Well, I’ve gotta be honest - I’ve never been as relieved to
finish and upload an episode as I am with this week’s. The journey from idea to
finished set, including the extra tune hunting and endless redrafting of the
tracklist, seems to have taken forever.
The approach taken in this set is something I’ve been planning for a long while. In an attempt to mirror last year, I wanted the first episode before the Ibiza Specials to have a summery feel to it. Episode 11 was a personal favourite for me last year and, being less aggressive and a bit more accessible, it led nicely into the more downtempo, melancholic Ibiza podcasts that followed soon after.
The recent ‘guest mix plagiarism’ debacle – Kurrupt-gate as
it shall now be known – did put a bit of a spanner in the works. It pushed this
episode back and, in the end, made it one that I was left ‘working on’ for what
has felt like an exhausting amount of time. I’ll let you be the judge as to
whether that extra time spent has been to this episode’s benefit or detriment
but, in any case, it’s been a huge relief to get this one boxed off.
The weather in the UK has been truly horrific of late. Bar a
couple of weekends in April and May, the rain has poured relentlessly to the
point of flooding in some areas. The thinking behind a summery episode was of
course to provide some musical accompaniment to BBQs, garden sunbathing and
general midsummer merriment. Since the rain clouds have refused to shift, this
instead becomes a substitute for that sunshine we are so sadly lacking.
We kick off with a very rare Anjunadeep triple this week. This
year’s Anjunadeep Vol. 4 for me was one of the best in the series and plucking
a few of my favourites from it seemed like an obvious way to start this more laid back affair. Shortly after there’s the fantastic Allein by Pryda, a
standout single from his recent double artist album and one that has positive
summer vibes running right through it.
Hidden amongst a lot of material from well-known imprints
like Enhanced Recordings and Infrasonic, there’s an outstanding release by the
relatively unknown Polish producer, Morphile aka Emil Kociekiewicz – the track
itself is an atmospheric gem; the riff a radiant beam of sunshine. Exactly the kind of thing I was going for with this set.
I’ve deliberately avoided any techy, nastier edged material
this week and we don’t venture any further beyond 138 BPM. But we are not
without some clubbier, electro-tinged sounds as the set develops. In fact, certain tracks do pack a bit of a
punch. There’s a further example of Sean Tyas reinventing himself along melodic
electro-house lines – bound to be controversial amongst trance fans but so far
I fully approve - and my ‘Tune Of The Episode’ is Shogun’s blistering take on
Ferry Corsten’s Live Forever – a typically positive Aruna vocal coupled with a
red hot bassline.
We end on two oldies this week. David Newsum’s Sand Dune
from 2008 seemed to fit the summer theme perfectly as a more uplifting trancer.
And the set is brought to a close by an absolute belter from 2002 – Ronski
Speed’s vocal mix of I’m Alone. In every sense, it’s the complete ‘old style’
trancer, simple but melodic and rousing, energetic but not thrashing away for
thrashing’s sake.
As I’ve conceded a number of times in this blog and on my
old last.fm journal, despite having loved trance since I was about 10/11 years
old, I was nowhere near as ‘up’ on my trance before 2005 as I am now. My
favourites were all the more well-known mainstream records that appear on
endless CD compilations. But even in those 6th Form years, just
before my first trip to Ibiza, there were a couple of more ‘underground’ sets
from the likes Misja Helsloot, Ronski Speed and a still emerging Armin Van
Buuren that I used to hammer regularly. One by Ronski Speed from Sputnik opens
with I’m Alone and, without me even realising it, this track has fundamentally
left its mark on me. A very special tune indeed.
THE PHIL-HARMONIC
PODCAST EPISODE 34
1. Suspect 44 - Neon Feel [Anjunadeep]
2. Kobana & Yane3dots - Woosh [Anjunadeep]
3. Answer42 - The Lemon Effect (PROFF Remix) [Anjunadeep]
4. Nuera – Magnolia [Enhanced Recordings]
5. Pryda - Allein [Virgin]
6. Will Holland feat. Jeza - Every Heartbeat [Enhanced
Recordings]
7. Ilya Flame presents Inners - Fluidum (The Flyers
Remix) [Infra Progressive]
8. Santerna - Under Protection [Infra Progressive]
9. Morphile - Tibet [Toneplay Records]
10. Fast Distance - Alpine (Karanda Remix) [Digital
Society Recordings]
11. Ferry Corsten feat. Aruna - Live Forever (Shogun
Remix) [Flashover Recordings] <<<(Phil’s
Tune Of The Episode)>>>
12. Daniel Kandi - Insert Generic Title (Daniel Kandi vs.
Dennis Pedersen Remix) [Enhanced Recordings]
13. Norin & Rad - Zion [Anjunabeats]
14. Kamil Esten - Hola [Harmonic Breeze Recordings]
15. Tritonal feat. Cristina Soto - Everafter (Tritonal
Club Mix) [Air Up There Recordings]
16. Eximinds – Summer Again [Infinity Records]
17. Sean Tyas - Lekta [AVA Recordings]
18. Mysterious Movement - Morphine [SPX Digital]
19. Ferrin & Morris & Sequentia - Polarity
[Transistic Records]
20. Santerna feat. Vadim Kapustin - I Believe In Life
(Part 2) (Thomas Coastline B2T Remix) [Infrasonic Recordings]
21. David Newsum – Sand Dune [Discover]
22. Ronski Speed presents Sun Decade – I'm Alone (Ronski
Speed Vocal Mix) [Euphonic]
Ok, well, it’s Ibiza Specials all the way from here till early September. A few very interesting sets on the way. Fans of last year’s Ibiza Specials will not be disappointed. Those of you going to Ibiza with me in August – we are now counting down the weeks!! See ya!
