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Features
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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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Heat Reservoir gods: it’s time to play…
Reported by littlemissgenki
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Submitted 28-03-03 09:24
And play hard we did. Come with me on my olympic tour of the acropolis through Heat’s epic vision of clubland heaven on earth. This was so much more than just compiling the three top crowd pulling DJs that you can afford to hire: this was a template that I hope is used by more promotion teams in the clubbing world. Imagine pouring all the colours of the rainbow into a cluster bomb and dropping it through the roof of one of the smallest superclubs in London, a club so cool that it doesn’t even have its name over the door. The Heat team always seem to play on the side of the fence that’s greener and this time around, not only did they have four very different types of dance music, but thanks to their superb production, it actually felt like you were walking into another club every time you changed rooms.
Walking into the main room not too long after 10.30 Steve Nicholls ignited my night for me with Firestarter (but no more cheesy heat puns I promise…) then played one of my favourite tracks: ‘One day…I woke up…to find…that my mind…wasn’t mine…any more…’. It kinda set the tone for the rest of the evening, as did my first dance--thanks Maria! Checking out the back room I saw the guys really had excelled themselves in the production department this time, and even though it was still quite empty, the blue and magenta lights really set the mood for some hard basslines. Back in the main bar, the disconcerting moving dots made me feel quite relieved that I’d only had a couple of drinks beforehand...but combined with the spooky moving shapes hanging off the ceiling and the usual shiny disco balls, it all added to the feeling that this was a very special night indeed.
I’ve seen the odd cloak room queue at Turnmills before, but never anything like this-thank god I'd got there early and missed the worst of it. I'd bet money that the first venue in London to get a decent number of lockers will be loved by one and all, that’s for sure…but enough on such boring practicalities. Instead I was one of the privileged few to see Oliver Leights bring the trance room up, then it was on to the main room where Steve Hill already had the packed crowd going hard out in the superenergetic way only he can. This was one of the rare occasions to see this man who usually refuses to go underground (as Dennis Berkamp doesn't fly, Steve Hill doesn't use the tube...), and with mixes like this, why would he ever want to? It's that feeling when all your favourite tunes are being mixed into one and the atmosphere at the front of the main room was truly electric as the euphoric bouncing crowd gave it their all, all the way to the back room, now packed for Justin Bourne’s earshattering set. Steve Hill vs Justin Bourne vs Daegal Brain: what's a gal to do except wander round with a huge smile, chasin the donkey. Warning: you're bound to hear Steve Hill's Wicked 2003 going off somewhere this weekend, this track has summer anthem written all over it.
After a big knees up in the main room to one of my favourite tracks off the HeatUK CD, DJ Meister’s Can You Feel It? I ended up trancing to Daegal Brain for the rest of his exceptional set...rumour has it this man puts his religion on census forms as trancesharmanism, so perhaps it's not surprising he likes sets that build up to a moment or to a peak. Favourite tunes of Daegal’s set would have to be a bootleg of an Old Tune by Camisra (what a bassline...), Wavetraxx Das Boot and his killer finishing tune Unique (incidently produced by yet another famous kiwi, Tony Burt, with his German mate Mat Silver) which combined with incredibly happy friendly heat ravers and the mind-bending visuals made for a perfect club.
Catch Daegal Brain at Heaven on Friday 11 April where he joins Lisa Pin-Up and James Lawson in the Extreme Euphoria Room at Euphoria's White Label Album Launch party: a fitting warm up for his set in the main room at Turnmills at Heat's Evolution on Saturday April 12. Two nights in a row at Heaven and Turnmills--how well is this DJs year going so far? And Heat Ibiza is on its way...
Next on the decks was Macey, who I hadn't seen play since Fevah last year. It was well worth the wait: more euphoric uplifting trance that I could easily have danced to all night. But it was time to find my friends in the main room and mosh away to Steve Blake…yes, it really was that crowded, and apologies to Llogik & Ed Real, who I saw but glimpses of, as once I had space at the front of the the main room I was NOT giving it up as the evening’s showdown began...back to back they stood with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, this was the big stand-off, the dogs of war came chasing out of their eyes, channeled through their hands into their record holsters, onto the decks, through the mixer into the amps in the wires then the shots rang out to the superlative sounds of two of the world’s best hard dance DJs: Marc French and Spencer Freeland. Highlights included tracks by Harderfaster award winners Prime Mover, (one forthcoming on Freezing point) Existance, a big crowd mover for the past few weeks as featured on the HeatUK CD, the other forthcoming on Heat Vinyl, a track entitled Heat Theme, which will no doubt rapidly become a familiar sound throughout the scene...Other memorable moments were Spencer Freeland and James Lawson’s ³Music', Ingos mix of Reactor, Guyvers mix of OGR's Daydreamer and a considerable amount of excellent material from Coventry’s Fidget label, which is sure to be making a big noise in the near future...
