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Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! | Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna |
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Timeless - Review
Reported by bunny
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Submitted 16-01-03 11:29
WARNING: The following review contains passages depicting explicit images of gratuitous happiness combined with strong language, and therefore should not be viewed by those of a nervous or delicate disposition (although what the fuck anyone like that’d be doing on this site is anyone’s guess)...
It’s Saturday, 11th January 2003, and time once again to take another pleasure trip down memory lane at the now-legendary event that is Timeless. For anyone who’s never been, the concept is to dedicate one night to all the classic tracks of the past 5 years, be they the summer anthems, the landmark tracks that defined an era or the all-time floor-filling greats. Whatever your preference, at some point over the next 9 hours that definitive track, the one that made your blood fizz and everything inside you burn for the first time; the hook that snagged in your mind and let you know that this was the elusive point of happiness that’d been missing all your life, will be played. So brace yourself for the deluge, cause memory’s floodgates are about to be flung wide open and a torrent of blasts from the past are gonna come rushing through!
10.30pm and we pogo straight into play to Cortina’s Music Is Movin’ and a top-notch bounce-a-thonic set from perhaps the tallest man in Hard Dance, Ed Real. Just as at Chemistry there are 3 decks up on stage tonight and Ed’s using them to maximum effect, dropping in teasing slivers from old favourites such as 9mm amongst the Full Monty of Nick Sentience’s Flash and his final tune of the set, The Beginning (nice touch!). Although it’d obviously been a quiet start, the crowds were steadily streaming in when we got there and despite an over-enthusiastic air-conditioning system (even my icepop was shivering) the dance floor was going at it hammer and tongs, partly to keep the muscles warm but mainly because Mr Real’s dynamic sets could even get a statues’ toes a-tappin’
Spencer Freeland up next and all I can say is that the next 90 minutes constituted his finest set to date, and I’ve witness him produce some pretty incredible sets! It went from pure euphoria, soaring so high the MIR space station seemed like a submarine in comparison, to stomping through the blackest, filthiest beats. For all those out there who very unwisely missed out, here’s just a few of the absolute stormers he played – and the number for the Samaritans is in the phone book The intoxicatingly divine Binary Finary and Heaven’s Cry(the hands-in-the-air reaction these tunes got made it look like someone had super-glued us all to the floor + then turned the room upside down), along with Glazby’s Beautiful, Hell Fire, Bad Ass, DJ Mind-X’s Nightingale and RR Fierce’s Neuronex. These tracks (and a dozen other epic tunes) incinerated any bad vibes that had managed to sneak through the door with their blistering beats, so come 1am I’ve forgotten everything there is in life except how to dance, scream and laugh like a bloody drain.
You’d think after such an intense session there’d be some kind of respite but this is Hard House guys and not the vicar’s Afternoon Tea Dance. So prepare those serotonin levels for a further pounding cause Rob Tissera’s just taken over and his opening track is THAT Firestarter mix resulting in myself and everyone else in possession of a set of eardrums going totally doo-fucking-lally and, yep, yet again that’s pretty much how it stays for another 90 minutes of banging, beatific beats. Complete exhilaration comes courtesy of the BK mix of Mauro Picotto’s Iguana, House of Pain (really haven’t heard that in ages and it’s such a wicked little track), Do It Like That, Breathe, You’re Not Alone and It’s Over For Me and I swear we stomped so hard Camden Palace sunk a couple of inches into the ground!
The main room may be partying like it’s the last night on earth but we’ve got to go give the Black & White bar a try too, so at 1.45 we head on up to check out what’s going on upstairs. 3 things immediately strike you:
