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Features 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!

Getting the festival groove back: the Glade 005 reviewed Reported by Tara / Submitted 20-08-08 21:04 The right to dance in a field has been slowly eroded by governments around the world for the last few years and with the recent atrocious weather, the desire to do so has also been slowly going out the window for many. After disastrous flooding made last year’s Glade Festival such horribly hard work and flash flooding stopped this year’s Sunrise Festival from even going ahead, it’s hardly surprising that ticket sales in the weeks leading up to this year’s Glade were a tad slow. Having bought my ticket well in advance so I’d have something to look forward to when I returned from New Zealand earlier this year, I watched on as every promoter and his dog started spamming their ‘friends’ with ticket offers. But everyone’s hard work certainly paid off, for the fifth Glade Festival was definitely one of the best yet. Origin Stage The Glade first started out as a stage of Glastonbury, which took on a life of its own and became its very own festival in 2004. As the Glade had always been one of my favourite parts of Glasto I was keen to go to the first event, and impressed then by the beautiful location in an ancient oak forest just outside of Reading, good organisation and great music selection between the tents — although I’ll never forget leaving Aphex Twin’s set after about 10 minutes a little confused, something I’ve always regretted. After driving my friends mad telling them how much fun that first festival had been, they bought tickets to the second and then third years, both of which were magic, with the gorgeous hot sunny days leading the only problem I remember: it was actually too hot to dance during the day at times! But with our campside perfectly situated underneath a huge old oak tree, this just lead to more campside fun and shenanigans. Festival essentials The Glade 2007 was to be a whole different animal though. After months of rain being topped up by some extra-special last-minute flooding on the Friday the festival opened, the fourth Glade was at best very hard work, and at worst a nightmare that had some of our camp saying they’d never go to a festival again. In short, for many it lost its magic. Could the Glade 2008 bring this magic back? An optimist, I was always going to go and find out. After a mission getting out of work and London town just in time for rush hour on Friday evening, we were reassured by texts from friends letting us know that not only all was going well, but the weather was holding out and they were dancing in their trainers. Given that 12 months previously I’d been sitting in an office in Brick Lane watching the same area getting progressively more flooded, things were looking up. I’d set 8pm as our deadline to get into the festival, set up and to the Origin Stage for South African psy trancer Protoculture’s set, but as the traffic on the motorway built up, I tried not to get too focused on the time. We must’ve been about half an hour away when the heavens finally opened, slowing things down on the roads and meaning the ‘Don’t forget your wellies’ texts starting coming in. But eventually, not long after 8pm, we rocked up to the main gate where I’d been instructed to pick up my press pass. In true festival style, my name wasn’t in the computer, so we legged it to Gate 2, where a hand-written press list was finally found — happy days! Fortunately we were given a car pass, for having already paid for parking at the other gate my friends’ patience was wearing thin. Carrying our stuff in as the drizzle got heavier, we soon found our friends, who’d wisely gone for higher ground than the spot under the old oak tree we’d camped under during previous Glades. Situated just behind the watch tower, it was a perfect location for keeping an eye on the tents below and we had a gorgeous view of the forest and valley without being too close to the many sound systems. My wonderful mates had put my tent up and had wine waiting, happy days indeed. inSpiral chill out Now wasn’t the time to chill at the tent though, and we quickly headed to the outdoor Origin Stage for the last of Protoculture’s set, who finished with his own remix of ‘Binary Finary’, and was followed by the awesome Fearsome Engine. Consisting of two of the biggest names in full-on psy — Tristran and Laughing Buddha — this new live act promised great things. Friends were texting news of great happenings at other stages, but we were transfixed to the Origin Stage, where the combination of incredible sound, awesome lasers and production and that electric Friday night at a festival feeling made it impossible to leave. Dancing to Fearsome Engine’s awesome high energy psy with lush rolling basslines, it’s hard to comprehend that this is partly put together by the same guy who gave up DJing because of his ear problems. But as Revolve Magazine