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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! | | 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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Get Crazy with Phil Lankester
Reported by HarderFaster
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Submitted 06-05-09 19:47
You must be crazy, or maybe it’s the DJ? It’s certainly been a long journey for HarderFaster’s DJ Of The Year 2008 since his days of being plain old Mad Phil. These days you are just as likely to be wowed by the skills of Phil Lankester or his psy trance alter ego Libra9. But what makes him tick, what lies under the public shell of Promoter / DJ, is he really mad? White coats at the ready we went to find out!
So Phil, HarderFaster DJ Of The Year, an honourable mention for your party Puzzle Project in the Party Of The Year category, and for yourself in the Resident DJ Of The Year category. You must be pretty chuffed?
Yeah, you could say that! 2008 was a great year! Lots of great parties and venues to play at, I have met lots of new people, I’m hoping that 2009 will be even better, we’ve got lots of stuff planned for the parties that I’m involved with!
What is it do you think that’s made people want to vote for you and your party?
To be honest, I’m not 100% sure, I wasn’t actively pushing to get best DJ of the year and as you said, I’m chuffed! As for Puzzle Project, we’re always trying to push the boundaries for a small party in London. We’re hosting part of the NuklearPuppy tour in May with Phil York and Jason Cortez, to say that I’m excited about this event is an understatement!
Where do you see yourself and the team around you taking things from here then?
We’re constantly looking at new ways to get people to taste what our events are like. Over the next few months we have some very special events for Puzzle and Magnetix! We want to keep the brands as strong and fresh as possible!
You’re pushing your Libra9 name now almost as much as the Phil Lankester brand. Why is this and why do you think it’s important to have the distinction between the two?
The only distinction between the two brands is the way that the set is played at the moment. I have some studio dates booked for this year and I’ll be getting some new material together so that you can distinguish between the two brands; Libra9 is the Artist and Live act where I can showcase my own material, and Phil Lankester is the DJ sets that I play. I don’t necessarily think there has to be a distinction between the two, but it makes it more obvious to everyone else!
Of course you’ve always been known for your silky CDJ skills but you are also a dab hand when using your laptop to destroy dancefloors. How do you think the two differing platforms change the way you play music to people?
Playing from a laptop (using ableton) gives you much more flexibility in your sets, the possibilities are endless, you’re only limited to what power your laptop has! However, using traditional DJing methods you are limited to what you have in front of you! I still prefer the ‘hands on’ feel of CD’s or vinyl (not that I ever play vinyl anymore). When you have that limitation there, you try to come up with new ways of mixing.
Will you settle on one platform or do you see yourself employing both for some time now?
Well, funny you should say that, I’m trying to come up with a solid way in which I could use both at the same time! I’ve done some experimenting, but it’ll be a case of watching this space until then! Ultimately I don’t think I will settle to one platform.
We all know DJs that can throw some CDs in a bag and then get on and play but how long does it take you to prepare for a laptop gig?
It really depends on what you want to do with your laptop gig. I once had a last minute decision to play a laptop gig at an Alumni, I managed to get a set together in about two hours or so, but that was a very simple set, with a few extra drops and a few edits, But the longest one I worked on was my last Libra9 set at Zoology, I worked on that for about an hour a night for a month or so.
Do you think it’s important, especially when playing off a laptop, to have some sort of controller or to look like you are actually doing something behind the decks other than just checking your emails?
Yes, I’ve seen so many live sets that look like your ‘checking your emails or browsing HarderFaster’ There is software out there that enables you to move away from the laptop and work entirely on the controller, I use Bomes MIDI translator which transforms MIDI into keystrokes.
Some DJs and artists are well known to “preplan” their laptop sets at home. What are your thoughts on this?
To a degree I think its ok, but my Libra9 sets always allow me to change direction if needed. It would be bad if you fully planned a set and to find out that it doesn’t fit the flow of the night. If you do pre-plan, I suppose you better get some good info on who’s playing before and after!
Is there any kind of extra hardware, software design or other technology you’d like to see to help develop your laptop sets?
Apart from further development from the software that I use, I think they have nearly everything covered, most things I’m after are more of a luxury than a necessity, for example dual waveform views in Ableton. They may have sorted this for version 8, but I haven’t installed my beta version yet for fear of messing my setup up as it is!
