Thursday 26 December 2013

The Phil-Harmonic Podcast Episode 82 - THAT WAS 2013 - Part 3




THAT WAS 2013 - PART 3 
LIFE, LOVE, LONDON & PODCASTS

It’s testament to the kind of year it’s been that I actually started writing this particular piece for the blog in September. The cliché goes that ‘time files when you’re having fun’. Well, after 6 months in London, I was starting to think that this particular adage is actually bullshit. In my first 4-5 months in London I easily did, and achieved, more than I had in the whole of the previous year living at home. Six months felt like an action packed year.

What follows here may seem self-involved, laboriously loquacious, idealised and unnecessarily honest, yet it is only a very small cathartic reflection of just how incredible the last 12 months have been.

3 gigs at The Cube in Brighton, 2 more in my 'third home' of Bristol, at least 6 trips to Ministry Of Sound, 4 Trance Sanctuary parties, 1 Energy Box at Hidden, Dan & Emma’s wedding, Dan’s Stag Do, two of the most memorable festivals I've ever attended in Global Gathering and SW4, 1 awesome farewell house party followed by the most traumatic and slow house moves you can possibly imagine … and, of course, simply countless 'Happy Fridays'. 

Quite frankly, some of the weekends I have had this year have been madness, sometimes surreal. Not to mention the fact that in Britain, for the first time in what feels like centuries, we had a summer worth shouting about.

Maybe it’s the 34 degree heat and intermittent thunder storms sending everyone absolutely loopy in London, but I will laugh about the shit that has happened this month for years to come. Even something as unspectacular as an afternoon watching some mirror image of myself win a local tennis tournament – oh yeah, Wimbledon - was capable of descending into farcical, Shakespearian comedy.” [From my blog in July]

Time has not flown this year; yet I've had the best year of my life. And remember, I felt this way in September.

In a way, that says a lot about how boring and uneventful my life was back on the Wirral in those years after university. But having said that - it’s quite obvious that, because my life was so much quieter back home, it inevitably made TPHP my world. That pushed me onto a level that I am reaping the rewards of now as a DJ hoping to go beyond the bedroom. Often it pays to have a little patience. Life is full of so many trade-offs.

If anybody has taken even a passing interest in my blog this year, they’ll realise that I've prattled on a lot about how busy I've been in 2013. On an ever increasing basis, this weekly blog has just been a note to say, “I am really busy but here's a podcast!”

Sometimes life has been busy; sometimes it has just been plain hangover inducing. I've done so much more clubbing, so much more drinking, earned and spent more than ever before.

KINDNESS IS MAGIC

But it would be wrong to see this year as all smiles, good times and carefree excesses. The group that went out to Ibiza in 2012 has fractured to an extent, some long-standing relationships and friendships ended and there was some mental and emotional strain, the like of which I wasn't used to at all. There were one or two headf*cks along the way. Thankfully, I've come out the other side of it and some of those friendships are now stronger than ever.  

But ultimately, the London move and the hazy weekends left my own positivity relatively unshaken all year. There was always reason to be positive, and positivity breeds positivity.
"I never saw a wild thing, sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough, without ever having felt sorry for itself." - D. H. LawrenceSelf-pity

Enjoying their company on a more consistent basis has meant seeing my London friends in a more, for want of a better phrase, 'warts and all' light. Crucially, this has not made me any less fond of them. Not even an iota. To as great an extent as humanly possible, I sincerely hope the same is true in reverse. I am very lucky to have these people around me; they give me an energy and a zeal I have never previously had in my life.

One thing I have learnt this year (or at least it has been reinforced), is that to go through life assuming that your own fears and insecurities vastly dwarf or trivialise those of the majority around you is a tragic mistake. The biggest battles you fight in life are the ones within yourself and everyone has these to fight - whatever the outward appearance of happiness.

Bizarrely, Ricky Gervais' most recent comedy series, Derek, came around at just the right time in 2013 and ended up having as profound an impact on me as any TV show I've ever seen. The subject matter was hopelessly sentimental, some of its main themes were hammered home ad nauseam and with no subtlety whatsoever, the belly-laughs were actually few and far between, but its 'kindness conquers all' philosophy resonated with me for many weeks after the final episode. 