Editor Nigel Photon explained to me as we watched in awe, Tristran’s ear problems have led to the end of his DJing and concentration on his live career. Talk about a silver lining in every cloud —Fearsome Engine were one of the highlights of the entire festival for me. I wasn’t the only one unable to leave the Origin Stage for much of the weekend though: towards the end of the festival we got chatting to some girls who’d just come to have look there on the Saturday and couldn’t leave, spending the whole festival there. Origin Stage Elsewhere, the Plump DJs were going off in the Breaksday Tent where from all reports they played a real mash of funky house, techno, electro, uplifting hands in the air music. Their smooth mixing of so many styles meant there was a combination of people with their hands in the air cheering and others looking down and getting into the groove. I’m assured from reliable sources that the way they compiled it was technically very well done. Blending genres like that is risky if you don’t know what you’re doing and takes a real art, but evidently their tune selection was spot on and the many transitions between styles made for something new, fresh and very danceable. Back at the Origin Stage, after a bit of pogo-ing to Pogo it was time to go exploring. Walking around the site, the atmosphere was incredible, with so many happy smiley people having the time of their lives. Having interviewed the Pendulum boys a couple of months earlier as part of their new album launch where I’d loved their high energy live act, I was curious to see them DJ. However trying to dance inside a tent after the magic of the Origin Stage was still too darn difficult, so it was back to Pogo until the outdoor stage closed at midnight. Some sensibly forward-thinking friends had hired a tipi, something definitely worth considering if there’s a group of you as having a communal space to chill in is always good no matter what the weather. Tipis After a trip back to the tent to refuel then exploring the site further, we found a great spot in the Vapour Stage for Slam Live followed by Frequency 7. I’ve no idea what they played but they had our crew going for it until closing, followed by a brief stint to see Mr C and Tim Sheridan back to back at the Sancho Panza tent. Then it was back to the campsite for some nightcaps, one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen then, then knowing there was a big day ahead, a few hours sleep. Saturday it was straight down to the vegetarian caf for a beanburger then it was soon time to head back to the opening of the Origin Stage for Regan, who my friend Matt aka DJ Milf from Mutagen Records had been getting excited about seeing for ages. As co-owner of Origin Stage organisers Nano Records, Regan DJs, produces and promotes events in his native South Africa and he’s evidently best known for his morning sets. Well for most of us, noon on a Saturday is morning and he played what for a couple of mates was the best set of the festival. Towards the end of it a decent-sized group was coming together, which had turned into a crowd by the time Iboga main man Emok was up for his live set — and what a set. Possibly the best progression I’ve heard in set in a long time, whoever may have started out sleepy at 1.30 was going crazy by 3.30! Funnily enough I didn’t really recognise anything he played, which all made sense chatting to him afterwards as it was unreleased! The tracks he felt went down the best were Maelstrom’s ‘Sake Head’, Kasey Taylor’s ‘Coconuts’ (Nyquist Remix), Riktam & Banzi’s ‘More Base Master’ and Liquid Soul’s ‘Love In Stereo’. With Allaby and the legendary Zen Mechanics playing the next sets, aside from a couple of trips to the bar and brief time-out at the inSpiral Chill, we stayed there for the rest of the afternoon. Emok @ Origin Stage As hard as it was to tear ourselves away from the Origin stage, we manage to get to the Liquid Stage just in time for Freshold’s very own VIP D&B remix of Phoenix Rose’s ‘Sick and Tired’, an awesome track soon to be released on new label Archangel Green. Taking the dubbier original and dropping D&B beats ensured the crowd didn’t chill out too much, although unfortunately for the indoor tents, most festival-goers were taking advantage of the rare but so-needed sunny weather. But back to Freshold, who then went on to play Adele’s ‘Hometown Glory’ (High Contrast Remix) and a very special finishing move edit he’d made specially to go into Apach Indian’s ‘Boom Shaka Laka’— reportedly the only time he’s finished a set like that to date. When asked later about his highlights of the Glade, Johnnie was full of stories to tell. His first memory involved driving up with a car full of people to get his artist pass only to be told by a steward he’d had a run-in at Waveform that “I fucking hate Freshold!” Things could only improve. Of the things he can remember from the subsequent couple of days, he says he’s still trying to pick up the pieces from finding