Zone Magazine Issue 001 - John Gibbons

ESSENTIAL DANCE MUSIC
ISSUE 001 - 2014
FEATURE INTERVIEWS
MARK
KAVANAGH
LEGENDARY FESTIVAL
Wuppertal, Germany
DIVER / CITE FESTIVAL
Montreal, Canada
ALL-TIME TOP TEN CHARTS
We ask our feature artists and more to share their favs
DO WE ALL NEED EAR PROTECTION?
Luke Fields finds out about the damage we all face
| NEWS | REVIEWS | CHARTS | INTERVIEWS | CLUBS | FASHION | REAL WORLD |

EDITORS, PUBLISHERS & HEAD OF
CREATIVE
Paul Newhouse & Mike Mannix
FEATURE WRITERS - IRELAND & UK
Paul Newhouse - paul@zone-magazine.ie
Mike Mannix - mike@zone-magazine.ie
Paul Sawyer - paul@kraftedmusic.com
Brett Kydd - brettkydd-music@live.co.uk
Jerry Coughlan - jerryradio@hotmail.com
Emma Dilemma -
emmadilemma2013@gmail.com
Jason Dee - jasondeezone@gmail.com
Luke Fields - luke.fields123@gmail.com
John Steel - jonboysteele@googlemail.com
CONTRIBUTORS - IRELAND & UK
Ben Waa - contact@benwaa.com
Conor McEvoy - conormcevoy@live.ie
Fiachradh McDermott -
fiamcdermott@hotmail.com
Keith Downey - psychonavigation@gmail.com
Nathanial Mc Grath -
info@heavyweight-music.com
Nick Hook - nick@nickhook.com
Stephen Pearsons -
stevieandlisa06@hotmail.co.uk
Tonie Walsh - toniewalsh@icloud.com
PORTUGAL
Dimas (D-Formation) - contact@dformation.net
SPAIN
Daire Woods - dairedugganmadrid@gmail.com
GERMANY
Frank/Andreas Düffel -
frankdueffel@googlemail.com
USA
[Cali]
Amber Leigh Melby -
amberleighmelby@gmail.com
[NY]
Kaiulani Newhouse - kaiwild105@gmail.com
AUSTRAILIA
Timur Miraliyev - tstar.production@gmail.com
PHOTOGRAPHY
David White - daviidwhiite@live.ie
Martin Dunne -
martinsperspective@hotmail.com
WELCOME
Mike
Paul
Zone magazine was born in 1994, Mike and myself, Paul, along
with some friends helping out, worked on the first issue for over a
year, well into 1995. Unfortunatly, due to several reasons it never
got off the ground. Now, in 2014, twenty years later, Mike and
myself, with a wealth of experience in the electronic music scene,
and other projects, are confident enough we can now publish Zone
Magazine.
We will be covering everything from: interviews, music reviews,
charts, artist spotlights, news, equipment, fashion and real issues
effecting us all.
This, our first issue, we have a fantastic aray of content. With
feature interviews with: John Gibbons, D-Formation, Mark
Kavanagh, Rocky G, Dave Seaman, and Chole Fontaine, along with
some words from artists from about the globe. We also have a
great article on hearing protection, which we all should take heed
to. We have a great selection of artists telling us about their alltime
top tens, and with DJ charts, and lots of music reviews, I am
sure you will find this an interesting read. We also have some
goodies to giv-a-way.
You can download the issues in PDF format, read it online
www.zone-magazine.ie or buy a print copy.
We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this issue
and hope you all will continue to make Zone magazine a great, and
interesting publication.
If you would like to submit anything to Zone Magazine, please use
the contact emails to the left. If you would like to write for Zone,
please contact Mike or myself.
From Mike, all the contributors, and myself, Paul, we hope you
enjoy all the content we have gathered for this issue, and if you
have any comments or enquiries, please contact us.
ADVERTISING & GENERAL ENQUIRIES
info@zone-magazine.ie
ZONE MAGAZINE is owned and published by
Paul Newhouse & Mike Mannix. Arrangement &
design by Paul Newhouse. Copyright 2014.
The views expressed and opinions given in this
magazine are not nessicerally shared by the
publisher. No part of this magazine shall be
re-published without prior agreement from its
publishers.

CONTENTS
Feature Interviews
6. John Gibbons
12. D-Formation
19. Rocky G
34. Chloe Fontaine
38. Dave Seaman
70. Mark Kavanagh
Features
59. Do we all really need hearing
protection?
Club Reviews
24. Savoy - Cork
32. Mono - Belfast
Event & Clubnights
28. Nowhouse - Cork, Ireland
42. Divers/Cite Festival - Canada
65. Legendary Festival - Germany
44. Emma Dilemma
45. John Gibbons
46. Paul Newhouse
49. Paul Sawyer
50. Jerry Coughlan
51. Psychonavigation
Artist Spotlights
16. Jason Jenings
31. Jonathan Nason
52. Liam Keegan
Music Reviews
Downtemp Chillout
54. Psychonavigation
House/Techhouse /Techno
68. Nick Hook
47. Conor Mc Evoy
52. Ben Waa
56. Nathan Mc Grath
Hip Hop
75. Fiachradh Finch McDermott
EDM
69. Brett Kydd
Charts
57. + 58.
House-Techhouse- Techno - Chillout -
Bass House - Trance
Irish Label
Spotlight
77. Irish Moss Records
Radio Station
Spotlight
78. Groove City Radio, Scotland.
All-time top tens
Bass House
!"##$%&'#()"%*+,'(-#.,/&

FEATURE
INTERVIEW
If there ever was an artist flying the flag for Ireland,
and spinning his way to an A-list status, it’s got to be
John Gibbons. From DJ to producer and national
radio presenter, John is spreading his wings at a great
pace, and in recent years it seems there is only one
way; up and up. John has had massive crossover
success with his last three hit singles ‘All I Need’,
‘Colder’ and ‘Feelings’.
Initially rising as a DJ under the guidance of Mark
Reeder of infamous Berlin label and management
company MFS, with DJ appearances spanning six
continents and a loyal fan-base developing globally in
countries from Ireland to Brazil via Eastern Europe,
the USA and everywhere in between.
06 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

" I have been very careful not to pigeonhole myself musically.
"
Teaming up with “Scimon Tist”,
from Cork, in 2008, to produce
the track, ' Beautiful Filth' which
was a hit world-wide, gaining
massive international support -
most notably from BBC Radio 1
- before topping the Irish dance
charts and crossing-over into
the Irish commercial pop-charts,
peaking at No. 22. The track
received constant support from
the international DJ A-List, was
licensed to the world’s biggestselling
dance-music compilation
of 2008, ‘Gatecrasher Immortal’
and is widely considered to be a
modern-day classic.
Since then, Gibbons has scored
notable success with dozens of
remixes and original projects on
a myriad of international labels
as well a his own hugely popular
‘Club Educate’ stamp, including
the 2012 cult classic '1984'. He
has remixed for acts as diverse
as Professor Green, Mark
Ronson, Sander van Doorn,
Ferry Corsten and many more
with consistent radio support
and plays from international
heavy-hitters such as David
Guetta, Tiesto, Armin van
Buuren, Paul van Dyk, Paul
Oakenfold and countless others.
John produces and presents
Ireland's biggest dance-music
radio show 'POWER’ which
recently replaced the iconic
‘Club Educate’ and broadcasts
on Dublin-based station Spin
1038 and their sister station
Spin South West. He is also the
host of the ‘National Dancefloor
Chart’ which broadcasts
nationwide in Ireland every
week and presents ‘Club
Educate Global’, with the show
being syndicated to over 30
radio stations around the world.
John’s weekly ‘POWER’ podcast
is also massively popular, with
over 150,000 weekly
subscribers worldwide.
2013 was the biggest year to
date for Gibbons with the
massive international
mainstream success of his
collaboration with Scimon Tist
and X-Factor starlet Rebecca
Creighton entitled ‘All I Need’
which broke into the iTunes Top
30 in Ireland and the
Portuguese Airplay Top 20 as
well as a debut playlisting on
MTV.
The follow-up ‘Colder’ featuring
UK artist Skilf smashed straight
into the Irish commercial pop
charts on the week of release
and ‘Feelings’ ft. Mark le Sal
scored even greater success,
with further chart positions in
Ireland, Portugal, Germany and
Australia prompting a sell-out
November tour ‘down under’
which also incorporated South-
East Asia. His remix of ‘Dance
With Me’ by Irish band ‘Maud In
Cahoots’ scored further
commercial and radio success in
early 2014, capping a massive
12 months for the versatile
producer.
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 07

Your radio shows have gained a
huge following over the last few
years, why do you think they have
grown so much in popularity?
I’ve always had a huge passion
for radio and when I began
dance music broadcasting I was
acutely aware of a gap in the
market for a show combining the
productioand presentation values
of commercial radio with the underground
tinged sensibilities of
the music I play.
Every DJ claims to have a ‘radio
show’ these days but I do not
equate a monthly Ableton-mixed
podcast containing a few generic
brand liners and no presentation or
DJ input with a living, breathing interactive
radio show. The latter has
a place of course and while perfectly
acceptable and in the case of many
A-List DJ’s wildly popular, in my
opinion is a poor substitute for real
radio, which is something organic,
with the presenter acting as the live
link between content and listener. I
think my radio audience appreciates
this, albeit most likely on a subconscious
level and I have been very
careful not to pigeonhole myself musically
also, with a wide spectrum of
styles catered for on my shows. I
believe that in commercial radio it’s
important to cater for as wide an
audience as possible while remaining
true to what attracts that audience
in the first place, in this case
the music.
While podcasting has also massively
increased my global reach over the
past number of years, in short I
credit an awareness of the audience
and musical adaptability as being
the driving force behind the success
of my shows to date.
Tell us more about your podcast
“Alchemy Radio”?
‘Alchemy Radio’ is a side-project,
which has little crossover with my
music career. A podcast series of interviews
with guests from outside
the general mainstream, it is an
agenda-less airing of alternative
viewpoints which aims to question,
query, provoke and jolt the minds of
a sleepy majority who have been
largely raised on a diet of corporate
and government propagated bullshit.
Available on iTunes and from
www.alchemyradio.net, the show
covers topics as diverse as geopolitics,
the occult, economics, alternative
health, astrology, cosmology,
ancient history, conspiracy, and the
control system and has a subscriber
base of over 150,000 listeners.
What’s the plan for the future, mortouring
or more production, or both?
Certainly both. I’ve a long-term view
of where I see myself, am acutely
aware of what it takes to achieve all
that I aspire to and provided I continue
to enjoy what I do while connecting
with and making some people
happy along the way then the
journey continues. I have the power,
you have the power, we have the
power…
2014 will see the completion of your
debut album, can we get some insight
as to what to expect, and are
there any collaborations?
I’ve deliberately waited for quite
some time before my first artist album,
as I wanted to be comfortable
that it was simultaneously representative
of my past musical history
while facing the direction that I intend
for my immediate future.
I’ve found a balance and the
album will be quite varied
with a mix of instrumental
and vocal tracks
drawing on many differing
musical influences
and with
several collaborations
I’m
rather excited
about. I’ve
collaborated
quite a lot
in the past,
particularly
in the early
days of
production
when I was
finding my
feet musically
and am more
selective about
those with whom I
choose to work these
days having gone through an
horrendous time with a particularly
poisonous former close collaborator
which made me seriously question if
this was a business I wanted to be
involved with any longer. I’ve since
emerged much stronger as a result
of the experience, am lucky to be
surrounded by many people who
have an immensely positive influence
on my career, people such as
Fran Cosgrave, Mark Kavanagh,
Chris Ronson, Joe Clarke and many
others and am extremely excited
about the future!
" I’ve toured Australia twice since November with the standout event to
date being the superb ‘Electric Storm’ festival in Darwin. Set right on
the beach with amazing sunset views over the ocean, the event was
superbly promoted and executed with a huge crowd, including
thousands of Irish who made me feel immediately at home. "
08 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

