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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! |
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What's The Matter With A*S*Y*S
Reported by Tom Cypher
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Submitted 20-07-09 07:49
Frank Ellrich has long been an icon of the hard dance scene, however it is his ability to evolve and remain at the very cutting edge of that genre that has seen him rise above many of his contemporaries. Cutting his teeth alongside Kai Tracid as part of the Tracid Traxxx mafia, Frank has since spread his wings aligning himself with the Straight On Black crew from Holland. Across his countless productions, Frank has built up a chest full of guises that include Plasmatics, Riddler & Headcrusher, Naiche & Steve K and X-frame plus of course the hugely successful Future Tribes.
First and foremost A*S*Y*S is know for his revolutionary studio productions- dark acid odysseys which have set dancefloors ablaze across the globe. Frank Ellrich is behind dozens of eternal classics including Acid Nightmare, Acid Save Your Soul, Age Of Darkness, Acid Headcracker, Theme From Pharmacy and the world conquering No More F*cking Rock & Roll which was one of the highest selling dance releases of 2005 and included an exclusive cut from world number one DJ Paul Van Dyk.
Not content with such a string of monster hits Frank’s remix credits read like a trance and techno A list. Frank has stamped his style onto remixes such as Timo Maas- Maas Mellow, CygnusX- The Orange Theme, Yoji Biomehanika – Remo Con, Tiefenrausch – The Deep Blue and the ultimate hard trance anthem Hennes & Colds – The Sound Of Rock. Since 2000 Frank has toured the world headlining major clubs and festivals the world over. His effervescent style of performance has seen A*S*Y*S stage diving in Australia, climbing the rafters in Japan, moshing alongside fans in the UK, dancing Samba in Brazil and playing live in front of tens of thousands of people in Holland. The A*S*Y*S stage show is as much about passion as it is about high-octane beats and punishing melodies. Since late 2007 Frank made his next major step by establishing new label “Fe Records”. Mainly as a new platform for A*S*Y*S productions the label claims to give the harder genres new & fresh impulse. If you haven’t already had a chance to catch A*S*Y*S, make sure you get yourself to Riot’s Summer Of Hard Dance Event at matter on 24th July.
Hello A*S*Y*S! How are you and what are you currently doing today?
Hey there, I am fine thank you. As always I’m very busy and today I have a few productions to work on. I plan to make one or two edits / bootlegs for my DJ sets at the weekend. Also I have to go to the hairdressers, its way to long at the moment, haha!
How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard you before?
It’s not that easy to describe to be honest, because A*S*Y*S has a lot of crossover potential and has encompassed the very hard to the funky and techy, the same as my DJ sets. I love all quality productions mainly from the hard genres, so my sound and music is a kind of mash up of different styles like tech trance, acid, hard trance, hardstyle and even hard electro. I also think that none of the A*S*Y*S singles that I have released since 1996 sound the same as the one before. I love to put new influences and inspirations into each track and I always change the drumming, sequencing sounds, etc. However, the overall vibe is typical A*S*Y*S, which tends to be “dark and mystic”.
You will be playing the mighty Riot! event at matter on the 24th July – are you excited? Have you played in London before? Anything cool planned for your set?
Yeah definitely! Looking forward to that one a lot. I have played a couple of times in London before for a few Antiworld parties and at Fabric. I love the vibe of the city and I am very curious regarding the location at venue at the O2 arena. Sounds very special and promising!
What are the highlights of your musical career so far? What goals do you still have a burning desire to achieve?
Hmmm, I have had a couple of highlights already. So many worldwide club hits like Acid Nightmare or No More Fuckin’ Rock N Roll or Cheers!! I think its special that Acid Nightmare is a very hard and underground tune that made it up to the top 100 of the official German charts in 2000. But honestly, all of the countries I have toured so far are something I would describe as a highlight. I love to travel and to meet new people; I’m interested in learning about new cultures, not only the party culture, haha! So to play in Japan, Australia, Canada, the US or Brazil and Russia count too.
