The Phil-Harmonic Podcast Episode 5

Hello once again!

Another ample helping of trance music for you all here. As trance music oracle, Armin Van Buuren, reaches the incredible A State Of Trance 500 milestone, I reach the somewhat more modest milestone of TPHP Episode 5.

Over the last 3 or 4 weeks there’s been plenty to think about and savour in the world of trance music, a few things that have inevitably influenced the compiling of this week’s tracklist. Most notably, and to my mind most controversially, the last few weeks have seen two big trance acts make it onto BBC Radio One’s daytime playlist. Above & Beyond’s current single, Sun & Moon, and Sander Van Doorn’s vocal collaboration with Carol Lee, Love Is Darkness (a track that opened up episode 3 of this podcast), have both been reaching out to the ears of the spoon-fed masses.

It’s something I’ve really had mixed emotions about. On the one hand it's exciting to think that the British public is finally getting to hear some dance music worth hearing, dance music with high production values and that puts emotional qualities ahead of inane quirkiness. On the other hand, hearing Above & Beyond played alongside the likes of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and whatever other tripe is currently fashionable somehow leaves me feeling queasy and slightly empty inside. And there’s always the danger these records will get Radio One’s fatal ‘let’s play it to death’ treatment. Those who have followed any of my old journals will know that I’ve always had a deep-rooted hatred of all things Radio One between the hours of about 6am and 6pm.

But whatever the rights and wrongs of it and however brief it turns out to be, I’ve had to pay tribute to trance’s sudden return to the BBC’s list of ‘That Which Is Cool’ by slipping both Sun & Moon and Love Is Darkness into this mix, albeit slightly tougher, less mainstream remixes of them.

And the other big thing going down over the last few weeks has been that huge milestone for A State Of Trance, marked by the recent series of epic live shows, the last of which took place in Sydney only this weekend. I can’t call myself a regular A State Of Trance listener anymore, I’m much more a Trance Around The World/Tone Diary/Identity man myself these days. But it’s quite clear that these recent shows have captured everyone’s imagination and shown just how incredibly strong and united trance music is as a sub-genre at the moment. My tribute to that has been to include the official A State Of Trance 500 Anthem, Status Excessu D, in this week’s episode. A cracker of a tune it is too. Not quite Tuvan, but still classic Armin.

What else is there?

Well, as promised, this week’s episode has a slightly darker, twisted edge to it, thanks in no small part to doubles from High Contrast Recordings and Irish producer, Matt Nagle, and remixes from Marcus Schössow, W&W and Lee Haslam. The second hour is my usual driving, uplifting trance music, including a Trance Arts remix of Running Man track, Sorrow, a new Manuel Le Saux trancer called Stinger and new material from Garry Heaney in the shape of Hitman. In fact, I must say, this week’s trancers turned out to be even better through the speakers than they looked on paper and all really blended together well.

Our ‘oldies’ this week are two uplifting trancers from 2009 - Simon Hunt’s White Island and an Activa remix of one of Sean Truby’s earliest releases, Unreal – and a fantastic 2004 favourite of mine from the duo behind Anjuna classic, Alt+F4, the official theme song of Finish club, Club Dive.

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1. Ferry Corsten - Punk (Arty's Rock N Rolla Remix) [Flashover Recordings]
2. Above & Beyond feat. Richard Bedford – Sun & Moon (Dennis Sheperd Remix) [Anjunabeats]
3. Roggu - Cookie Monster (Chris Schweizer Remix) [Dangerbox Recordings]
4. Conjure One feat. Jaren - Like Ice (Marcus Schössow Remix) [Nettwerk]
5. Marcel Woods - Champagne Dreams (W&W Remix) [High Contrast Recordings]
6. Cliff Coenraad - Oh!Mega [High Contrast Recordings]
7. Abstract Vision & Elite Electronic - Theory Of God (Matthew Nagle Remix) [Neuroscience Recordings]
8. Alex Pich & Shinobi - Barcelona (Matthew Nagle Remix) [Full Tilt Recordings]
9. Leibo - Phantomania (Lee Haslam Remix) [Slinky Digital] <<<(Phil's Tune Of The Episode)>>>
10. Sander Van Doorn feat. Carol Lee - Love Is Darkness (Ummet Ozcan Remix) [Doorn Records]
11. Armin Van Buuren presents Gaia - Status Excessu D (The Official A State Of Trance 500 Anthem) [Armind]
12. Ian Booth - Enigma (Adam Brooks & Will Rees Remix) [Discover White Label]
13. Simon Hunt - White Island [Conspiracy Recordings]
14. Running Man - Sorrow (Trance Arts Remix) [Unearthed Records]
15. Garry Heaney - Hitman [Liquid Recordings]
16. Manuel Le Saux - Stinger [Digital Society Recordings]
17. Sean Truby - Unreal (Activa Remix) [Red Force Recordings]
18. Daniel Ocean - Niagara [Crystal Source Recordings]
19. Magellan Project - Dive Theme (Magellan Mix) [Asgard Records]

Well, I’m off to see Armin Van Buuren and Jochen Miller at Brixton Academy next weekend – which will be alright, I suppose. Until our next outing, take care!