How did it all start, what attracted
you to the electronic scene in the
beginning?
I’ve always loved dance music. I’ve
extremely broad musical interests
and while I was never a ‘raver’ or
even a regular clubber in my
formative years, I was always
particularly attracted to dance
music and the unique reactions it
seems to elicit in people. There’s
something raw and untamed about
the heartbeat-mimicking effect of a
4/4 kick-drum and it continues to
have a hypnotic effect on me,
tapping into something deep and
primal in the subconscious. DJ’ing
just seemed like the most natural
thing in the world to me and once I
played my first gig I was hooked.
Mark Reeder from MFS had a job in
your career, how did he help and
what did you learn from him?
Mark has undoubtedly been the
biggest influence on my career to
date and quite aside from music is
probably the most interesting
person I’ve ever met. A quietlystated
and unassuming, yet utterly
fascinating musical alchemist, he
taught me so much about how the
music business works and how to
forge my own path rather than
depending upon and relying on
others for everything, as so many
people do today. He opened many
doors for me internationally, while
allowing me to walk through them
myself, thus helping to equip me
with the tools needed to make a
long-term career in dance music.
Mark remains a close friend to this
day.
You have worked closely with
Scimon Tist, how did you cross
paths and will you continue working
together?
I was introduced to Scimon through
Muzzy G, a close mutual friend and
despite coming from entirely
different musical backgrounds,
Scimon having been involved in
hip-hop for many years, we quickly
discovered much common ground
and decided to produce a track
together. ‘Beautiful Filth’ was the
result and was a huge success
globally, paving the way for what
was to come. We’ve been working
together ever since and while we
both have our own solo projects
and regularly branch off in different
musical directions, Scimon works
full time from our shared POWER
studios and is an integral part of
my future plans.
" I was always particularly attracted to dance music
and the unique reactions it seems to elicit in people.
There’s something raw and untamed about the
heartbeat-mimicking effect of a 4/4 kick-drum and it
continues to have a hypnotic effect on me, tapping
into something deep and primal in the subconscious."
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 09

" Dance music was built on a sense of
‘community’, something that has been lost to a
large degree over the past decade and I’m
eager to bring that element back at my shows.
"
2013 was a great, and probably the
biggest year for you so far; tell us
more about the projects of the
year, and what it meant to you now
in this stage of your career?
2013 was a huge year with four big
crossover radio singles in Ireland
and Europe, my second Irish pop
chart success and the launch of my
‘POWER’ show at Oxegen. I also
toured Australia for the first time
and made my DJ debut in several
new global territories. It was the
first public sign of the work that has
been going on behind the scenes
for the past three years as I aim to
transcend music and push a more
holistic approach to my gigs
through ‘POWER’, engaging the
audience on multiple levels and
tapping into the collective
consciousness of today’s often
disenfranchised youth.
I’ve been blown away by the
reaction to date whenever and
wherever we’ve tested this
approach and it scratches a major
creative itch for me in terms of
musical performance in my field,
becoming something less superficial
and developing organically and in
tandem with a collective mood.
Dance music was built on a sense
of ‘community’, something that has
been lost to a large degree over the
past decade and I’m eager to bring
that element back at my shows.
You have just returned from a tour
in Australia, tell us all about the
trip. What was the best event, and
did you meet any interesting
people?
I’ve toured Australia twice since
November with the standout event
to date being the superb ‘Electric
Storm’ festival in Darwin. Set right
on the beach with amazing sunset
views over the ocean, the event
was superbly promoted and
executed with a huge crowd,
including thousands of Irish who
made me feel immediately at home.
While I knew there was a large Irish
ex-pat population in Australia, I
wasn’t quite prepared for the sheer
volume everywhere I went around
the country it’s quite incredible.
I met many interesting people over
the course of the most recent
month-long tour and while it was
great to spend time and catch up
with friends and other DJ’s such as
Scot Project, Kid Massive and Juicy
M, perhaps most notable was a
ninety year-old man of Aboriginal
descent with whom I spoke in
Sydney for several hours, largely
about his fascinating life. He spoke
of how his homeland has changed
over the course of his lifetime and
about the horrendous, genocidal
treatment his people have suffered
at the hands of the Australian
authorities. While many people
seem to see Australia as the
‘promised land’ in terms of that
which Western society seems to
hold most dear, ie. money and the
associated trappings, my
conversation with Mandu really
brought home how even the most
glossy and shiny society always has
a dark and detestable underbelly
and it was a meeting that affected
me profoundly and no doubt will
stay with me for a long time to
come.
2014 will see the completion of
your debut album, can we get some
insight as to what to expect, and
are there any collaborations?
I’ve deliberately waited for quite
some time before my first artist
album, as I wanted to be
comfortable that it was
simultaneously representative of
my past musical history while facing
the direction that I intend for my
immediate future. I’ve found a
balance and the album will be quite
varied with a mix of instrumental
and vocal tracks drawing on many
differing musical influences and
with several collaborations I’m
rather excited about. I’ve
collaborated quite a lot in the past,
particularly in the early days of
production when I was finding my
feet musically and am more
selective about those with whom I
choose to work these days having
gone through an horrendous time
with a particularly poisonous former
close collaborator which made me
seriously question if this was a
business I wanted to be involved
with any longer. I’ve since emerged
much stronger as a result of the
experience, am lucky to be
surrounded by many people who
have an immensely positive
influence on my career, people such
as Fran Cosgrave, Mark Kavanagh,
Chris Ronson, Joe Clarke and many
others and am extremely excited
about the future!
Connect:
www.djjohngibbons.com/
Words By Paul Newhouse
10 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

FEATURE
INTERVIEW
If House music has been
runningthrough your veins for a
number of years, then this Spanish
DJ/Producer and Record label owner
would have crossed your path in
some form. Whether it was at a
venue, a release or album that you
bought, or within the music press,
Dimas Carbajo aka D-Formation
has been at the forefront of his
game for many years. Dimas is the
owner and main exponent of
Beatfreak Group, a business
alliance which is proud to include,
among many others, the first
Spanish record label of
underground electronic music,
Beatfreak Recordings, which has
been releasing house music
worldwide since 1997.
With over 25 years in his career
path, both in worldwide booths and
music studios in his role as a
producer, D-Formation is one of the
most respected electronic music
artists across the world. Proof of
that is his album 'Madrid' for
Yoshitoshi, (Deep Dish's label),
which was launched in one of the
most prestigious compilation series
of the industry, being the only
Spanish artist tured in it so far.
When he was barely 17 years old,
he was awarded the first prize at
the Spanish DMC DJ championship
for two consecutive times (véase
vídeo) and as from that time
onwards his work was indefatigable
not only as a megamixer for
numerous Spanish multinational
music companies, but also
travelling around the entire country
with his DMC gigs.
When he was only 23 years, one of
his ever greatest projects came
about and that was founding his
first record label, MD RECORDS,
which revolutionized the then
electronic music market and
positioned itself as the best Spanish
label with the best electronic music
for many years.
12 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

" One of the things I feel most proud of is having been able to work my
entire life in something which I really like doing "
In 2003, driven by the professional
need of giving a change not only to
his career, but also to his own
music style, the great artistic
evolution came into being and with
which he continues to work these
days: D-Formation.
As from that moment onwards, his
rise as a DJ and producer was and
continues to be unstoppable,
achieving and securing the
recognition and support of the great
majority of the underground
industry from Tech and Progressive
House to Trance itself. And all that
was due to those melodic tinges,
intrinsic and inherent to his tracks,
which delighted and made wonders
with artists such as Tiësto, Armin
Van Buuren, Danny Tenaglia, John
Digweed, Hernan Cattaneo or Deep
Dish, which also enabled him to
work for important record labels like
Sony Music, Virgin Records, EMI,
Beatfreak, Tusom, Toolroom,
Yoshitoshi, Frequenza, Nervous,
Twisted, CR2, Stereo Productions,
Monique Musique or Baroque.
Numerous prizes as a DJ and as a
producer granted by the industry
vouch for all those years of his
professional career, although it is
noteworthy his #39 position in the
Top 100 DJs of the prestigious DJ
magazine, the highest ranking that
a Spanish DJ has ever achieved.
Nowadays he com
bines his work at the studio with an
almost permanent tour across the
best festivals and events in the
entire world such as Space,
Amnesia, Privilege or Pacha in Ibiza,
Ageha and Womb (Tokyo), Zouk
Club (Singapore), Pacha Cielo (New
York), Stereo (Montreal) Sirena
(Brazil), Ministry Of Sound
(London), Paradiso (Amsterdam),
Queen (Paris), Pacha Sharm
(Egypt), Space (Miami), Avalon (Los
Angeles), Space of Sound or Fabrik
(Madrid), SOS Club, Cindirella Club,
Absolut Club, Feelnet Club (China),
Evil Club (Seoul) or Stadium Club
(Jakarta), at which he has shared
the booth with as renowned artists
as Marco Carola, Carl Cox and John
Digweed.
After a long tour during the
summer, we caught up with D-
Formation and asked some
questions:
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 13

You’ve been around for a number of
years now, tell us about your early
years and how you became a DJ/
Producer? What would you say was
your break?
Well, in all things there is always a
start. I began my music career when
I was 16 years, mainly spinning hip
hop and funky music. In the following
year I was already enrolling myself in
the DMC DJ championship which
awarded me with the first prize for
two years in a row. From that
moment onwards things really kicked
off for me and by then I became
aware that I wanted to earn my crust
working in the electronic music world.
Those were indeed my early
beginnings and I must say that my
professional career is extensive and
actually a fairly long one to tell. One
of the things I feel most proud of is
having been able to work my entire
life in something which I really like
doing. I have been through different
phases all this time, but I have
always been 100% devoted to music
ever since I started off at such a
young age.
After being in the scene for some
time, how do you keep your music
fresh and your enthusiasm still alive?
Keeping the enthusiasm for so many
years is a rather tough issue. In this
profession there are indeed many
good moments and there are also
times which are not as good as that.
When you produce unstoppably for so
many years there are periods of time
in which you really don't like anything
of what you do and it seems that
nothing turns out the way you really
want. It is precisely then that you
question yourself many things.
However, my passion for music has
always been the inner force driving
me to lock myself up in my studio for
days on end until I get things right.
With the passage of time it dawns
upon you that perseverance and the
love for what you do is what
relentlessly pushes you forward in
order to achieve your goals.
Tell us a bit about Beat Freak
Recordings, any news that we should
know about?
Beatfreak was and still is the first
record label in Spain, which was
founded back in 1997. Right now it
finds itself going through a transition
period and embracing great changes
which will come into effect shortly.
Frankly speaking I cannot give away
any further information on that,
hahaha.
You’ve been touring a lot this year,
what’s been the highlights for you?
When you're on tour you have many
good anecdotes and stories to tell.
You also have the opportunity of
experiencing new things to a great
extent . This year I am holding on to
the good memories that I keep from
my tour in Argentina and with Divers/
cite Festival held in one of the cities I
feel most at home and that is
Montreal. Both were really awesome.
What’s the one track that you’d wish
you had produced yourself and why?
I have always dedicated every effort
to create my own tracks. However, I
would have liked to collaborate with
U2 in one of their remixes. I must
confess that is my unfinished
business.
What and who are your major
musical influences?
As I mentioned before, my career as
a DJ and producer is quite lengthy,
although in this late phase as D-
FORMATION I have been influenced
by various people. However, I must
admit that those who greatly helped
me and really inspired me in my early
beginnings were Victor Calderone and
Danny Tenaglia.
14 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

