The Phil-Harmonic Podcast Episode 38

Hello all,

Since posting the 4 hour marathon that was ‘Requests Of The Villa Guests’ a few weeks ago, the name of the game has been tackling the almost fatal scourge of Ibiza blues and getting life back to normal. ‘Normal’ is what it’s about this week for the podcast, as I take us back to our trance ‘bread and butter’.

First up, I did say last time out that I would post a link to my review of our Ibiza 2012 holiday on this blog. I have done a typically lengthy review but I’ve decided against posting it here. The savvy amongst you will probably be able to search it out anyway.

Right - down to business. Obviously, with there being so many Ibiza Specials this year, the podcast has a lot of catching up to do in terms of new material. The next two episodes (this week’s and Episode 39 in two weeks) are essentially the very best of what’s been getting me going from about mid-June through until the end of August. As you can imagine, there’s absolutely shitloads to cram in and get through. My list of possible tunes was approaching 70 by the time I sat down to do the tracklists.

The week’s episode really does have a little bit of everything in there. But the trance purists amongst you will be delighted to hear that the pace picks up very quickly and I’ve really taken advantage of what has been a glut of fantastic 137+ melodic trancers over the last two months. For once, the fast, uplifting stuff has outshone the progressive by a mile.

We do, however, kick off things with something complete unorthodox, playing two tracks from an artist you definitely wouldn’t expect to see starting up proceedings. I’m a huge fan of Infected Mushroom and have followed them avidly since seeing them live in Bristol in 2005. Despite their obvious psy-trance roots, they have very carefully evolved their sound over the years but always remaining as ‘fucked up’ as ever.

Their new album, Army Of Mushrooms came out in May but I didn’t get around to giving it a full listen until about July. I then had it on repeat right up until leaving for Ibiza. To me, it’s a truly insane sonic masterpiece and an album I can’t recommend enough to those open-minded enough to embrace it.

Here I’ve gone for I Shine, a track with lyrics that seem very much appropriate post-Ibiza, and Swingish, the bonus track from the digital release that has never failed to pick up my mood however bad my day has been in recent months.

"I shine, to make you smile

I try, to save you one more time

For a lonely place, you need a friendly face

When your options low, I lift you from below"

- Infected Mushoom - I Shine 

In our slower, more progressive opening 40 mins, we also have one of our group’s big Ibiza anthems in Sander Van Doorn’s Kangaroo – no doubt that will bring back plenty of memories from Space – and there’s a sideways nod to my hard trance days through Justin Fry & Technikal’s remix of classic 4AM – feels good to play a Technikal record again after all these years.

After that, there’s just far too much uplifting trance to even begin describing properly. Watch out for the very ballsy Paradigm Shift on Bryan Kearney’s label, the darker touch of James Dymond’s remix of Pharaoh and, of course, serious ‘Tune Of The Year 2012’ candidate, Daniel Kandi & Ferry Tayle – Flying Blue. Stunning!!

Really not a lot of room for oldies in the next couple of episodes, but here we end on one of Jonas Steur’s old aliases, Fable. Not necessarily a track that really grabbed me when it was released in 2006, but it was a very popular record at the time and I’ve very much grown into it over the years – all of 6 years in fact. That touch of melancholy suited the pre-Ibiza comedown, I thought.

