Dublin-born, Stuttgart-based DJ, Marcus Lambkin (co-founder of New York’s Plant record label and club) has just unleashed his first Shit Robot single for the DFA UK label.
The classy electro double-header, pairing ‘Wrong Galaxy’ and ‘Triumph’, is available on 12-inch vinyl or as a digital download. Thirty-four-year-old Marcus is currently working on a Shit Robot album.
Also available on download, but not yet circulating on vinyl or CD, is a hot remix of Dublin rockers Humanzi’s ‘Diet Pills and Magazines’.
Available from their myspace.com page for free, the thumping Motor remix is one of two delivered by the renowned New Yorker (whose reworking of Depeche Mode’s ‘Precious’ was one of last year’s biggest tunes around these parts).
The Motor mixes will surface on Humanzi DJ promo-only remix EP on Fiction Records, along with a pair of mixes of another track by leftfield London legend, Jagz Kooner (famed for his work with our own David Holmes among others) and two from Mr Dan.
Later this month, the Bassbin label releases its first artist album, This Too Shall Pass, from Breakage. The album – out on 22 May – will be released on two formats: triple-vinyl and double-CD. The vinyl has six tracks, while the CD contains one set of drum ‘n’ bass and one of downtempo grooves.
Breakage will be touring to promote the album, alongside label boss Rohan, and an impressive list of dates already secured sees the pair visit clubs in Rotterdam, Belfast, Cologne, Birmingham, London, Berlin, Finland, Estonia, Brighton, Prague and Eindhoven. See below for details on the Irish launch of the album this fortnight.
Also launching a long-player this month is Corrugated Tunnel (aka Edwin James), described in these pages at the end of 2005 as someone who had “blurred the boundaries between techno, electro and breaks”.
His debut album, We Are Electronix, features collaborations with New York’s Michael M and Dublin’s Chymera and is released on Edwin’s SeedyR stamp.
There are three launch parties for the Corrugated Tunnel CD – at Innercity, Cork on May 12, at Electric City, Dublin on May 18 and at Trinity Rooms, Limerick on May 26.
Hard dance dons Karl Davis and John Kerrigan unleash the sixth release on their Hardsounds stamp this fortnight. The pile-driving pounder, ‘Ready To Go’ from Marc Johnson & DMF, comes with a slamming Defective Audio remix. The single was included on the recent Vicious Circle compilation album.
Karl’s own spin-off label, Pure NRG, has just signed its second release, ‘Crashed Disco’ from acclaimed UK producer Equinox. The Dublin DJ will be remixing the track with Nick Irwin.
Navan-based whiz John O’Callaghan’s UK mix album debut, Subculture – Recoverworld Live Volume 2, is in the shops at last (on Recover). The 17-track set features no less that 11 Irish contributions, all the work of Greg Downey, Bryan Kearney and John himself.
Also on John’s exquisitely mixed set are upfront thumpers from the likes of John Askew and Nick Sentience, while the album’s second disc is mixed by the popular live trance outfit, K90.
Dublin techno producer, Donnacha Costello, has a track – ‘Ok, That’s Great, Start Over’ – included on the second Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi compilation on Soma, which is mixed by Luciano.
Compilations which grabbed our attention ahead of their release in the coming weeks include Ali B’s Air Breaks (Air), a phat set featuring Krafty Kuts, Lee Coombs, Plump DJs and Rennie Pilgrem, The New Gold Standard (Fort Knox), a superb funk and breaks collection of new tunes from the Fort Knox Five’s imprint, and Louie Vega presents Luisito Quintero’s Percussion Madness, a breath-taking journey into rhythm.
The biggest new album this fortnight is Hot Chip’s The Warning (on EMI). An early contender for album of the year, this refreshing affair puts the fun into funk and shows just how great pop music can be with a sense of adventure. ‘Boy from School’, just one of its many beautiful tracks, is released as a single on May 5. And don’t miss the acclaimed live experience at Electric Picnic on September 3.
Elsewhere at Electric Picnic, Laurent Garnier – whose F Com label has just released a greatest hits collection, Essentials – has been confirmed as headliner for the Bodytonic tent. … THE BEAT GOES ON!