" I beleive that no artist
would be what they are,
if it weren't for the support
of their fans. "
What releases can we expect from you in the near
future?
I have various projects in the making at the moment
such as my LP which I am quite engrossed in, a
bookshelf collection of sounds which will be launched
shortly and several remixes for various artists, one of
them being for Dale Middleton who will release his
through EJ Underground Records.
What do you do for fun when not on tour?
To be honest when I am not on tour you will most
certainly find me working in my studio full time and
enjoying the company of my son for whom I do all the
things he really likes such as playing football, hahaha,
and quite importantly enjoying the pleasures of day
life for a change.
Lastly, which track has been rocking the dancefloor
the most during the last few months?
I think that the track I have been playing the most
since the end of 2013 until a few months ago is
Straktrekken by Egbert. I really love it.
D-Formation’s remix of ‘Tord’ by Leeds based DJ/
Producer Dale Middleton on EJ Underground Records is
out now on all leading online stores.
Connect:
http://redbox-records.com/artists/d-formationportugal-exclusive-ireland-bookings-house-techhouse-techno/
Words By Paul Sawyer
Your social media pages are very active with a lot of
video footage from gigs etc, do you think this is
essential to gain support from your fans?
Ever since social media started I really find it an
essential tool nowadays for your fans or anyone to be
able to follow you or keep a track of the things you do
in real time. It's also a good way to show your work to
the world and get their feedback which gives you the
chance to interact with your followers. I believe that
no artist would be what they are if it weren't for the
support of their fans.
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 15

U.S.A.
FEATURE
INTERVIEW
Jason, from Toronto, Ontario started
his career as a dance music
promoter and DJ. His events grew
so popular, authorities ultimately
banned him from promoting. A
successful career change and
unfortunate accident later, it took
years to make a definitive comeback
with new release called "Ravers".
'I Could Be Young Forever' a quote
from RAVERS, the new release by
Jason on the Hammarica label
couldn't hold more truth to it. The
track is a tribute to dance music
culture going on strong for about
three decades now.
"Ravers" is a big room house
anthem and is reminiscent to some
of the rave tracks from the early
nineties in a full-on 2014 package.
Big hoover sounds, Prodigy-like
basslines, a host of breakbeats and
a beautiful progressive, guitar laden
breakdown make this a tune that
pushes EDM forward without losing
sight of its rich history.
Jason: “I'm really excited about this
new release on Hammarica.
"Ravers" is a track that's close to my
heart. It kind of reminds me of
where I started from and has some
of the old rave sounds in it from the
90's. Since I began producing, I've
always wanted to make a track like
this, with some big synths and dirty
bass lines. It's a feel-good track that
you just can't play once; you've
gotta play it over and over. This Fall
I've been busy in the studio working
on a whole bunch of new tracks.
Can’t wait to share them with you
soon!”
'Chaos' – the previous release by
Jason was remixed by Bassrock. The
high energy EDM banger led to
exclusive features on high profile
blogs and media such as: Only The
Beat, XL Trax, Cali Raves and
Trapstyle.
Earlier this year Jason secured a
radio residency with Party103.com
New York City. The show dubbed
'Full Blast Radio' airs Jason's
personal EDM favorites bi-weekly.
Hammarica catches up with Jason
for a few words for Zone Magazine:
16 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

" The great thing about dance music right now, is
that there are so many great producers. "
You're from Canada. Could you tell us a
bit more about the scene there?
The Canadian EDM is growing more &
more. There's an amazing Club scene,
Festivals are big and more of them are
popping up each year. Canadian EDM
fans are die-hard, music fanatics---the
best kind of crowds to play in front of.
Your sound is a little different than most
big room house artists and your recent
release 'Ravers' got support from
Joachim Garraud and was remixed by
Bassrock. Could you tell us more about
your sound and the feeling you are after?
The type of music I make really depends
on what mood I'm in that day. I try to
make a sound that is different, but
always something that I would
personally dance to. I like to make music
with big build-ups, emotion and high
energy.
Your daughter we heard plays a big part
in the music making process. Could you
tell us about that?
It's really funny the connection my
daughter has had with dance music,
actually ever since she was in my wife's
belly. Whenever my music was on, she'd
punch, kick and roll around in there. We
knew that she was going to come out
being an EDM fan. Whenever I make a
track, she's the first test audience...and
she's a tough critic!
You've been a promoter in the early start
of your career. Do you ever think of restarting
that?
That's a really ironic question, as I've
just recently started throwing my own
events again. Promoting is in my blood
and I'm really excited to get back into it.
We've got some fantastic parties coming
up shortly in Barrie and Waterloo
(Ontario, Canada), so stay tuned for
more on those soon.
What's coming up for you in the coming
few months?
This year has really been a blur. The
next few months are jam-packed
between spending time in the studio
producing, the release of many new
tracks, my new weekly radio show,
promoting events and playing gigs.
There are so many exciting projects in
the works. I'm getting to work with some
really great people.
Where and when can people listen to
your radio shows?
I've recently signed on Exclusively with
PARTY103.COM (NEW YORK). My show is
called "Full Blast Radio" and it airs each
Wednesday at 2PM (EST). If you miss
the show, you can always catch it on my
Exclusive Streaming Channel, also with
PARTY103.COM.
Which person from dance music is your
biggest inspiration?
The great thing about dance music right
now, is that there are so many great
producers. I get inspiration from a ton of
different artists and a ton of different
sounds. If I had to name my biggest
inspiration, I'd probably say Hardwell.
He's an amazing producer and from a
business perspective, he's building quite
an empire for himself.
Is there anything else you would like to
mention?
Watch out for my new upcoming single
'Let's Go' on Hammarica.
Words & Pics By Hammarica
Bookings:
management@lunaticrecordings.com,
Press: wilf@hammarica.com
CONNECT:
twitter.com/djjasonjenings
soundcloud.com/jason-jenings
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 17

[PROGRESSIVE HOUSE]
ZARIIS - ROSA E.P.
ROSA / PRIZM
TRANCE SAMPLER 002
VARIOUS ARTISTS
14 TRACKS
+ DJ MIX JOHN GIBBONS
[DEEP HOUSE/ACID HOUSE]
DAIRE WOODS - KIDS ON
ACID + PAUL SAWYER ACID
MIX
IRELANDS
ELECTRONIC
LABEL
HOUSE -
TRANCE -
TECHNO -
[TECHNO/TECH-HOUSE]
STEVEN LAKATOS -NICE E.P.
NICE + PAUL NEWHOUSE NICE
TECH MIX / PRECIOUS LIFE

Portugal - Pioneer Ambasador
FEATURE
INTERVIEW
" I played at
PRIDE in Lisbon
for more than
30,000 people, it
changed my life. "
Rocky G has been spining House
& EDM since 2007 to massive
crowds and events all over the
golbe. She is enigmatic,
fascinating and has the ability to
seduce a whole crowd. Mother,
DJ, Producer and a workaholic.
She is sponsored by, V-Moda &
PIONEER and is a ambassador
for the brand since 2010. She
played her music on four
continents, in more than 50
countries, and made more than
3 million people go crazy with
her.
ROCKY G also played for
Ministry of Sound and hosted
parties for Playboy and Fashion
TV and she won the “Our
Favourite DJ” title from the
Maxim magazine.
She likes to say that she is a Mix
Master. She mixes vinyl with
CDs and Mp3 files so you can get
drops of Pop music seasoned
with latest hits with a touch of
old school house, trance,
progressive music, with lots of
vocal notes flavoured with
scratches.
“I play for the girls that are in
the room or on the flour because
it’s the female energy that gives
shape to the night”, She says.
ROCKY G is the perfect artist for
a fantastic music night, radio
set, festival or for launching a
new product. In June 2014 Dirty
Kiss her track reached N0.1 on
Spinnin Records Talent Poll.
Rocky G is working hard, and
living the dream, so Zone had a
few words:
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 19

"When you
play for one
huge crowd
it is you
riding their
emotions,
and that is
powerful
but so
scary. "
You're already well known for your
charismatic and fearsome persona
but what qualities in your opinion
are key to continual success in such
a highly competitive business?
First I Love what I do. I dream
every day to go further and I fight a
lot for what I want. Improving my
work, learning about others and
keep dreaming and achieving is the
key.
In your own words describe your
day to day schedule being a Pioneer
Ambassador?
It is a crazy life. I live in
Amsterdam and if I am not playing
I work with my team on all the
ROCKY G projects and I prepare
new projects, record new sets and
study the next venues, and cityies
that I will visit . Since I have Kids
and I work with my Husband I am
the most Lucky DJ in the world
world. It is a hard life, but its my
passion.
Crowds are well used to hearing you
play a spectrum of music genres
but everyone has that one guilty
pleasure. What's yours and why?
Progressive and Trance, Festivals
are my "Chocolate" and I am
always building up my sets for that
There's no doubt you live quite a
demanding lifestyle, but surely you
have some opportunities to wind
down and relax. What do you most
like to do with your spare time?
My husband will laugh now, but I
love to cook and I cook very well
(Portuguese food). I like to go on
romantic dates with my love or out
for an adventures with my kids. But
staying at home on the sofa
watching Entertainment or Modern
Family Is heaven.
Who or what influenced you to set
out as a DJ in the beginning? What
influences you today in this ever
changing scene?
I have always one name in the back
of my mind, TIESTO and after him
all the "Dutch Power", the
Netherlands push EDM 100% more
than other DJs, in my mind, they
changed the Dance Scene.
20 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

You've played at some top class
venues and events, what's been
your best to date and why?
I did played at PRIDE in Lisbon for
more than 30000 people it changed
my life.
You've played to huge crowds. Is it
still all surreal to you? Do you still
get nervous and what helps you destress
before you take to the stage?
It is a crazy feeling. I feel so sick before
a show, it is real to be afraid as
many times I have waited to play
and it is hard, you want to play
straight away. When you play for
one huge crowd it is you riding their
emotions, and that is powerful but
so scary. One time I was playing at
a big festival and one of the CDJs
failed I had to wait 10 minutes,
making loops on one track waiting
for a replacement, its not nice. Now
my DJ Setup always has 4 and I
travel with 2 headphones and 4 US-
Bs.
How important is your fan base to
you?
They are my smile. They are my
second family. They inspire me and
they take me to the next level . I
need their opinion and their critique.
What's the nicest or craziest thing a
fan has ever said to you, or done for
you?
One Lady in India at a festival, she
was very admired with the fact I
have kids and a family and I work
around the world. For her when you
have kids you need to give up your
dreams. I did tell her it is not easy
but it is possible and you can teach
your kids to dream more and to enjoy
life. A Month later she started
her music career as a singer and she
is living the dream.
And finally, what are your plans for
the near future?
I am on Tour for PIONEER, and Playboy
Energy Drink and I am working
on my own party concept. New
tracks are coming soon and next
year will be the best one of my Career.
Bookings & Connect
http://redbox-records.com/artists/
rocky-g-portugal-sponsored-by-pioneer-v-moda-playboy/
Words By Emma Dilemma
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 21