THE PHIL-HARMONIC PODCAST EPISODE 38

1. Infected Mushroom - I Shine [Dim Mak Records]

2. Infected Mushroom - Swingish [Dim Mak Records]

3. Wezz Devall - We Are The Future [Mainstage Music]

4. Sander Van Doorn & Julian Jordan - Kangaroo [Doorn Records]

5. Fisherman & Hawkins - Nightshift [Coldharbour Recordings]

6. Da Urban Outlaws - 4AM (Justin Fry & Technikal Remix) [Fryed Up]

7. Heatbeat - Extra Bacon [Captivating Sounds]

8. Chris Schweizer - Xeon [Soundpiercing]

9. Solis & Sean Truby - Strength To Strength [Infrasonic Recordings]

10. Sean Tyas feat. Lo- Fi Sugar - The World [Future Sound Of Egypt]

11. Fast Distance - Alpine [Digital Society Recordings]

12. Gradian - Valkyrie (Philip Mayer Remix) [Unearthed Records]

13. Estiva feat. Tania Zygar - Death Of Me (Ferry Tayle Remix) [Enhanced Recordings]

14. The Noble Six - Sundown In Dubai (Ahmed Romel Remix) [Blue Soho Recordings]

15. Daniel Kandi & Ferry Tayle - Flying Blue [Enhanced Recordings] <<<(Phil's Tune Of The Episode)>>>

16. Poshout feat. Ange - Beside (Daniel Kandi's Upper Class Mix) [Timeline Music]

17. James Dymond - Paladin [Soundpiercing]

18. AYDA - Pharaoh (James Dymond Remix) [Alter Ego Records]

19. TrancEye - Sunset In Your Eyes [Redux Recordings]

20. Darren Porter - Sparkles [Trancefixion Digital]

21. F-6 - Paradigm Shift [Kearnage Recordings]

22. Fable - Above [Intuition Recordings]

In two weeks. we plough ahead and carry on reviewing the very best of June-August, while a 5^th and final Ibiza Special also takes shape in my mind. Until then, take care!

The Phil-Harmonic Podcast Episode 37

THE IBIZA SPECIALS PART 4 - REQUESTS OF THE VILLA GUESTS 2012

Well, that’s yet another Ibiza holiday done and dusted and the Ibiza blues are very much alive and festering. Almost can’t believe it’s gone but onwards and upwards we go. No rest for The Phil-Harmonic Podcast.

First off, another big thank you to everyone who came this year. 2012 was very different to 2011; absurdly messy and reckless at times, but equally memorable and rarely dull.

Last year I did quite a lengthy, quite teary-eyed review here on this blog. This year I’m already wary that the size of my blog means that my RSS feed is starting to be automatically truncated and, since I made a return to the Ibiza Spotlight forums earlier this year, I’ve decided to save a full review (and probably a more detailed one than last year) for Ibiza Spotlight. I’ll post a link to that with a Google slideshow in the blog for Episode 38. What I’ll do here is just post Requests Of The Villa Guests 2012 and give a few of my thoughts on it.

With 16 people due to stay in our villa this year, the annual requests mix was also going to be bigger, with far more packed into it. The selections made by everyone were once again top notch and as it was all coming together I felt the whole thing was maybe shaping up better than 2011. When I started collecting people’s picks I actually anticipated more house music than last year, but the group’s love for trance shone through as always – their love for this genre is absolute unquenchable.

In the end, when it was finished I actually felt a bit deflated. There were a couple of transitions that really blotted the copybook and I couldn’t help but feel looking at it that, at 4 hours, it was just far too long. And I was right, it was too long. It was so long that my copy of Mixmeister couldn’t load it properly to do my usual chopping and trimming. I had to resort to messing around with Audacity just to attach the intros and outros.

When we actually got to Ibiza, my iPod refused to play through any of the iDocks we had with any real clarity or volume. On my iDock, the file just kept stopping and restarting randomly. We managed to hook it up to the larger villa hi-fi but I literally I had wipe everything off my iPod just so we could navigate to the one 4 hour file we were trying to listen to. I think we managed to listen through the entire mix about once while we were out there, but we ended up listening to the first 40 mins about 10 times. So, yeah, in hindsight, this should probably have been 2 mixes of 2 hours each.

Nevertheless, it’s still a pretty intense, engaging journey through many styles of trance and progressive music - ranging from recent anthems like Invasion, Loop and Flying Blind, through to completely forgotten classics like Ferry’s remix of Somebody, PvD’s Time Of Our Lives and Vercocha’s remix of Ayla. Some tracks we even heard in the clubs while we were out there. Like Amsterdam at A State Of Trance, On My Way To Heaven at Cream Amnesia and particularly, the undisputed ‘Tune Of The Holiday’, Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know, a tune we heard at least 2 clubs and constantly at the villa.

Also, a little note to explain that my mate Casso asked if he could have a track of his own in there even though he wasn't actually coming on the holiday. Since there were 3 of Nish's in last year despite him not being there, albeit in slightly more unexpected, unfortunate circumstances, I thought I'd oblige and squeeze it in for him.

If Requests Of The Villa Guests ever does happen again, it won’t be this long or all-encompassing. It’s a monster, so enjoy it.

