The Phil-Harmonic Podcast vs. Room 1ne Sessions Episode 48

Here we are again. 48 episodes of The Phil-Harmonic Podcast and we edge ever closer to the first major milestone of 50 podcasts. Bear with me, a lot to report this week. 

Apologies for the slight delay in bringing you this new offering. There have been some recording issues in putting this one together but, given the special nature of this episode, it's been fully worth the extra wait. All will be explained further down the page.

There’s no better place to start the blog this week than a quick note about my first ever proper gig on the 31^st of January. Brighton was the city, Cube Bar was our venue, Wavefront Sessions’ Ben Dursley was our host and Transcend was the name. The whole thing was a resounding success, both my own set and, more importantly, the turn out and vibe of the crowd. The whole thing was exactly what trance should be about.

Strangely, I think those nights where I've DJed at house parties for long periods, stressing over battered old equipment that skips and jumps all over the place, made coming to a set of Pioneer 900s in a proper bar an absolute breeze, and completely washed away any nerves. It was the perfect training. I've talked about a number of those nights in this blog; nights where nothing runs quite as smoothly as the perfectionist in my head demands. No such problems at Transcend.

For a first gig it was exactly what I needed; the right size of event with the right people at the right stage of my DJing journey. Not only that, but the speed with which this opportunity came around seems to have vindicated my recent move south. This bedroom DJ is slowly moving out of his bedroom.

As a result, I’m now hugely optimistic about the year ahead. Not only do I hope to participate in many Transcend events to come but I’m now ridiculously positive about the prospect of creating something similar in London. Big thanks to Ben Dursley, of course.

What’s going in our latest episode of TPHP? Well, true to form, it’s something a little bit special and certainly something completely fresh and different.

My friend Rob G is largely responsible for persuading me to take up DJing. Rob doesn't do much DJing these days but it was him that convinced me that mixing records was the chosen path of all the obsessed, EDM prophets out there. My friends from home Nick and Simon, and their own tentative steps towards picking up the basic skills, were hugely influential in getting me to practice as much as I have - those Friday nights in Neston spent gathered as a trio, sipping beers and dropping tunes. 

The next key step was starting up this here podcast itself and no one inspired me more to start it than Ben Collier, host of Room 1ne Sessions. Once I’m inspired I’m pretty difficult to stop, but I’m indeed indebted to those little nuggets of inspiration I've had along the way. I say ‘little’ – they’re a bit more important than that.

After meeting Ben at a London house party at the end of 2010 (funnily enough, at the very flat I now live in), listening to his Year Mix for that year and seeing his website, my only thought was, “I really should be doing something regular like this.”

Almost 2 years later, myself and Ben C both now hit the mark of 48 episodes at the same time and this seemed like an obvious opportunity to collaborate on something. An unmissable opportunity even. This week’s podcast is an absolute first; it is simultaneously the 48^th Episode of both The Phil-Harmonic Podcast and Room 1ne Sessions – at the same time. This isn't a guestmix. It’s a full-blown collaboration.

The format is simple. I've done a set, Ben’s done a set and it’s been recorded with Ben’s usual excitable yet dulcet voiceovers, giving you his excellent insights into the year’s early releases. The fact that Ben talks on his podcast and I don’t remains one of the key differences between our projects. In Room 1ne’s case, I think it’s one of its key selling points; whereas I, unsure of my broadcasting abilities, air on the side of caution and put my faith in my writing ability here. Those of you unfamiliar with Room 1ne Sessions will I’m sure find Ben’s voiceovers a hugely refreshing change for TPHP.

I won’t say too much about Ben’s part of the set (mainly because he will tell you all about it during the podcast), except to say that he picks up the pace after I deliver an usually varied bag of house, electro, progressive and slower melodic material.

When I sat down to do to plan my tracklist I was in the middle of a glut of great housier tunes, the result of returning to Sander Van Doorn’s Identity for the first time in a while and our group’s sudden new interest in Hardwell’s On Air podcast. Hence, the appearance in my half of Jochen Miller’s remix of Sparks, Ninjetics’s How To Fly and the completely epic Claymore. People who were with me on New Year’s Eve will testify to the fact that I wasn't in a state to remember much that night, but Claymore from Hardwell’s On Air I most definitely do remember.

The opening track is like hot honey off the end of a spoon. Pressure on Tribal Vision is a brilliant tune I've been trying to play in the podcast for a while and here I've found the perfect place for it - a deliciously deep, funky start bursting into that more aggressive drop in Jordy Dazz.

It’s certainly not all house music though and I've managed to include some of my biggest prog/trance highlights from 2013 so far. For starters, the compulsion to include the Estiva remix of DJ Shog’s Another World stems from my teenage days when I did listen to quite a lot of that ‘German’, hard trance/commercial crossover music.

My half of this podcast was actually mixed before I made a visit to Ministry of Sound on the 1^st of February but, coincidentally, Revolved, Gourilla Tour and Apache were all played at The Gallery that night. Revolved blew my mind on a big system; Apache is so huge that it was actually played twice on the same night. By a country mile the best track of 2013 so far. In this podcast, those 3 tracks follow one after the other.