CLUB REVIEW
CORK IRELAND
In this issue of the 'Cork’s Club Review',
we are going to focus on Cork
City’s SAVOY Nightclub.
The Savoy, and the legendary Sir
Henry’s, will always be remembered
for its legendary nights over the
years, and today SAVOY is still going
strong. It has been a fantastic year
seeing some of the biggest names in
the business come to play at the club
over the last few months. Big names
such as Duke Dumont, Paul Van DYK,
MK, Mark Knight, Otto Knows, Green
Velvet and Bingo Players, Laurent
Garnier, Ferry Corsten plus many
more have graced the famous stage
to perform.
We will also see the return of music
legend Kerri Chandler this December.
The venue continues to provide some
of the biggest upcoming DJ's and
Artists in Ireland and worldwide on a
regular basis. Savoy Cork provides a
massive platform for music lovers of
all genres. You can expect all styles of
music such as; EDM, House, Trance,
Dance, Chart and also 80’s and 90s.
Unfortunately here in Cork we have
seen a lot of clubs close down over the
last few years such as the legendary
Pavilion, An Cruiscin Lan, The Audio
Rooms, Mangans and Cubins, yet the
music scene remains strong and it’s
great that Cork still provides a solid
platform today. I personally have to
give massive credit to the management
at Savoy for doing a fantastic
job. I myself have had the honour of
playing at the legendary nightclub
over the years, and I’m sure every DJ
like me that has played there will tell
you that it’s always an amazing feeling.
I have seen Artists such as Calvin Harris,
One Republic, Eddie Halliwell, Lisa
Lashes plus dozens more perform
over the years and I can honestly say
every night I have witnessed or
played at has never failed to impress
me. The club has a state-of-the-art
sound system and easily one of the
best Visual & Lights display in the
country. There are also a number of
VIP areas and rooms at the club which
is always a fantastic feature. The foyer
is also a well-known spot on route
to the main stage area, with local and
international DJ's playing there regularly.
So for all the clubbers and music
lovers around the country, and anyone
thinking of visiting from far a
field, it’s defiantly a thumbs up from
me as it ticks all the boxes required
from a clubber & music fan. It’s a club
with an amazing history and no doubt
it will create a lot more over the next
few years.
Words By Jerry Coughlan
Pics By Martin Dunne
24 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

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WWW.REDBOX-RECORDS.COM

CLUBNIGHT
REVIEW
CORK
IRELAND
Steve O’C & Comac See
Can you guys tell us a bit about how
you got started in music and where
your inspiration came from?
Comac See - My introduction to
music comes from family and I played
studied Piano for many years in my
youth. When i discovered dance
music i knew it was for me
immediately so off i went and bought
a pair of belt drive decks and a mixer
in my mid teens. I have a broad taste
in music so i draw inspiration from
many genres & decades. My early
introduction to working on pirate
radio with the likes of KISS105.5,
later Radio Friendly and more recently
Radio Now & Inferno Radio Ireland
have made an impact too. Finally I
have to mention the likes of Comet
Records in Cork, Abby Discs in Dublin
and all the other record stores that
came and went who gladly took my
confirmation money….. then pocket
money….. and my later wages for 2
decades.
Steve O’C - For me it came from
when i was younger. I listened to a
lot of radio and was obsessed with
the Top 20 & 50 countdowns on RTE
2FM and local station 96FM. After
listening to what was popular I then
went to spend my pocket money on
tapes in golden discs on a regular
basis. It went from there to buying
portable radios to carry around to
play music for my friends with a bag
of tapes with me and then to buying
turntables from my friend because in
truth I was getting more use for them
than he was at one stage! I was a big
90’s dance fan and still am to this
day. Ive played a lot of different
styles of music through the years on
a number of different radio stations
and pubs and clubs but house music
is where my heart is.
Where did the name “NOWHouse”
come from and when did it first start.
Cormac See - I was heavily
committed to Radio NOW with Steve
O’C. I never had an official title but if
their was a problem and Steve was
busy i got the call. Steve and I ran
the very successful monthly house
night “Audio room sessions with Radio
NOW” in The Audio Rooms above the
Classic bar south mains street cork.
When the Radio NOW called it a day
after 2 years and coincidentally so did
the Audio Rooms both Steve and i
decided to keep the gigs going so
from the ashes of Radio NOW came
“NOW House” Then a club night and
monthly podcast and more recently
radio show.
Steve O’C - Same as above really, I
set up the pirate radio station Radio
Now 87.8FM in Cork in May of 2011,
Cormac later joined in Sept 2011 and
we started running gigs for the
station together around March 2012.
We took up Residency in the “Audio
Rooms” in Sept 2012 and ran some
very successful gigs there up until its
closure. I closed the station in may
2013 to concentrate on other avenues
and from there Cormac and I decided
to keep the gigs going together and
produce a weekly radio show on top
of it and now here we are
approaching 2 years of NOW House
Club nights and radio shows in June
2015.
28 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 25

" Ive played a lot of
different styles of
music through the
years on a number of
different radio
stations and pubs
and clubs but house
music is where my
heart is "
Steve O'C
As you know the House Music is
getting bigger these days, what
artists impress you lately.
Cormac See - There has been no
one prolific enough that really
impresses me. I find it harder and
harder to find exactly what I’m
looking for. Everyone is a producer
so the output level is sky high which
makes it that much harder to get
the good stuff. That and some of the
mastering of tracks being put out by
labels is awful. Names like Cristoph,
Giom, Harvey McKay, Husky, Jay
Vegas, Joey Nergo, Nhan Solo,
Sidney Charles & Super Flu would be
honerable mentions.
Steve O’C - There are so many good
artists making music these days, so
it is difficult to narrow it down. I
always struggle to include all the big
tunes at the end of the year. A few
artists that I've been playing so far
this year would be A-Lister,
Claptone, Grant Nelson & Scott Diaz
to name a few.
What tracks for Now House have
been a massive hit this year?
C.S & S.O’C - Don’t know about
massive hits. We have our
recommended track of the week on
the NOW House Radio Show. At the
end of the year we will do our
individual bests of 2014. Today in
the digital age we cycle through
playlists at a reckless rate.
NOW House has been a huge
success to date, what can we expect
in 2015
C.S & S.O’C - Not sure a huge
success is the right way to put it.
We have made our own luck and put
a lot of effort into the radio show
and gigs. We certainly enjoy it and
hope it shows. As for 2015, well
more of the same. We love playing
in Edison (Washington Street Cork).
The management allow us to the
freedom to do our thing and it
seems to be going really well. There
is always musically an educated
crowd who are always up for it. We
would hope to expand the scope of
our weekly radio show and some big
club nights are in tow.
Where can people find out more
about NOW House?
Cormac See - We Play Edison
Washington Street Cork twice
monthly & our radio show is
currently broadcast on Inferno Radio
Ireland, D3EP Radio Network, REDZ
FM, & NRG FM Dublin.
Steve O’C - We have the usual
Facebook pages for the Radio show
and club nights.
Facebook.com/nowhouseradioshow
facebook.com/nowhouseclubnight
Episodes are available for free
download at
nowhousepodcast.podomatic.com
The weekly radio show is available
for download on iTunes by searching
“now house radio show”.
" When i discovered dance music i knew it was for me immediately so off i
went and bought a pair of belt drive decks and a mixer in my mid teens "
Cormac See
30 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

Jonathan
Nason
ARTIST
SPOTLIGHT
In this issue we will be talking about Cork’s one and
only Jonathan Nason. I have been lucky enough to work
with Mr Nason over the last 12 years, and his been ever
present in making a big impact on the Irish hard scene.
Known for his hard style and fantastic sets around the
country 2014 has been another successful year. I first
got the chance to work with Jonathan back in my pirate
Radio days in Cork back on X-FM 104, which later
changed back to its original Klub FM a few months later.
At the time I was 15 years old, and I myself had a
hungry appetite to learn from JN where he was getting
all this massive tracks from as back then downloading
and purchasing tracks online wasn’t really as common
as it is today. You see in them days, very few DJ’s had
a track and a bit of please bud can you give me a copy
was a common phrase. I saw the potential Jonathan
has from day 1. His Radio shows where very popular in
Cork and his knowledge of the scene was fantastic. A
lot of Dj’s since then have unfortunately lost interest or
just retired from the scene, but Mr Nason has kept it up
all the way which has been fantastic. His had a busy
few years gig wise playing at clubnights Homegrown,
Digital Revolution, Nowhouse T&T, and Inferno plus
money more well-known nights around the country. His
sets and radio shows with Fusion Radio always deliver
and his highly regarded in Cork and Ireland as one of
the best in the game. I’d recommend any nights around
the country looking for a quality all round Hard Trance
DJ to get in touch with Mr Nason. Over the next few
issues we will also focus on the legends of the Cork
music scene, along with the freshest upcoming talent.
Words By Jerry Coughlan
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 31

CLUB REVIEW
[BELFAST]
Club Mono, located in the city centre of Belfast, has
been opporating for over a decade and after a recent
makeover it has set the bar high on how an intimate
club setting should look.
Complete with a Function One sound system and a
rather animalistic, but very modern, caged DJ booth
definitely adds to the unique and colourful look of the
club.
Its’ features include three zones comprising a large bar
area, a separate dance space and a secluded VIP
section for anyone keen to hear themselves think.
Club Mono has played host to some of music industry’s
most respected artists from this generation and last
such as Lethal Bizzle, Wiley, Jordan Suckley, Fehrplay,
Kissy Sellout, Lisa Lashes, Danny Rampling, Seb
Fontaine and Northern Ireland’s very own, I.T.F Scratch
Champion, DJ Flip and club regular Chris Cargo.
The specific night I attended was the night of Jordan
Suckley’s performance which was nothing short of
fantastic. Jordan rocked the Trance-head crowd, their
hands in the air in front of him. I arrived at Club Mono
early so I could sneak a listen at the supporting DJ’s
who didn’t fail to impress by creating a steady build-up
to warm up the headlining act. It was great to see the
‘Communication’ Trance event rise from the
underground to make way in the city centre, which
makes a change from normality once a month. If you’re
looking for that uplifting feel, this night has you well
and truly covered.
Website: http://www.monobelfast.co.uk/
Words By Brett Kydd
32 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

FEATURE
INTERVIEW
We caught up with one on London’s hottest female
DJ’s, Chloe Fontaine.
Having grown up on the dance scene as little sister to
the “the Legend” Seb Fontaine, or from having
worked with, seen, heard and interviewed many of
the finest DJs from around the world, it should only
be natural that this multi-talented girl should want to
entertain behind the decks too.
This shining star was soon given the chance to host
underground shows, on London’s favourite dance
music stations Unknown-FM and Passion-FM, where
she has built a strong following with her first class
presenting skills and strong musical repertoire of
house sounds from Deep House, Tribal and Latino
Tech and Techno.
Already stamping her mark on the House scene with
her unique style and passion, Chloe is proving why
the Fontaine name is and always will be a part of the
Music Industry.
For more information regarding her gigs etc, here’s
her facebook page and soundcloud page links:
www.facebook.com/DJChloeFontaine
www.soundcloud.com/chloe-fontaine
34 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

" Programming a set
for radio each week
made me keep focussed
on what tracks
and promos were out.
It helped me get my
first few gigs too. "
After growing up in a family
already within the music
industry, was being a part of this
industry something that you
always wanted?
I’d never even thought about
doing music other than having
sung on a few backing tracks.
Seb was so big as a DJ and my
sister produces music events,
they were both top of their game.
I think it’s a daunting thing to
follow in their footsteps but
artists in general cross over into
other fields these days and it was
a natural progression for me. I
was also working in clubs and for
record labels between jobs so I
was surrounded by the music
industry. My parents met in Ibiza
so I think the Fontaines were
destined to be involved in music!
Tell us how your early career has
progressed into what it is today?
I think I had worked in every job
in a club and in music before I
learnt to DJ. Dancer, Promoter,
Door Whore, Tour Manager,
Booker! I’ve travelled the world
with artists and seeing their
professionalism was an valuable
thing to learn and take on board.
I was actually working as a radio
presenter and voice over artist
around acting when people kept
calling or messaging me on air to
book me to DJ. After a little
thought I went to DJ school to
learn some skills. I then did a
year of free gigs and radio to
boost my profile and hone in on
my DJing. My bookings then
turned into residencies.
Not everyone is aware that you
trained for three years at a stage
school to gain an acting diploma
and then went to RADA to do an
MA. Tell us a bit about your
recent roles as an actress?
Stage school is actually before
3yr drama school so let’s say I’ve
done the Full monty! I’m looking
into another MA or PHD at the
moment. I’ve begun writing a
web series with a fellow actor
friend of mine which seems to be
getting good response. I’ve just
shot a BBC drama, a couple of
commercials and a pop video
recently. You’ll have to keep an
eye on the TV for me. In the past
I’ve done more theatre but this
year I’m pushing for film.
You’ve had some releases out
recently on Deep Water
Recordings,
Motion and remixes for EJ
Underground Records and Zipped
Records that have proved your
skill as a producer. Where did
you learn this skill or was it selftaught,
or both?
I wish I had the patience that a
lot of people do to sit and watch
tutorials and self teach. I find it
really hard that way but I’m
getting better. I went to Sub
Bass Academy, I went to stage
school with Graham who owns it
and the teaching really was
brilliant. I had done a few
Ableton courses at local colleges
but decided to do the full logic
course there and take it a bit
more seriously. Don’t get me
wrong though I have a few peeps
on speed dial and literally
couldn’t do music without them!
You currently have a show on
Passion Live every Friday, do you
feel that being a radio presenter
is an important part of
progressing your career as a DJ?
I learnt to DJ on radio! I was
thrown on air and told to mix
after only a few classes in on my
course and it was the best thing I
ever did. Programming a set for
radio each week made me keep
focussed on what tracks and
promos were out. It helped me
get my first few gigs too. I
personally think the two go hand
in hand for me.
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 35

