Image via Hobogestapo

As an  early Christmas present, we would like to present to you guys two brand new exclusive mixtapes made by two friends of Phase02!

The first one was made by Berlin based Daniel Gorton a.k.a. Hog, who already passed here in november with his first EP called “Not quite an albatross” (check it again here). It’s a superb mix, partly because of the excellent track choice but also because of the way it was mixed together! This is how he describes the mix himself: “It’s quite eclectic and journeys through various styles of techno and house with a touch of electronica.” Hit the “read more” button below to see the playlist…

Hog – what the goose (Phase02)

Then we got Thomas Neyens a.k.a. Kiani & his Legion. He was also featured here a while ago (right here) and now he delivers yet again a steamy 4 hour set which brings us a flood of deep house and techno! Here’s how he describes the result: “The mix includes old and new tracks, I didn’t really prepare it beforehand or edit it afterwards, I mixed it on low volume, so cut me some slack, don’t expect an ultrapolished ableton ‘whoop whoop’ sonic orgasm. It’s just simple house, reminiscent of the true culture of the night, when the DJ was still human…” From driving tech-housers and exotic grooves, to jackin’ stuff, but still with that deliciously deep, clubby vibe. If you would like to know a track ID, do leave a comment.

Kiani &his Legion – freeze mix (Phase02)

I highly recommend you both of these tapes, you simply gotta love them! Oh yes and before I forget, Merry Christmas to you all! Read more

By Lorelay Parade

Sheee-iiiiiiiiiiiit, it’s gettin’ hot in here! Don’t know where you guys at but 35 degrees really is something! Therefore today a mixtape that perfectly suits these burning temperatures. Kiani & his Legion, a.k.a. Thomas Neyens, may not immediately ring a bell, still, if you mention his name when you’re in his hometown Genk in Belgium, everyone will tell you about the mindblowing parties that often go on untill noon! The “legion” in his name basically refers to the art of spinning vinyls together with friends, it’s all about the music and having a good time! Being influenced by the ’97 – ’04 Berlin scene  and also the late ’80′s, begin 90′s Detroit techno, this really is the stuff that keeps you going in your head, holding on to a groove that simply never ends. The afterparty vibe for all those after hours souls or as he says himself:

Them darkened souls need sunrise disko!

He used 2 turntables and two cd players, all very oldskool and underground, to record the mix. With 90% vinyl, expect the real deal and no nonsense touch! The mix lasts for almost 3 hours and features tracks by John Beltran, Soul Capsule, Isolée, Common Factor and DJ Qu. For specific track ID’s, leave a comment .
So sit back, relax, have a drink, put on those sunglasses and enjoy, this is simply awesome my friends!

Kiani and his Legion – Zomer Mix 2010 (Live @ BamBam ’10) by Kiani and his Legion

www.myspace.com/kianiandhislegion

Tiefschwarz, the German deep house specialist are back with their third album ‘Chocolate’. A huge huge leap forward so it seems, since this is their first release on their own record label , Souvenir. This release is the result of their artistic freedom that comes with their independence. Like they describe “Chocolate is everything: subtle, bitter and sweet, without milk and sugar, it is hand crafted from only the finest ingredients.” An album that will make you do the craziest dance moves on the dancefloor, yet at the same time, Chocolate will be perfect to listen to outside the club.

This is not all. Ali and Basti worked with Phillipe Majer, alias Santé to produce the tracks, and the new dynamic that has emerged from the collaborative production process has manifested itself in in a distinct live quality. So much so that Tiefschwarz will now be performing live for the first time. You don’t wanna miss this. Experience the first live performance of Tiefschwarz this summer!

Tiefschwarz ft. Daniel Wilde – Home

It’s time for a new exclusive mix. This time from a local techno hero Thomas Dockx. He’s quite a young talent from around Antwerp deejaying his way to the top. Currently he’s very busy organizing his dance event project “Kazzino”. So I was lucky to get him to do an exclusive phase02 mix and make some time for a quick interview.

phase02: Hi Thomas! How are you doing? Tell a little more about yourself and how you started as a dj/producer?

Thomas: Hi Tim, I’m fine, just a little bit tired after a long weekend.. I am now seventeen years old and I’m playing music for almost six years. It all started very small at my room. I played a lot of different styles and there was no structure in my sets. A few months later I discovered the online music store Beatport. Thanks to beatport, I learned a lot of new dance music. My love for techno and minimal was born.

phase02: You’ve played at some quite amazing party events and clubnights. You’ve finished your 4th track. Ever considered to join a label?

Thomas: Maybe in the future .. Today I still prefer deejaying. The songs that I’ve made now are not finished yet. I have to add and modify details.

phase02: I’d describe your music choice and production as a subtle and simplistic part of the tech-house and techno genre? How would you describe your music?