Stable Music’s Paul Era in the campervan field in his mobile tent and having a conversation with Inch from Ctrl Z about the dangers of Ninja Turds. “This one’s for you Wolfi!” he laughed. Suffice to say he’s looking forward to playing Waveform again this year. Pitch Black @ Liquid Stage Freshold handed it over to iLS, and as much as we’d been looking forward to the breaks pioneer, the sun outside was calling our names. By now the festival was in full swing, with loads of happy faces in fancy dress enjoying the sunshine as we all queued for the bar together. Exploring the site we passed revelers getting married at The Big Love Inflatable Church then caught a bit of Flip Flop live before heading back to the Liquid Stage for Kiwi electronic outfit Pitch Black. It was such a pleasure to hear their unique blend of dub and trip hop laced electronica dancing in the sunlight of the Liquid Stage’s doorway, where I bumped into Calv of Inside Us All, the VJs who’d received the No.1 VJs award in last year’s DJmag Top 100 Poll and had worked their magic on the Liquid Stage accordingly. Calv told me about their new installation at the soon to be launched Matter club in the O2 arena, which just sounds amazing. If the beautiful Liquid Stage was anything to go by it will be worth going for their production alone, bubbles, lights and all. Liquid Stage Unfortunately it was now that time of the festival where so much of the good stuff happens at once. On the Glade Stage, techno pioneers System 7 were playing some of the gorgeous tracks from their most recent ‘Phoenix’ album, but for us and so many other Glade-goers, it was still all about the outdoors. With Headroom on the Origin Stage showcasing his new ‘Artelligent’ release and the hypnotising lasers in the trees, we weren’t going anywhere for a good while. Sweden’s Logic Bomb closing the Origin Stage was another festival highlight — oh if only it could have gone on later. System 7 @ Glade Stage With the main stage closed it was time again to go exploring and as all the tents had such fantastic line-ups, we spent a lot of time walking around taking it all in, in between chilling at Chai Wallahs, where my friend had the good fortune to meet a woman who took it upon herself to educate her on the history of Chai Tea. According to our new friend, Chai tea was a bi-product of Britain’s colonization of India. With Britain exporting so much of the higher grade leaves, the locals were left with the rest, and with it being so strong they started cooking it up with spices to improve the flavor. Originally served in terracotta pots, it seems rather ironical that Chai was also the source of so many of the plastic cups strewn around the festival site. Our attempts at verifying her story have however raised some conflicting reports: http://gyaku.jp/en/index.php?cmd=contentview&pid=000161 http://www.arzoomag.com/culture/the-history-of-chai/ so if anyone reading this knows the true story please leave a note. After dancing and drinking in the sun all day, the One Tribe World Stage was another great place to relax. I’ve no idea who played but the music was spot on, great trippy dubby stuff. Meanwhile the beautiful Inspiral Chill had some wicked music from the likes of their resident Giani. After some serious chilling we had another stint at the Liquid Stage to Mood Deluxe, before heading back to the tipi and then tent to watch the sunrise and have a bit of shut eye before prog Sunday. Now I should point out that myself and some mates had been looking forward to prog Sunday for a long long time, and I’d deliberately been pacing myself to be on form. What I hadn’t realized until now was that while it was prog Sunday at the Origin Stage, it was Psychedelic Sunday at the Liquid Stage. The Glade and Breaksday Stages were also looking tempting. On my way up to the tipi to motivate the others, I bumped into Tom Real who’d only arrived late Saturday night after working at Lovebox in London all day. It sounded like Lovebox had gone really well, and he was as excited about prog Sunday as I was. Ace Ventura @ Origin Stage Dimitri Nabov kicked off proceedings with some techier sounds to a small and appreciative crowd as we ran around catching up with people, including Ace Ventura himself who was already on good form. Starting off with his remix of FREq’s ‘Short Life Again’, he soon had a large crowd dancing to his flawless mixing and great proggy sounds. Chatting to him afterwards, I had no idea that he’d found the transition from Dimitry’s excellent techno a bit tricky: surely the sign of a true performer. It was only when he dropped his remix of Perfect Stranger’s ‘Morning Blues’ that he felt it really took off, while we were appreciating it from the start. Tracks like ‘Rebirth’, ‘The Light’ and Ace’s remix of Zen Mechanic’s ‘Holy Cities’ all made this one of the best sets of the festival for many of us. Perfect Stranger @ Origin Stage The plan had been to leg it to the Liquid Stage for the last of Liquid Ross vs Natzan, but