" Working at the End Nightclub I was definitely
inspired by some of the minimal/techno DJs and
of course Layo and Bushwacka. "
You’ve been playing a lot of gigs
this year, what’s been the
highlight for you?
I love festivals so it’s got to be
PULSE FESTIVAL and being a West
Londoner Notting Hill Carnival!
What’s the one track that you’d
wish you had produced yourself
and why?
Sweat (on the walls) – John
Tejada. It just captures the sexy
side of tech!
What and who are your major
musical influences?
My brother has to be an influence
because my whole history of house
is due to him! I grew up loving old
school Hip Hop and that seems to
be creeping into a lot of my sets
and productions. I used to go and
see a lot of hip hop and acid Jazz
artists in concert. Most of the
Chicago House Legends. Working
at the End Nightclub I was
definitely inspired by some of the
minimal/techno DJs and of course
Layo and Bushwacka.
What releases can we expect from
you in the near future?
I’ve gone a bit deeper on my next
EP. Deep tech with some old Skool
vibes which is slightly more to my
own DJ style.
What do you do for fun when not
on dj’ing/producing or acting?
I love the Theatre I could go every
night of the week. I love to
explore whats on in London. I live
in such a great city full of culture,
I don’t get to see half the
exhibitions I want to. I also like to
rest my ears and listen to nature. I
try and go for walks in the park on
a Sunday. I'm not very Rock n
Roll these days.
In a male dominated world of dj’s,
it’s great to see so many female
dj’s and producers headlining so
many gigs throughout 2014. What
would be your perfect
top 10 all-female line-up?
Gosh so many good females out
there and I love so many different
styles! Sam Divine, Anja
Schneider, Anek, DJ Anna, Magda,
Maya Jane Coles, Joyce Muniz,
Nicole
Moudaber, Nuria Ghia, La Fleur.
Which track has been rocking the
dancefloor the most this year?
Edge of Space - Philip Bader
Worth noting that Chloe’s remix of
Dale Middleton’s ‘Tord’ alongside
Dave Seaman, D-Formation and
Lee Williams is out on all stores on
EJ Underground Records.
Words By Paul Sawyer
36 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

FEATURE INTERVIEW
In the music industry there are a
number of household names that
have been at the forefront of the
underground scene and Dave
Seaman is one of those names that
has gained the respect of all his
peers.
We caught up with Dave after a tour
in Canada and Mexico where he
stamped his mark across the pond in
his unmistakable gentlemanly
fashion.
It’s not like Dave had much of a
choice really. That is if you believe in
what Malcolm Gladwell says in
Outliers, when he examines the
success of a few key people in a
generation; concluding that they
were born at the right time, and in
the right place. In the late 1970s
something was happening to the
profession of playing records for a
living. A group of predominantly gay,
black and Hispanic kids were
subverting what was left of
D.I.S.C.O’s freedom principle in
Manhattan’s loft apartments.
Cue the abrupt sound of a needle
scratching across a record as we cut
across the Atlantic Ocean to the city
of Leeds, northern England a few
years later. It’s hardly a hotbed of
gay Latino abandon, but it is here
that we find a young Dave Seaman
playing records. Dave is a mobile DJ
playing at one of those bread &
butter staples of 80s DMC DJs:
weddings, bar mitzvahs and birthday
parties. Whilst cueing up the first of
six million kick drums, he is longing
for a bigger dancefloor, one that’d
not been invented yet, one filled
with an ecstatic experience that had
yet to be shared. He arrives home
and enters a competition that ran in
a black & white glorified newsletter
called Mixmag; first prize a trip to
the New Music Seminar in New York.
He won. One year later, he was
editor of Mixmag.
But this isn’t an Acid House fairytale,
and having a hand shaping Mixmag
into the devout clubbers bible it
became wasn’t enough for Dave. Ask
one question to any right- minded
young journalist in the 90s and
they’d have given you the same
answer: I’d rather be a DJ. But that
wasn’t enough for Dave either. Beat
by beat, twelve inch by twelve inch,
within a year Dave went from djing
alongside Sasha and Laurent Garnier
at midland’s wunder-rave Shellys to
remixing Michael Jackson: it was one
white glove a go- go.
38 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

What got Dave that far wasn’t the blind
ambition of me, me, me; it was an ear
for melody and an untold passion for
music. And it was in the studio –
alongside Brothers in Rhythm partner
Steve Anderson – that his ear for melody
found its natural home. One of their first
forays into recording gave birth to a
record that good times found impossible
to ignore; ‘Such a Good Feeling’ set the
charts and dancefloors on fire. This
crossover appeal, welding pop
sensibilities to underground credentials
without the dilution of either, ensured
the duo entertained a cast of music’s
finest over the coming years.
A staggering ninety releases bare Dave’s
name in their credits. Brothers In
Rhythm remixed the great and the good.
Then the great and the good asked them
to produce and write for them too. U2,
New Order, David Bowie – and Kylie,
Take That and Pet Shop Boys
respectively. And then Dave gave it all
up.
No he didn’t. He started a record label.
I know what you’re thinking: ‘Did this
guy ever sit down during the nineties?’
or perhaps ‘Why didn’t he turn his other
‘non-DJ’ hand to smashing a tyrannical
dictatorship?’ The answer is Fun; it’s
fun to run a label, even if you do elect
to call it Stress Records. Under Dave’s
stewardship the label quickly became a
byword for quality; Danny Tenaglia,
Groove Armada’s Andy Cato, Sasha and
John Digweed all added their names to a
glorious release schedule. Stress put
records in the charts and on to the
soundtracks of cult movies:
Trainspotting’s nightclub scene wouldn’t
have been the same without Bedrock’s
‘For What You Dream Of’. In fact,
without Stress Records to soundtrack the
weekends, much of the days UK club
scene would have had a 12inch-sized
hole in it too. Dave superseded Stress
Records with a another imprint called
Audio Therapy which ran for over a
decade until last year and itself was no
stranger to some of the most respected
names in electronic music. From Timo
Mass to Robert Babicz, Pig & Dan to
Funkagenda, they all played their part in
the Therapy story. 2013 though has seen
Dave launch a brand new label by the
name of Selador Recordings. No doubt
his 3rd venture in the record label
business will be just as remarkable.
But being a record exec is only ever
going to be something to fill the winter
weekdays; DJing is Dave’s first love and
his longest lasting. It is his ability to
shake, rattle and roll a crowd into a
triumphant mass of up-stretched arms
that’s catapulted him around the world.
He’s played in seventy countries,
countless fields and a selection of the
world’s finest nightclubs over the last
fifteen years. From Creamfields to
Glastonbury, the Arctic Circle to the
Arabian deserts: Dave is walking proof of
dance music’s global ability to unify and
excite. His twenty-five plus excellent mix
compilations for the likes of Renaissance,
Back To Mine, Radio 1 Essential Mix and
Global Underground will help pass the
time until he’s back in your hemisphere
once again.
So, is it about talent or luck? Do you
believe in all those right-time, right-place
Gladwellisms? I’m not sure either, but
like the music Dave’s been playing for
years; it sounds extraordinary doesn’t it?
Most recently he’s remixed for Leeds up
and coming dj/producer Dale Middleton
on the EJ Underground imprint and wow,
what a remix this proved to be. Gaining
over 4000 plays on soundcloud in a
matter of days, proof that this guy has a
huge following across the globe.
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 39

After being in the scene for some time,
how do you keep your music fresh and
your enthusiasm still alive?
The music really takes care of itself.
There's literally thousands of new tracks
being released every week so it's not
hard to continually keep your record box
fresh, or USB stick as it is these days.
And accordingly, the enthusiasm to keep
playing naturally follows that. It's one of
the great things about the electronic
music scene that things are continuously
evolving so you never get chance to get
bored. Just having a few new hot tracks
ready to pay for the weekend still gives
me the same buzz as it did 20+ years
ago. If that ever leaves me then it will be
time to hang up my headphones but I
can't ever imagine that happening to be
honest.
Tell us a bit about Selador Recordings,
any news that we should know about?
Selador is a new label I set up with my
long time friend Steve Parry last year
and we couldn't be happier with the
progress we've made. We've just
released EPs by Robert Babicz & Affkt
with my new single featuring remixes by
Cristoph, Joeski, Raxon & Marc Marzenit
up next. So as you can see, we're
already an outlet for a lot of the scene's
top producers which is no mean feat
after only 18 months in business. We've
got stacks more exciting releases lined
up too plus we'll be starting to do more
of our own Selador parties in 2015. It
really is going better than we could ever
have hoped.
You’ve been touring a lot this year,
what’s been the highlights for you?
Burning Man was the stand out this year
for me. It was my first time and it really
blew me away. It's like nothing else I've
ever been to and was very inspiring. Like
a rave on the set of a Star Wars meets
Mad Max movie all curated by Salvador
Dali. Just bonkers. I can't wait for next
year.
What and who are your major musical
influences?
Oh God, where to start? First of all I
really got into the mod revival at the end
of the 70s so The Jam and the whole 2
Tone scene were my first real
obsessions. Then that turned into New
Order, Depeche Mode, The Human
League and that whole synthesiser
movement in the early 80s. Then I got
into breakdancing so the original electro
scene that came
with that and that was what really
introduced me to dance music. By the
time house music arrived in 1986 I was
already into DJing in a big way and tyne
rest as they say is history.
What releases can we expect from you in
the near future?
As mentioned before my next single will
be coming on Selador in December. It's
called 'Justified Replacement Of Lulu'.
Then after that I've got more releases
coming on Sudbeat, Sullivan Room and
Tulipa early in 2015. I've done quite a bit
studio wise this year and that's
something I plan to continue with.
What do you do for fun when not on
tour?
Family, films and football kind of take
care of any free time I have. Although as
a Leeds United fan I'm not sure you
could call that fun!
Your social media pages are very active
with info on gigs etc, do you
think this is essential to gain support
from your fans?
Definitely, we're in a new era of
artist/fan relations. There is a direct
rapport there that can do things that
would've seemed impossible only a few
years ago. I did the first ever crowd
funded DJmix compilation last year
through my online media platforms. An
album for the fans funded directly by the
fans. That's a hell of a development to
be able to do something like that without
the need for any kind of record company
middle man. And of course, when it
comes to gigs, it's the easiest way to let
people know you're coming to their area.
I just hope not too many more platforms
spring up as I'll end up spending all day
just keeping my social media up to date!
Lastly, which track has been rocking the
dancefloor the most recently?
I love Laurent Garnier's 'Enchanted' on
Hyper colour. He's managed to make a
tracks that sounds old school and new
school at the same time. Also Josh
Wink's remix of Raw District is amazing
too. Two big big tunes for me over the
last couple of months.
Words By Paul Sawyer
40 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