The last time you were featured on HF was an interview focussing on your other party Magnetix – funnily enough HF’s Best Up & Coming Party 2007. How have things progressed with that side of your life?
Magnetix is going very strong at the moment, we have our next party for May, one in June, and our birthday is on a boat in September, there will be more details soon!
Where do you get the energy, drive and inspiration to run both parties and push yourself as a DJ?
I sometimes ask myself that question and to be honest, I don’t fully know, I’m involved in one way or another in Puzzle Project, Magnetix, Alumni, Tribal Dance, Impact Recordings, Just Groove, RedSky Digital and helping out occasionally with Antiworld Events. And of course there’s my own DJ career, trying to get time for the studio, and balancing my personal and working life! It never stops, but I love it. I’m not the sort of person to get too stressed when running / helping to run these brands, so don’t fear, I’m not gonna fall down from being overworked, haha!
You’ve just come back from playing at a party for Queensday in Holland. For those that don’t know, what is Queensday and how did it all go?
The most fun in less than 48 hours I’ve ever had! To cut it down slightly - Car, Eurotunnel, Car, Amsterdam, PARTY HARD, sleep, PARTY HARD, Car, Eurotunnel, Car, Dirty Kebab for Matt Church, Car, Home! I believe that Ben Bennett is gonna be doing a full feature here very soon, he can tell you more! [Watch out for their video diary very soon – Ed]
Where else can our International readers see you play over the coming year?
Well, obviously I have my residencies at Puzzle, Magnetix, Tribal Dance, Just Groove etc. all my gigs can be found on my HF DJ page or on my website. I was booked to play Agartha festival in Bedfordshire, but that has been postponed to 2010 now, more details will be out later on in the year!
Finally, have you got any surprises for us that we should know about?
Shhhhh!!!!!
Cheers!
Photos courtesy of the HarderFaster archive. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Puzzle Project pres. Residents WIG PARTY
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On:
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Friday 12th June 2009
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At:
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CLUB 414 [map]
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From:
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22:00 - 06:00
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Cost:
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£10 B4 12pm, £12 after
Concessions £8 B4 12pm £10 after (Names info@puzzle-project.com)
Members FREE B4 midnight £8 after
Advanced tickets ONLY £5 through Puzzle-Project.com
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Website:
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www.puzzle-project.com
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Ticket Info:
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www.puzzle-project.com
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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In the wise words of ‘The Mask’ “P-A-R-T-WHY..? Because I gotta!!!!!
This month doesn’t see us donning masks though, but instead, the fabulous hairy head garment, THE WIG!!!!
Just like every one of our residents, we know that you love to have fun, so if you come to Puzzle Project at Club 414 wearing a wig, you will be able to get in for only £8 all night!
Not only that, but we will be judging the wigs throughout the night and the winner will receive 1 years free entry to all Puzzle Project events at Club 414, plus CD prizes for 2nd and 3rd place!
In just under 4 years of existence, Puzzle Project has prided itself on its resident DJs. These have been the people; not only playing the records, but working damn hard behind the scenes to make sure that you get the best possible experience of the Puzzle Project brand.
On Friday 12th June, we bring back all of our residents, past and present to dedicate a night of the Puzzle Project sound to you.
Phil Reynolds (Jan 2009 to Present)
Ben Bennett (Sept 2005 to Present)
Phil Lankester (Sept 2005 to Present)
Matt Church (Sep 2005 to Present)
April (Jan 2009 to Present)
Gordon Darley (Sep 2005 to Dec 2008)
Dave Mac (Dec 2005 to Aug 2006)
Think colourful, think afro, think obscene, think insane, we wants a variety of colourful locks!
Puzzle Project… Don’t be the missing ‘hair’ piece!
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Flyer:
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Other Features By HarderFaster:
HarderFaster Awards 2016 - The results are in!
HarderFaster Awards 2014 - The results are in!
Lashes, Dimples and the Brighton Music Conference
HarderFaster Awards 2013 - The results are in!
HarderFaster Awards 2012 - The results are in!
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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Phil.
Nice one hun!
