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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!

Fit For Free: Reviewed Reported by Matt Heath / Submitted 02-09-09 20:57 Continuing our coverage of Rotterdam, this time with the largest street festival in Europe, Matt Heath had one mission and one mission only, to get Fit For Free. Dancing in the street, dressing in white and going with the flow was all in his remit. When the call came asking me if I wanted to go cover the Fit For Free Parade in Rotterdam I thought I would be packing a pair of shorts and trainers for a weekend of fitness by the docks. That, my friends, was not to be the case and while our Hostess Erica from Holland Clubbing saw to all our travel based needs (see Sarah G’s article) we were here for the music, not the miles. The Fit For Free Dance Parade is in its 14th year and now sees attendances of over 400,000 - its international status bringing in big acts such as Ferry Corsten, techno wizard Michel de Heij, Lucien Foort ( more about him later ), B2S, Jack de Marseille, Gene Farris, Melvin Warning, the list goes on. With 30 trucks all decked out with the finest systems, décor and dancers and the music changing from truck to truck, all it takes is for you to find your favourite truck and follow it to the end of the parade, with the music ranging from techno to hardstyle, house to trance, minimal to drum and bass and most genres in between. The parade each year has an anthem for the opening tune and this year was no different with the Bingo Players and their I Will Follow smasher. Being located on the front truck of the parade, the Bingo Players were to open the party at 1pm with the anthem tune, then it was time for everyone to jump on their favourite truck and follow as the parade snaked it’s way along the riverside then back through the city and on to the Multi Lloydplein for the grand finale. Having heard about a Rotterdam organisation by the name of HEY! Your World, I was keen to find out a little more. Incorporated to showcase Rotterdam as the 2009 Youth Capital, their aim is to help get the city’s youth involved in festivals, events and parades - they hold city wide events throughout the summer with the Dance Parade being the final highlight. Throughout July the Your Music festival saw youngsters use their skills to reach their goals, from event organisers to hospitality managers, many new skills were learnt. One individual we had the chance to meet was 21 year old Robert de Laat. Robert had seen an advert in a national newspaper offering the chance to play the warm up set for Michel de Heij on his truck (sponsored by the Your World Organisation). We caught up with Robert on his way to the event on Saturday morning to ask him a few questions about his journey from being a young up and coming DJ to playing in front of over 400,000 party people. Playing across techno, house, minimal and tech house, Robert told us he likes to mix it up. With confirmation received that he was through to the final four, he was over the moon and preparation started for the finals which were to take place in a Rotterdam club in front of a panel of which included Michel de Heij. Names were pulled out of a hat for set times and Robert was unlucky to get first set and a pretty much empty dance floor. Playing with the intent of getting the small crowd moving, as more people came onto the dance floor throughout his set he felt more settled and of course it gave him a sense of achievement building a crowd out of nothing. The party went on and the other DJs played well so Robert was unsure of the outcome but he need not have worried and when he was told he had won it the party really began! Between winning the set and the Parade, he was also picked to fill in at a music festival, hosted by Your World, slotting between rock bands as an interval. Not really knowing what to expect, techno was played and the 20,000 rock crowd lapped it all up rocking the arena! Then the Friday night prior to the Parade saw Robert fine tuning his sampling and looping on his trusty Pioneer EFX 1000, which he uses to keep himself ahead of the other up and coming crowd, until the early hours. But soon the time came and the truck wheels began to roll along to Robert’s groovy techno beats. Just before the trucks where ready to roll Michel de Heij was collared and a quick inquisition ensued. Sarah G took the questions to him and what a nice guy he was to answer when so little time was available until the truck was to depart. SG: Can you tell us a bit about the competition and who’s idea was it to run the competition? MDH: After playing the parade for 13 years I wanted to do something a little different and had heard about the Your World scheme. I got in touch with them about doing a dynamic duo with older established DJs working with younger talent and so we ran a competition for the design of the logo and also for the DJ to play on the truck. What was it about Roberts demo that interested you and put him through to the final round? MDH: His music style got my attention, so we put him through to the final round at the cub and his set was well mixed up compared to the others which I liked. Also as part of the prize was a half hour set on my radio show and a set at the infamous Catwalk club for the Official After Party and he fitted in to all three categories so he was the man to fill the job! You have been playing the Parade since the beginning, in your opinion how have you seen the party grow and evolve into what it is today? MDH: In the beginning we just all jumped on a truck to play some music with no expectations and when we saw the turn out we said, this could turn in to something big, over the years its become more professional with better rigged trucks and better sound systems. The bigger it gets, the more it costs and a lot more hard work and people are needed to pull it off, but I still love it, if I didn’t I wouldn’t be here today! Its one of Rotterdam’s best festivals with great music and fantastic people and weather! What is your top clubbing tip for Rotterdam? MDH: Definitely Catwalk and the Hollywood Music Hall, that is a very special venue. There is also the Bootleg Café, a nice relaxed music venue that’s between bar and club, a