1. There is no air-conditioning
2. There are LOTS of people
3. It’s just as mental up here as it is downstairs!
I can’t find any set lists anywhere so it looks like it’s a case of squeezing our way through to the DJ box and taking a butcher’s for ourselves. It turns out the person responsible for all this tunage is Shan, a little guy with a lot of talent who’s playing the crowd like a 303, winding us up until we’re close to breaking point then laying off the pressure by the tiniest fraction before cranking it up full-force again. Plug It In is pumping out as we enter and his set carries on with the hard, solid beats, only to finish on a Hard Trance high with Travel’s dream-like Bulgarian, a track that beautifully blends euphoric vocals with soaring synths and tribal rhythms, lifting you out of grey old London town and taking you out on a journey across eastern skies. It’s the first set of Shan’s I’ve ever caught but like chocolate ice cream it was just tasty enough to leave me wanting more
Back downstairs and just in time to catch Lee Haslam’s set. As this is Timeless, you expect the sets to be good but the way tonight’s going it seems however high you set your sights, the DJs beat them every time. Yet again we’re lucky enough to bear witness to a truly classic set, packed with such anthems as RR Fierce’s Rock Da Spot, Verococha’s Carte Blanche, the haunting Don’t Be Afraid by Moonman, (my number one tune) Tony De Vit’s The Dawn, Remedy and La by Marc et Claude, a personal favourite of Gurnmaster Deluxe (who I must give major thanks to for helping me out with the track titles!) If you’re not boshing your heart out by now you’re either not here or unconscious... and even in the latter case I’m sure you’d twitch in time to the beat!
Now here comes the real bastard quandary of the night; it’s 3.30am and decision time: do you see Tara Reynolds or James Lawson? Because they’re on at the same time and unfortunately it’s not b2b but in separate rooms I suppose the easy solution is to do the top balcony trick (where you can switch from the Black + White bar to the top balcony of the main room) but the atmosphere’s just not quite the same up there as it is down here, where it’s so blistering you could do a quick fry-up on the side of the stage. We settle on a 50/50 and see the first half of Tara’s set and the second half of James’. Once again, both DJs come up with more expert deliveries than a maternity unit. This might be Timeless (the night dedicated to remembrance) but our memories are doing funny things tonight, and certain words (disappointment, boredom, sadness) are curiously forgotten as one word takes centre stage over and above all others: TUNE!!!!!! Tara kicks off with the insanely upbeat Only Me by the Stimulant DJs (Hard House legends) and then proceeds to give us a completely off-the-wall set of the purest, most mischievous Hard House in history. UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE (yeah, that was played!), just about describes it as Time To burn brings the house down and Rock The House brings everything else down too
But before you know it, it’s 4.15 and time to scale those stairs again for a fix from James Lawson’s set. It’s been a while since I’ve caught one of his sets (actually the last was at the Nukleuz party on the 18th December but it feels a lot longer) but it was well worth the wait! Very upbeat, driving rhythms loaded with energy fill everyone to the brim with bliss (and sweat, it’s seriously sticky up here now but that’s almost a welcome relief after the coolness downstairs) as James kicks up a storm on the decks with greats like the Andy farley mix of Freefall and his own collaboration, The Beginning (curious yet cool phenomenon that tunes always seem to sound even better when played by their creator). We keep going ‘til the very last, loud beat (that revamped sound system really is the dogs’ dangly bits), after which we’re firmly but politely encouraged to go downstairs by security, where Phil Reynolds is mid-way through his set.
5am and it’s the last set and the last hour of the night. Everyone is determined to go out on the biggest high possible; there’ve just been too many endorphins exploding through our bloodstreams tonight to let it to go any other way. The place is jam-packed with people but there’s still just enough room to dance and man, do we take advantage of it! Because Phil’s handing us a set filled with tracks so hard they bruise your brain to listen to them, yet bouncy enough to catapult an elephant to the moon... Baby Wants To Ride (one of those tunes that never fails to send everyone flying), I Get A Rush, In My Electric House, Wippenburg’s Neurodancer and Daniel Ro’s Remedy... I think you get the picture! My body went through the kind of monumental intense mind, body and soul workout usually experienced by long-distance runners and Jennifer Lopez’s PA – with the addition of a football field-sized helping of elation on top Fantastic end to a fantastic night!
Frantic are on one hell of a role with their events at the moment, delivering a long line of parties that have formed the climax in a string of weekends to remember. Tonight was no exception (you only need to check the threads discussing how good it was in the forums for confirmation) so thanks once more to all the Frantic team for all their hard work. Extra special thanks as well to Tara Reynolds, Gurnmaster Deluxe, the Crafty Cockney, Aidan, Storky, T-bag and everyone else who helped me out with the track names, very, very much appreciated!