Thomas: Yes indeed, I play deep house to techno, depending on my mood and the place where I’m playing. The search for new good music takes a lot of my time.

phase02: You’re also spinning with your friend Nicolas under the alias Flat Fish. How’s that project going? Do you prefer playing alone or with two? Is your track choice any different?

Thomas: The project is going well. Nicolas is one of my best friends, we’ve already been through a lot together. It’s fun playing together and have someone to fall back on. But I also enjoy playing alone. Usually I play slower and deeper.

phase02: Nice to hear that! How do you see yourself (or flat fish) as dj/producer in a couple years? Do you have any big plans?

Thomas: No big plans.. We are organizing parties in and around Antwerp. In a few weeks our concept Kazzino will take place in Cafe D’Anvers.

phase02: What’s your opinion on the today’s electronic music scene in general? Do you like the way the mainstream evolves?

Thomas: I don’t really know what to think about the music these days. Many people of my age listen to dubstep and electro. I don’t know why, but that music has never touched me.

Okay Thomas! Thanks a lot for this interview and most importantly the amazing dj set you’ve recorded for us.

Now enjoy Thomas Dockx’ exclusive phase02 mix presenting some of the best techno, minimal, tech and deep house in the scene. These 55minutes  is a must-have recording for everyone who appreciate some warm, deep and relaxing beats. Not to mention Thomas’ smooth mix style that finishing of this lovely mix.

Thomas Dockx – Phase02 In The Mix 003 (54:55) (myspace) (soundcloud)
Download here (mediafire)

матраци
Via Last Night’s Party

Next up, something quite special I might say. This track has never been released in the version you’re about to hear, officially, because of copyright reasons. Let me first give you a little bit of history:
- 1973: Love & Happiness was a track on the “Extremely Dangerous LP” by First Choice, a disco pop group. It was released on Philly Groove Records which was founded back in 1967.
- 1980′s: Ron Hardy makes a house version of the classic Love & Happiness track. Chicago legend Hardy actually never released it. Yet after some diggin’ I ‘ve found the track, it was released on CDr last year as “The Music Box Classics Collection, Volume One” on Partehardy Records, a label set up by Bill Hardy, Ron’s nephew.
- 1987: William Stover and Lidell Townsell make an edit of Hardy’s track under their pseudonym “Two Of A kind”, however they don’t use the original “First Choice” lyrics.
- 2009: Smackos remakes the Hardy version, keeping the original lyrics. According to him the track is too lo-fi to play it in a club, and I think he has a point. The remake sounds “cleaner”, with respect to the original vibe.

I heard the Smackos version in a recent mixtape and was immediately obsessed by the track, this truly is too good to not be released on EP. Of course you can now also buy the original Hardy version (not on EP though!) or the “Two of a kind” version but I really believe that if this would be released it would cause a hype right away…
Maybe you could all send e-mail messages to Smackos a.k.a Legowelt so he’ll give it another shot to release it, who knows… Do enjoy this!

Smackos – Love & Happiness

I’d like to get an idea of how many of our readers would support a few changes to our chart system. I’ve spoken with Tim about this and we’re gonna run a poll to get a better idea. As it stands, there is a kind of legal “grey area” when it comes to sharing mixes online. As a promotional tool, it’s become the preferred platform to share music on the Internet without disrespecting the artists, their labels, or infringing copyright laws.

The function of this blog is also to promote the music we love; however, there are many people – including some artists, label owners, lawyers, and industry professionals that disagree with file sharing. Personally, I don’t believe 10 downloads = 10 lost sales. There is sufficient evidence on both sides to support either claim. The argument becomes more of a debate centered around the ethics of file sharing as opposed to which approach is a more effective promotional tool. Without delving further into this tiring endless debate, I’d like to disregard the ethics and look at something more tangible. Let’s see if we can’t find an even playing field for the end user, the consumer, and the producer.

Re-encoding tracks to low bitrate mp3s, and honoring our promise to the labels, to have any offending content removed on request, has been our approach. Although this does nothing to stop piracy on a larger scale, it’s our own way of expressing our concerns for the artists, and their property. This has proved to be fairly effective for us, and we haven’t received many complaints; However, the main issue for me in regards to the monthly charts is that many of those tunes are usually brand new, and much of the revenue generated from sales are within the initial period of their release.

This has been very stressful for me because there are loads of tunes I purchase that are omitted because I believe artists deserve a fair chance at maximizing revenue generated in that crucial initial period of it’s release. The most important factor in deciding which tunes are going into the charts is how available they are elsewhere on the net. My efforts have been to keep the focus on sharing new quality tunes that aren’t already propagated throughout the blogosphere.

