Another 2 weeks gone; another instalment of harmonically mixed dance music goodness arrives in the shape of TPHP episode 11.
Now, there’s a track towards the end of this week’s mix called Beautiful, an Alt+F4 remix of an absolute classic by Finland’s DJ Orkidea. Back in 2008, I did a huge journal-based rundown of my favourite 150 trance songs of the previous 15 years (which you can still read at last.fm, in fact). This version of Beautiful sat proudly at number 18 in that chart – without doubt one of my favourite trance records of all time. True to its name, it is a thing of real beauty.
And that track more or less sums up the sound I was going for in compiling this week’s episode. I’ve been wary of late that some episodes have had a nastier, slightly aggressive edge to them – particularly episodes 5, 8 and the back end of episode 7. For this week, I want to take away some of the pace and aggression, substituting that for some brighter, sunnier vibes. Still plenty of energy, just more in the way of lush pads, piano lines and classical (even operatic) touches. This week’s mix is, I hope, clear proof, if any was needed, that trance music remains as emotionally textured and ‘musically picturesque’ as any kind of modern music.
As if to completely contradict myself, the opening track (and my tune of the episode) doesn’t necessarily conform to the sound that I was going for in this mix. But it is one of my favourite producers playing it simple and doing what he does best – deep chunkiness, followed by a riff that raises the hairs on your neck and gets into the innermost recesses of your brain. It’s Jochen Miller’s new one on High Contrast Recordings – One Day. I wasn’t that much of a fan of either U & Eye or Troucid, but this is a return to form.
Our sunshine-soaked tunes follow later on and are the likes of Craving’s Inflection (from Richard Durand’s In Search Of Sunrise 9 compilation), Tritonal’s reworking of Mark Eteson’s Universal Language and Timeline Music’s piano-driven piece, Dreams Will Never Change. There’s also Andy Moor’s fantastic remix of Bladerunner theme, Rachel’s Song, and Cressida’s Kibo, a track inspired by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor disasters in Japan earlier this year – the voices you can hear are various people saying ‘I feel for Japan’ in their native tongues. Do support that one if you can, as all proceeds go to the Japan Relief funds.
As always the pace does pick up after the hour mark, but doesn’t quite touch the usual 140 BPM tempo. I’ve tried to keep that summery, uplifting vibe in the second hour – Jorn Van Deynhoven provides us with yet another remix of Bobina’s huge You Belong To Me, Dub Tech Recordings release a pure Balearic stormer in Last Novel, a track that sounds like it’s escaped from a Roger Shah Magic Island compilation, while Enhanced Recordings serve up yet another one of those trademark uplifters in Stonevalley’s remix of Jaco – Uncertainty.
I’ve saved all our oldies for the end this week – they are the aforementioned Beautiful by Orkidea, a 2009 remix of that age old Ibizan classic, Mystery Land by Y-Traxx – a track I’m sure all of you remember from the film Kevin & Perry Go Large – and, speaking of truly beautiful trance records, we end on Goldenscan’s 2005 track Only With You. Now, this last track is a very personal record for me. Many won’t remember Goldenscan; many that do will probably prefer this release’s A-side, Halcyon. But with Miriam Stockley’s haunting, almost sweeping vocal and its shades of Atlantis vs. Avatar – Fiji, this one gets me every time. Another truly gorgeous piece of melodic music and another one of my all time favourites.
Last time out I announced this podcast had made its way onto iTunes for all you iPod and iPhone users. This week I’m pleased to reveal that a new RapidShare Pro account means that all episodes of TPHP will be available for at least the next 2 years. As an episode comes down from SoundCloud a direct link download will go up on this blog and those links will be used in my RSS feed for iTunes and WinAmp. Hopefully, it all stays working!
THE PHIL-HARMONIC PODCAST 011
2. Gareth Emery & Jerome Isma-Ae - Stars (Hardwell Remix) [Garuda]
3. Kenneth Thomas feat. Roberta Harrison & Steven Taetz - Drive (Ryan Mendoza Remix) [Perfecto]
4. Craving - Inflection [Songbird]
5. Temple One - Zebra (Nuera Remix) [Enhanced Recordings]
6. Thomas Kelle - Mars Needs Lovers (Daniel Rems Remix) [Alter Ego Digital]
7. Mark Eteson - Universal Language (Tritonal Club Mix) [Monster Tunes]
8. Mike Koglin vs. Genix - Helion (Norin & Rad Remix) [Anjunabeats]
9. Turn & The Breaking Clouds - Dreams Will Never Change [Timeline Music]
10. Vangelis - Rachel's Song (Andy Moor Remix) [CDR]
11. Cressida - KiBo (The World Speaks Mix) [Euphonic]
12. Mark Sixma - Arrivals [Songbird]
13. Tiddey - Copacabana Dream [RR Recordings]
14. Bobina & Betsie Larkin - You Belong To Me (Jorn Van Deynhoven Remix) [Maelstrom]
15. Viceverse & Farhad Mahdavi - Last Novel (Farhad Mahdavi Remix) [Dub Tech Recordings]
16. Jaco - Uncertainty (Stonevalley Remix) [Enhanced Recordings]
17. Orkidea – Beautiful (Alt+F4 Remix) [Sential Recordings]
18. Y-Traxx - Mystery Land 2009 (Fred Baker vs. Barry Jay 2009 Remix) [Nebula]
19. Goldenscan – Only With You [A State Of Trance]
Well, that’s another one done. ‘Normal’ episodes of this podcast are going into hibernation for a couple of months now. Of course, there will still be fresh episodes coming your way - I’ll explain what form they will take in 2 weeks! See ya then!
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