The Phil-Harmonic Podcast Episode 4

Hi all,

We’re back once again for another 2 hours of harmonically mixed trance music; another invitation to amble through the musical world that is my overflowing CD cases.

Since our last outing took a little longer to ‘move up the gears’, as it were, I consciously tried to make sure that this week’s offering picked up the pace a tad quicker. This one reaches 140 BPM with a good 40 mins still remaining – something the purists out there will no doubt enjoy. As always, catering for everyone!

Whereas Episode 3 showcased quite a few ‘big’, ‘popular’ tunes, tunes that you might have already picked up on in other podcasts, this one retreats into the trance underground ever so slightly. It was the trance intuition that is Anjunabeats dominating the tracklist last time out, this week it’s the lesser talked about Infrasonic (and its sub-labels) ruling the roost.

I must admit, I’ve found the more up-tempo, melodic trance a tad bland and forgettable so far this year. I’ve really had to wade through the releases to find those spine-chillers of late – this mix is the result of that most recent wading. But boy, there are some spine-chillers in this lot.

Kicking things off with a moody, vocal edge, we have a remix of Do For Love by Matt Lange (who confusingly is not the Stuart James Langelaan that us trance fans know so well as...Lange), another cracking remix by Dutch producer, Estiva, and Maor Levi’s remix of the stunning Memorial on Enhanced’s progressive sub-label. In fact, listen closely to the vocal of the opening track. Lyrically, that’s some deep, poignant stuff.

But, as promised, the pace does pick up quickly, with two big productions from 140 BPM specialist, Arctic Moon, a monster from newcomer, Running Man, a Russian producer who seems to have burst out of nowhere ...(the track is called... Somewhere), and my Tune of the Episode, courtesy of Poland’s Indecent Noise, the perfectly decent, Battlestar.

There are a few older tracks in this mix too, a Six Senses remix from the back end of 2009, a melodic trancer by US producer, Steve Bolger a.k.a. Redstar, which came out this time last year and, in an attempt to end this mix on a rather fat Simon Patterson double, we have Paul Miller’s remix of Patterson’s 2008 release, Us.

On a side note, I’ve only just realised that Episodes 1 and 2 were significantly louder than Episode 3. I won’t go as far as to reupload those episodes for the sake of a few decibels – that would be taking my OCD to whole new levels – but I have settled on a default now so, hopefully, you won’t be reaching frantically for that volume control between episodes. As always, it’s those little details that make the difference!

Well, enough of that. On with the tuneage!

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1. Vinny Troia feat Jaidene Veda - Do For Love (Matt Lange Remix) [Curvve Recordings]
2. Ad Brown feat. Kerry Leva - Memorial (You Were Loved) (Maor Levi Club Mix) [Enhanced Progressive]
3. Tucandeo feat. Jennifer Hershman - Only We Know (Estiva Remix) [Infra Progressive]
4. Sequentia - Gone Missing (Nitrous Oxide Remix) [Infrasonic Recordings]
5. Lifeserzh & Hakan Ludvigson feat. Eve Justine - My Friend Is Calling (Russo Remix) [Musical Madness]
6. Peter Lesko - Homerun (Norin & Rad Remix) [Alter Ego Digital]
7. ReOrder - Never More A Sleeper (XGenic Remix) [Perceptive Recordings]
8. Arty - Zara [Anjunabeats]
9. Stonevalley - Alcatraz (Sequentia Remix) [Enhanced Recordings]
10. Adam Szabo - Radiance [Always Alive Recordings]
11. Setrise & Nurettin Colak - Frozen Dreams (Six Senses Remix) [Infrasonic Future]
12. Meridian - Shifter (Stonevalley Remix) [Infrasonic Recordings]
13. Vast Vision - Ambrosia (Arctic Moon Remix) [Future Sound Of Egypt]
14. Redstar - Players With Soul [Monster Tunes]
15. Running Man presents Fifth Dimension - Somewhere [Alter Ego Pure]
16. Solid Globe - North Pole (Giuseppe Ottaviani Remix) [Subculture]
17. Arctic Moon - Adelaide [Future Sound Of Egypt]
18. Indecent Noise - Battlestar [Discover] <<<(Phil's Tune Of The Episode)>>>
19. Simon Patterson - Mood Swing [Reset Records]
20. Simon Patterson - Us (Paul Miller Remix) [Reset Records]

That’s your lot! Looking at the material I’ve collected of late, I’m expecting the next episode to have a slightly darker, nastier edge to it. Traditionally, April is one of the best months of the year for dance music, as artists get their best productions etched in our minds ahead of the hectic holiday and festival season. Promises to be big! Catch you in 2 weeks!