2009 is shaping up to be a another great year for Irish electronic artists with a number of high profile albums and singles on the way over the next 12 months. Every other week throughout 2008 we had a new name make it on to the ATL Dance playlists and it's a trend that looks set to continue into 2009. We thought for the first ATLDance blog we'd round up some info on a selection of producers who you'll be hearing a lot of over the coming year. So here goes...

The Japanese Popstars continue their quest for global domination with their latest Face Melter hitting the shops on January 19th on Gung-Ho Recordings which will be followed in May by the title track off the 'We Just Are' album. Winners of the Best Breakthrough Act at the DJ Mag 2008 awards, the lads have also remixed the next single from Beyonce ('Single Ladies') and have another potentially massive remix on the way but we're not allowed say who it is yet. Damn. As per 2008, you can expect to see them popping up at all the major UK and european festivals with club appearances everywhere from Japan to Australia and their debut U.S. tour later on in the year.

The Jet Project have just released The Barrio EP, a 3-track sampler of their forthcoming album on Darkroom Dubs ' Head In The Clouds' which hits the stores just in time for the Summer. Elsewhere keep an eye out for remixes forthcoming on Fergie's Excentric label, Paul Woolford'sIntimacy imprint among other. Don't forget you can catch them live at The Stiff Kitten for the monthly JP night featuring some of the best DJs on the planet...

Phil Kieran, having temporarily parked Alloy Mental, has been concentrating on his debut artist album which will be released on Sven Vath's legendary Cocoon record label. Keep an ear out for the ATL Dance show for some exclusive plays over the coming months...

Psycatron are just about to release the second installment from Fergie's new label Rekluse. Hot on the heels of Rekluse 001 from Umek, the Location Unknown EP has been picking up reviews from Sasha through to DJ Hell and hits the online stores on Monday. Check out the Psycatron Myspace for a free download of an unreleased mix of the lead track Takefive. Later on in the year will see the release of remixes for Miniminds and Mark O Sullivan, while their next single will be Deeper Shades Of Black having just been signed to Detroit legend Carl Craig'sPlanet E Recordings.

Limavady boys Loco & Jam will feature as Rekluse number 3 in February... Miniminds have a remix ep forthcoming on Fling Recordings as well as several original tracks over the coming months.

The Acroplane.Org guys keep up the pressure starting the year off with the RL/VL album Orating Lion. Check out this Saturday's ATL Dance show for an exclusive mix from the man himself under his Space Dimension Controller guise and check out this video from his live set at Pontins (!) recently...

Clive Kells has been busy putting together remixes for KMD on Dublin Xpress Records, Japan's Tomi Chair on Nice & Nasty and Dublin's Produse...

Dibby Dougherty has remixes forthcoming for Oliver Moldan, Jimmy Van M as well as Elevation Records from Galway - all heading your way in the first few months of 2009... Gavin Herlihy remixes Chris Fortier's 'Losing Wait' alongside Sasse's 'Friday Sessionz' on Moodmusic coming in March... Mark O Sullivan is putting the finishing touches to a new DK7 album while his own debut solo album Fragments From A Long Country should be with us very soon...

Scope has a number of original tracks and remixes in the pipeline as well as a new alter-ego. Hailing from Detroit, Trent Walker will see Ric McClelland explore his techier side and love of the Motor City sound. Keep an ear out for the debut single over the coming months...

Elsewhere on the horizon, expect a barrage of new releases from Aciitone and Nice & Nasty down in Dublin, Elevation in Galway, Soultech out of Belfast plus a whole new wave of up and copming labels and producers who will inevitably be filling up our inbox over the coming months.

If you want to get your music on ATL Dance, all you have to do is send in your links to mailto:[email protected] with 'Dance Show' in the subject.

As you may or may not be aware, we like to have a bit of a laugh and a jape in the ATL office. It's not all about listening to serious indie music while stroking our chins and muttering under our breath. I mean don't get me wrong, none of us are Colin Hunt (thank the lord), but we all appreciate a good giggle. Music might be the main focus round these parts, but comedy is an essential cultural companion. For my part, Bill Hicks was a big influence on me in my early teens, Rigsy's hero is Graham Linehan, as declared in a previous post in this blog, and Paul McClean supports Liverpool Football Club, whose attempts to win the English league title provide an ongoing comedy entering its nineteenth season.

Of course, the links between music and comedy go back way beyond the widespread claims of comedy being the new rock 'n' roll that accompanied Newman and Baddielpacking out Wembley Arena back in the early 90s, but are comedy and music comfortable bedfellows or are the two best left to their own devices?