All a person's shortcomings, and I mean all of them, are negated by the extent to which they treat people well. This is a philosophy to live your entire life by.

CAPITAL GAINS

To many people, particularly my fellow Northerners, the decision to move to London may have seemed like a strange one.

In the modern day, London is viewed from outside as an expensive, dirty, noisy, over-crowded and unfriendly city - a writhing, serpentine metropolis, out of control like a rampant weed, bloated, swollen and intoxicated by its opulence and sense of self importance. Actually living here, I have been left unconvinced by each of these supposed truths. If they are indeed truths, I have been left unmoved and most definitely undeterred.
"Go to London! I guarantee you'll either be mugged or not appreciated! -Alan Partridge, I'm Alan Partridge
In fact, as I’d hoped, I've found London to be a radically, almost absurdly, accelerated extension of everything I loved about living in Bristol. As simultaneously one of the busiest, urbanised and most progressive places in the world, it satisfies all my liberal, inclusive, mildly pretentious and secretly indulgent sensibilities. I have repeatedly called London, probably much to the annoyance of the people around me, ‘the world in one city’. You can be anyone here, from anywhere, and not be or feel that out of place. This is what I most love about living here.

And it's basically where all the cool stuff is happening. I'm not particularly cool, but I like cool stuff.

The people of London are far from unfriendly. The idea that they are is a fallacy. London can be an emotional ‘work out’ though – in every sense – one that pulls its inhabitants in every conceivable direction. This I have felt myself at times. It keeps life interesting. It certainly makes you makes more resilient.
Everything's OK. Look, there are two basic energies in the world - stress and relaxation.” Super Hans, Peep Show

I've never been a guy with grand ambitions for myself. By nature I'm a relentlessly unambitious, ‘take it as it comes’ kind of person - to my own detriment, many would say. But the bizarre speed with which the London move happened and the amazing year that ensued has emphasised just how much can be achieved in short space of time. Biding your time doesn't always work. Now I can feel motivations rising; Dreams and reality suddenly seem less cavernously separated.

I expect that sooner or later, the novelty of living here will wear off. It hasn't quite yet.


DUDE, WHERE'S MY BRAIN?
There can be no doubt that my extended honeymoon experience in the City was enhanced by living in the very flat where so many of my most memorable escapades had previously started and, eventually, ended. Hildreth Towers attracted good times by some inescapable magnetism.
For the most part, it [Hildreth] has been a fun-loving, dignity-free zone of boundless intoxication. A place with no respect for what time of day it is, or how high the sun is in the sky.” [From my blog back in September]

The move from Hildreth and an inevitable hike in rent did signal the end of an era in September. In the months leading up to the move, I kept describing our vacation of the great old party pad as "our group's equivalent of the Berlin Wall coming down". An exceptionally crass comparison maybe, but made no less vivid by the sight that greeted us on our very final trip to the flat. They were quite literally smashing the place to pieces, the floors carpeted with debris and rubble, the air thick with plaster board and dust. It would be far too much to say it was emotional, but there was more than a hint of poetry.

TRANSCENDING

Despite this year's general busyness, somehow the podcast has stayed on track with very few interruptions. There's no doubt I didn't devote as much time to it as I had the previous year, but I always made just enough time for it and the quality didn't seem to slip. I've actually just got better at it. Regardless, trance has inevitably remained a pillar of my existence.

My appearance on the rosters of a handful of internet radio stations was certainly one of the major podcast developments in 2013. It all started with Renegade Transmission and I have to be grateful to Eric ‘Echo Bravo' for giving me an opportunity that has really pushed me into new territory in terms of exposure. I had been hunting for an internet radio slot for ages. Now I can say I've featured on 3 stations. It was sad that my participation on two of them had to end, but kind of unsurprising all the same.

There were some other important podcasting milestones too, including the switch to hour long episodes (A suggestion by friend, Ben Williams, that I think has been fully vindicated.) And the rather excellent collaboration I did with Ben Collier on Episode 48. (Ben, you've got some catching up to do, son!)

