The Phil-Harmonic Podcast Episode 20

Hello all,

Very close to the end of the year now and, since my blogs throughout December may end up being a bit lengthy, I will spare you all the excessive word play for once. This week’s entry is intentionally brief.

As promised at the end of the last blog, this week I deliver the most deliberate of curve balls. And as deliberate as that was, this curve ball curves even more than even I expected it to. To give you a break from the usual format going into the New Year, Episode 20 is a cunning blend of records from 2011 that I couldn’t find a place for in the podcast when they were released, new material that has (probably) just about missed the boat in terms of my year mixes AND some pretty left-of-field old tracks. And because the mix doesn’t quite reach into those faster tempos as quickly as we normally do, I’ve even been able to include 22 tracks in there. A real bumper episode.

The opening 40 mins of this set are as dark, as moody and as aggressive an opening I have ever put together for an episode - the energetic stabs of Essence, the epic 303 synth of The Monster, the ominous (and instantly recognisable) orchestral breakdown of Scarface. The opening 40 mins comes with a certified health warning. Our house was well and truly shaking as I was mixing this.

Later, watch out for a killer transition from Maarten De Jong’s A50 into Super8 & Tab’s remix of Velvet Morning. Definitely one of the best I’ve ever done, that. And 'Tune Of The Episode' is Ruby & Tony’s fantastic remix of Menno De Jong – Place In The Sun. Huge tune that is too.

And that’s all there is to say really.

THE PHIL-HARMONIC PODCAST 020

1. Gareth Emery feat. Mark Frisch - Into The Light (Benjamin Bates Remix) [Garuda]
2. Exit - The Incident [High Contrast Nu Breed]
3. Sander Van Doorn - Daddyrock (Arty Remix) [Doorn Records]
4. Marco V & Damian William - Essence [In Charge]
5. Marcel Woods - 3Stortion 2011 (Marcel Woods Treatment) [High Contrast Recordings]
6. Erick Strong - The Monster [Reset Records]
7. Mike S – Scarface [Reset Records]
8. Malfankson – Intro & Ending [Hahmo Recordings]
9. Nhato - Dreamer's Symphony [Black Hole Recordings]
10. Federation – Synchronized (Protoculture Remix) [Perfecto Fluoro]
11. Maarten De Jong – A50 [Reset Records]
12. Kyau & Albert - Velvet Morning (Super8 & Tab Remix) [Euphonic]
13. Jon O'Bir & Sonic Element - Let Go (Sequentia Remix) [Liquid Recordings]
14. Estigma feat. Irena Love – Cinnamon Sunday (ReOrder Sunrise Mix) [Silent Shore Records]
15. Ben Gold – Sapphire (Main Mix) [Garuda]
16. Sean Tyas – Seven Weeks [Doorn Records]
17. 4 Strings - Twilight Mode [Liquid Recordings]
18. Dennis Sheperd & Alan Morris feat. Sue McLaren – I Die (Alan Morris Club Mix) [High Contrast Recordings]
19. Menno De Jong feat. Ellie Lawson – Place In The Sun (Ruby & Tony Remix) [Intuition Recordings] <<<(Phil’s Tune Of The Episode)>>>
20. C-Systems feat. Hanna Finsen – Pieces [Unearthed Red]
21. Gareth Emery feat. Mark Frisch - Into The Light (Alex M.O.R.P.H. Remix) [Garuda]
22. Chris R vs. Carl B – Take Off [In Trance We Trust]

Coming up in December, I have 7 and half hours of music for you. Something for everyone to raise their glasses and get their groove on to over the seasonal period. Make sure you come back here in 2 weeks for the first of those seasonal instalments. House music anyone?

The Phil-Harmonic Podcast Episode 19

Hello world! How’s life treating you? Well, if it’s half as well as it’s treating me at the moment you’re doing OK. Content enough for a fresh dose of the Phil-Harmonic Podcast certainly. But let’s face it, when are you not OK enough for that?

Winter closes in, as does my favourite time in any musical year – that time of year where we all get to look at back at our favourite records of the year just gone. If all goes to plan, I’ll have a December crammed with 7 and a half hours of trance and house for you and I’m already primed for it. Really excited! I’m almost more interested in that than Christmas itself.

And since our second episode in November will be throwing you a slight curve ball, this really is our very last straight up episode of 2011. And it’s turned out as a nice blend of melodic electro-prog and moody, rolling tech – with the usual striking euphoria in the final half hour.

I actually had a few issues with this episode. On finishing the set and, I must say, feeling pretty pleased with myself, I made the almost fatal error of attempting playback in Audacity before saving the recording. The program crashed... After much messing around, I recovered the file but for some reason the recording sounded unbalanced and slightly tinny. For that reason, this episode was almost attempted for a second time.

