It’s been another great year for Irish dance music, as the recently announced nominations for the Irish Dance Music Awards 2008 attest.

Among the most hotly contested categories is the Best Single one. These are not just ten great Irish records but ten of the biggest and best tunes of 2008 on an international scale.
In the running are Bryan Kearney (‘The Walrus’), Calibre (‘Be There’), Chymera (‘Caprica Burning’), John O’Callaghan (‘Rotterdam’), Neal Scarborough (‘Panama’), Paul Webster (‘Cut Off’), Sourcecode (‘McKenna’), Magnetize (Forced Vortex EP), Timmy & Tommy (‘Full Tiltin’) and Mardi Gras (‘Urban Hussy’).
Whichever tune gets the most votes, its creator can be most proud of the stiff competition they will have overcome.
The fact that there are also ten worthy nominees in the Best Album category speaks volumes about the depth and diversity of talent among our creatively thriving local dance music scene during the past 12 months.
The other categories are Best Promoter, Best New Promoter, Best Club (Large), Best Club (Small), Best Resident, Best Producer, Best Label, Best Dance Festival, Best Live Act, Best VJ, Best Radio Show, Best New Artist and Best DJ.
You can vote online now – it only takes three minutes – at www.slick-dj.com/limesurveyor and the awards ceremony will take place towards the end of January in an intimate venue for industry invitees only.
RTÉ’s digital dance station Pulse FM went live this week with some of the most exciting and coming DJ talents in the country, among them Brian Taaffe, John Kerrigan, Orla Feeney and Karl Davis. The full schedule is available on www.rte.ie and all shows can be accessed online or with a DAB radio.
Fourteen years on from its launch, D1 Recordings has just released its 44th and 45th singles. AEOD’s Sadness is a diverse five-track EP from Pennsylvania’s Pete Nicholson, while the Skywatcher EP from Madrid’s Annie Hall is a four-track techno romp with a title-track that is lush and beautiful.
New kid on the block, Dublin Xpress releases its first compilation, DXR Volume One, on December 29, a fantastic snapshot of Ireland in 2007 and 2008 through its techno eyes.
Sterling contributions from Rockwell, Rob Spectrum, Headzinc, Najib, Karl Cullen and the aforementioned Brian Taaffe and Sourcecode are among its many treasures. This is something we can all be proud of.
Timmy & Tommy’s tenth release on Full Tilt, their own funky electro house workout ‘Mix Tape’, has been one of the most successful outings yet for the stamp, notching up top ten positions on all of the key online sales charts.
Nice & Nasty has its 13th vinyl single, ‘Mystery Train’, from TR-One (aka Broken Audio Movement). It includes remixes from Lerosa and Tycho’s Comet and has been supported by Laurent Garnier and Dan Curtin, no less.
Belfast DJ, Micky Modelle, is due to see his long-awaited ‘Take Me Away’ single surface on All Around The World this month. “It’s taken two years to get out,” he told Hot Press.
Micky has also produced his annual DJ mix album for the festive market, which this year is called Country Anthems and is the latest in a long line of Christmas compilations that often shift between twenty and thirty thousand units. Expect to see ads for this on heavy rotation on TV in the coming weeks.
Karl Lambert and Toni Pugh have transformed Monad Music since taking over its management from Christian Boshell in March this year. Its 39th single has just dropped and it’s a progressive house anthem ‘Aukstin’, produced by Barry Dempsey (whom I have erroneously referred to previously as the label’s owner). Bringing 2008 to a close for the stamp will be an EP from DJ Swed.
Irish DJ supremo, the aforementioned John O’Callaghan, will be flying alongside world number one DJ, Armin van Buuren, in a private jet on St Stephen’s Night. Both DJs will be using the luxury executive transport to travel from their early sets at Planetlove’s annual Winter Party at King’s Hall in Belfast to their later appointments at Cream at Nation in Liverpool.
Incidentally, O’Callaghan has just confirmed his only other Irish Christmas appearances, in Carlow on December 28 at Club Tao alongside Scot Project and in Tralee on December 20 alongside Paul Webster and Jonno Brien.
Other newly announced Christmas parties include the Re:Publik three-room Christmas Session at Electric Avenue in Waterford on December 26. Joining this party’s annual headliners Fish Go Deep are RePublik DJs, The Littlemen and ReTech DJs. Doors open at 8pm and entry is €20.
A massive Letrik spectacular runs at the new Royal Theatre on St Stephen’s Night. It’s an ambitious event, given that clubbers don’t traditionally travel well on December 26, but all concerned are confident. DJs include Marco V, Sander van Doorn, Mauro Picotto, Jenny Greene and LRB.
At Galway’s Leisureland on December 29, Kiddfectious will feature Alex Kidd, Lisa Lashes, Scot Project, Kidd Kaos and your Beats & Pieces scribe. Tickets are now on sale at Ticketmaster.
German hard trance legend Scot Project – currently dating Kilkenny girl Shireen Marie – has also confirmed a 15th anniversary Producers Set for The Savoy in Cork on New Year’s Eve.
And finally, Beats & Pieces would like to wish all of its readers a very happy Christmas… THE BEAT GOES ON!