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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! | | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna |
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Fevah and Cyberdog present: CyberDance - Review
Reported by bunny
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Submitted 30-01-03 21:36
It’s hotter than hell in here tonight! Ok, so the venue might be called Heaven and the majority of us here may be wrapped in dazzling white but that’s where the saintly similarities stop dead. It’s the wee small hours of the morning and while the rest of the world might be asleep, Fevah is very much alive and kicking and very nearly raising the dead – in fact I’m sure that faint echo to our stomping is the sound of the devil below us knocking on his ceiling with a broom. Welcome to Cyberdance everybody; please leave your faith at the door... It’s time to burn...
As one door shuts, another one opens. Tonight may be Fevah’s final farewell to Heaven (the venue) as it heads off in search of fresh stomping grounds but it’s by no means a melancholy occasion, as the 28th January 2003 also celebrates the official launch of the kicking new Cyberdog album, The Acceleration Generation. And the line-up these 2 promoters combined have managed to attract doesn’t so much pull the odd rabbit out of the hat but a whole Watership Down-sized warren  meaning that, in keeping with the surroundings, there really is no better response than to sing hallelujah and get happy 
The night begins with one of the now near-legendary HarderFaster meet-ups in the Griffin next door, after which we head along to Heaven and following the briefest of waits outside (during which we chatted to the very friendly door staff) we were in at just gone 11pm. Up on stage in the main room Stevi D + Jamie Duncan are well into their stride in a typically energetic set bristling with vitality and upbeats vibes that are catchy in the extreme. Unfortunately the pages of my notepad with all the notes on both the b2b set of Stevie and Jamie and Tara Reynolds’ sets went AWOL at some point over the night  so I’m gonna have to rely on memory alone for a bit (and with me that’s pretty bad news)! The night may have only just started but the dance floor is full (though not to pin-your-elbows-to-your-sides proportions) and there’s a gentle yet persistent tingling in the air that you only get when a large mass of people come together for the pure intentions of partying and pleasure-seeking. Tune-wise the set is a speedy, sparkling mix of Hard House tracks (including a superb Ilogik tune, I Just Can’t Stop, that succinctly summed up the crowd reaction ) that’s perfectly matching Stevie and Jamie’s infectious high spirits behind the decks. It seems that tonight most of the faithful decided to turn up early in order to catch every last minute of the euphoric mayhem and I can’t say I blame them! As time ticks on it’s gonna prove that tonight will be one hell of a night for hedonists...
Speaking of lavishness... Heaven itself is certainly dressed to impress tonight. Fevah has festooned the main room with endless fiery banners that trail from the ceiling like burning icicles while the stage is a riot of neon symbols and icons, the highlight of which is a huge wire face suspended before the DJ that’s almost radioactive under a spotlight of UV. Then there’s the mind-blowing laser, which has a decidedly aquatic theme tonight in its patterns of luminescent sea anemones and waves of tiny green lights washing over the crowd like starlight across tropical seas. Not to mention the fake fires burning either side of the main stage and the tech-sculptures in the Soundshaft (more on that later).
Back to the beats and at 11.30pm Tara Reynolds kicks off another ultra-bouncy set with the Paul Jane track Committee - Welcome – and the crowd just kicks off! I really wish I could remember more tunes from this set because there were some absolute demons, but those I can remember are; Shark Boy’s At Night, Prime Mover’s Black Dogs (exceptional tune that always hits home) and BK and Dave Randall’s Ascension (as requested by T-bag and a fine choice too honey ). I’m pretty sure Such A Good Feeling was played too but there should be enough examples here of what the set was like and what anyone who wasn’t there missed out on. The whole place loved it, lapping up every beat like little kittens who got the cream and though we were only 2 sets into the night, already it felt like our facial muscles were approaching burn-out  I spent pretty much the whole hour horsing around with Harderfasters old and new (hello LBN and The Crafty Butcher!) and revelling in that start of the weekend feeling for all it’s worth – and that’s a lot!
Which is exactly what happened during the next set as well and all thanks to Steve Blake Following on from Tara’s up-tempo tracks Steve keeps the exhilaration going strong with an excellent set of wickedly ecstatic rhythms. The Awakening, Feel What I Feel, Energise, Todd Tobias’ Recall and Steve’s own collaborations with Tara (Ignite) and Phil Reynolds (Phase Two) ...Thank God some of the notepad stayed in place! Like Tara Steve’s got a seemingly limitless energy and positivity inside him that really shines through in his music and mixing, and it’s something the crowd never fails to pick up on. It says something about a DJ when the whole dance floor is crackling with that 5.55am feeling but at just gone 2 in the morning!