Then up stepped Nick Sentience with his very own license to thrill. His set took you to the scene of the crime, committed a sound that would have put most people behind bars with its ultra violent noise that we the judge and jury could only pass the sentence of a lifetime behind the decks as our slave to the vibe, a true reservoir god, my hands are bound in order that I don’t slice my ear off so that I couldn’t hear these records play in a lesser vein. I’d been waiting to see Nick play since he’d been forced to cancel his Hemisphere set a couple of months ago, and he certainly didn't disappoint, making the most fantastic sounds from mission control. If British scientists are out looking for ET, they should get a few satellites measuring the main room of Turnmills--Sentience's mixing really was out of this world.
I sought solace upstairs in the Annexo bar where you were transported to a 1930s speakeasy gangsters' retreat with rhythm and funky blues, complete with a sax skipping in and out of the beats that DJ Brad 212 Finlay was laying down. It was time for a sophisticated drink and a seat. Although the joint was jumping my head was still spinning from the mayhem and blood filled dancefloors of the downstairs ‘rooms’. After grooving out to Finlay's funky house I was well prepared to face my one disappointment of the evening: I went down to keep my groove going in the trance room, only to find it wasn't there anymore...sorry Raymondo, I thought you were on til 6!
You know the saying the cream always rises to the top? Well in this case Karim gathered the flock for their sacrificial bosh. Upon entering the backroom you instantly felt the dark vibrant demonic atmosphere that comes with raw hard house and you would almost have been forgiven for thinking you were at a tidy gig. But this lot had no fluffy phones or hoovers strapped to their backs, they were no toy soldiers, these hardened monster stompers herded to the front with the aim of sacrificing themselves like a human shield to the sadamic bush beat that Karim spins. As musical crush began you could see faces contort, arms flay and fists clench, not in anger but in sheer torment as the din of I Don't Care ripped through the senses, making boys cry and girls scream-yes, indeed, Karim was only for the headstrong: any normal person would rather have their ear cut off with a razor then endure a Karim set, but for us hard dancers it ended the evening in the best way possible. My last memory of the night was hilarious: standing with one of the Turnmills promoters who was adamently trying to get Karim to play for another hour. If only…
There's no doubt the Heat team have not only expanded musicwise, but they are the new way forward for club promotions. Join them in their Evolution at Turnmills on Saturday 12 April 2003--I'd advise getting your tickets now, as this is bound to be another sell out.
Heat are soon to take on Ibiza, Cardiff and all new London superclub the Coronet - for more details and booking information click here.
You can catch reservoir gods Marc French, Steve Blake, Justin Bourne and Steve Hill at Tasty: Home at Last at The Rocket Complex this Saturday 29 March.
With thanks to mrbicgit for the use of his photos
Relevant Links
HeatUK
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Other Features By littlemissgenki: HeatUK (The DVD) – From The Backyard To South West Four - World Premier Preview: Interview with SnowBall Productions Paradise City 001 Preview: From free parties in pubs to private jets—interview with Antiworld promoter Enrico Sorbello Blatantly Brisk: interview with Paul Nineham Paradise City 001 preview: interview with Mauro Picotto Never Enough Maria: Interview with the Queen of Hard Dance
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: Newzkitten on 28th Mar 2003 10:45.20 All I was say is Wow.. Tara, you've certainly outdone yourself this time! Exceptionally researched and beautifully written - I can't wait for the next one.
From: mrbicgit on 28th Mar 2003 17:47.44 lady genki with these here fine words your really spoilin us
"love your work baby"
From: Bagel on 28th Mar 2003 19:10.30 littlemissgenki you have a way with words! A very well thought out review..and well researched!!! (Am checking for hidden cameras now....) Had a brilliant time that night, thanks very much to everyone who came along
From: Maria on 3rd Apr 2003 14:07.04 You are the best!
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