A couple of idea’s dawned on me while I was listening to my favourite radio shows and podcasts on how I could maintain my principles, without changing the way I’ve done the charts in the past. I realized that in the mixes I was listening to that I was hearing large unmixed portions of new tunes. This is obviously how many rips of unreleased material pop up on the net. No one fusses about bloggers sharing radio rips, and no one (hopefully) is stupid enough to use a radio rip in their mixes. It was finally clear to me how I could overcome the negative connotations and inevitable guilt associated with file sharing, and still share and promote the music I love. This isn’t an absolute truth or final solution, but I think it’s a step in the right direction.

I’d like to present two different idea’s to the way we can approach this. The first option would be the tried and tested mix format. This seems to be the most popular and accepted way to go about it. My second idea is approach it more like a radio rip. The changes would be made to the lengths of the tracks, shortening them to 2-3 minute preview clips. This would be easier for us than making mixes, but who knows, maybe we should just try both and see which works best. We’ll start with the clips just cause it’s easiest.

#chart#

Exodub – It’s Alright (Original Mix) / Breath Out / Rest In Beats
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/02 It's Alright.mp3]

Martyn – Seventy Four (Redshape Remix) / Hear Me bw Seventy Four / 3024 Records
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/02 Seventy Four (Redshape Mix).mp3]

Binary Sequence – Arc (Original Mix) (streaming only) / 66/31 / Dark Arx
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/02 Arc.mp3]

Smokin Jo – Simsime (Original Mix) / Umona / Area Remote
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/01 Simsime (Original).mp3]

Frozen Border – 4.01 (Original Mix) / Frozen Border 04 / Frozen Border Records
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/01 4.01.mp3]

Loops Haunt – Joplin (Original Mix) / Impact Omnihammer bw Joplin / Black Acre
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/02 Joplin.mp3]

Planetary Assault Systems – X Speaks To X (Al Tourettes & Appleblim Remix) / Planetary Assault System Remixes / Ostgut Ton
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/01 X Speaks To X (Al Tourettes & App.mp3]

James Fox – Put It Back (Ramadanman Refix) / Put It Back / Take Records
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/02 Put It Back (Ramadanman Refix).mp3]

i3i3 – Rock & Groove It (Original Mix) / Explosion Mind bw Rock & Groove It / Eight:FX
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/02 Rock & Groove It.mp3]

Tickles – Fallout (Mentalic’s Edit) / Freirausch / Ipoly Music
[audio:2010/0110/Clips/03 Fallout (Mentalic's Edit).mp3]

P.S. Please do comment and share your thoughts. These charts usually take me a fair bit of time to compile – It takes you about 5 seconds to simply say “thank you” and show appreciation.

This is the 4th release in a on-going series of limited edition 12″s from the newly formed vinyl imprint of Watergate. You might recall the name of this infamous club located in Berlin that’s become internationally recognized for it’s exclusivity, and the high-profile people that frequent there. Watergate has hosted so many renowned artists and DJ’s that I’m not going to attempt to start listing them here; but this is really how it’s garnered it’s reputation as a international super club. This particular release seems to be out of stock on Juno, but there are still some German stockists carrying it. You can try music-head.de or decks.de

The first track on this release is a nice subtle reworking of a tune off Martyn’s breath taking debut album “Great Lengths”. The rhythm has been reworked and simplified down to a hypnotic pulse, resonating against the syncopation of the bass – all while the trace elements of the original swirl and dip overhead. I’m quite pleased with what Sebo has done with the track, although it’s rather more a remix than an edit.

Martyn – Elden St. (Sebo K Watergate Edit)
[audio:2010/0110/Elden St (Sebo K Watergate Edit).mp3]

On the flip we’ve got a very smooth original track from Dop. The title of this track is a little cheeky considering how warm and sexy the vocals are, but I guess it’s a sort of juxtaposition and wordplay. The vocals in this track are brilliant. “It’s a cold earth” is almost whispered, repeated, and so short and few you might not realize how little there is to it.

Dop – Cold World (Original Mix)
[audio:2010/0110/02 Cold World.mp3]

Some aspects of Watergate maybe seem a bit pretentious for me, like the “no picture policy”, but it ensures no one will be exposed and scrutinized in any candid photo’s of them getting down ‘n dirty the night before. I guess this wouldn’t matter for regular folks, and I’ll admit, I don’t like having a camera being shoved in my face either; but they’ve got to do something to protect the dignity of their clientele I suppose. Maybe in the future I’ll have a chance to experience Watergate but for now I’m happily enjoying these fine recordings in the comfort of my own home.