DJ DIARY
PART 001
DIVERS / CITE FESTIVAL
MONTREAL, CANADA.
First of all I would like to introduce
myself to the people who do not
know me.
My name is Dimas Carbajo
AKA D-FORMATION.
Seeing that this is the first issue
and my first contribution to Zone
Magazine, which is a pleasure for
me,i would like to summarize very
briefly what my latest gig was like
as it happened in one of the cities
which makes me feel at home every
single time I step on it, and that is
Montreal, Canada.
It is a multicultural city, buzzing
with people from all over the
planet, full of energy and with a
breathtaking nightlife. It is a city
that never goes unnoticed by any
DJ feeling fortunate enough to be
visiting. In fact, since 2006 when
my first gig took place there, I
always wish for my next visit. Its
nightclubs really make you see and
feel the reason why you are DJ,
particularly Stereo Montreal at
which I was a resident DJ for many
years.
We can also witness and enjoy
incredible festivals like Bal in Blanc,
Iglo Fest, this one being rather
unusual because it is held at the
end of January out in the open air
and with temperatures as low as 20
or 25° C, which defies common
sense. We also have Black & Blue
festival (at the Montreal Olympic
stadium) at which I have been
lucky enough to be performing for
three consecutive years and last but
not least Divers/Cite which
happened to be my latest gig in
Montreal.
Divers/Cite may be considered the
gay week in Montreal with
numerous musical and cultural
events for seven days in a row. It
attracts not only people from
Canada, but also from all North
America and it culminates in a great
event on the weekend with DJs of
the likes of Victor Calderone, DJ
vibe, Chus & Ceballos, Joubin and
myself. The venue at the old harbor
of Montreal offers a really incredible
setting for this festival.
Therefore and to conclude if you
ever have the opportunity of
visiting this amazing city, do not
hesitate or question it for a second,
simply get yourself a flight ticket
and off you escape to Montreal
where you will find all you are
looking for.
Greetings to everybody and I will
get back to you with another little
story in the forthcoming issue of
Zone Magazine.
Places to see in Montreal:
Hotels:
Le Vignoble @ Gouverneur Hotel
Place Dupuis, Hilton Bonaventure,
Embassy Suites
Hangouts:
Priape
Montreal’s Gay Village (Le Village)
Bota Bota Spa
Clock Tower Beach (Plage de
l’Horloge)
Mural Festival
Espace pour la Vie / Jardin
Botanique
Food:
Lola Rosa
ChuChai
Aux Vivres
APOLLO Restaurant
Les Éclusiers par APOLLO
Helena Restaurant
Les 400 Coups, Olive + Gourmando
Saloon
42 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

ALL-TIME
TOP TEN
It is without question that
there has been a plentiful
amount of inspirational
female artists to grace the
club scene over the past two
decades. Most of which have
had series of original
productions and
collaborations that will
undoubtedly go down in
history. However, as difficult
as it was for me to narrow
them down into a top ten.
I here pronounce the tracks,
collaborations and remixes
within the Hard House, Hard
Trance, Hard Dance and
Hardcore block which are in
my opinion the ones that
have made the hugest and
most influential impacts on
the dance scene, from when
they were released and into
this present day.
1/ Lisa Lashes – What can you do
for me? (TidyTrax) (2003)
2/ Rachel Auburn – Bass Keeps
Pumpin’ (Rachel Auburn Records)
(2000)
3/ Anne Savage – Hellraiser (Tidy
Trax) (2003)
4/ Dirt Devils – The Drill (Lisa Pinup
remix) (Nu Life) (2002)
5/ Kym Ayres ft. Technikal – More &
More (Tidy) (2006)
6/ Anne Savage, Red Hed &
Vinylgroover – The Pod (Traffic)
(2006)
7/ Lisa Pin, Elvira & Modelle – Up –
Another Jam (Nukleuz) (2001)
8/ Amber D + James Lawson –
Attack Warning (Tidy) (2006)
9/ Dana + Promo – Ladies First
(The Third Movement) (2002)
10/ Lisa Lashes, Kidd Kaos & Alex
Kidd – Nu Religion (Kiddfectious)
(2011)
44 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

ALL-TIME
TOP TEN
When selecting my all-time
top time I've used only one
criterion - the effect the tune
has had on me over a
sustained period of time.
I'm not overly concerned
about intricate production
techniques, advanced
dynamics or who produced
the track. What matters most
to me when it comes to
music is the reaction that the
song or track elicits, be it
emotional or sometimes even
physical - in my opinion
music is about feeling,
even above and
beyond hearing.
All of the tracks in my list
have had a lasting effect of
some sort on me and
continue to do so every time
I listen.
1/ Three Drives - Greece 2000
(Massive Drive Recordings)
(1997)
2/ CJ Bolland - The Prophet
(FFRR) (1997)
3/ Corvin Dalek - Young People
(Flesh) (2005)
4/ John Gibbons & Scimon Tist -
Beautiful Filth (Tekelec
Recordings) (2008)
5/ Hi-Gate - Caned & Unable (B²
(Byte Blue)) (2000)
6/ BT - Flaming June (Perfecto)
(1997)
7/ Prodigy - Voodoo People (XL
Recording) (1994)
8/ Mr. Spring - Coffeetable
Olympics (Spring Recordings)
(1999)
9/ Stardust - Music Sounds
Better With You (Roulé) (1998)
10/ Killahurtz - West On 27th
(Hooj) (2000)
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 45

ALL-TIME
TOP TEN
Its a very difficult job to come up
with a top ten all-time track list
when you have been in the dance
scene since 1990, so I have picked
out a selection of tracks that have
more memories to me in my time
on the dance floor and behind the
decks.
From the illegal raves of the UK,
and the dark grubby basments and
warehouses of Berlin, and from the
first dance clubs of Dublin, and
beyond, I have chosen some
tracks that take me back to those
times. I am sure you will agree,
there are some gems here. I have
picked out some House, Techno
and Trance, as I have played these
styles for many years, and each
one is special to me.
I hope you enjoy listening to them,
for the first time if your new to the
scene, and if you remember them,
I hope they bring back some
memories also.
1/ The Hypnotist - The House is Mine/
Pioneers Of A Warped Groove (Rising
High)(1991)
2/ Beltram - Energy Flas (Transmat)
(1990)
3/ Ramirez - La Musika Tremenda
(R&S)(1991)
4/ Flipped out - Basstab/Love Bomb
(Ark Recordings)(1992)
5/ Rising High C. – Fever Called Love
(Hardfloor Remix)(1993)
6/ Gat Decor - Passion (Effective)
(1992)
7/ Jam & Spoon - Follow Me (Epic)
(1993)
8/ Beat foundation - Foundations
(White Label)(1996)
9/ Paul Van Dyk - Beautiful Place
(Deviant)(1996)
10/ BT - Remember (Sasha Remix)
(Perfecto)(1998)
46 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

HOUSE/TECHHOUSE REVIEWS CONOR MC EVOY [IRL]
Effy – Distant Sounds
[Infinite Machine]
Rating: 10/10
Kaily & Blandy – Back To 92
(Lapsus Music)
Rating: 9/10
Daire Woods – Kids On Acid
[Redbox Records]
Rating: 9/10
Pyrocight – Elementary EP
(DFTD) Rating: 8/10
Toolroom White Label
(Toolroom Records)
Rating: 7/10
Zone Magazine Top Tune
There must be something in the air in Newbridge, this is
the second release reviewed in this issue from
Newbridge natives. Effy are an Irish duo. Their debut EP
came out last April on Discos Dead and this release. The
standout track on this release is definitely Move.
Slugging along somewhere between techno, garage and
tech-house, the jacking beats are perfectly
complemented by the sexy female vocals. The dark bass
stabs that intermitently clang in and out here really give
this track an industrial warehouse vibe and consequently
take this track from a well produced club track to a
certified dance floor destroyer. Bourbon Switch is a
quirky techno track that rolls along with a strangely
Zone Magazine Recommended Tune
If you have any interest in the house scene in Dublin or
Ireland in general, you have heard of Kaily without a
doubt. Known to the taxman as Jonathan Kiely, his
name is on the flyer beside your favourite headliner 9
times out of 10. His last release (“Up In Smoke”) with
long time friend and UK producer Blandy has done
incredibly well at the time of writing, with the A Lister
remix at the top of the Traxsource tech house charts.
This latest release from Kaily & Blandy is out on the
imprint of legendary Italian duo Supernova, Lapsus
Music. There are 2 mixes of Back To 92 on the EP, the
first is the Warehouse Mix which combines a bouncy
Madrid based Irish producer Daire Woods effortlessly
fuses upfront dance floor orientated tracks with soulful
and deep melodies. He takes his inspiration from his
experiences living in the Spanish capital and his sound
reflects these influences. Originally from Newbridge, Co.
Kildare but living in Madrid where he is a regular on the
clubbing circuit. Kids on Acid was originally released
back in March on the Redbox Records Miami Winter
Music conference compilation, but this re-release
package contains 2 smashing remixes from Krafted
Music Group head honcho Paul Sawyer and Louk
alongside the original. The original mix is a blissful swirl
of percussion and expertly programmed synths from
beginning to end. The track manages to switch it up
It’s not often a producer’s debut release will be picked
up by Defected Records or their sister label DFTD, but
London duo Pyrocight have done exactly that with
Elementary EP. With early support from heavy weights
such as Joris Voorn and Tocadisco, it is clear that these
guys are going places. The title track Elementary infuses
techy house beats with a jagged and catchy main synth
line. The soulful vocals and the bubbling top end synths
really ground this tune and the result is a solid club
number. The brief breaks in the rhythm serve to make
the tunes all the sweeter when it slams back in at points.
Give Me Some is pushed along by a strong plucky chord
Toolroom records have been undergoing something of a
change of late. They are “going back to [their] roots”
and “refocusing on credible house music”. As one of the
most popular brands in electronic music this is huge
news and they have narrowed their roster down to a
smaller group of core artists particularly up and comers
Weiss and Adrian Hour but also with firm favourites Prok
& Fitch and Rene Amnesz at the center of things. White
Label 01is evidence of this changeRebound by Prok and
Fitch is a driving and energetic tech-house masterpiece
which would be perfectly at home in the sets of Umek or
Carl Cox. So High by Canadian veteran tech-house
producer Mario Ochoa is a real journey into the exciting
modern sounds in the tech house scene. Slamming 909
comforting industrial vibe before breaking down into a
really bizarre section of irregular beats reminiscent of
Aphex Twin or something from the IDM scene. The
vocals in this really add atmosphere, especially at the
build before the tune kicks back in with the rolling
warehouse vibes and skippy percussion. This track would
work equally well in the cavernous room of the Berghain
as it would at an outdoor rave or festival stage in the
summer. The remixes of Move and Bourbon Switch are
polar opposites in that the Troy Gunner remix of Move
takes things down to scarily slow half time and the
Hound Scales mix of Bourbon Switch contains some
insane time signatures at a tempo that feels like
hardcore or jungle.
house bassline with some euphoric 80's style synth lines
and rolling FX. The classic M1 house pianos, where the
track presumably gets its name, come in during the
breakdown and build up the atmosphere. Before the
track kicks back in with the pianos going to the
fullest.The Def mix is a much more stripped back and
minimal affair, with a deeper, pulsating bassline and
dark warped vocals moving around the stereo field. The
same piano line features here but the overall feel of the
track is much darker. How Long is a dark house groover
which feels perfect for a closing track in a long set. A
hypnotic vocal features prominently in this, and
complements the main melody perfectly.
after every phase without detracting from the sheer
effectiveness of the low end or ever getting boring. The
Paul Sawyer 'Acid Mix' remix keeps enough of the vibe
from the original to be classed as a remix, but adds
enough new content to completely switch up the vibe
here. Most notably the rolling techno percussion and the
squelching acid lines with interweaves at times with the
originals leads and pads. Paul Sawyer has turned the
original into a main room monster, which has enough
power and weight behind it to move crowds in
Awakenings. Finally the Louk remix uses the original
bassline and synths along broken beat 808 patterns,
and the result is a very chilled, urban sounding mix.
progression and a driving and tech beat which provide a
solid base for the track. The vocals really give this tune
an oldschool house vibe and the rolling snares really
help tie the whole thing together. Bring It Back is the
housiest offering on this release by far. The sampled
voice is very Chicago in it’s heyday and the percussion
and bassline rely heavily on modern house aesthetic.
The layered bass sounds really give this track an edge
and it’s sure to be destroying dancefloors all around the
world.
drums, swirling synths, mid-range brass and the allimportant
high hat really make this the stand out track
on this release. Picture this in the sets of DJs like Sidney
Charles or even Low Steppa. Fabulous by Mateus B &
Drunky Daniels is a garage influenced modern deep
house offering with chopped up vocals over a bouncy
disco bassline. Got This Feeling by Dean J Marriot
(better known as D.Ramirez) is a step in a new direction
for the veteran producer, or more acurately, old
direction as this track sounds like the old funky house
tracks which came out on Hed Kandi in the noughties.
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 47

