meanwhile, Fishgodeep have just unleashed a new EP, Soul, which is the third release on Ork Recordings, the label they co-own with Stockholm-based ex-pat Mark O’Sullivan of The Mighty Quark and DK7 fame.
The four-tracker has received heavy club rotation from luminaries such as Charles Webster, Rob Mello, Kerri Chandler and Ian Pooley, and was given Single of the Fortnight status by DJ Magazine.
Dublin label Bassbin Recordings continues to dish up some of the most impressive drum ‘n’ bass in Europe, with single number 18, ‘Babylon’/’Her Smile’ by one of the Dublin club’s resident DJs, Senses, currently dropping in the shops.
Also due this month, on Bassbin’s sister label, Breakin’, is a scorching classically-inflected double a-side from Polska, pairing ‘Fondle’ and ‘Taught’. Polska is currently working on his debut album.
Another hot release comes from the Dublin-based All City stamp. Show You is the work of Heralds of Change, aka Irish producer Mike Slott (who is Donal Lunny’s nephew) and Scottish DJ Hudson Mohawke.
Their soulful and jazzy five-track EP also features half-Sudanese and half-American MC, Oddisee, who contributed his vocals via the Internet, incidentally.
The big release for B&P is New Order’s set of 12x12” singles due on the Warners offshoot, New State, at the end of February. Among the exclusives that can be found on this ‘greatest hits’ collection (yet another New Order ‘best of’) are three new mixes of ‘Waiting For The Sirens’ Call’, two Tocadisco remixes of ‘Regret’, the Phela Vocal mix of ‘Jetstream’, King Roc’s remix of ‘True Faith’, Stuart Price’s take on ‘I Told You So’ and – crikey – Dave Clarke’s reworking of the seminal ‘Everything’s Gone Green’.
The series of 12ins also houses all off the big mixes you’d expect, such as the Pump Panel Reconstruction of ‘Confusion’, the Shep Pettibone remix of ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ and the Hardfloor version of ‘Blue Monday’. And as if all of that wasn’t enough, Warners is also releasing a traditional single, ‘Turn’, taken from the recent Singles double-CD set.
Essential purchase this fortnight is Coldcut’s new album, Sound Mirrors (Ninja Tune), a landmark release which features a host of great vocalists and comes (for a limited time) with a bonus CD of classic cuts such as ‘Autumn Leaves’ and, shucks, ‘Beats and Pieces’.
Also well worth your money is the Beck remix album, Guerolito, with Air, Boards of Canada, Adrock and Dust Brothers among those involved.
Three cool compilations hitting the shops are The Herbaliser’s monster mash-up, Fabric Live 26 (Fabric Live) ,Global Communication’s sublime Fabric 26 mix (Fabric), and Hed Kandi’s first offering of 2006, Nu Cool.
The Gallery in London is hosting an Irish-themed night on St Patrick’s Day that will be well worth travelling across to. The line-up so far includes Fergie, Col Hamilton, John O’Callaghan, Chris Davis and Gleave Dobbin. In Dublin, on March 16th, the national festival will be celebrated by Spirit with Erick Morillo at the helm.
On February 3rd, Trinity Rooms celebrates the end of January with a three-roomed party, Karnival, which features a DJ set from Fun Loving Criminals, who return to our shores a fortnight later to spin more tunes, at Mantra in Castlebar, Co Mayo.
Canadian techno legend Richie Hawtin has created an original piece of music, ‘9:20’, for the opening ceremony of the XXth Olympic Winter Games, which kick off in Torino, Italy on February 10th.
Clubland was rocked this month by the sudden deaths of two hugely influential figures – German DJ, Marc Spoon (39), one half of the innovative duo Jam & Spoon, and 40-year-old Nigel Wilson, the proprietor of Ireland’s most successful dance club, Lush! in Portrush.
The thoughts of all at Hot Press are with the families and friends at this sad time.