Hello all,
The 2nd of 3 episodes in the month of March rolls up in the shape of Episode 27 and, some of you may already have seen, we have new artwork! I think most will agree it’s a huge improvement on my 'full on' purple covers – further proof that I’m always looking to improve things and make the project more polished. I have also seriously toyed with the idea of tweaking the format of the podcast to help freshen things up. But for now, I’m going to keep that on hold.
Our episode two weeks ago was a tougher, faster affair. This week we go back to the more regular pace and style. A big feature this week is the number of tech and electro edged tunes, a number of which have some really massive riffs and breakdowns. Those include W&W’s A State Of Trance 550 anthem contest winner, Invasion, Craig Connelly’s fantastic new single on Garuda called Robot Wars and ‘Tune Of The Episode’, Aaron Camz’s remix of Marina, a tune that has ‘Markus Schulz set’ written all over it.
After playing the Tritonal remix in Episode 26, I’ve thrown in the original of Super8 & Tab’s Awakenings, which of course has its own bassline driven charms and, although vocals are in short supply this week, the vocal on Hannah’s single Falling Away is an absolute belter.
The uplifting part of the mix is short but sweet this week and I’ve managed to get a set of tunes together that blend into each other very nicely. Proper trance-heads amongst you will enjoy the seamless transition from Touchstone’s Senza Fine into Darren Porter’s ‘free to download’ remix of Brute. A stonewall advocate for harmonic track selection!!
Our ‘golden oldie’ this week whisks us back to Marco V’s 2005 album, 200V. Tracks like Automanual, Calling The Shots, More Than A Life Away and Red Blue Purple made 200V one of trance music’s seminal artist albums and also made Marco one of the forerunners of this now normal trend of blending house and trance music. 2005 was also the first year that, after overplaying the trance classics of 1998-2002 and being fully distracted by hard dance music and my slowly dwindling teenage band obsessions, I finally started to pay full attention to what was going on in trance music as a scene. That was off the back of returning from Ibiza and seeing Marco V at Cream Amnesia, who to me had been a complete unknown. False Light, in both its album and single mix formats, remains my personal favourite Marco V tune. Considering this is the man that has brought us the likes of Indicator, Godd and Simulated, I can’t really give False Light higher praise.
“I guess your state of mind, is not yours to design. All you need is, time to find your space in false light.”
The only blot on this week’s copybook is that for some unknown reason the vinyl mode on my decks malfunctioned in this mix, which meant that instead of slowing the deck down to a nice stop at the end of the mix, the deck stopped instantly. So this week I had to quickly fade the mix out and wack the outro on the end. Not the most professional sounding but will have to do for this week.
THE PHIL-HARMONIC PODCAST EPISODE 27
1. Dinka - Lotus (New Guinea) [Unreleased Digital]
2. Hannah - Falling Away (Protoculture Remix) [Armada Music]
3. Tiff Lacey & Fergus Keogh - Darkest Hours (Erick Strong Remix) [Full Tilt Recordings]
4. Air-T & Satelite - Light On (Offshore Wind Remix) [Freefall]
5. Chris Schweizer - The Conquest [Soundpiercing]
6. Fast Distance & Dimension feat. Cami - Promise You [Air Up There Recordings]
7. Mark Otten - Hyperfocus (Wezz Devall Remix) [Armind]
8. Super8 & Tab - Awakenings [Anjunabeats]
9. W&W - Invasion (A State Of Trance 550 Anthem) [A State Of Trance]
10. Armin Van Buuren presents Gaia - Stellar (DNS Project Remix) [Armada Music]
11. Ost & Meyer - Safari [Enhanced Recordings]
12. Solis & Sean Truby - Marina (Aaron Camz Remix) [Interstate Recordings] <<<(Phil’s Tune Of The Episode)>>>
13. Craig Connelly – Robot Wars [Garuda]
14. Paul Miller - Classically [Unearthed Red]
15. Sergey Nevone & Simon O'Shine - Balearic Island (Garry Heaney Remix) [Future Sound Of Egypt]
16. Scott Lowe & High Definition – Midnight Blue [Unearthed Records]
17. Ehren Stowers – Unity (Sonic Element Remix) [Alter Ego Records]
18. Mr Carefull – Iridium (Phil Metcalfe Remix) [Defcon Recordings]
19. Touchstone – Senza Fine [Digitized Recordings]
20. Ferry Corsten & Armin Van Buuren - Brute (Darren Porter Remix) [CDR]
21. Marco V - False Light (Single Extended Mix) [In Charge]
That’s all, people. See you in two weeks
Hello everyone,
It's a happy 1st birthday to The Phil-Harmonic Podcast. 26 episodes later and here we are!
Last time out I promised Episode 26 would cut back on the house music and deliver more trance of the melodic, high-tempo variety. Not that we have anything against house music per se. There's a lot of great house around at the moment and a lot of the podcasts I listen to throw it out in ample supplies.
But I noticed after listening back to Episode 25 that the last half an hour had an edge to it that has maybe been missing for a while - an edge that can only really be achieved by getting successive 138+ trancers to crash satisfyingly into each other. I felt it was time to give the more driving end of trance's spectrum some much needed attention.