ALL-TIME
TOP TEN
My all time top 10 include
tracks that have given me
the best memories over the
years whilst DJ'ing.
Whether it be a small club or
a festival with thousands of
people going mad to the
tune; every time I dropped
these, just seeing people's
reactions and the atmosphere
that was created, is
something that will never be
forgotten.
1. Deep Dish - Flashdance (Positiva)(2004)
2. Binary Finary - 1998 (Positiva)(1998)
3. Age of Love - Age of Love
(Jam & Spoon Remix) (React)
(1992)
4. Grace - Not Over Yet (Perfrcto)(1993)
5. Radio Slave, Danton Eeprom
- Grindhouse (Dubfire Remix)
(Rekids)(2008)
6. Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy
Hey Girl (Astalwerks)(1999)
7. Faithless - Insomnia (Cheeky)
(1995)
8. Deadmau5 feat. Kaskade - I
Remember (Cinnamon Flava)
(2009)
9. Goldie - Inner City Life (FFRR)
(1995)
10. X-Press 2 - London Xpress
(Junior Boy's Own)(1993)
I hope you all enjoy theses
as much as I did and still do,
and for those who will
descover them, enjoy!
Paul
Sawyer
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 49

ALL-TIME
TOP TEN
I have been extremely lucky
to have a great career since
day 1 when it comes to Radio and
DJ'ing, starting at the age of 15
with my days on Kiss FM, to Radio
Now and the original Klub FM, to
having the honour of playing
alongside some of the biggest DJ's
in the world all over Ireland and of
course this year having the
opportunity to play in Ibiza again
for Cream, it quite easy for me to
say, there's been so much
inspiration from music over the
Years. I have also been to events
and festivals all over Europe such
as Trance Energy in Holland and
many big nights in Ibiza as a fan
and music lover. I have chosen
these 10 tracks because each one
has individually inspired me, and I
tend to feature this tracks on my
Afterhours FM Radio Showa from
time to time to let people no also
how good they still are. This are
my top 10 songs, I hope you get a
chance to check them out on
YouTube or online.
1. John O Callaghan & Kearney -
Exactly (Discover)(2006)
2. Paul Van Dyk – Crush
3. Cosmic Gate – Barra (Black
Hole)(2010)
4. Veracocha - Carte Blanche
(Deal)(2006)
5. Deleruim – Silence (DJ Tiesto
Remix) (SPV)(2000)
6. Reflekt - Need to feel loved
7. Three Drives – Greece 2000
(Massive Drive)(1997)
8. Aly & Fila – My Mind Is With
You
9. Paul Van Dyk – For An Angel
10. Tiesto - Traffic
50 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

ALL-TIME
TOP TEN
Starting off my all-time top ten is
an album that throws up more
hidden sounds on every new
listen. Nothing comes close and
never will. Following on no.2 has
Incredible melodies throughout
this long player. Richard D is in at
No.3 his greatest achievement
IMHO! Brian is at no.4 for your
next trip to space you'll need to
put this in your rocket! In at no.5
is Mixmaster Morris sourcing 100's
of samples and making one
gorgeous Ambient sound.
Moving into the second half of my
selection we have a special time
for Ambient music and this is the
best compilation to relive this
golden era in at no.6. Next we
have an album with a massive
influence on Psychonavigation's
vision of what is quality Ambient
music. At no.8 my favourite CD to
come out on late Pete Namlook's
Fax record label. At no.9 we have
an amazing production from the
German duo. Lasr but no means
least we have whats makes a good
Dance music album, which is;
bags full of emotion combined
with quality beats. This album has
it all.
I hope you enjoy my picks, over
and over.
1. The Black Dog - Bytes [Warp]
(1993)
2. Global Communication - 76:14
[Dedicated] (1994)
3. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient
Works Volume 2 [Warp] (1994)
4. Brian Eno - Apollo [EG] (2005)
5. The Irresistible Force - Global
Chillage [Rising High] (1994)
6. Artificial Intelligence Volume 2
[Warp] (1994)
7.The Future Sound Of London -
Lifeforms [Virgin] (1994)
8. Spacetime Continum - Sea
Biscuit [Fax] (1994)
9. Alter Ego - Decoding The
Hacker Myth [Klang] (1996)
10. Opik - Opik [Concrete] (1994)
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 51

ARTIST
SPOTLIGHT [UK]
When I first met Liam Keegan we
were at the WMC in Miami a few
years back, he was sick as a dog
and was still mixing like a champ. I
finally caught up with him in Hollywood
and really got to known this
down to earth Englishman. Liam
was born and raised in Birkenhead,
England. He is
known for his
house,
deep
house
and
commercial
productions
and
remixes. His musical
inspirations come from the likes of
Paul Oakenfold and Frankie Knuckles.
You can consistently hear his
tracks topping the charts on the
Remix Top 30 countdown hosted by
the world famous Sean Hollywood
Hamilton of KTU radio station in
New York City.
You can pretty much find his work
on most major record labels as well
as indie labels such as Tazmania,
Carillo, 3 beat and Neon to name a
few. Currently he’s working on
projects with Cobra Starship, Icona
pop and Rixton. These are soon to
be released on Interscope and
Warner record labels so stay tuned.
He is managed by RP360 Music otherwise
known as DJ Riddler world
renowned producer and voted #1
radio mix DJ.
He does tour from time to time, but
this family man is hard at work as a
full-time producer and remixer. If
you’re lucky you may catch him as a
guest DJ appearing with major
headliners. In his spare time you
can find him running, working out at
the gym and playing soccer.
When asked what advice he has for
up and coming producers he said,
“Master your own sounds and try
and be as unique as possible keep
going because this game is all about
patience and persistence.”
CONNECT:
http://www.liamkeegan.co.uk/
Words Kaiulani Newhouse
52 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

TECHNO / TECHOUSE REVIEWS
BEN WAA [UK]
Danique, Distorted Beauty –
Scream [Percep-tion]
Rating 10/10
Patrick Chardronnet – Karma
Rating: 9/10
Zone Magazine Top Tune
Whilst this has been available since August, there is
nothing that can remove this track from the box at the
moment, well two versions of it anyway which we’ll talk
a little about here.
First up is the Original mix. It starts off with a familiar
warmth to its movement and bass line, built upon with a
very simple string pad up to the breakdown which doesn’t
really appear to be going anywhere until everything
is stripped away leaving goosebumps at that point alone,
then… the vocal drops. If you didn’t have those goosebumps
before, you will now. This is eyes closed, head
down, get drawn in to its warmth, heaven. Overall the
track itself doesn’t do so much, it’s just constructed so
well that the music is a perfect focus for that amazing
vocal. This is maybe my Zone mag top tune of the
month… maybe
Next up is the Gabriel Ananda remix. Now, I have a
Zone Magazine Recommended Tune
A lovely two tracker from Patrick Chardronnet originally
released back in 2012 on Boxer Recordings, Karma (rereleased
on play my track recordings in November) and
Shanti both feature nicely on this release with “Karma”
getting work over in what’s called “Epic Mix”. In all
honesty, for the extra minute and a half, the original mix
gets it for me. Wonderfully produced electronic/techno,
Karma really has that same something as James
Holden’s “A break in the clouds”. Similar monophonic
synths delay and change timing over a regularly
slight DJ crush on Mr Ananda for his purely amazing and
consistent music, and he delivers without disappointment
here. In contrast to the original version, Ananda
strikes for a more uplifting feeling overall. It lso harks
back to how progressive house used to be in its emotion
conveyed. The track sounds so simply done, but the layers
of bass set against simple sounding chord stabs is so
intricate and balanced so well it’s a masterclass in production,
and dare I say it remixing too. The vocal is the
same but the uplifting feeling in this mix somehow
brings the same uplifting feeling out of the vocal too. I’m
in love with this track, THIS is my Zone mag top Tune
for this month.
I don’t really want to touch too much on the other mixes
as quite frankly they don’t belong alongside these two
versions in my opinion. There’s nothing wrong as such
with any of them, they are far too over shadowed by the
original and Ananda’s superb efforts.
structured rhythm. The synth work on this is lovely, and
they’re what really make this an end of set/end of night
track. It’s heavy, it’s epic, it’s deep and it’s wonderful in
every way that this sort of music should be. Zone mag
recommended tune indeed!
Shanti, is equally as nice, it just isn’t as epic with its
almost cheeky bouncy bass line, it’s a dance floor mover
for sure, and certainly has that insistent nature about it
that makes you have to be on the dance floor. Great
stuff from Patrick Chardronnet!
Davide Squillace - Goiânia
(Cadenza97)
Rating: 8/10
Him_Self_Her feat. Calder
Don't Fail Me Now [Suara ]
Rating: 8/10
I have to say, whenever I see a release from cadenza I
get a little bit excited, adding in Davide Squillace to that
well…
Goiânia is the title track of this three track EP, and what
a great track it is too. Starting off with a low and deep
groove that is soon layered with organic percussion and
warm synth brass stabs that give the track instant dance
floor appeal. The track develops along its deep theme
intensifying the groove with a lovely vibrato synth pad
and digital bass stabs that all lead to not an epic
breakdown by any means, but one that allows the track
Him_Self_Her have their first release with Suara in
single form, with two remixes included.
Don’t fail me now feat. Calder is predominantly a vocal
only track, it’s the sort of track you would create an epic
breakdown with or start a set off with. To be honest
whilst I like the overall feel of the track, and especially
the vocal, I can’t help but feel that the original should
just end when it eventually gets to the beats. They’re a
bit boring and the track just seems like it’s had drums
thrown around it to well… give it some drums. This mix
– 6/10 for the lovely vocal intro of 4mins.
The version I really love though and gets the 8/10 is the
remix that Dubspeeka delivers, and boy does he deliver!
Starting off with a very techno drive and deepness with
to breathe before pushing that dance floor button once
again.
Also on the release are “Unit 9” a deep rolling techno
number that is a strong contender to be the top track of
this release and possibly is. “Blossom” is a stripped back
deep-house/minimalistic track full of swooshing stereo
FX and deep tone bass hits. All three tracks are firmly in
my box right now, and will be for a while to come.
echoes of the vocal spraying into our ears building the
tension just beautifully, before the track is pushed along
a bit more with industrial sounding reverbed horns and
a haunting pad line leading us deeper to the breakdown
where the vocal hits, and it sounds so much better with
this backing, brilliant in fact. The whole sound of the
remix will appeal to techno, progressive, tribal, deep
house heads and more. It has that something about it
you just can’t place in a genre. This is a winner in my
book. 8/10
Him_Self_Her feat. Calder - Don't Fail Me Now is out on
Suara soon.
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 53