What do I want to achieve? Well I want to be a creative part of the whole electronic dance music scene for as long as possible, because it is my passion, not only a job. When I work on my productions I never look at the clock and wish the day would be over soon so I can leave the office - I love it. Also one of my goals would be to play in China, or other Asian countries where the whole party scene is new and still something very special.
What projects are you working on that you can tell us about?
I have just finished my mix for the upcoming Sound of Kiddstock CD compilation and a remix of the official anthem too. I’m also running my own label called “Fe-Records” and I’m currently planning the new releases for this year. A new A*S*Y*S single will be part of it and that will be the next studio production I will work on.
What are your favourite bits of kit that you like to use whilst in the studio?
Oh that’s easy to answer:
Sequencer: Logic 8, Ableton Live 8 and Cubase SX 4
Hardware: Nordlead 1, Virus B
Software Synth: Sylenth 1
And all different kind of distortion plug-ins haha
Festival season is now upon us – are you playing at any or going for fun with friends? What has been the best festival you have been too?
Yeah! Next weekend Dance Valley in Amsterdam is up and I’m playing on the HQ stage - it’s going to be huge. I have heard it is nearly sold out which means about 40,000 people will attend and about 150 international DJs will be presenting their sound, so besides my gig I will be checking out all of the other acts! I also debuted in Ireland at the massive Planet Love festival in June and will be appearing at Southern Sound Festival 2009 (Bournemouth) and Parklife (Glasgow) in September.
Which tune do you never leave home without?
I couldn’t leave home without my own classics Acid Nightmare, No More Fuckn Rock N Roll and Electro Slut the successful remix I did for Kamui! People would be very disappointed if I didn’t drop one of those tunes.
In the hard dance scene, which artist or artists are your current favourites?
I am a big fan of Kamui; I love all of his productions. That has been the main reason why I signed them for my label. Also I still love most of Scot Project’s tunes and lately some releases from Kidd Kaos have been grabbing my attention!
What else have you got coming up?
As I mentioned above I do run my own label and beside my own new single I am going to release a lot of collaborations I did with several Australian artists like Dr Willis, LCK and a new Acid Headcracker version I made with The Engineer (producer for DJ Hellraiser). Also a lot of UK gigs are up this summer. For further information you could check out my MySpace page:
www.myspace.com/asys
A*S*Y*S will be playing Riot’s Summer Of Hard Dance event taking place at matter on 24th July. For more info & tickets visit:
Ticketweb
Riot!
Photos courtesy of Cypher PR. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Riot! The Summer Of Hard Dance
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On:
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Friday 24th July 2009
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At:
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MATTER [map]
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From:
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22:00pm - 7:00am
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Cost:
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£5 Summer Special Offer / Door TBC
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Website:
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www.riotinlondon.com
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Ticket Info:
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http://www.ticketweb.co.uk
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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Following the firestorm that was Riot’s debut at London’s newest, freshest venue matter we’re proud to tell you they loved the Riot Crew so much we’ve immediately been asked to return on Friday 24th July …this time bringing you the biggest hard dance line up to hit London in years!
Having moved to Friday night (matters ‘specialist’ night) this will ensure the party will attract the right mix of hardcore clubbers. We’ve worked with the venue and listened to your suggestions and we’re pleased to say we’ll be bringing you lasers and dancers for this special event.
**BIGGER, BADDER, BETTER**
Featuring two rooms of the biggest, loudest, phattest hard dance music around Riot presents their new concept for night time Riot events, whereas the daytime events mix things up with electro, house, trance and progressive, the evening events sees two rooms packed full of the most awe-inspiring DJs and live acts on the planet!