To cut a pointlessly long story short, this week's offering will be most enjoyed by those who like their music melodic, euphoric and ballsy. This week’s episode will separate the fluffy vocal part-timers from the hardened trance veterans. It’s a bosh-fest.
In an opening half an hour crammed full of huge, huge bassline drops, we have the lusciously melodic, For What It’s Worth by Estonian, Kaimo Kerge and ‘Tune Of The Episode’, Tritonal’s incredible take on Super8 & Tab’s new single, Awakenings – one of those tracks that delivers something that is stylistically in keeping with what’s popular at the moment but thinks outside the box a little bit. Great chords!
Of our faster paced trancers, there’s a new release by Ferrin & Morris, there’s John Askew’s psychedelically tinged monster on Simon Patterson’s Night Vision label, Bastard, and a belting remix of Dart Rayne by Trance Arts, who is fast becoming THE most consistent producer of euphoric 138+ trance music.
“If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly. If you are codependent, ask someone to press 2 for you. If you have multiple personalities, press 3, 4, 5 and 6. If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want. Stay on the line and we’ll trace your call. If you are delusional, press 7 and your call will be transferred to the mother ship. If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number you press. If you are depressed, it does not matter which number you press – no one will answer you. If you are dyslexic, press 69696969. If you have a nervous disorder, please fidget with the hash key until the beep after the beep please wait for the beep. If you have short term memory loss, please try your call again later. And if you have low self esteem, hang up. All our staff are too busy to talk with you.”
And that’s not all. What gives this set such a different feel from the first two episodes of the year is the selection of 4 oldies. Two of them are from 2006 – older trance fans will remember Vivid Intent and Sander Van Doorn’s remix of Control Freak with fond memories.
The first episodes of 2012 were not without their controversial track choices. We've had a remix of Rihanna and a nostalgic foray into the virtual world of Mortal Kombat. Maybe I'm just in a controversial mood because with our final oldie here I've pulled another by playing some Scooter. I joked about not playing Fire (again from the Mortal Kombat soundtrack) last time; But don't worry, this is actually more pleasant than it sounds.
As embarrassing as it is to admit, I actually have plenty of 'previous' with Scooter. They were the final, and most profound, of 3 EDM band-based phases I had during my teenage years. Growing out of them, unlike most of my other teenage musical obsessions, was a messy divorce. Bizarre, I know.
I still maintain to this day they are quite a misunderstood group. In the years they've been around, they've created an obscene amount of music and it has varied in quality and originality hugely. And I mean hugely. From about 2005 onwards, they slowly sank from being a 'hit and miss' commercial super group to being a true creative and moral abomination - something most proper EDM fans thought they always were.
The thing people who have always hated (and ridiculed) Scooter miss though are the instrumentals from the pre-2005 era. Hidden behind the brash, crass commercial material are some true sparkling gems such as Back In Time, Coldwater Canyon, Rhapsody In E and, later, the likes of Firth Of Forth, Soultrain, Giant’s Causeway and Transcendental. Here I've ended the episode with the track Mesmerized from 2005. Appropriate, because it was the last track on the last album before things really started to go the proverbial 'tits up'. Those who have not heard it before will be pleasantly surprised – maybe even shocked at how good it is.
THE PHIL-HARMONIC PODCAST 26
1. Ali Wilson & Lee Osborne - Armagedon [High Contrast Recordings]
2. Enton Mushi - Rise Up [Perfect 9 Music]
3. Matt Darey feat. Leah - Hold Your Breath (David Forbes Remix) [S107 Records]
4. Super8 & Tab - Awakenings (Tritonal Remix) [Anjunabeats] <<<(Phil’s Tune Of The Episode)>>>
5. Kaimo Kerge - For What It's Worth [Silent Shore Records]
6. Boom Jinx & Daniel Kandi - Azzura [Enhanced Recordings]
7. Ellie Lawson - A Hundred Ways (Temple One Remix) [Adrian & Raz]
8. Heatbeat - Arganda [Captivating Sounds]
9. James Dymond - Ordinal (Paul Miller Remix) [Unearthed Records]
10. Push - Interference (Sean Tyas Remix) [Club Elite]
11. Magnus - Velvet (John O'Callaghan Remix) [Perfecto Fluoro]
12. Ferrin & Morris - Lucid Springs (Uplifting Mix) [Transistic Records]
13. Simon O'Shine - Last Sunset [Silent Shore Records]
14. Dart Rayne - Investigation (Trance Arts Remix) [Trance All-Stars Records]
15. Nexus 3 - State Of Wonder [Discover]
16. John Askew - Bastard [Night Vision]
17. Armin Van Buuren - Control Freak (Sander Van Doorn Remix) [Armind]
18. Greg Downey – Vivid Intent [Discover]
19. Scooter - Mesmerized [Sheffield Tunes]
Well, I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I’ve already compiled the tracklist for Episode 27. Although, I think I’ve made a pretty decent start to 2012, my eagerness to smash out great tracklists is making episodes feel a tad old by the time they grace the public’s ears. I promise, after our outing in 2 weeks, I’ll rein myself in. Until then, happy trancing, folks!