But, for me, the most important aspect of 2013 was feeling my way into some proper gigs, DJing alongside a group of DJs in Brighton that I am now very privileged to call friends and very excited about working with in 2014. Ben Dursley, Karl Filmer-Sankey and Sam Derkson are all fantastic DJs who have not only continued to show faith in me, but also in the smaller-scale, underground trance scene. Investment in the underground scene is important because, once all the smoke and lasers of the big 'shows' fade, you realise that it’s at events like Transition and Transcend where the purest of passions, the real soul of this great music, reside. (We've all seen this at Trance Sanctuary and it's the main reason why it's our favourite trance party.)

A room of 10-15 people who listen to trance morning, noon and night, who go mad at classics and new releases alike, who travel the country (or even the world) in the name of the scene is 10 times better than a crowd of 1,000+, half of whom are clubbing for clubbing's sake.

I'll never in a million years forget my first public gig at Transcend back at the end of January, not least because I played a set that so hit the spot. It felt like a bit of a fluke, but that to me mattered little. Few moments have been more satisfying this year than the one when a room of people suddenly realised I was dropping Ferry Corsten - Brain Box and rose to their feet. This, for me, was the first real taste of the joy that is DJing - the joy I have for so long heard described by the great and good of the art, the feeling I have been chasing all this time.

But in terms of DJing, the biggest triumph was definitely the Hildreth house party. Despite one colossal f*ck up where I accidentally pressed a loop function and then tried to go to the toilet, I have never mixed for so long with so much ease and control as I did that night. It was a very real and exciting measure of the level I am at now. My level is starting to match the unnecessarily, and in some ways stressfully, high standards I set myself as a new DJ starting out.

It's crazy to think I've been DJing for 6 years now. I think back to those days when I used to throw my headphones down in frustration, when I could barely get two records to play in time for 20 seconds, when I would sulk like a child when each mixing session would scarcely get beyond 4 passable transitions... those days were worth it. So worth it! And however bad those frustrations got, it was always music that brought me back for more.

There is still work to be done, mind. Appreciating that is the only way you improve.

I have so many personal goals and resolutions for 2014. I think about how much has been achieved just by being in London this year; just where can things go if I refocus my efforts and work harder?

Ultimately, I feel like the clubbing side of things may have to wind down a little bit - or least the absurd after-parties and late Friday nights that result in the most painful of, what I now affectionately call, "Survival Mondays". Things will settle down. It was more to do with my job than anything else, but by early November I was so so jaded. In 2014 I hope to have a renewed energy and focus and much of that will be poured into pushing things onto the next level, inside and outside the office.

I ended up playing 5 gigs in 2013 - quite unexpectedly I must admit. In 2014, I want to make it at least 10, and I'd like one of them to be at Trance Sanctuary or an Elevation Audio event.

I also see a big year ahead for Transcend as well. The Christmas Party was such a success on so many different levels and it proved that Bristol wants and needs a trance night. I'm really keen to help Ben Dursley grow the night in every way I can as one of its official residents, including doing my bit for its fortnightly podcast, A Higher State. Ben has some really electrifying ideas on the burner. And, although as yet untested, adding Sam Derks to our Dickinson & Dursley team up to form the dangerous trio '3D' will be really exciting.

And despite the fact that organising hasn't really started yet - I will try to get back to Ibiza in 2014 - probably for the last time as a clubbing 'punter'.

2014 promises so much – in every regard! My journey is really only just beginning.

And finally - the real reason you are here, the final part of That Was 2013...

 
THE PHIL-HARMONIC PODCAST 082 – THAT WAS 2013 – PART 3

1. Armin van Buuren feat. Cindy Alma ‎– Beautiful Life (Protoculture Remix)
[September / Armind]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 74 (Tune Of The Episode)
Position in Top 40: #23

Armin Van Buuren's ASOT Top 20 was obviously jam packed with overrated tracks from his overall pretty weak Intense album. For my money, the only vocal track really worth shouting about on that album was Beautiful Life. This Protoculture remix had all the euphoria the original lacks.

2. Armin van Buuren presents Gaia – Humming The Lights
[May / Armada Digital]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 68 (Tune Of The Episode)
Position in Top 40: #21

Most trance fans who know their onions know that all of Armin Van Buuren's best material comes out under his Gaia alias these days. This was bang on form and way more aggressive than some of Gaia's previous incarnations.