The whole "comedy is the new rock 'n' roll" thing never really got off the ground. Chris Morris and Lee & Herring had comedy shows on Radio 1, and the target audiences may have been the same, but there was nothing particularly musical about any of the comedy around at the time. Recently, however, a few acts who use music as an integral part of their performance have broken through to the mainstream and the whole debate has been kick-started. Some say yes, others emphatically no.

Whatever your opinion, it seems clear that acts such as The Mighty Boosh and Flight of the Conchords have shifted the goalposts of comedy performance a bit. The comedy song has a long tradition, and performers such as Billy Connolly, Bill Bailey, Harry Hill and Adam & Joe (to name but a few) often use music to great comic effect, but these two acts have taken it up a notch or two in terms of integrating music into their work. Flight of the Conchords' live shows consist almost entirely of their songs, which in turn provide the base element that each sketch in their radio series and subsequent sitcom is woven around. Without the songs, there wouldn't really be a show.

The Mighty Boosh use music in a slightly different way. In their one radio and three television series (so far), songs pop up as the denouement to scenes and in the odd crimp (an a cappella form quickly ripped off by none other than the Honey Monster), but while the show would suffer without the songs, it's not entirely dependent on them. Interestingly though, their live show now incorporates full band performances of many of the songs, featuring Noel Fielding (Vince Noir) on vocals, Julian Barratt (Howard Moon) on guitar, Dave Brown (Bollo) on bongos and Rich Fulcher (Bob Fossil) on keys.

In fact, the Boosh's live show could be a sign of music and comedy finally crossing over in a meaningful fashion. In a way it was like a variety show performed by a single collective, or a self-contained cabaret featuring a touch of stand-up, some sketches, live music and elements of performance art. It was the theatrical equivalent of a mash-up, and judging by the fairly packed Odyssey Arena I enjoyed it in, it's pretty popular too.

The success of these acts alone prove that comedy and music can mix in new and interesting ways, but it's a difficult trick to pull off. As for comedy being the new rock 'n' roll, it would be nice if music could produce a new rock 'n' roll itself and just leave comedy out of it - it seems to be doing ok by itself thanks very much.

If a person generally doesn't enjoy films and watches no more than half a dozen every year - should their opinion on a particular movie count for much?

You'll probably think no and will stop reading this blog as soon as I tell you that person is me and this is essentially a movie review. Which was there now. See ya!

But look at it this way (you're still here!!! Thanks!) - if a movie impresses someone who is extremely hard to impress - it's bound to be worth checking out. Does that make sense? I think it does.

Anyway, my general indifference to the big screen is rooted in the fact I don't have a very good concentration span. I will phase out of albums, books and conversations if they are anything other than bite size. This is why the majority of my time is spent watching TV shows that are a neat 25 minutes or so. Any longer and I'd just move on to something completely different.

A few films have kept me engrossed - notably Goodfellas and Anchorman - and others quite similar in style. And Flight of the Navigator when I was a little younger. Oh, and Ghost World.

I'll happily add Slumdog Millionaire to that list. I saw it on Sunday evening and buzzed about it right through to Tuesday morning, asking everyone in work (and at one point a man who was essentially a total stranger) if they'd seen it, re-reading the plot online, daydreaming about standout scenes, watching the trailer on youtube, sourcing some of the soundtrack. It's a wonderful film and you really must see it. Straight away.

Let me tell you why, as is the style with these 'reviews'.

First of all, the entire premise is one to make you immediately impressed with whoever came up with it. (I'll only tell you the plot as is previewed in the trailer, no spoilers of course).

A kid from the slums of India, gets on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. He answers the increasingly difficult questions correctly, right up to the very last one, when the show is halted for the evening. He's dragged into a police station and accused of cheating. He's a slumdog, how could he possibly know all the answers? But it turns out there's a random story from his curious past that holds the answer to every question. Lucky, eh? His life story is unraveled, leading to an incredible conclusion, which is wrapped up in the final question.

The short stories are all so quirky I would happily recount every single one to anyone bored enough to listen. It's beautifully shot and an absolute treat to watch - colours dancing across the screen, huge shots of breathtaking Indian landscapes, the slums somehow looking tragic and glamourous at the same time. The casting is magnificent - those child actors in particular are incredible to the point you really begin to wonder just how on earth someone with so little experience can be so bleedin' good at something. And the music drags you in further - loads of technicolor bhangra and epic Indian strings (and, almost inevitably, some MIA - the DFA remix of Paper Planes!!!!). Every box is ticked, basically. And that's before you get anywhere near a fantastic ending. And yes, it's a proper ending, the equivalent of a cymbal crash after a drum roll in a song without an irritating fade. (I hate songs that fade out. It just feels like the song is actually still going but you just aren't allowed to hear it anymore - as if someone is turning the volume down really slowly but you can't actually see them and tell them to wise up)

I know from what I said earlier this might not mean very much, but Slumdog Millionaire is the finest film I have seen in years. My concentration has never stayed in one place for so long. And had so much fun.

