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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 | | A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! |
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Review: Ascension at the Factory
Reported by josie
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Submitted 11-05-05 11:00
There were two new trance events last month – the excellent Vaccine at Turnmills (already reviewed), and Ascension at Factory – on top of the other hard, psy, and euphoric events already established of course. A couple of years ago, however, we weren’t in nearly such a jammy situation, and trance fans would have fallen on new nights like the last bottle of water in Amnesia when the air conditioning’s on the blink. These days we’re far harder to please, and can afford to curl our lip, hold a flyer for anything less than a perfect night disdainfully between finger and thumb, and drop it in the bin. In such a clubber’s market, new promotions have to try doubly hard – both for quality and for ‘that sound’ they‘ll specialise in that no one else is. Vaccine have done it (although the fact it’s Thursday won’t make life easy for them). Ascension? We’ll have to wait and see.
The Factory (ex Club Supreme) is never going to be one of London’s best venues. The main room is long and narrow, and the second room is tiny – not much more than a wide corridor. Nice touches, however, are a round sort of podium in the main room, which gets rammed with crazed girls at particularly uplifting moments, and the cute, half walled-off seating area in the back room. The staff are also faultless – smiley, polite and friendly.
First up was Ronnie, the promoter, spinning a set of very bass-driven, sparse house. To be honest, this reviewer was thrown. House in the main room at a trance event? Even worse, however, was the truly shocking sound quality. The level of the bass was SO HIGH it made my stomach churn. What do I know though, especially when it’s house… maybe it’s supposed to sound like that? I kept my mouth shut.
Next up was Vicky Devine – a new one on me. She has an impressive pedigree in the industry though, as an ex club reviewer and stage dancer, then promoter. DJ-wise she is a regular face in Ibiza, and she has a production history, including a collaboration with Sophie Sugar. Generally spinning a harder, banging style of trance, Vicky reined it in for Ascension, going instead down the slightly old school route, but still with a slightly bigger, tougher sound than pure euphoric trance DJs. Being more confident about trance, and since during her first few tracks ALL you could hear was bass… no treble or middle AT ALL (“is this ‘Dark Side of the Moon’?” “Err… maybe?”) I found the promoter and begged him to do something about it. A visit from him to the DJ booth resulted in a vast improvement in the sound quality... apparently it all sounded fine behind the decks. Big tunes from Vicky included the classic Nu Nrg remake ‘Dreamland 2005’, Firewall’s ‘Sincere’, and ‘The Passion’ from Hemstock and Jennings. There was also an ecstatic crowd reaction to her own new track ‘Entravanse’.
A nice set from Adam White followed – a man who is rapidly becoming a big name. Label manager for Darey Products, Adam must have thought all his Christmases had come at once on winning both Best New Producer and Best Track (with Andy Moor for ‘Whiteroom’) at the 2004 Trance Awards. Adam demonstrated his speciality at Ascension - euphoric, uplifting trance with lovely, cleancut breakdowns. Some top tracks were a ‘Cry Little Sister’ remix, Jan Johnston vs The Thrillseekers – ‘Calling Your Name’, and Delirium – ‘Silence’. Adam also banged out his own tunes ‘Ballerina’ and ‘Whiteroom’ to a rapturous response. Best of all though was Mike Foyle vs Signalrunners – ‘Love Theme Dusk’, which is just a brilliant, delicate piece of musical trance. There are actually some quite sexy, unusual tunes around at the moment - not anthemic, a bit harder to find, but well worth looking out.
The teeny back room played host to house, and was busy all night. It’s not my thing, but I heard some cool, funky, even quite experimental stuff being played, and it sounded pretty good – even to me.
I hate being negative about new events, but I guess it’s better to do it early on rather than six months down the line when they’re looking longingly at their kid‘s college fund. Ascension definitely need to have a bit of a think before next month. No house in the main room for a start – call me a purist but it’s either a trance night or it isn’t. Also sort out the sound system, with someone standing at the back and either giving the thumbs up or the thumbs down if you really can’t hear it in the booth. Lastly, I’ll be interested to see who they go with for lineup – there’s a lot of competition in London, so it’ll need to be someone else on the level of Adam White. One possibility, since they do house so well, and it’s the promoter’s thing… why not be a house night? Just a thought.
Logo courtesy of Ascension; photos courtesy of Vicky Devine and Adam White.
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Other Features By josie:
It's the Generation game featuring Agnelli & Nelson, The Thrillseekers and Lange
Peach at Heaven: Reviewed
The Gallery at Turnmills: Reviewed
The International Indoor Festival at SeOne: reviewed
The double ender: interview with trance legends Darren Tate and Mike Koglin
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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