Let's hope it's a sign of things to come - the first year of the new millennium saw UK club culture bible Mixmag choose an Irish boy as its face of the year. And it's not just Mixmag that feels this way - throughout the industry voices in unison sing the praises of the one newcomer who made more waves than any other this past twelve months. He's Irish, he's 21 and he's from Banbridge. His name is Fergie, and Y2K has most definitely been his year.

He mixed three albums - Hard House Anthems for Nukleuz, Harder Faster for 7 Live and a covermount CD for Mixmag - and he was the only artist to score three hotpress Dance Singles Of The Fortnight - for 'House Of Pain', 'Deception' and 'Hoovers & Horns (Remixes)'. He was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Muzik Awards and secured new residencies at some of the UK's biggest clubs, like the massive new God's Kitchen venture Code, although he did terminate his arrangement with Trade. An average week sees the Fergster playing between six and eight clubs - and that's when he isn't busy!
Paul Masterson is another ex-pat who enjoyed his most successful year yet. Two top thirty hits as Yomanda, two with Hi-Gate (also featuring Judge Jules), not to mention his first mix album and a sky-rocketing DJ career that saw him spin everywhere from Progress in Derby to Eden in Ibiza. He also remixed DJ Jean, Those 2, Geri Halliwell, Quo Vadis and Gitta, to name but a few, and he unleashed an underground single with Jules as The Clergy before setting up their Closet label to handle a plethora of similar projects.
Belfast's Modelle spent 2000 knocking on the big league's door, and few would bet on the hinges coming off in 2001 after the year he's had. His 'Free Again' single on ZTT (out under the Nowa Nowa guise) caused major ripples, as did his slamming Tuff Twins remix of Samantha Mumba's 'Gotta Tell You'. He remixed Vengaboys, Martine McCutcheon, Bomfunk MCs and Kumara, scored huge club hits with Tuff Twins 45s 'Jacked Up' and 'Perfection', and released a number of killer singles with Lisa Pin-Up (the best of which was 'Another Jam'), who helped him take the roof off their tent at Planet Love.
The Northern domination of the Irish scene was evident elsewhere too. Agnelli & Nelson enjoyed their busiest period yet, releasing two UK hit singles 'Embrace' and 'Hudson Street'; the latter also the title track of their acclaimed debut LP. Robbie Nelson spent the year globetrotting on the UK's number one club Gatecrasher's world tour, and he also found time to mix a Euphoria album.
Other Northerners making a splash included the ever prolific progressive house producer Graeme L (who remixed Condor for Additive and The Radars for happening Belfast label Red N Raw) and Hedrock Valley Beats whose third single 'Comin Thru (My Stereo)' (on Infectious) was one of the tunes of the year. Red N Raw was joined by new Belfast progressive imprint Slide and a new Ballymena stamp Purgatory, two to keep an eye on in the coming year. David Holmes left Go Beat! after the disappointing performance of his third album Bow Down To The Exit Sign, but he bounced back in November by announcing he will launch his own label through corporate giant Ministry Of Sound in the New Year. Last but not least, Derry born Stephen React got a Muzik nomination for Best Essential Mix with The Sharp Boys.
Down south the biggest selling dance record of the year was 2FM DJ Mark McCabe's awful 'Maniac' on Abbey Dance (90,000 copies and counting), a record at least partly the work of Bray producer Mister Spring. Spring started Y2K brightly with the delightful 'Stab' and 'Profondo Rosso' singles on his own imprint and the UK release of his awesome Anon single 'Let's Skate' on Southeast. But as the year progressed the releases dried up - only the disappointing 'Suspiria Pt 2', the bizarre 'Ever So Lonely' and a Dumonde remix followed - and Spring concentrated on conquering clubland with John Power as part of the 2FM Sessions Tour while regularly filling in for Dave Fanning on the airwaves. He may have taken his foot off the accelerator abroad, but at home he's now one of the most popular DJs in the country.
Dublin's techno scene had a particularly healthy year. Rob Rowland launched his Free State stamp with the stunning 'Free State Number 1' single, Donncha Costello launched his Minimise imprint and had his superb debut album Growing Up In Public signed to German label Force Inc, and dEcal got Two Lone Swordsmen to remix their 'Iron Fist' effort while spending much of the year working on their electro-dominated third album. Other U:Mack releases of note came from Ambulance, whose EP included a brilliant house remake from DJ Toirse.
Other Dubliners on a roll included Johnny Moy (he supported the Chems on their European tour and scored the music for next year's St. Patrick's Day fireworks display), The Banana Boys (they remixed Conor G's 'Warp 2069' for Abbey Dance and delivered their own top tune 'One Time'), Jay Pidgeon (he launched his Raffdagaff label with the popular hard houser 'Rolldabass') and Phunk'dup. This latter outfit's Impulsive label put out five great twelves - three from themselves (the best of which was 'Phunkymagik'), and one each from Pusherman and Mark Lowndes. Tom Cole's ten-minute epic 'Devotion' was one of the year's big vinyl sellers, and Alan Pullen's devastating debut 'Drop It' was snapped up by Abbey Dancefloor for a release in January 2001. And let's not forget the Bassbin boys - their label made a big impression with its opening salvo - 'Penny Drop' from Naphta vs Zero Tolerance.
Other Irish releases that made their mark were DJ Ted's 'Freedom' on Galway's GPO label (a top thirty hit that was followed by Essence: The Mix Album) and Cork based duo Mitisse, whose 'Boom Boom Ba' was included on the soundtrack to the Madonna movie The Next Big Thing just after their debut album My Fault came out on Wildstar. Cork legends Greg Dowling and Shane Johnson signed a four EP deal with renowned New Jersey label i Records, before signing three more tracks to French label Brique Rouge and getting a remix commission from their long-time deep house hero Herbert.
There were three good Irish compilation albums released, all of them free and all containing promising material from unsigned acts alongside more established names. The Belfast based Apache Tribe CD included cuts from Graeme L and Paul Hamill, Dublin's Front End Synthetics released The Ground Floor with notable contributions from John Braine, MCut, dEcal and Anodyne, and Synergia 01 had tracks from Bassbin, Influx and Minimise.
Out in clubland we had the most enjoyable year yet. DJs like Col Hamilton, Glen Brady and Billy Scurry bolstered their reputations at home and abroad without a glut of releases to promote them. Although the problems many clubs had with the Gardam prove that this year's token change to the licensing laws fell far short of what is required.
Homelands, Creamfields, Planet Love and Witnness proved that Irish festivals are the best there are, while the incredible BBC1FM Love Parade in Leeds prompted much debate on the homefront regarding a similar styled free open-air festival for Irish clubbers next year.
We'll wait in hope, while we also wait for an Irish promoter with the vision to take a chance on a totally homegrown line-up at one of next year's festivals. The doubters say people wouldn't pay to see an Irish-only line-up, but a wholly Irish bill would cost less than Leftfield were paid for their Homelands Ireland appearance, meaning a very attractive ticket price of around #20-#25. And those doubters who say we haven't got enough big names to pull the crowds should go back to the top of this article and start again.