Perfect Stranger kept us all on the prog tip, and by the time we did pop over Alchemy’s Hamish had taken over. As much as I loved his music, again the outdoors called, and with so little time left off the festival it was time to catch up with mates in the tipi and let our hair down for a while. We could only stay away for so long though, and with Ans and Allaby playing a special techno set the Origin Stage was heaving. Fresh from being runners up at the Beatport Awards, Kiwi lads Barton and Hayden Strom aka Antix/Fiord then took over the main stage for a closing set of epic proportions. After seeing a piece on www.chaishop.com where they list their musical history over nine album, coincidently including some of my favourite albums ever like Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’, The Pixies ‘Doolittle’, Massive Attack’s ‘Blue Lines’ and The Smith’s ‘The Queen is Dead’, it’s hardly surprising that: a) their music is indeed a little darker than some of the hands in the air stuff we’d heard during the day and b) I really liked it. DJ Kana closing Liquid Stage It was a little techy for my friend though, so we went for a wander back to the Liquid Stage, where Kana was playing an incredible uplifting finish—as noted elsewhere on the forums. Having seen her play another wicked set up Offworld Festival since, I can confirm she’s definitely one to catch at next month’s Waveform. I managed to drag us back to the Origin for the last few tracks of Antix, just making it back for their Fiord remix of Perfect Stranger’s ‘Clear Vision’ which went down really well and is soon to be released on Iboga. The track they closed the festival with raised the hairs on my neck however. An huge, emotional, atmospheric number, ‘One’ has everyone jumping for the stars and wishing like hell it was Friday and not Sunday. Antix aka Fiord closing Origin Stage All too soon it was over, and it was time to go back to London and prepare for the working week ahead. I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone that I ended up missing my ride and staying for our own afterparty, heading back in the morning instead. We had a lot to celebrate: it had definitely been one of the best Glade’s yet and having been to all five, I feel qualified to comment: the music was impeccable, other than a couple of hiccups at the gate the organization was fine, and possibly of most importance to so many of us after last year, the weather was great — I didn’t wear my gumboots all weekend. It’s impossible to describe an entire weekend in one review, and to those of you still with me, if I focused too much on the music, I think it’s because I missed so much of it last year, instead taking shelter in a tipi from the rain and mud. But this year it all came together again in typical Glade style, and this fantastic fifth festival shows they’ve certainly got it in them to do another five. With the UK and so many other countries toughening up licensing and anti-terror laws however, it’s becoming harder and harder to dance in a field with your mates. The last of the summer festivals are upon us over the next couple of weekends, and whether it’s SW4, Get Loaded, Bestival, Creamfields, Reading & Leeds or Waveform that takes your fancy, get out there and enjoy them while you still can. Photos courtesy of Sarah_G. Not to be reproduced without permission. Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By Tara: Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden Telling Cosmic Tales with DJ Strophoria Tom Psylicious aka EarthAlien takes 50 Spins Around the Sun: Raising Awareness Through the Power of Music 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. Comments: From: Karl Schmidt on 21st Aug 2008 13:42.34 Well its safe to say that its all about Origin and Regans team.. their parties here in Cape Town are second to none! Protoculture too is a killer Capetonian psy producer! Our outdoor season is kicking off next month.. cant fucking wait!! Brilliant review!! From: Mizz_behavin on 21st Aug 2008 17:01.40 Best festival ever, roll on next years From: hypermonkey on 22nd Aug 2008 15:05.33 such an amazing weekend! with a great bunch of people! looking forward to the next one! From: K8-e on 22nd Aug 2008 18:43.49 Great review! x From: Riff and Raff on 23rd Aug 2008 18:50.26 We love your enthusiasm Tara, despite the sore eyes. Thanks for the great revue. It was a truly wonderful festival, yet again. From: Tara on 28th Aug 2008 23:42.40 Thanks for the comments And yes I'd forgotten about the sore eyes R&R, selective memory is a wonderful thing! Top festival tip has to be taking hay fever meds for as long as possible before the festival - I couldn't find a sink anywhere on site to wash my hard contact lenses and being legally blind had a very blurry Saturday until they settled down... next year I'm defo taking my own sink hehehe... From: Frank E on 8th Sep 2008 05:32.55 Missed this again. Bah! Maybe next year.

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