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| 20 Years of Flying Free with JourneyOM | | Cosmic Flow talks wind surfing, the Prodigy, becoming a black belt and his mission - to help people feel, heal, and move together through sound – all ahead of his upcoming album release – ‘Infinity’! | | Fertile talk about the 90s spark, analog dreams, and the power of collaboration, ahead of their debut album release 'Everywhere' on Iono Music! | | Celebrating 35 incredible years of Banco de Gaia | | 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 |
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Frantic Euphoria Album Launch Party @ The Rocket
Reported by Steve Milton
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Submitted 21-06-04 22:22
I really enjoyed myself and it was a pretty good night. I thought I'd get that out of the way first so anyone reading this would get the basic idea without having to trawl through the rest of my inane waffle if they didn't want to. Still here? Um . . . OK, perhaps its best I start at the beginning. It usually is.
I'd never been to The Rocket complex before and was fairly intrigued to find out what it would be like. Queuing was fairly swift and painless and our merry band of assorted low lives were soon inside with the coats all squared away. No drama's so far. After a bit of a mooch round down stairs it was straight up to the main room as K90 was about to start his PA. To be honest with you there's not really much I can say about K90 that hasn't been said already. You know exactly what you're going to get and its all, good wholesome stuff served up with a dose of humour and bags of energy. You really can't fault it. An 11-12 time slot meant a good flow to the evening as his own brand of chunky hard trance certainly kicked things off nicely and filled the main room pretty dam quick.
Under the big parachute in the main room
I kept getting the feeling that at some point during the night a giant of a paratrooper would appear as if from nowhere and ask for his chute back, as The Rocket had stolen it and hung it from the ceiling in the main room. This in itself was OK but I couldn't help but think how much better the lighting and lasers would have looked if it hadn't obscured them so much. Still only a very minor niggle on my behalf and let's face it, I'm getting old and cynical. Oh and while I'm having a whinge I'll mention smoke machines. I really don't like them. It makes taking decent photos a pain in the bum. *Note to self* Get on with the review; the readers don't care what you think about smoke machines! 
OK, next up were the Nu Energy Collective. For some inexplicable reason every time I'd been out and they'd been playing I'd missed them. Not this time. And boy was I impressed. Kinda like a trance whippet on speed with a jet pack on it's back. If they had any more get up and go they really would have got up and gone! I was stomping like a mad thing. A really unique sound that I totally blew me away. Did someone once mention trancecore? Chuck in some spot on scratching and the whole thing gelled into one big frenetic mix of synths, base and drums. The high BPM version of "Adagio for Strings" was totally spot on. You chaps certainly get the Sunrider seal of approval.
Frantic stuff with the Nu Energy Collective
Time for another wander and a note on the venue. Although I quite liked it in there I kept getting feeling that at any moment I was going to bump into someone with a tired looking dog selling the Big Issue. Very bizarre. I popped back stage for a bit to catch up with some friends and see how things were going. Andy Whitby was again proving what a great fresh talent he is and really not giving the crowd any time to catch their breath, all nicely rounded off with the Tony De Vit classic "Don't Care". Oooh they don't make em like that any more.
Well if the night wasn't quite mental enough for you then things were certainly going to go down loony tunes lane with what came next. It could only be - LAB4. Again the guys put on a show to rival anything Billy Smart could muster under his big top. Energetic showmen that had the crowd pounding for all they were worth and loving every minute of it. I was exhausted just watching them from the side of the stage. They seem to have come full circle musically and are now just as raw and aggressive as they ever were. They're next release, "Gangster" came blasting out of the pretty decent sound system in the main room at approaching 170 BPM and it's certainly not for the faint hearted. Great performance all round.
Adam whips up a storm
Hiding behind the decks towards the end of LAB4's set and sorting out her records was the lovely Tara Reynolds. It looked very comical from where I was standing and she looked over at me and we had a little laugh. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to follow what was going on behind her but undaunted she took over the reigns with aplomb. It was battery recharge time for me however, rest my weary limbs and grab a drink.
By the time I made it back to the floor Anne Savage was in full swing and reports from the floor suggested she was in top form. But then you don't become as big as Anne (not literally you understand) by being no good now do you! The crowd went completely delirious when she dropped the timeless Eurythmics classic "Sweet Dreams", I have no idea who or what mix it was but that's irrelevant because it took the roof off.
All good things must come to an end but not before Phil Reynolds had had his say, and it didn't matter how long you'd been dancing or how tired you were, there was no way he'd let you stop. Some great tunes and tight mixing kept everything buzzing until the very end, and the crowd still wanted more!
I was going to try and see more in the other rooms but the main room really did keep my attention all night and this review would have ended up as long as War and Peace and you'd no doubt have all got bored reading it anyway so for that, be grateful. The Frantic crew should be pleased with a job well done, security was friendly, door organisation efficient and cloakrooms fast. I don't think I heard a single complaint throughout the whole night. My camera however was not in a mood to play so thanks to RafieG, Raven and Beagle for getting something decent and letting me steal then. 
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Other Features By Steve Milton:
The Final Zoo
The Death of Clubland?
Trousers, Caps and Trance Anthems - It's Dave Pearce!
Boom Box, Bulldog Breaks and V1 - It's Time to Reload with DJ-X(lab4)
Clubbers Guide to Photography: Part Two
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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