The Phil-Harmonic Podcast Episode 16

Hello all,

TPHP is really back in full swing now and we’re not letting up now that autumn’s here. Episode 16 lands with an almighty bang, or should I say thud.

When I first set up this podcast I did have quite a clear idea in my head of what I wanted the format to be. An hour of progressive and tech, hitting the 138s by that hour mark; mainly new material but with 3 choice old numbers to keep it different and interesting – always ending on the biggest of those oldies. It’s not always worked like that. Some have been much more progressive, some have been very short of old material. More often than not, the material being released that month or my mood dictates. This episode however fits my intended format absolutely perfectly. This is The Phil-Harmonic Podcast as I always envisaged it.

Crammed into hour 1, we have new singles from Andy Moor, tyDi and German producer, Dennis Sheperd, a man who is absolutely on fire at the moment. There’s another fantastic Super8 & Tab remix, a big electro monster from young Juventa and Gareth Emery’s collaboration with Ben Gold for the latest Sound Of Garuda compilation. I have a feeling this week’s more progressive hour is one that even non-trance fans might find good ‘getting-ready-to-go-out’ material. Some absolutely cracking vocals in there!

Hour 2 is not for the faint hearted though. It is a full frontal euphoric, tech-tribal-goa tinged assault on your aural faculties. No messing about! Watch out for Paul Oakenfold rolling back the years with a fiendishly psychedelic bassline in Full Moon Party, the Simon Patterson-esque drop of Ian Buff’s Odyssey remix (complete with my own cheeky use of the vinyl mode function in the break) and not forgetting Michael Dow’s Desert Storm. Michael Dow is a name I know from my old hard trance days and despite his relatively low profile he remains one of the most gifted young producers in the UK.

Our oldies this week start with a Stoneface & Terminal remix of Oceania from 2009 – a remix that captures perfectly the careful transition the duo have made from fast-paced trancers to slower electro-tech monsters. We have Sean Tyas’ old reworking of Selu Vibra – Divine from 2006. All he did was stick a fat kick on the original but it seemed to work. And we end on S.H.O.K.K.’s remix of Altitude – Altitude. This was an old record I bought the CD single of many moons ago – I think when I was about 15 or 16. The original was an epic, original and beautiful progressive journey of the older school variety. As expected, S.H.O.K.K.’s remix brings it into slightly rougher, more pumping territory. A good way to end the mix I think.

THE PHIL-HARMONIC PODCAST 016

1. Creep feat. Romy - The Days (Super8 & Tab Remix) [Young Turks]
2. Dennis Sheperd feat. Jonathan Mendelsohn – Bring Me Back (Club Dub) [High Contrast Recordings]
3. Omnia presents Ain Mo - Plug & Play [Soundpiercing]
4. Beat Service – Charged [Coldharbour Recordings]
5. Allure feat. Christian Burns – On The Wire (Dennis Sheperd Remix) [Magik Muzik]
6. tyDi feat. Sarah Howells – Acting Crazy (Wezz Devall Remix) [S107 Recordings]
7. Derek Ryan – Catharsis (SNR Remix) [We Stand Alone]
8. Andy Moor feat. Sue McLaren – Fight The Fire [AVA Recordings]
9. Gareth Emery & Ben Gold – Flash [Garuda]
10. Lang & Yep feat. Manon Polare - Nevertheless (Juventa Remix) [Enhanced Progressive]
11. Cramp feat. Natalie Peris – More To This (Solis Remix) [Infrasonic Recordings]
12. Giuseppe Ottaviani - Go On Air [Vandit]
13. Oceania – Always (Stoneface & Terminal Remix) [Vandit Digital]
14. Michael Dow - Desert Storm [Slinky Digital]
15. DoubleV – Pangeea (N&R Project Remix) [Silent Shore Records]
16. Paul Oakenfold – Full Moon Party [Perfecto Fluoro] <<<(Phil's Tune Of The Episode)>>>
17. Ralph Novell - Odyssey (Ian Buff Remix) [Connective Sounds]
18. Selu Vibra – Divine (Sean Tyas Rework) [Somatic Sense Recordings]
19. Blue Tente feat. Aelyn - You're Not Mine (Uplifting Mix) [Silent Shore Records]
20. Marcos feat. Helen Sylk – Take Cover [Borderline]
21. Altitude – Altitude (S.H.O.K.K. Remix) [UK Bonzai]

And we’re done. In 2 weeks I’m going to bring you another mix of nostalgic oldies, a la episodes 2 and 6. Probably the last time I will ever do that actually, so I’ll definitely make it one to savour. See you then!

The Phil-Harmonic Podcast Episode 15

And we’re back once again.

With my Ibiza Specials filling the void for the last 3 episodes, it’s been 9 long weeks since Episode 11 of this podcast. We are well overdue a regular episode – and here it is. Since the Ibiza review blog was pretty lengthy, I’ll keep this one as short and sweet as I possibly can... not easy, let me tell ya.

First of all, just a quick thanks for the response to Episode 14. I was well and truly blown away by the number of plays and downloads – and, if I’m honest, just the extra interest people showed. It took a lot of putting together but clearly it was well worth it. Thanks again! If Ibiza happens for me again next year, the 3 Ibiza Specials will, in almost exactly the same format.

What’s in store this week?