3. Alexandre Bergheau - Damavand
[March / Blue Soho Recordings]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 53 (Tune Of The Episode)
Position in Top 40: #26

Blue Solo - my favorite label in 2013 - showing us the slower end of their spectrum, this was one of a raft of 132 tracks on the label with a distinctly dark (even Gaia-esque) feel. Riff on this one builds beautifully.

4. Harry Square - Royal Flush
[May / Interstate Recordings]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 60 (Tune Of The Episode)
Position in Top 40: #8

One of my big big favourites of the year from Harry Square – one half of Interstate’s 50th release. This track just has the lot, including a superb rhythm and so many great layers in the build. Brilliantly powerful tune. Loved playing this in my set for Transition in June and in my house party set at Hildreth.

5. Darren Porter & Ferry Tayle ‎– Neptune's Return 
[July / Tytanium Recordings]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 68
Chosen By: Steve McDonald

Quite simply, piano lines in trance music do not come any bigger than the one in this follow up to Neptune's Siren. Interestingly, when the bass first drops in this one it does sound a bit weak. But by the time all the main pads drop with that piano... Wow!

6. Stoneface & Terminal ‎– Stuck In A Loop
[July / Euphonic]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 67
Position in Top 40: #10

"I'll never get bored of this pattern repeating, I'm stuck in a loop, I'm stuck in a loop." Damn right! What a bassline, what a percussion line, what a vocoded vocal, what a breakdown. Incredible. Severely regret not playing this at the Transcend Xmas party.

7. Super8 & Tab - L.A.
 [March / Anjunabeats]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 53
Chosen By: Nick Etty

I think most 'genuine' trance fans do now accept that with every passing year Anjunabeats as a label does get progressively more bland and boring. Yet, it seems that Super8 & Tab are one of the label's artists who can conform to Anjuna's direction yet still make records that truly shine. The melody in this is so wonderfully reminiscent of the duo's great early classics like Helsinki Scortchin' or Won't Sleep Tonight, yet at that slower, electro-ish tempo. Big favourite of Nick Etty.

8. Gabriel & Dresden feat. Neil Ormandy - Tomorrow Comes (Max Graham vs. Protoculture Remix)
[September / Organized Nature]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 76
Position in Top 40: #37

When that melody hits... Just soak it up. Really hard hitting track and great to mix with.

9. Nifra - Waves (Harry Square Remix)
[August / Interstate Recordings]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 72 (Tune Of The Episode)
Position in Top 40: #7

This was one of those releases where both the original and the remix got plays on TPHP. Very distinctive melody but Harry Square’s remix wins by virtue of an eye-watering drop. Huge huge tune. Twelve story even.

10. Ferry Corsten - Kudawudashuda ‎
[February / Flashover Recordings]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 49
Position in Top 40: #17

Ferry Corsten, despite being an absolute pioneer of the scene and a legend to boot, has really drifted into some questionable territory with his releases and DJing. Yet this one release from earlier in the year was a massive, if temporary return to form. You'll never get that melody out of your head and the bassline has some much needed punch. Played this in my 2nd set for Transcend. Also played by Markus Schulz in his open till close Ministry set.

11. Faruk Sabanci feat. Jaren - Discover
[June / Arisa Audio]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 65 (Tune Of The Episode)
Position in Top 40: #9

A really fantastic vocal that lyrically really spoke to me in 2013, even if it is a little theatrically (or over-) sung. Also great to hear a 132 track that is still 100% trance.

12. Fisherman & Hawkins ‎– Apache
[January / Coldharbour Recordings]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 48 (with Ben Collier) (Tune Of The Episode)
Position in Top 40: #2
Chosen By: ...just about everybody.

Well, well, well. Look who it is... I remember hearing this on the tube towards the back end of 2012 and being absolutely blown away. I loved Nighshift from earlier that year and this was the radical upgrade on that sound. But even then I had no idea what a part this tune would play in the year to come.

I have never before come across a tune that so universally unites our group of friends in a state of excitement. We have so many superb memories attached to this track. It was played twice at Ministry during a birthday outing, twice at Global Gathering and twice at SW4, sliding around in the mud. I played it in the vast majority of my live sets this year including the Hildreth house party where the entire room shook with people dancing.

I can't imagine ever getting bored of this tune and, considering the extremely short shelf life of records these days, you have to admire its sheer persistence.