This was the most magical thing about Cyberdance though. Undoubtedly it’s not rare for a superlative set to be played midway through the night; the unfortunate side effect though is that the following sets seem tame in comparison. But with Cyberdance, although the feverish pace meant everyone began to peak at around 1am, the unrelenting quality of the music kept us soaring on that high and we didn’t come down until the decks were switched off. This was the case in the Soundshaft as well as the main room, as in an effervescent chain reaction each DJ fed off the previous one’s energy and channelled it deeper into the music.
2am and Ed Real’s stepped forward to take on the melee in the main room. By now the night is in full, frenzied flow; the temperature feels like it’s rising at the speed of light, the sound levels aren’t far behind, the stage is constantly under siege from over-enthusiastic disco bunnies (myself included) and the LAK:UK dancers are wowing us all with the kind of moves that make The Matrix look like line dancing (These guys are so cool – as I’m sure all of you who’ve seen them out can confirm – and they really add an extra layer of energy to the atmosphere when they’re performing.) Bedlam would look like an old folk’s home in comparison and with Ed’s selection of tracks there’s no easy ride in sight. Bad Ass, Lucid II and the Edison Factor’s Hallucination all the up the ante in the braincell-busting stakes and the feel of the set is so overwhelmingly upbeat At 2.30 though I have to make a run for the Soundshaft because there’s a set just starting from one of the lesser-seen faces on the London scene, Sterling Moss.
Except for a brief visit earlier in the evening to catch Ting’s set (which I then missed after getting dragged back into the main room but did manage to go mental to her first track Glazby’s Motherfucker, fantastic tune) this is the first time I’ve been in the Soundshaft and if I thought what was happening in Heaven was the exception, I was very wrong. It’s equally packed in here as out there and the atmosphere is just as buzzing, if not more so; the smaller space seems to act as a pressure cooker upon the good vibes This is where the similarities end though, as in a perfect counter-balance to the main room’s upbeat bounciness the Soundshaft is throbbing with deep and intensely fierce Hard House and Techno.
Tonight the Soundshaft’s been taken over by Cyberdog and they’ve very much left their distinctive paw print over everything. There are strange and beautiful sculptures of cyber-angels suspended from the ceiling and everywhere neon murals play havoc with your eyes. All this though is purely designed (and highly successfully) to highlight the music, which is what’s really launching an all-out assault on our senses. I’ve heard some hard sets in my life but nothing that can compare to what I’m hearing now; a succession of tunes so viciously pure they even surpass the notorious filthy level and lie somewhere far beyond in an exclusive class of their own. At times Hard House, at times raw Techno, whatever the style the room is going wild for it and with good reason! Tracks like Sterling Moss, Fallen Angel and Lee Animated’s Power Trip, Marco V’s Atlanta and the utterly ballistic cover of Aretha Franklin’s Respect by Sterling and Nick Lunn (mental tune that’s just been released by Nukleuz that I hope to hear a lot more of) incite the room to near-terminal levels of exertion – but exhaustion has never been so enjoyable. For those who need a break, the ingenious new layout of the Soundshaft allows you to head up onto the balcony and take 5 while taking a look at how Sterling utilises all the technology at his disposal. It’s fascinating to watch him cut samples in and out, skilfully playing about with the third deck and the 909 to weave in an array of unusual sound effects to bolster up an already solid sound.
4am slides into view all too soon... before you know it an entire set has slipped through our fingers, Sterling’s off the decks and we’re off for a well-earned breather! After such a powerful set we’re hoping (our legs especially) for a little lighter relief and so head back out to the main room where Matt Clarke’s well into his stride. By now the heat in here has gone off the chart and every clubber is like a little unique water feature. In fact the phenomenon of sweat is more widespread tonight than Pop Idol – the owners of Heaven must be nervously checking through their insurance papers to make sure flood damage is included in their cover... a kinda third party fire + sweat
For the reason behind all this action look no further than the stage. Like I said earlier, there’s no let up in the pace tonight and Matt Clarke’s more than capable of carrying on all the good work achieved by all the previous sets of tonight. We might have missed half the set but every track’s dealing out an instant hit, so that the moment you step into hearing range, you’re hooked. Matt’s own collaboration with Paul Glazby, Hardcore Noise and Justin Bourne’s newie Soultaker are a couple of stormers that kept us going midway through but it was the final track, Veronika’s Precious Life, that well and truly did it for me. It’s the kind of tune that puts your head in the clouds while your feet are firmly stomping hard on solid ground... sublimely wicked
So it’s 5am and we’re on the final furlong. Last set of the night and I’ve been looking forward to this one ever since I saw the name on the flyer a month ago: Stimulant DJs. I’m an ENORMOUS fan of their work, I love the energy, bounciness and vibrancy they inject into everything they do but I’ve never seen them play – until now So I pitch myself a prime spot stage left and get ready for an hour of rapture. First of all (and this did throw me at little) although there are 2 Stimulant DJs only Brisk was at Heaven tonight (apparently Ham concentrates more on the studio side of things – thanks for the info Monkey_boy!). To begin with the pace goes down a step and digs deep into some dirtier beats. It’s probably the first opportunity I’ve had all night to catch my breath – which comes as a bit of a relief – but there’s the worry that it might not pick up again and the unthinkable might happen. 10 minutes later and you’re laughing at yourself for being such a plank. Come on, it’s the Stims, as if there’s gonna be anything less than a kicking set on offer tonight! Especially when you consider the eclectic tune selection; Underworld’s Deep Inside, BK and E J Doubell’s Butterflies, the Stimulants’ own Work It Out (extra special bunny bouncing at this point) and the sublime Bulgarian by Travel (gorgeous vocals over a raging Hard Trance backbeat... the stuff that could melt angel’s hearts) all streamed together in a perfect synergy of sound. By 6am no one was even close to wanting to stop and ‘ONE MORE!!’ just wasn’t enough – the calls for a second encore went on for almost 10 minutes! If it was up to Brisk + us we’d probably still be going now but the Powers That Be are shattered and it really is time to call it a night.