cool place to hang out especially at the weekend. What are you main influences at the moment? MDH: At the moment I’m influenced by a lot of producers that are putting out a lot of good music, artists like Secret Cinema and 2001, but I can get my influences from many things like listening to jazz, going to a rock concert, being at work and even going to a museum. You can be influenced by so many things, it’s important to have a wide and varied taste. A friend of mine, who doesn’t like minimal techno, came to see you play at the Catwalk. He asked what you think it is about your productions and DJ style that makes you different from the rest of the minimal artists? MDH: I like to have a good swing to my music and also a funky edge as a lot of people don’t always understand minimal. I like to have a good groove so that the people in the club who that aren’t so into minimal will like too. With that, the trucks were ready to roll so Michel went and boarded the Hey! Your World truck and the party began. We followed them for a little while listening to Robert mixing it up and getting full use from the EFX1000 he had brought along before moving on up the long line of trucks. Next up was the B2S truck spanking out the hardstyle with an already eager crowd following. Continuing along the route we caught up with the drum and bass truck dropping Timewarp by Sub Focus - the whole street went nuts as the unreal bass boomed out of a crystal clear sound system - the vibe along the crowd was electric, looking either way all you could see were people, people and more people, more than you could ever expect to fit in to one area. Turning the corner was the Hogeschool InHolland truck with three massive LCD screens streaming live footage of the parade from various points, even aerial views. Then came the famous tunnel. Following the DJ Dazzle truck through the underpass, it went off and you could tell this is the place where people want to be behind their favourite truck because the atmosphere in this enclosure with the sound booming through it was awesome. We passed on through the tunnel stopping half way up the exit ramp to watch as the other trucks came through. The Radio 538 truck rocked to the sound of 2 Face Funks, two DJs with pink latex face masks playing some pumping house and tricking it up, I can tell you they were definitely worth a second glance. One truck, Foort On Wheels, got swamped by a crowd in a frenzy. Playing some jumpstyle house / techno Lucien Foort had the crowd going crazy and people where heading back down into the tunnel to join the party. The driver’s door opened and the driver had to get out to move the people out of the way so they could carry on! With a massive FunktionOne system booming down the tunnel and the crowd still jumping they finally got moving again and like the pied piper Lucien led them from the tunnel and on to the finale. I left the trucks to go get a beer and made my way to the White Ape bar where we had visited on our arrival, a chilled bar serving the crispest Heineken and a cool mixed crowd it seemed like a good spot to have a quick break from the parade. After some food and drink it was time to move on to the Finale where, at the entry, I was surprised to see a complete lack of bins provided for the bottles you were not allowed to take in meaning bottles were all just strewn around on the floor. However the relaxed security staff made it an easy and almost pleasurable moving in, one guy turned up to the security blatantly smoking a joint and when asked by the security staff to put it out and told there was a no drugs policy, he just stubbed it out and was passed on to the security checks. There was a strong crowd already gathered having a great time to Ferry Corsten’s trance and a great job he was doing too even though he had been put forward as Erick E had been delayed at another event he was playing at in Amsterdam. The crowd was mixed and everyone one was up for a great time and there for the party. Erick E arrived and followed on from Ferry with some chunky house and techno which went down a treat with the now buzzing crowd. There was some confusion in the VIP area and the gates were closed for those coming in and also those going out, so to get back in to the arena we had to walk round the boundary fencing back to the main entrance, I took this as a good time to get a refreshing bevy and watch from an elevated bar area. A token system was being used for food and drink purchases which was a good idea and seemed to speed up the queuing. After refreshments we headed back stage to see Secret Cinema rock it for the last set by which time the sun had gone and the production really came to life, massive screens either side of the main stage and intelligent lighting on stage made for a really impressive show. Playing groovy techno and tech house the crowd were loving it and were building up to a big crescendo which was to be none other than Dee-Lite’s Groove Is In The Heart - it went off to say the least with streamers being fired in to the crowd and the production showing its worth. Unfortunately there was to be no encore as the police called a halt to the party due to noise regulations being watched closely by the environment sound man. Overall though it was an awesome few days partying - I will be there for next years party and will definitely be going back to Rotterdam before that for more of their party scene! For more info on any of the above just click below www.hollandclubbing.com www.rotterdam.info www.your09.nl www.fitforfreedanceparade.nl www.myspace.com/robertdelaat www.myspace.com/micheldehey : michel@micheldehey.com www.2facedfunks.com www.myspace.com/secretcinemasound Photos courtesy of Matt Heath. Not to be reproduced without permission. Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: 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: bear grrrr on 3rd Sep 2009 12:33.47 Cool review badgeroo. Looks like a good time was to be had. From: J4mes on 11th Sep 2009 12:48.58 Nice article Matt. Rotterdam sounds like a cool place to go n party. From: Just Badger! on 13th Sep 2009 22:08.51 yeah it was ace i loved it, might go back for a weekend sometime, you should come with :-)

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