Sadly there’s a long old wait until the next Timeless (6 months!) but I guess that’ll just make it all the more enjoyable when it does happen. As for this one just passed, I think I’ll leave up to Baldyraver to say the last word, as he summed it all up perfectly:
‘What a fucking good night that was’
With thanks to boshmaster for the use of his photos
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Other Features By bunny: It's about music - interview with Alex Parsons Monkey business as usual: interview with Shaf De Bass Twistathon – Twist’s 12 Hour 1st Birthday Bonanza Zoology's 2nd Birthday - Review! becomeone: Unified in Sound - Review
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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Comments:
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From: Luckyfuka on 16th Jan 2003 11:49.56 was indeed an excellent nite, a top mix of music. good review
From: Stevie on 16th Jan 2003 12:12.09 Was an excellent night, shouldve used my pics of Spencer though, they're much better! :-)
From: missFUNKtional on 16th Jan 2003 14:39.37 I still can't stop smiling. One of my favourite nights. The review is spot on!
And dancing to Spencer Freelands set transported me right back to my Prov days!!! wicked.
From: T-bag on 16th Jan 2003 16:04.29 Top review sweetie, very amazed on how much i enjoyed the evening:messy:, until the next time,
Lates
From: Absolutely Fabulous on 16th Jan 2003 18:40.50 How long our 'leaders in latitude' must've spent lingering over their vinyls to decide which tjunes to bring to the party is anyone's guess....RT certainly knew he couldn't fail with his choice of choons, and to be given not 1 but 2(YAY!!) airings of DJ Misjah & DJ Tim's "Access" during the night left me feelin WELL fkn spoilt ;-) AND 2 versions of Paul Glazby's "Beautiful" (does anyone know/remember(?!) the exact names of the mixes that were played?)
Once again another WICKED review to help me through to the next games....DING DING!!
From: Gurnmaster Deluxe on 16th Jan 2003 19:03.15 What a smashing review for a cracking event, Bunny; i really wish that they'd record these events and flog the cd's, Lee Haslem's set was indeed 'truly classic'. Seeya at Convergence
P.S. Ab Fab, i think that the mixes of 'Beautiful' were the original and The Edison Factor.
From: Tara Reynolds on 16th Jan 2003 23:34.12 Bunny - what a fantastic, well-written review! And I'm not saying that just because you wrote nice things about me! I really do think your reviews are excellent.
From: bunny on 17th Jan 2003 11:05.01 Thanks for all your positive comments, it was an incredible night + a real pleasure to review!
From: Absolutely Fabulous on 17th Jan 2003 14:02.43 Cheers, Gurn Del!
From: James Lawson on 17th Jan 2003 19:25.07 Hi absolutely Fabulaous. The versions of Beautiful were Paul Glazby's original and The Edison Factor Remix (Spencer Freeland played this version)
From: Dory-EE on 17th Jan 2003 22:13.09 isn't it mindblowing how we all crave rave and behave in the same fun loving dedicated way...all because we are bound together through inspirational uplifting energising MUSIC! i wonder what Tara and Phil do for recreation (to re-charge)? Who's your energy source?! thanks for energising me!
From: Dory-EE on 17th Jan 2003 22:14.54 Bunny, you're a very talented writer, reporter and raver!
From: Stevie on 18th Jan 2003 09:02.19 Hey, just to jump on the bandwagon here, your writing is excellent Bunny, extremely professional and entertaining!:-)
From: LOZ on 21st Jan 2003 13:42.01 What a tp nite. But i have to disagree i love the top floor you can listen to both DJ's and the view is fantastic. I was alos looking forward to Tara's set as she's great, but i was a little disapointed;0( Great Review, next time i'll show you the top floor;0)
From: Diesel Steve on 23rd Jan 2003 19:30.40 Timeless is still a concept that hits the spot alright. Despite it’s down falls, you still gotta love the B+W Bar. Unlike you Bunny, I’ve caught all Shan’s sets in London town since he opened the foyer at HHA 2nd b’day and he’s doing more than O.K. for a Uni student DJing in his spare time. And Lawson’s set was bang on from start to finish I’m happy to report.
From: UFS… on 24th Jan 2003 12:23.24 Timeless it was + da bes 1 yet... truly memorable 2 da vewy las minute. Gr8 nite; +cheers every1 4 making it truly Everlastin!!! + anotha spot on rview:-)
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