THE PHIL-HARMONIC PODCAST EPISODE 37 – THE IBIZA SPECIALS PART 4

REQUESTS OF THE VILLA GUESTS 2012

1. Above & Beyond - Small Moments (Phil's 'Ode To McKenna' Part 2 Edit) [CDR] [PHIL]

2. Sander Van Doorn & Mayaeni - Nothing Inside [Doorn Records] [WILL]

3. Sander van Doorn presents Purple Haze - Bliksem [Doorn Records] [NISH]

4. Gotye feat. Kimbra – Somebody That I Used To Know (Tiësto Remix) [Musical Freedom] [CARA] <<<(Phil's Tune Of The Episode)>>>

5. Swedish House Mafia – Greyhound [EMI UK] [RACHEL / SOPHIE]

6. Sander Van Doorn - Koko [Doorn Records] [SIMONA / BEN]

7. Mat Zo - Loop (The Essential Unreleased Mix) [CDR] [G.]

8. Cosmic Gate & JES - Flying Blind (Norin & Rad Remix) [Black Hole Recordings] [PHIL / NISH]

9. Orjan Nilsen - Amsterdam [Armind] [NISH]

10. Chicane - Saltwater (Tomski vs. Disco Citizens Remix) [Xtravaganza Recordings] [RUSLAN]

11. Armin Van Buuren presents Gaia - Tuvan [Armind] [NISH]

12. Above & Beyond feat. Richard Bedford - On My Way To Heaven (Club Mix) [Anjunabeats] [PHIL]

13. Claudia Cazacu - Café del Mar (Claudia Cazacu's Ibiza Mix) [Couture] [PETE]

14. W&W - Invasion (A State Of Trance 550 Anthem) [A State Of Trance] [MARC / G.]

15. Ronald Van Gelderen - Dirty Rocker [High Contrast Recordings] [PHIL]

16. F. Massif - Somebody (Ferry Corsten Remix) [Purple Eye Entertainment] [PHIL]

17. Marcus Schossow - Strings [Tone Diary] [PHIL]

18. Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan - Silence (Filterheadz Remix) [Nettwerk] [LANA]

19. The Killers - Spaceman (Sander Van Doorn Mix Part 1) [CDR] [SIMONA]

20. Alexander Popov - When The Sun [S107 Recordings] [G.]

21. Stoneface & Terminal - Here Comes The Sun [Euphonic] [PHIL]

22. John O'Callaghan feat. Audrey Gallagher - Big Sky (Ben Gold's Festival Remix) [Armada Music] [PHIL / JANA]

23. Super8 & Tab feat. Jan Burton - Black Is Back (Classic Vocal Mix) [Anjunabeats] [PHIL]

24. Chicane - Offshore (Ferry Tayle Luminosity At Beach Remix) [CDR] [PETE]

25. Above & Beyond - Good For Me [Anjunabeats] [PHIL]

26. Roger Shah & Signum - Healesville Sanctuary (Roger Shah Remix) [Magic Island Records] [PHIL]

27. Armin Van Buuren feat. Justine Suissa - Burned With Desire (Rising Star Vocal Mix) [Nebula] [RUSLAN]

28. Veracocha - Carte Blanche (Alex M.O.R.P.H. Remix) [Armada Music] [LANA / PETE]

29. Planet Perfecto Knights - Resurection (Paul Oakenfold Full On Fluoro Mix) [Perfecto] [MARC]

30. Ernesto vs. Bastian - Super Jupiter [High Contrast Recordings] [PHIL]

31. Tiësto ‎– Traffic [Magik Muzik] [SOPHIE / JACK]

32. Armin Van Buuren - Full Focus [Armind] [PHIL]

33. Laura Jansen - Use Somebody (Armin Van Buuren Rework) [Armind] [JANA]

34. Ummet Ozcan - Time Wave Zero [Doorn Records] [CASSO]

35. Ferry Corsten - Brain Box [Flashover Recordings] [MARC]

36. Ayla - Ayla (Veracocha Remix) [Positiva] [PHIL]

37. Agnelli & Nelson feat. The Burn - Shivver (John O'Callaghan Mix) [Xtravaganza Recordings] [JANA]

38. Paul Van Dyk feat. Vega 4 - Time Of Our Lives (Paul van Dyk Club Mix) [Vandit] [PHIL]

39. Paul Miller - Call Me Miller [Discover] [WILL]

40. Heaven's Cry - Till Tears Do Us Part [Tidy Traxx] [JACK]

41. ENCORE: Faithless - Insomnia (Monster Mix) [Cheeky Records] [RACHEL]

Episode 38 to follow very soon. The next two episodes of the podcast will run through my favourites in trance from the end of June right through till the end of August. They’ll be huge I promise. And they’ll be some Ibiza pics to check out also. See ya!