I was always curious about Iceland - sitting all the way up there, out of reach of the rest of the world and free to operate as it sees fit. A huge, wobbly country, volcanic tremors tickling the pixies, a place over run with strange sounding singers and guitars you play with a bow. That sound a little too romantic? Well last year I watched Heimi and, if anything, it feels like I'm holding back.

I always wanted to go. The final straw was hearing a band from Reykjavik called FM Belfast - specifically a song named Synthia.

Probably my favourite track of 2008, 'Synthia' was the kind of weird, wonderful sound I could happily associate with Iceland.

Before I continue, the inevitable 'why are they called FM Belfast?' question actually has a brilliant answer. I went to SXSW for ATL TV earlier this year and was allowed to choose one non-Irish band to cover. I chose FM Belfast. We filmed them, then chatted briefly on a crowded Austin street. I asked them why they were named after Belfast.

Loa, their charming lead singer, explained (I paraphrase)...

"We used to be an awful metal covers band, doing grim versions of horrible songs, for a joke. Belfast seemed so horrible on the news that we named ourselves after the city."

At this point she realized I'd asked because I was actually from Belfast. Mortified, she began to dig a hole, before production boffin Arni jumped in to help her out.

Anyway, when two friends of mine decided to head to Iceland for Christmas and FM Belfast agreed to be our tour guides, a plan was hatched. £500 for all flights (Belfast - Heathrow - Reykjavik) and four nights at a hotel seemed more than reasonable, given we were to visit a place which seemed so strange and distant it might as well be in outer-space. Off we went.

Now, given I almost always end up disappointed, building things up way too much in my tiny head, setting myself up for the inevitable disappointment that is the actual reality - it really is so impressive that I came home raving just so much about this wonderful little place.

It's weird. We knew it would be, but there's stuff we didn't expect, even after reading a couple of different books about the place on the (lengthy) flight over.

Just as an example of something subtle, yet wonderful about Iceland- there are no chain stores in the main part of the capital city. No KFC, no Zavvi, no Pizza Hut, no Boots. They're just not allowed. So what you get are amazing, independent, Icelandic shops and places to eat that are properly unique. Apart from everything else, this makes every single building unbelievably cool.

Our first night was spent checking out music and bars. We went to NASA to see a couple of bands. NASA is about the size of the Mandela Hall in Belfast and we're told it's the best venue in the country. The first band we saw were called Borko.

They were amazing. As in, if I saw them playing Belfast, I'd be texting Paul McClean within seconds and approaching the band, excitedly wondering just what ATL could do for them, frying their head with giddy enthusiasm. They kind of sounded like Air during the 'Moon Safari' era - all dreamy and... well, Icelandic.

They were the first of four acts on as well - Iceland has a ridiculous amount of amazing bands. Given the entire population is less than that of Greater Belfast, it's mad when you think they've given us Mum, Sigur Ros, Bjork, GusGus, Leaves and Emiliana Torrini in the last few years. Mad, I tell you!!

Bouncing onwards with FM Belfast to a bar called Boston. Like a giant living room - cosy and inviting - Boston is seemingly full of the trendiest people in the country. We meet the keyboardist from the aforementioned Borko, the guy who wrote this book, a guy who claims he played tambourine on Sigur Ros' last album (his story checked out), a girl who shows us her illustrations in the local listings paper and a load of writers, illustrators and musicians. No one seems to work in a petrol station, no one is an accountant. Though no one seems to have any money either (we seem to be buying quite a few rounds, but we're happy to do so).

Perhaps we should point out we booked this holiday a fair few weeks before their economy collapsed - none of us are that devious.

We eventually (almost) pass out on a sofa in Cafe Cultura and wonder what it would be like to actually live in this city. I conclude none of us are nearly talented enough. Or sufficiently good looking.

That was day one. Later on, we'll swim in the Blue Lagoon (basically an enormous outdoor bath with weird, creamy, bright blue 'water'), check out some glaciers and ride snow mobile's through the mountains, eat at just about the finest restaurant any of us had ever stumbled upon, swear far too much at the madness of the Gaysirs (there were kids around), casually dander by a waterfall which could surely compete with Niagra Falls before forging friendships with people so wonderfully silly, they remind us of home.

Actually, maybe we could fit in here. Reykjavik is tiny (all the main shops are basically on one long street) - no bigger than Derry - so it's easy to feel pretty welcome. As long as they don't think you're English, you'll be embraced. As the single most enviromentally sound nation on the planet, it's a pretty healthy place to be, despite the (blatantly obvious) lack of cash.

All we'd have needed was a better story to tell, a bigger beard and a woollier jumper and I'm pretty sure they'd have let us stay forever. I'd have happily done so.