Heading up the charge will be the London live debut of the original hard dance act Lab 4 since their reformation earlier this year. Lab 4 are legends on the hard dance scene, having just reformed following a three year sabbatical, this will be the first time the boys will perform live in London! Second on the bill sees The Tidy Boys perform their only planned London date of 2009 unleashing their unique brand of bosh on the gathered faithful.
**BATTLE ROYALE**
Next up we bring you two very special sets featuring as hard dance royalty do battle to the death! First up the queens of hard dance Anne Savage and Lisa Pin-Up lock CD wallets for a battle of epic proportions plus Riot favourites and two of the true originators of the sound Andy Farley and Pete Wardman go head to head in a battle of pure classics … who will be the victors? Only you can decide by voting with your feet!
Representing the new breed we welcome German duo Kamui – one of the most exciting new talents to emerge on Europe’s hard dance scene who will be bringing their self-titled ‘hardfunk’ to smash up the place. Having smashed up Europe’s leading festivals: Dance Valley, DeQon 1, Nature One and Mysteryland Kamui perform their Riot debut. Rounding up the main room we have the best resident team in the country: BK, Scott Attrill and Ed Real. Room 2 welcomes Kiddfectious, the first debut at a Riot! London event headed up by Alex Kidd himself alongside A.S.Y.S, Proteus and Kidd Kaos.
**SPECIAL SUMMER OFFER - £5 ADVANCE TICKETS**
As a special summer offer advance tickets are available for the quite frankly ridiculous price of £5! WARNING – All Early Bird tickets to our debut event at matter sold out within minutes, in fact before we even managed to get a proper announcement out so to reserve your chance to dance at what is fast shaping up to be one of the best hard dance parties this summer, be the first online to get yours!
**TRANSPORT WILL BE RUNNING**
Following the nightmare travel situation with our the Jubilee line being down for our first event we’re pleased to report that all lines will be running making it much easier to get too and from the party!
**FULL LISTINGS INFO**
Name: Riot!
Date: Friday 24th July 2009
Venue: Matter London
Address: Peninsula Square, London, SE10 ODY
Time: 10pm – 6am
Line Up: (see above)
Cost: £5 Summer Special Offer / Door TBC
Advance Tickets: www.ticketweb.co.uk
More info: www.riotinlondon.com
Tube: North Greenwich
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Flyer:
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 - 
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Region:
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London
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Music:
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Hard House.
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DJ's:
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Lab4 (LIVE)
(UK’S BIGGEST AND BEST HARD DANCE LIVE ACT
-FIRST LONDON LIVE SHOW IN THREE YEARS!)
Tidy Boys
(ONLY PLANNED LONDON DATE OF ’09)
Anne Savage VS Lisa Pinup
(CLASH OF THE LADY-TITANS!)
BK
(WORLD’S NO.1 HARD DANCE PRODUCER!)
Scott Attrill
(THE NEW KING OF HARD DANCE)
KAMUI
(EUROPE’S HOTTEST NEW TALENT!)
Andy Farley VS Pete Wardman
(HARD DANCE LEGENDS – BY POPULAR DEMAND!)
Ed Real
(HARD DANCE POWERHOUSE!)
ROOM 2 HOSTED BY
KIDDFECTIOUS
FEATURING:
Alex Kidd / A.S.Y.S / Proteus / KIDD KAOS
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Other Features By Tom Cypher:
Perfect Stranger Takes a Leap of Faith With His New Album
Marco Scherer's Patchwork 17
Lee Mortimer goes Loopy.
My Digital Enemy
Studio Talk with Organ Donors
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: Maria on 20th Jul 2009 11:32.33
A*S*Y*S (Acid Save Your Soul) at Riot will rock for sure! Can't believe that I'll miss it as I'm still in Brazil buuuuuuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Have fun you ALL!!!
From: karl davis on 24th Jul 2009 13:29.18
Nice bloke meet him at Planet Love after our sets, and had his mix on my show it rocked top dj/producer
From: Midas on 28th Jul 2009 10:13.59
Phat 303 lines!
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