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Features 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!

Hinotori Sound Label Profile with DJ Amethyst Reported by Tom Allen / Submitted 14-03-03 15:31 As label Manager of Hinotori Sound, DJ Amethyst has been responsible for some classic trance anthems over the years including their seminal early release 'See No Evil' which was remixed to wide acclaim by Lab4. With regular label contributors Anni B and Wez Wonder on the books there's plenty still more to come from this label... Tom Allen: Firstly Amethyst, what have you been up to over the last couple of years? It's been a while since we've heard from you in London! DJ Amethyst: Has it really been that long? Time sure flies by when you are having fun! I guess moving out of London (to Glasgow in fact) didn’t help! However I used the time away from London writing, producing, and putting together a live PA with the odd spin out from time to time. But I would say that the bulk of the last couple of years has been spent on building and refining the Hinotori studio. I have now got the studio to a point where I can honestly say I am content with what it can do. But the down side are the many hours it takes to get familiar with the new equipment and layout. Also a great deal of time has been spent programming some new sounds and effects. As all our sounds are as original as possible (we rarely use factory patches), just creating a sound for a track can take up a huge amount of time. I remember for Hinotori 6 I wanted a music box in one of the breakdowns, and it took me just over ten hours to program it! The sound itself only featured for about 20 seconds in the tune, but the result was exactly what I was looking for. True, I could have cheated and got around it, but in doing so I would not have attained the sound I had in my head, and that would have bothered me when listening to the track playing. Therefore, to us its worth the extra effort spent in getting it right, as we like to feel there are no gaps in the sound or the production. Although this approach can sometimes lead us to being accused of over elaboration, one thing we have NEVER been accused of is poor production. TA: One of the first times that we saw you play was on the Impact boat cruise where you played live guitar solos while mixing at the same time... what gave you the idea to try that? A: By sitting next to my transistor radio, armed with a guitar, I would try to join in with whatever track was being played. I found that for the most part I could solo with pretty much anything within reason. When I discovered clubbing I noticed that the DJs were being looked upon almost like a live band, and even the set up was similar, what with everybody on the dance floor facing a stage - the DJ being the focal point. The first time I noticed that the record decks could be used like an instrument was when I heard Pete Wardman and I vowed that if I ever got involved as a DJ I would try to introduce guitar to give my sets a really unique flavour, and add to the “live” element which so many sceptics say does not exist in dance music. In fact, many do consider the DJ and dance music to be the death of the live music scene. Well I don’t agree! In my opinion the two scenes are not mutually exclusive, and yet few people seem to realise the parallel. I guess I am trying to prove my point! TA: How difficult was it to do in practice (and on a moving boat!)? A: I would say that in order to be as creative and spontaneous when DJ-ing I need a bit of scope! What I find difficult is having ONLY two decks to work from! It limits what you can do. I much prefer playing off three decks (or something that passes for extra scope!). I play guitar much as I would do an extra deck, but there is a twist to it! In order to play along, the guitar must be constantly in tune, and I would say that this in itself was the hardest part to get around. As you know, using a vari-speed on a record deck changes the pitch of the record to all sorts of weird and wonderful keys, and changing the tuning of the guitar requires six strings to be messed with. Add that to the fact that I never leave “dead” space in the set (IE. no long ‘friendly’ intro to bore you with), that sometimes it can be hard to get a decent sound if the sound system sucks, oh and not forgetting that I have to improvise a solo when I hit a point in the track which I think I can add something to, then it can be a little bit daunting! However, the only way to get around it is to do it, and the more times, the easier it becomes. The idea is to blend in with the recorded music as seamlessly as possible, my goal being to make the crowd want to dance. That’s all! As far as the moving boat went, well lets just say that we were blessed with a nice calm ocean on those weekends… TA: Do you have any particular memories from that trip - it's etched into the minds of most of the people we know who went on it! A: The Impact cruises were two excellent weekends with many great memories, which I will have with me for the rest of my days. But I guess there are three very special memories I treasure the most… I had just finished my set and I was called over by Derek (the Omnipotence promoter) and told that he had someone who wanted to have a word with me. I said fine and off he went to tell them it was OK. Imagine my trepidation when two security guards came over. My first thoughts were ‘what did I do?’ However, I was relieved when one of them stuck out a hand for me to shake! They just wanted to say that they had enjoyed my set, and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t getting more dates on the scene! Phew! Another great moment was seeing the venue for “The Tunnel” in the Reeperbahn. Tunnel records have always been one of my very favourite labels, and actually seeing the famous venue for me was a real buzz. But I guess the most memorable thing for me was when the Omnipotence room had closed and the people charged with clearing up were moving in to do their job. As I was leaving the room somebody walked past me, bin bag and broom in hand, whistling one of MY melodies! (The remix I did for Hinotori 4). I can’t imagine they could have heard it anywhere else apart from that night when I played it, and for them to remember it on only one play amongst all the other great tunes that got played by all the DJs that night, well THAT’S what I call a buzz! TA: We ran an interview with one of your protégées, Wez Wonder some time back - you must be pleased to have seen how his career has developed? A: Of course I am! And at the risk of sounding patronising, I must say how very proud I am of him. His rise has been nothing short of incredible. His first tune was released on Hinotori Sound after he’d only been clubbing (yes CLUBBING!) for six months! It took me six months to figure out which DJs I liked! I have a huge amount of admiration and respect for him, as he is one of the very few musicians/engineers/producers that I always learn something from, and one of the very few genuinely talented people out there, and although his initial contact with Dance music production was through us, he has gone onto develop his own sound and his own ways of doing things. TA: Are you going to be working with Wez on any stuff in the future? A: Most definitely! I can’t imagine not working with the man in one form or another. I always go to him for second opinions on anything I do, as not only can he spot any flaws and constructively suggest where I make changes, but he appreciates all styles of music and judges them on their merit. However, actually working with him itself is always an absolute pleasure. Not only is he an awesome talent, but we also both have a mutual respect for each other so there is never any artistic stand-offs in the studio. But what I like best about working with him is when he gets to play – to me its pure entertainment! He plays drums, keyboards, bass, guitar, and we even got him singing on a track recently, which came out really well. You know, Id have been happy with half the talent that guy has been blessed with. TA: There’s not been any release by your wife Anni B for some time now - is she still involved on the production side of things at Hinotori? A: Anni is always involved! She gets to hear everything first hand, and I guess you could say that she takes on an ‘executive production’ role in most cases. She is also the other half of ‘Caldera’ (Hinotori 5 and 10), and one of the members of D.A.R (Hinotori 2) but at the moment she has been creating a more “makina” (Spanish hardcore to you!) style of music. There is no finer talent that I know of who has mastered the art of interactions between melody and bass line. No one I know of can do it better than Anni-B! However, this talent lends itself very much to the ‘makina’ style of music more than the hard trance sound. This is possibly why you don’t hear too much from her, but with any luck, that should change when we are back up and running again. TA: 'See No Evil', the tune you did with Phil Reynolds and that was subsequently signed to the first Frantic album was Hinotori's first track and I think Phil's first tune as well. Apparently it took just 6 hours to create and was inspired by a mad Scotsman - can you tell us the story behind that one? A: The story is quite a laugh I guess! What happened was that Anni and myself had just played at some party in Acton, and Phil and Ian Mac having just done their thing at Club Euphoria, turned up. I got chatting to Phil and I asked if he fancied doing a track with me sometime. He said he did want to, and I think we then got into a conversation of when would be a suitable day/time. Anyway, Ian (who had to this point been quite subdued!) decided it was time for action and started interjecting our discussion with some absolute cracking one-liners. But then from out of nowhere he asked us “do you know that ‘live on Ees’ is ‘see no evil’ backwards”? Well at that time we had to admit that we didn’t know that fact, but it sure sounded like a good track title and a moment of inspiration far too good to pass up! So Phil, Anni and myself left the party, went back to my little set up (now the Phoenix Studio) in Ealing and 5-6 hours later “see no evil” was done. That version was only ever intended for a dub plate to gauge reactions and get some feedback, but because of the way it took off (which I have to admit surprised me!), we decided to stick with it in the original form. When Lab-4 offered to do the remix, well it was like all my Christmases had come at once and we couldn’t think of any better way to kick things off for our new label! TA: Is there any prospect of you working together with Phil again? A: Can’t really see it to be honest. We’ve moved in very different directions musically & rather than attempting to force an issue for a follow up, its always best to quit when you are ahead. The combination worked well at that moment in time and I think that leaving it on that note has a more poetic feel about it don’t you? What I can say though is that it was great for me to get to work with him, and I wish him every success for the future. TA: Can you give us a run down of what's in the pipeline for Hinotori Sound at the moment? A: Well in the short term we are looking forward to getting Hinotori Sound back up and running after a lengthy layoff. We intend to carry on from where we left off in the series, with releases planned for D.A.R, Caldera, Wez Wonder, and myself. However, if things go well, we intend to introduce some new artists including an excellent act called (ironically enough) ‘Purple People’ from Sweden. We also hope to showcase some great up and coming talent from Germany, Spain and the UK. We also have plans to start a new arm of Hinotori Sound, which will be geared more towards even higher tempo Melodic Trance or as its now called “Makina”. We have always been big fans of the labels ‘ADN’, ‘Uptempo’, ‘BIT’ and ‘Evolution’, but beyond those four labels, there is a huge void where this style of music is concerned. Well we aim to be the fifth “Makina” option in the not too distant future – so here goes! Add that to the fact that there are ‘rumours’ of some Omnipotence one-off nights in the pipeline, and with a live PA to rehearse and refine we should be fairly busy. TA: Do you have any DJ bookings in London in the future or are you concentrating on the production for now? A: Nothing on the horizon I’m afraid unless you count the Omnipotence rumours! I