Thankfully, it didn’t come to that, because a second attempt at salvaging the original file seemed to work. But I’d like to apologise well in advance if anyone notices any below-par sound quality here. It should be OK – there shouldn’t be too much of a difference, if at all.

As for the music itself – this week I’ve served up Above & Beyond’s most recent single releases, You Got To Go with Zoe Johnston and Miguel Bosé’s Spanish reworking of Every Little Beat, renamed Sea Lo Que Sea Será – in their Kyau & Albert and Myon & Shane 54 guises respectively. Including both of those in there maybe (subconsciously) had something to do with the fact that I saw Above & Beyond at Nation in Liverpool earlier last month and, only a few months after the Group Therapy boat party in Ibiza, bumped into Tony McGuiness and some of the Anjunabeats team for the second time this year. By sheer fluke you understand...

I’ve been listening to quite a lot of International Departures of late, which might explain the presence of so much Myon & Shane 54 this week. Alongside their single Futuristic on Armind and their remix of Above & Beyond, we have their huge remix of Within Temptation’s Sinéad. I must admit, out of curiosity, I even checked out the original pop-metal version of this track and was pleasantly surprised. Just an all-round well-written song. The Hungarian duo, Myon & Shane 54, have just reached 100 episodes of International Departures, and although it’s not quite my favourite show (sorry, guys), they’re still doing sterling work. Hats off to them!

And our main man, our toppled DJ Mag champion, Armin Van Buuren makes two appearances. Many would say he’s saving his best work for his Gaia alias these days and he’s brought that back again this year with the incredible Stellar. Oh, and not forgetting a long overdue collaboration with fellow pioneer Ferry Corsten on Brute. With its unusual shifting of time signatures, definitely one of the most imposing records of 2011.

Orjan Nilsen also plays a big role in this week’s episode. Not only does his remix of Cosmic Gate’s Be Your Sound mesh perfectly into Brute, but the extended version of Down The Line, one of my absolute favourites from the album In My Opinion, reaches out ahead of all that tough competition to clinch my Tune Of The Episode gong.

And we end on two oldies this week. Firstly, Nitrous Oxide’s big reworking of OceanLab – Beautiful Together. People forget that there were 3 OceanLab singles that came before the seminal Satellite, this being the best of those 3. I’d actually forgotten that the Nitrous Oxide remix was a 2008 remix as part of the Anjunabeats 100 releases. But our final track is a real oldie in comparison, sweeping us back to 2003 – the hypnotic circling synths of Fictivision vs. C-Quence – Symbols. In Trance We Trust – one of those few elite trance labels old enough to have brought us the likes of Midway, Cor Fijneman, Yahel, Mesh and Mark Norman, yet still going strong with the likes of Virtual Vault, Tom Cloud and Alex Kunnari all these years later.

THE PHIL-HARMONIC PODCAST 019

1. Sander Van Doorn feat. Sia - Drink To Get Drunk [Doorn Records]
2. Myon & Shane 54 - Futuristic [Armind]
3. Within Temptation - Sinéad (Myon & Shane 54 Triplet Monster Mix) [Zouk Recordings]
4. Mike Sonar – Reborn [AVA Blue]
5. A.M.R. - Sand Dunes (Estiva Remix) [Enhanced Recordings]
6. Chris Schweizer - Error 404 [Dub Tech Recordings]
7. Armin Van Buuren presents Gaia - Stellar [Armind]
8. Sonic Element - Amenity [Enhanced Recordings]
9. Above & Beyond feat. Zoe Johnston - You Got To Go (Kyau & Albert Remix) [Anjunabeats]
10. Protoculture - Liquid Logic (Nhato Remix) [Re*Brand]
11. Lange feat. Sarah Howells - Let It All Out (Andy Moor Remix) [Lange Recordings]
12. Above & Beyond feat. Miguel Bosé - Sea Lo Que Sea Será (Myon & Shane 54 Summer Of Love Mix) [Anjunabeats]
13. Orjan Nilsen - Down The Line [Armada Music] <<<(Phil's Tune Of The Episode)>>>
14. Cosmic Gate feat. Emma Hewitt - Be Your Sound (Orjan Nilsen Remix) [Black Hole Recordings]
15. Ferry Corsten vs. Armin Van Buuren - Brute [Flashover]
16. Aerian - Mahé [Aerian Records]
17. Sean Tyas & Bjorn Akesson - Zahi [Tytanium Recordings]
18. Running Man - Legend [Insight Recordings]
19. OceanLab - Beautiful Together (Nitrous Oxide Remix) [Anjunabeats]
20. Fictivision vs. C-Quence – Symbols [In Trance We Trust]

All for now, ladies and gents. Next on the horizon for me is Orjan Nilsen and W&W at Ministry Of Sound, London – including a much needed catch up with old friends. And, following that, Episode 20 of TPHP, which will be an eclectic mix of material that I haven’t already found a place for in the podcast this year and some handpicked forgotten monsters from the last few years.