Special mention must be given to the VIP room, which I discovered for the first time at Cyberdance. It’s absolutely wonderful, the perfect chill-out place to escape to (for those who need it) from all the hardcore insanity of the other rooms. When we head in there at between 1.30-2 John Walford’s spinning out some infectious Latin beats, the perfect sound to either relax or groove to; both of which are happening in large amounts. The room is comfortably full and the dance floor’s swaying and twisting in gentle bliss. It’s all a little too chilled for me but still a brilliant place to go for a little funky sanctuary. A cool addition to the night.
So Fevah’s last gig at Heaven – what can you say? Well, this; that it almost defined the phrase ‘swansong’, cause if you’re gonna go out with a bang, make it a group one ( ) and makes sure there’s plenty of action involved. Of course, it wasn’t just Fevah’s night, there’s Cyberdog to thank as well for their excellent efforts in the Soundshaft along with all the DJs (thanks Stevie D for being an angel with the tune titles!), the clubbers, door staff (lovely people and the most helpful I’ve encountered yet), LAK:UK dancers, Harderfasters and everyone who went that night. The only major disappointment for me was that I basically managed to miss out on BOTH Ting’s sets, although I did have a good stomp with her to Sterling Moss’ set and have to say she’s one of the friendliest people in Hard Dance And from the reports I heard from Ab Fab among many others they were first-rate sets Just have to make sure I get ALL the set times sorted as soon as I get into the club next time...
... and keep a firmer hold on the notepad... hehehe...
With thanks to Absolutely Fabulous and knightjar for the use of their photos 
Relevant links
www.fevah.co.uk
www.cyberdog.com
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Other Features By bunny:
It's about music - interview with Alex Parsons
Monkey business as usual: interview with Shaf De Bass
Twistathon – Twist’s 12 Hour 1st Birthday Bonanza
Zoology's 2nd Birthday - Review!
becomeone: Unified in Sound - Review
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: minimoo on 31st Jan 2003 00:36.45
Mini Moo had the best night ever!!!Met some amazing Cyberdog attached guys(Sebastion,Livvie,Blindie,AJ,an the one an only Sunshine,you rock baby:0))
Well done Eamon an whoever from Cyberdog,my night was in Heaven!!!!
Good luck to Eamon an crew in new venue,hope it all works out for you (im Emma by the way from Euphoric Karma :0/ )
Hope to see you around,you sure know how to put a party on!
From: UFS… on 31st Jan 2003 09:10.55
A NITE LIKE NO OTHA IT SEEMS; + CERTAINLY A SHOWCASE OF NOTE... + 1 THAT LIVES ON WONDERFULLY THANX 2 ANOTHA FAB REVIEW + GR8 PIX FROM AB FAB!!!
From: mrbicgit on 3rd Feb 2003 09:13.04
wanted to go but missed it
so thank Q bunny for for bringin it to me
u push your pen so well
From: Eamonn on 3rd Feb 2003 13:27.17
Add your own comments about this feature here !
Cyberdance will be the last regular fevah at Heaven ,
We will be back there for 2 - 3 special events over the year.
From: Brisky on 4th Feb 2003 01:00.12
Well, after the long trip down from the Emporium, Coalville to play the final hour at this party I was delighted to find the club still packed and havin' it bigtime at 5am! Man, what an awesome crowd to play to - thoroughly enjoyed myself and the whole hour felt like 10 minutes!! Thanks to all in attendance.. it was an honour to close the night for you. Regards & respects, Brisk (Stimulant DJs).
From: James Jaye on 7th Feb 2003 00:50.36
Wicked write up mate but I think Hardcore Noise was by Justin Bourne & Jay Pidgeon(James Lawson mix) rather than Glazby & Matt Clarke but hey if its another tune with the same name I want it!
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