13. Mark Sixma ‎– Character
[November / A State Of Trance]

This year's 'came out too early for the podcast but had to be in the EOY sets'. There's always a record in that category. Awesome breakdown and melody. Had to be in. Also was in my Transcend Xmas party set.

14. Mark Sherry & 2nd Phase - Venomous  
[September / Lange Recordings]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 76 (Tune Of The Episode)
Position in Top 40: #11

Monster, monster. It's such a shame that the peak of this track - its incredible drop - is so short. But incredible it is. There is a nice sense of building in this track and the way it explodes is always impressive. Never fails. I did a bizarre little 'Die Hard' edit of this for the Transcend Xmas party and I think I will probably end up doing a few more for future sets. Funnily enough, I got so excited playing this at Transcend that my jumping around caused me to get instant cramp. True story.

15. Bobina - Basque The Dog (Solis & Sean Truby Remix)
[June / Magik Muzik]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 64
Position in Top 40: #39

Finally into some more driving, uplifting stuff here. Basque The Dog was such a wonderfully original melody - so typically Bobina - and I loved what Infrasonic's SAS did with it.

16. Craig Connelly & Christina Novelli ‎– Black Hole
[June / Garuda]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 67
Chosen By: Nish R, Ben Collier, Ally Alud

Haha You thought I was only going to play the Jorn Van Deynhoven Remix, didn't you? Wrong.

17. Ashai ‎– The Untold Story (Mobil Remix)
[May / Vendace Records]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 61 (Tune Of The Episode)
Position in Top 40: #29

More of an obscure choice here. One of those lushly melodic trancers with an electro stabbing bass, where after a more intense initial drop the elements all come together in one positive, euphoric blend. Nice, if simple, piano line as well on this one.

18. Daniel Kandi ‎– #Trancefamily
[January / Always Alive Recordings]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 48 (with Ben Collier) 
Position in Top 40: #16

Shit name certainly - nowhere near a shit tune though. A Daniel Kandi classic in the making more like. Following off the back of If It Ain't Broke and my Tune Of The Year from 2012, Flying Blue, this was just another stunning tune that sums up everything that is (potentially) beautiful about trance. One from the big Room 1ne vs TPHP podcast. Myself and Mr. Collier both big fans.

19. Chris Cockerill - Blackjack (Daniel Skyver Remix)
[July / Vibrate Sounds]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 69

Into the real bosh now. Love how euphoric this is as it builds. Underrated gem.

20. Robbie Van Doe - Drop Out
[February / Discover Digital]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 49
 

Discover's Robbie Van Doe delivered once again with this simple but seriously effective melody. For me reminiscent of Indecent Noise's Battlestar from a few years ago. Well worth a nod for 2013.

 21. Felix Pot presents Van Ziel - Side World (Daniel Skyver Remix)

[August / Fraction Records]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 75
 

An absolute euphoria packed anthem on Fraction Records. This has another one of those ‘Napalm Poet’-esque haunting vocals – doesn’t quite have the power of Napalm Poet, but the melody is up there.

22. Darren Porter & Gareth Weston - First Contact

[May / Aria Recordings]
Featured In TPHP: Episode 63 (Tune Of The Episode)
Position in Top 40: #25

Aliens have landed! Close encounters of a slamming kind. Very fitting that we end our yearly review with something from the man who has been production king in 2013 – Darren Porter. Also I think this one has a classic ‘end track’ feel to it, with its enormous uplifting pads. And – as I suppose the name suggests – it does sounds like something from a science-fiction film. You can just see in your mind’s eye that space ship taking off and disappearing into the night sky. A remake of John Murphy - Strobe (Adagio in D Minor) from the (not so sci-fi) film Kick Ass.




That was 2013, ladies and gents. Until next year....

I'm now off to Sri Lanka for a couple of weeks to recharge the batteries. Not a bad way to start 2014. Before I go, I will be re-recording my Transcend Xmas Party set and uploading to MixCloud. Expect that shortly. There will also be a little something extra for iTunes subscribers during the weeks I'm away. I was originally going to post that on New Year's Day but I think the dust should settle on this monster first.

TPHP will (hopefully) return weekend of the 25th of Jan! Thank you, goodnight, much love!

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