With the long wait for a ‘normal’ episode, this is essentially a look back on what has been big for me in the world of trance music from the end of July through until the end of August. Compiling this tracklist was an exercise in crowbarring in as many favourites from the last 2 months as possible. And, understandably, there are also a few nods to the tunes we heard while out in Ibiza. There’s a lot going on here.

As I said in last week’s blog, I was absolutely primed to get on with the podcast post-Ibiza. I was itching to mix this. But at the same time, having not touched my decks since the end of July, I was wary that there might be some rustiness, maybe some cobwebs to blow away. DJing is all about the control you have over what’s playing, when you’ve been away a while you can feel like some of that control has ebbed away.

Luckily, any rustiness hasn’t come through a huge amount on this mix and I think this set proves that I’m at a level now where I can rescue situations that would have in the past ended a mix prematurely. The harmonic mixing really comes to the fore in this episode. It’s made for 3 or 4 absolutely rocking transitions and on a couple of occasions it has really saved my bacon. It’s by no means the perfect mix – there’s still plenty to brush up on and improve - but tracks 11 through to 15 (in particular) are me at my current best, I’d say.

But it’s the tunes that make this episode one to check out. We have 3 tunes in this one – Ask The Cat, Timezone and Between The Rays - that are definitely in my top 10 of the year so far. These are tracks that I’ve been loving since well before Ibiza. On top of that, we have Sergio Maldonado’s killer electro-driven remix of Digital Andromeda, Betsie Larkin’s collab with Super8 & Tab, All We Have Is Now, and Stoneface & Terminal’s last release on Euphonic. Big remixes from Richard Durand, Maor Levi, Lee Haslam, Ummet Ozcan and Ben Gold – it’s all going off.

“Take me softly from your thoughts,
Run away and don’t ever stop,
Oh, you might have known me once before,
He is not me anymore.

Here,
I made the same mistake,
I made before,
But now, I want change.

But there ain’t no train going home,
There is no soul to seek down that road,
No, there ain’t no way I can go,
So alone, so alone,
Bittersweet timezone.”

– Sander Van Doorn - Timezone

And as for nods to Ibiza? At the start of the holiday we spent the entire time singing the riff of Koko and we were loving it when First State’s Koko-Prutataaa Bashup was dished out at Judgement Sundays. Great memories. Here I’ve gone for the just as rocking R3hab remix. As well as playing Orjan Nilsen’s Between The Rays, Cosmic Gate played a version of DJ Shog’s ComeBack. I’ve gone for the epic Dennis Sheperd remix here. Another storming release from the last few months. And Armin and Ferry Corsten both played mash ups involving The Scientist by Coldplay – ignoring the fact that mash ups are always a pain to mix, I had to stick in Mark Sherry’s version that he’s done with Simon Patterson - Missing. I’ve seen this bootleg played out 3 or 4 times whilst out clubbing now and it always gets a great reaction.

And I’ve also stuck in a version of Super8 & Tab’s Mercy – the track that had me welling up on the train coming back from London. It’s pretty fitting that it was Super8 & Tab tracks that had me in pieces actually, because Empire Remixed was released on Anjunabeats the week we arrived home. The whole Ibiza 2011 experience has been loaded with pieces of musical irony.... and you can’t beat a touch of irony.

THE PHIL-HARMONIC PODCAST 015

1. Sander Van Doorn presents Purple Haze feat. Frederick - Timezone [Doorn Records] <<<(Phil's Tune Of The Episode)>>>
2. Sander Van Doorn - Koko (R3hab Remix) [Doorn Records]
3. Alex O'Rion – Craters Of The Moon (Richard Durand Remix) [Black Hole Recordings]
4. Super8 & Tab feat. Jan Burton - Slow To Learn (Maor Levi Club Mix) [Anjunabeats]
5. Sunground - Every Midnight [Trance All-Stars Records]
6. Betsie Larkin with Super8 & Tab - All We Have Is Now [Premier]
7. Heatbeat - Ask The Cat [Soundpiercing]
8. Stoneface & Terminal – Rush [Euphonic]
9. Lisa Lashes - Numero Uno (Ummet Ozcan Remix) [Discover Dark]
10. Peetu S - Scorpion (Lee Haslam Remix) [Discover]
11. Tritonal & Sibicky - Suzu (Ben Gold Remix) [Garuda]
12. DJ Shog - ComeBack (Dennis Sheperd Remix) [High Contrast Recordings]
13. Super8 & Tab feat. Jan Burton - Mercy (7 Skies Remix) [Anjunabeats]
14. Protoculture feat. Shannon Hurley – Sun Gone Down [Re*brand]
15. Orjan Nilsen - Between The Rays [Armind]
16. Stacker & RJ Van Xetten - Digital Andromeda (Sergio Maldonado Remix) [Dub Tech Recordings]
17. MEM – In To U [Reset Records]
18. Terk Dawn - Sunburst [Ask4 Records]
19. Simon Patterson vs. Coldplay - Missing Scientist (Mark Sherry's Mashup) [CDR]
20. John O'Callaghan & Giuseppe Ottaviani – Ride The Wave [Subculture]
21. Chakra – Home (Above & Beyond Remix) [WEA]

And that’s your lot! No talk of Ibiza in the next blog... I promise. We’re getting proper overkill here! See you in 2 weeks!