Summer 2007 may not have been memorable on the weather front, but musically it continues to be the most pleasurable in the history of Irish dance music.
It could be argued that summers were invented for listening to Chymera records, but if truth be told, the Cork-born techno creator’s compositions would put a smile on the face of a corpse in any season.
The next one to brighten up our world is released on revered UK stamp NRK Records on Sept 14. The vinyl version couples ‘Wish’ and ‘Eucalyptic’, while the digital release also includes a bonus track, ‘A Question’.
The Dublin-based organic house stamp, Queep Recordings, continues to win friends and influence people on a global scale, and there will be no let-up caused by its remarkable September output.
Lars Schneeman’s ‘Take Control’ gets the ball rolling on September 6. The German anthem is armed with hot electro mixes from Lars’ brother C.y.Ber in cahoots with A.C.K & Simon Point. There are rumours of a Mr Fuzz mix being added to the line-up.
Next up (on September 13) is the 36th Queep release, Family Tree’s potentially massive ‘Shine A Light’. On remix duties are Wall of Sound’s West London Deep, Bedrock’s Parallel Deep and up and coming Turkish producer Oojami.
Queep ends the month with possibly the biggest of the bunch: ‘Disco Biscuits 3000’ from Mr Fuzz presents Twisty Fuzz.
The big room funky house workout is remixed in electro-prog style by the North’s fast rising Discount Rhinos, and in deeper mode by Rico and Melchyor A.
Irish house outfit Hystereo have provided what has been widely regarded as the best new remix of Digitalism’s ‘Idealism’ single, currently on re-release on Virgin.
Other remixes worth noting include one from trance producer Paul Webster (he’s done Sven Weber’s ‘Bassman’ for Captivating Sounds), the fab new DJ Memephilysuitemix of Fish Go Deep feat Tracey K ’s top 30 hit ‘The Cure & The Cause (on Defected) and the Andy Cato remix of Roisin Murphy’s single forthcoming ‘Let Me Know (on Echo).
The Dublin-based breaks duo, Splitloop, are back! Back! BACK! Bren and Phil have almost finished working on their forthcoming second album, Pleasure Machine.
Whetting the appetites are two tracks out in September on Supercharged as a double a-side single: the bass-driven powerhouse ‘Ghetto Blaster’ and the more adventurous ‘Tweaked Out’.
DJ supporters include Plump DJs, Krafty Kuts, Hyper, Annie Nightingale and Atomic Hooligan.
Dropping this fortnight on Christian Boshell’s Monad Music label are ‘Redeye’/’Dupst’ by Eoghan Harron (the Belfast boy who has had tunes out on Composure, Fibreline and Heavy Rotation) and Andy Hunter.
Dutch demigod Armin van Buuren (who headlines the Planetlove Summer Session at Fairyhouse Racecourse on September 8) recently voted the Agnelli & Nelson remix of John O’Callagan featuring Audrey Gallagher’s vocal trance epic ‘Big Sky’ (which is being released on Armind) his Tune of the Week on the hugely influential ASOT radio show. He’s also been caning a new John O’Callaghan remix of The Doppler Effect’s ‘Beauty Hides in the Deep’.
Sourcecode’s Even Numbers EP (due soon on Nice & Nasty) will be followed swiftly by the launch of their new label, AciiTone Digital, which will be run in conjunction with Acii Disco club founder Al Keegan.
The first two Sourcecode releases on the label will include remixes from fellow Irish artists Perc, Timmy Stewart and The Deadbots.
The new compilation from electronica stamp Psychonavigation is the superb An Taobh Tuathail Vol 1 set compiled by west Kerry native Cian O Ciabhain , who has been presenting the ATT show on RnaG since May 1999. The melting pot of beautiful music from around the globe currently broadcasts Monday to Friday from 11pm until 1am.
The 12-track album includes exclusive contributions from esteemed Irish artists such as Cane 141, Jimmy Behan [pictured] and Chequerboard.
Two Irish trance producers have seen cheeky remixes of theirs gain so much club support that they ended up getting full official release by the original label.
Greg Downey’s take on Bedrock’s ‘Heaven Scent’ won over its creator John Digweed after Tiesto, Pete Tong and Paul van Dyk hammered it, while this column and Eddie Halliwell were among those who urged Tidy Trax to sign Dubliner Bryan Kearney’s tranced-out version of ‘The Dawn’ by the late and great Tony de Vit. The latter will be included on a new Tidy remix compilation.
The next remix from Downey, meanwhile, is Deem’s ‘Tears Of Hope’ on Discover. DJ supporters so far include van Dyk, van Buuren and Above and Beyond.
The aforementioned Planetlove Summer Session will not now be the last festival of summer. Following the success of the intimate Life Festival in Galway earlier this summer comes After-Life on September 15 at Turbotston Walled Garden, Coole, Co Westmeath.
The legendary Coldcut headline with their new Journeys by VJs project, in which they use four DVD decks to slice, cut, dice, layer, mash, process and chop a cast of thousands.
Also on the bill are Tayo, Hystereo, Phil Kieran, Ikeaboy, and Lectrosoul, and DJs from the Breakology, Neutronyx, Electric City, Acii Disco and Hospital clubs.
Doors open at 10am on Saturday 15 and tickets are on sale now priced €49 including booking fee in advance.
Another new festival has just been announced. The Wanted will bring hip-hop luminaries such as Mos Def, Madlib and De La Soul together in Dublin from October 4 to 7. Full details from choicecutsonline.com… THE BEAT GOES ON!