guess this lack of activity has been mostly down to Omnipotence taking a breather, which was a bit of a shame, but let me tell you - we sure went out with a bang! I have played at a couple of other events in London, but there is/was no club quite like Omnipotence when it came down to brass tacks, and in every other club I played in London, I never quite got that ‘at home’ vibe from the dance floor, where the crowd were not just up for a good night, but were totally into their music. They certainly cut me no slack! We couldn’t even get away with a needle jumping, and in my view, why should we!? These people pay good money to get in and deserve that at the very least you give them your very best performance. I was also constantly kept on my toes by the other DJs we had there, as they were ALL quality. As I think you can see, I am very proud to have been a part of ‘Omnipotence’. When you consider that the hard dance scene has finally moved towards the “melodic hard trance” sound, I get a huge buzz from knowing that Omnipotence was there promoting this style and doing it way before this happened. TA: Where do you tend to get most of your material from - is it from producers sending you demo CDs or do you tend to produce most of your stuff in house? A: Most of it (90-95%) is in house, that being Anni or myself. However, when it comes to releasing vinyl we have frequently given new artists a chance. For instance Hinotori 1, 9, and 12 were all co-written and co-produced by new artists. There were the 2 releases Wez Wonder gave us, an excellent track from MEO and we also released a track by The Secret. We also gave a platform for remix artists not commonly associated with Trance, to get heard by fellow Trance heads like us, showing what they can do - I still rate the Kevin Energy remix for Hinotori 6 as one of my faves. Not only is it awesome, but also up until then I don’t think he’d been given much of a chance in the Trance scene due to his Hardcore past, which was so unjust when you consider that he was one of the very first to bridge the two genres. Anyway, back to your original question, I guess you could say we are/were fully independent in terms of writing and producing - but Hinotori Sound was always about sharing the dream with other dreamers like ourselves. There is ALWAYS something new to learn… TA: Hinotori Sound was created to release fast melodic trance, which at the time of its inception was not very common in a scene where the average bpm of a track was around the 135-140 mark. How has the labels' sound developed since then? A: As far as we can tell, Hinotori Sound has evolved alongside many other Trance labels that have remained dedicated to their style. We never set out to change or revolutionise things, just do it as well as we could, adding our touches along the way. Music evolves – and we are well aware of that! Of course we have had to pay attention with what’s been going on in the world of Trance and while that still sounds fresh to us I can’t see any reason why we would ever want to veer away from that style. We have constantly paid special attention to overall production in order to keep things fresh and I would say that if there have been any noticeable developments at all, it would be on the intricacy of the productions, and also the quality of the overall sound. TA: How do you see the sound that Hinotori is producing developing over 2003? Will you be sticking to the hard trance sound or developing a new sound? A: We fully intend to continue from where we left off. I truly believe that Trance still has many surprises yet to be discovered, and many great tunes still to yield. Therefore I guess the only real difference you may notice is that we will be producing more tunes in a “Makina” style as well as the melodic hard Trance style. Lets see what’s out there! TA: Finally, please tell us about anything else you have planned, production, Djing, performing etc etc. A: At the moment we are working on a live PA. This is taking some time though as we are going to fully re-write the tracks for the performances in ways that would keep them familiar, but also bang up to date (although funnily enough the style we have been making for the last three years seems to finally be breaking through!). There will be a few twists as well, with room left for live instruments. There should also, hopefully, be a fully integrated visual element, so we have definitely got our work cut out for us! We will also be writing as and when we get inspired of course, but we also want to do a little experimenting - although this can take up quite a lot of time with no certain outcome. In fact one of my latest projects is a good example of when experimenting can go over the top! So far I have spent about 9 months on it, and I have only just really got it going. What I keep hearing in my head is a huge choir, and rather than even bothering to attempt to simulate it, I am trying to blag myself access to a choir in Bristol. If I can swing it, I intend to make the recording in the church (or cathedral), as the acoustics usually are superb! I reckon this track will take at the very least another year to complete but when it’s done it’s going to be a journey into pure self-indulgence, a journey where I hope to learn many new things and get to work with some very talented people along the way. Aside from that I hope to get back out there again soon with the old record box, guitar, and with any luck, a decent melody for you. Now I come to think of it – that could be our mission statement – “In search of the ultimate melody”! And if we never find it, well, let’s just say that we will be having lots of fun searching! Perhaps another profound statement from Ian Mac may yield its whereabouts?! Who can say? All I am certain of is the mighty power of the palindrome! TA: Thank you for your time A: No thank you! Relevant Links Hinotori Sound Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By Tom Allen: Hardhouse Academy Preview: Interview with Nuw Idol The Thirsty DJs Interview with DJChewy Lashed Preview 2: Interview with Charlotte Birch Interview with Nick Rafferty Interview with Jana 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:

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