Another highlight is MNE on In Trance We Trust, a track that was in my set at Transcend Brighton and that went down really well. Very big riff on that one. So, in addition to what Ben has served up, plenty to look forward to here.

In Ben’s half of the set, look out for his ‘Room 1ne Track Of The Month’, the ‘Room 1ne Classic’ and the ‘People’s Choice’. You can vote for your favourite track of the show on Ben’s facebook page: >> http://goo.gl/b0LSu 

Don't forget I also have my own facebook page which I invite you all to visit and comment on the podcast. Please 'like' away: >>> http://goo.gl/mcuoi

Enough chat – let’s enjoy the music. As the big man Collier himself likes to say, “Turn It Up!”

THE PHIL-HARMONIC PODCAST VS. ROOM 1NE SESSIONS EPISODE 48

Phil’s Half

1. Ben Coda - Pressure [Tribal Vision]

2. Jordy Dazz - Claymore [Revealed Recordings]
3. Fedde Le Grand & Nicky Romero – Sparks (Turn Off Your Mind) (Jochen Miller Remix) [Flamingo Recordings]

4. Armin Van Buuren feat. Jan Vayne - Serenity (Eximinds Remix) [Armind]
5. DJ Shog – Another World (10 Years) (Estiva Remix) [Nitron Music]
6. Ninjetics - How To Fly [Big & Dirty Recordings]
7. Duher - Swoosh [In Charge]
8. Sebastian Weikum - It Moves On (Roddy Reynaert Remix) [Colorize]
9. Setrise vs. Johann Stone - MNE [In Trance We Trust]
10. Darren Porter & Ferry Tayle - Neptune's Siren [Tytanium Recordings]
11. Estiva - Smiley Smilesworth [Enhanced Recordings]
12. Eximinds - Revolved [Anjunabeats]
13. Fisherman & Hawkins - Apache [Coldharbour Recordings] <<<(Phil’s Tune Of The Episode)>>>
14. Tonerush – Gorilla Tour [Monster Tunes]
15. Erick Strong feat. Anthya - Out Of My Mind [Interstate Recordings]

Ben’s Half

16. Brian Eno - Signals [Virgin Records] (from the album 'Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks')
17. Avicii vs. Nicky Romero - I Could Be The One (Didrick Remix) [LE7ELS]
18. Afrojack vs. Keane - Sovereign Light Cafe [Wall]
19. Richard Grey & Nari & Milani feat. Alexandra Prince - Mas Que Nada (Mikael Weermets A Night At The Carnival Remix) [Ego]
20. Sander van Doorn - Joyenergizer [Doorn]
21. The Rolling Stones - Doom & Gloom (Benny Benassi Remix) [Interscope/UMe]
22. Denzal Park - Scorpio [Neon Records]
23. Husman - Ultra [Mainstage Music]
24. Danny Avila - Breaking Your Fall (dBerrie Remix) [Big Beat Records]
25. tyDi & Maison & Dragen feat. Toni Nelson - Walk On Water [S107 Records]
26. tyDi feat. Sarah Howells - When I Go (Arnej Remix) [S107 Records] <<<(Room 1ne Track of The Month)>>>
27. Emma Hewitt - Rewind (Mikkas Remix) [Armada]
28. Paul Van Dyk feat. Plumb - I Don't Deserve You (Jerome Isma-Ae Remix) [3 Beat]
29. Solarstone & Scott Bond - 3rd Earth (Max Graham Remix) [Captivating Sounds]
30. Armin Van Buuren feat. Fiora - Waiting for the Night (Beat Service Remix) [Armada]
31. Andy Moor & Orkidea - Orbithing [Armada] <<<(Room 1ne People's Choice from Episode 47)>>>
32. Daniel Kandi - #Trancefamily [Always Alive]
33. Aly & Fila & John O'Callaghan - Vapourize [Future Sound of Egypt]
34. Ben Nicky - Gemini [Night Vision]
35. Daniel Kandi feat. Sarah Russell - Change The World [Enhanced Recordings]
36. Andain - What It's Like (Sneijder Remix) [Black Hole Recordings]
37. John Askew - Drive The Room [Monster Tunes]
38. Way Out West - Mindcircus (Gabriel & Dresden Remix) [Distinctive] <<<(Room 1ne Classic)>>>
39. Brian Eno - Stars [Virgin Records] (from the album 'Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks')

Well, before I sign off, I can't leave without extending a warm thank you to Ben Collier for working with me on this. I think we've done fantastically well to cram so much great music into only a little over 3 hours. There are some astonishingly good tunes in this collaboration. Dare I say, it's even better than I imagined it would be.

And yet another thank you to Ben Dursley for both the opportunity to DJ at Transcend and the A Higher State guest mix slot. DJing-wise, I've had more exposure in 2 months than I had in all of last year. It's been a busy month in so many ways!

That’s quite enough of that for now. A real bumper blog this week. Episode 49 is our last regular offering before I do something equally special for Episode 50. I will bring you that next week, as there's material around at the moment that I'm itching to share with you. There might even be a bonus mix in the offing soon for you iTunes subscribers. We will see.

Thank you, good night, much love!