Psychonavigation
DOWNTEMPO - CHILLOUT
A Trip Through The World Of Ambient / Downtempo Music
Shit & Cheap
Deaf & Dumb
[Acroplane Recordings]
Rating: 7/10
Neil Landstrumm takes a break from his usual
Acid Techno excursions and journey’s into
some Electro / Dubstep with his long term
partner in crime Mat Consume. The title track
'Rat Crew' is an electro jaunt complete with a
big dose of bleep that could have easily been
released on Warp back in the 90's. Their
choice of samples used keep the track interesting
throughout. My only criticism is that's
its way too short for my liking but hey, good
things come in small packages. The finest
cut on the EP kicks off the B side. A wonderful
Dubstep tune with a groovy reggae underbelly
and once again like the A side, the
samples the two boys choose work perfectly
throughout.
Some people may find the band’s cover version
of Frankie Goes To Hollywood “Relax”
humorous perhaps but that's where it ends
unfortunately. To my ears the track is rather
boring with no real direction and should have
been left on the cutting room floor. Overall
though, another quality release from the
Irish label that always delivers an interesting
trip into electronica.
By Keith Downey
Craig Armstrong
It’s Nearly tomorrow
Rating: 7/10
Craig Armstrong's new album, "It's Nearly
Tomorrow" sees the celebrated Scottish orchestral
composer effortlessly fuse his gift for
classical composition, with dark ambient
electronica and downtempo trip hop beats.
Armstrong, whose achievements include an
Ivor Novello and a Bafta for his work on Baz
Luhrmann's adaptation of Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet, a Grammy from the score
of the movie Ray, collaborations with U2 and
Madonna not to mention an O.B.E. Needless
to say the release of a new studio album is
always met with high expectations. Thankfully
overall the album does not disappoint.
Opener 'Outside' reintroduces us to Armstrong's
signature, melancholy, orchestral
strings and emotional piano. The mood however
slowly creeps towards the sinister with
the mystical tale of loneliness’ that is “Dust”
Jerry Burns’ fragile vocals add to the song’s
sense of sadness. Emotions are displayed
here in all their dramatic, gut wrenching glory
with stories of lost love as the album's
prevailing thread. However, while the acoustic
sensibility of gentle ballad "Strange Kind
of Love" and the obviously Bowie inspired
"Crash" featuring Suede's Brett Anderson,
make the project accessible to a wider audience,
it is the abstract moments here that
are the most intriguing. The creepy, industrial
production on “15 Summers” is morosely
atmospheric with a shivering string melody
and a baseline that bubbles up as if rising
from beneath the ground. On “Desole”, the
hip hop beat is juxtaposed with grandiose orchestral
arrangements which helps to knock
some rough edges into its classical structure.
Meanwhile the crackling underbelly, deep piano
chords and lurking synths of "Sing" have
a pace and urgency suitable for the score of
a slick Hollywood thriller.
The album is not without fault, however. "All
Around Love" featuring Paul Buchanan is
dripping with gooey sentimentality and surprising
clichés. Elsewhere not even John
Grant’s eerie deep bass vocals and Jerry
Burns’ celestial harmonies on "Powder" can
keep it from sounding overly theatrical and
melodramatic. Yet for all its slight missteps,
Armstrong's range of eclectic influences and
complex instrumentation should give this
project a wide appeal and keep fans of his
previous work satisfied.
By Karen Lawler
54 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

DOWNTEMPO - CHILLOUT
A Trip Through The World Of Ambient / Downtempo Music
Psychonavigation
Various - John Beltran
Presents : Music For Machines
[Delsin Records]
Rating: 8/10
American electronic musician John Beltran tries
his hand at compiling a selection of Ambient
nuggets for the ever excellent Delsin label.
With John at the controls you’re guaranteed a
top notch selection of Electronic music and YES
there's much to admire across the cd's 18
tracks.
Broken into two parts, Part 1 follows the similar
path of String-Piano compositions with the
highlight being John Beltran's very own 'Music
For Machines,' a sublime piece of electronica
that could have easily fitted neatly on his epic
solo album 'Ten Days Of Blue'. The slo-mo
House groove of Dennis Clifford's 'Nineteen
Eighty Seven' who's slide guitar ala KLF creates
a lilting flow to the track and is another standout.The
second part of the compilation begins
with the first vocal sample to be heard thus far
- an Ambient poem is whispered in a Scottish
accent with a haunting background made up of
found sounds from an unexplored world. Finally
after waiting patiently, we are presented with a
long overdue more rhythmic piece by Greg
Chin. The utterly delightful 'Dashboard Angels'
(which I had to double check wasn't John
Beltran himself) displays all the characteristics
of Beltran's early recordings for Peacefrog and
R&S. Lush strings that build up so nicely it really
would make for good driving music!
Mick Chillage's sublime contribution sounds like
an out take from FAXology, his album for the
legendary Fax label. Dark Biosphere-esque
melodies combined with Mick's own unique
keyboard playing make this another highlight.
The album closes with another stunning Ambient
track from A2B2C2 'Stereometry' whose
well placed guitar lick over shimmering ambience
closes the disc.
Overall a great collection from Mr Beltran and
essential listening for fans of the Pop Ambient
compilations on Kompakt.
By Keith Downey
Muted E.P: Special Place
Rating: 6/10
Icelandic producer Bjarni Rafn Kjartansson who
thankfully makes music under the much less
tongue -twisting moniker of Muted, has been
an integral part of his local hip hop scene for a
while now. He has also become a popular producer
among his native MC's and lyricists too.
Residing in a small town on the east coast of
Iceland, Muted used the isolation of the harsh
Icelandic winters to work on his craft. The time
spent has yielded some interesting results on
this 5 track EP entitled "Special Place". The 5
track E.P tag is a misleading one as it is in fact
3 mixes of the title track plus two others.
Opener Special Place (radio Edit) encompasses
a down-tempo, lo-fi, hip hop beat with abstract
electronica, smokey strings and delicate vocal
by Samaris. "This is the only place where I feel
completely free, alone with my thoughts,
quietness indeed" she tells us sweetly on the
hook, lending the track a beautiful humanity.
The Ruxpin produced version meanwhile retains
the original integrity of the vocal but adds
dub element and a baseline slightly reminiscent
of Massive Attack's "Teardrop". The drifting
melody should be appreciated by chill out
lovers. The tempo is taken up a couple of
notches for M-Band's re-imaging of the tune.
This drum and bass stomper has a tribal, hypnotic
quality to it, with many unexpected twists
and turns. Even the frantic piano thrills, winding
clocks and xylophone taps build to create
what becomes an electrifying groove. On "Lava"
Meanwhile, rain sounds fall over a deep
house beat and a quirky melody made from
what can only be described as a sonic pogo
stick. As the said pogo stick bounces away you
may still be left wondering whether this idea
was better in theory than in practice. Closing
track “Dreamworld” is unfortunately a bit of a
let-down. Although well produced, the constant
repetition of the same hip hop beat eventually
seems unimaginative and drawn out, like a
prelude to something else that we never actually
get to hear.
While Muted doesn't break new musical
ground, this E.P has its own interesting, even
well defined moments and is worth a listen.
Muted may not be able to transport you to a
dream world, but there are some special places
in the music if you listen closely.
By Karen Lawler
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 55

BASS HOUSE REVIEWS
Crown Duels - Forever
(Taiki Nulight Remix)
[Saucy Records]
Rating: 10/10
Zone Magazine Top Tune:
My Zone Mag Top Tune for the month is
presented to us by one of the top producers in
bass music, Taiki Nulight. “Just a kid chasing
his dream”, Taiki Nulight hails from London and
is no stranger at all the bass music scene. This
remix of Crown Duels’ track Forever opens up
with some vocal samples from the original
track, interesting funky rhythms and melodic
percussion. The track breaks down and slowly
introduces some terrifying sounding highpassed
garage wobbles and absolutely smashes
out of nowhere with a dangerously big impact.
There are some pretty standard four to the floor
NATHAN MC GRATH
beats and nice syncopated percussion but the
sound design featured in the basslines here is
like none ever heard before in UK bass music
and opens the door for a lot of potential
development within the genre, a description of
their nature is simply out of scope. The detail of
production in percussion, atmosphere and
wobble synthesis in this track is just
phenomenal. Taiki Nulight is doing some serious
innovation with this track, an absolute must
have for any fan of bass music, expect big
things from Taiki Nulight in the future. Overall,
one of the sickest bass music tracks I have ever
heard, hands down.
Ninjury – Ghostbusters
Theme
[WoNKed Records / The
GentleMen’s Club]
Rating: 8/10
Zone Magazine Recommended
During the production of this track ,Ninjury
were a bass music duo hailing from Manchester.
After their next release “Fat Lady” they will be
reduced to a solo project. Ninjury’s
Ghostbusters Theme is an absolute banger and
a prime example of the dark, foreboding
capabilities of UK Bass music. Opening up with
nice, funky percussion the track quickly
progresses with vocal samples from The
Ghostbusters Movie along with some extremely
creepy atmospheric pads and ambient
percussive plucks setting the dark, scary feel
for the track. Breaking it down, Ninjury
introduce more spacey effects and vocal
samples before absolutely rip roaring into a
seriously heavy combination of dub beats and
disgusting garage wobbles. Leaving no time to
adjust the beats evolve into a solid four to the
floor and introduce a huge dark melodic rhythm
with a murky garage style donk before
advancing further into another dirty rhythm
developed from the original impact. The eerie
atmospheric plucks and erratic effects through
the drop greatly emphasise the dangerous feel
to this track. Another breakdown introduces a
more chilled out yet still menacing atmosphere
afore an enlarging build up brings us back to
the previously experienced garage donks and
developing into the outro of the song. This track
is huge and addictive with serious weight about
it and to add icing to the cake… It’s a free
download!
Stanton Warriors – Beat
Goes On [Punks Music]
Rating 9/10
Stanton Warriors are an English production duo
from West Country. They were actually the first
to introduce myself into the world of bass music
and this track in particular was one of the first
of theirs that I had the pleasure of listening to,
so it goes without saying that have a particular
soft spot for this track. It has been around
awhile so I was absolutely chuffed to see that it
was finally being released on the 17 th of October
under Punks Music. The track itself starts out
with a very unconventional sample, a funky a
Capella with a very old school vinyl quality to it.
Huge kick drums and scratch like skipping bring
us to the first impact of the song. A strongly
groovy, minimalistic dub-style beat underneath
quite distinctly unique sound design. The
melodies are repetitive but unbelievably catchy
with intermittent breaks featuring formant
wobbles, layered melodic synths and
progressive changes in the percussion
complimenting the infectious beats that you
just cannot help but dance to. We are now
brought back to the musical sample heard in
the intro with developments in the percussion
keeping it interesting before being reintroduced
to that first impact. This unique style has come
to be expected from Stanton Warriors and
cannot be found anywhere else! The remainder
of The Bones EP is just as huge as this track
and each track features Stanton Warriors
characteristic style but is still quite distinctive
and innovative in their own way.
56 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

DJ CHARTS NOV / DEC 2015
Amber Leigh Melby [USA] [Trance]
DJ Nik C [AUS] [House & Techno]
1. Solicitude - Menno De Jong, Adam Ellis
[In Trance We Trust]
2. Sucka Punch (Philip Estevez Remix) - The Squatters,
Philip Estevez [Rotate Records]
3. Tribal Wave - Gordon Coutts [Fraction Records]
4. Daywalker - Robbie Van Doe
[Mental Asylum Records]
5. The Saw - John O’Callaghan [Subculture]
6. Oinika - Geon [Acida Records]
7. The Hunted (Blazer Remix) - Future Funk Squad [Audio
Science Productions]
8. Forza - Perfect Kombo [Selecta Breaks Records]
9. Architekt - Tempo Giusto [Echelon]
10. Jakarta Dream (Sequ3l remix) - 21 Street, Sequ3l
[Freegrant Music]
Brett Kydd [N.Ireland] [EDM]
1. Sick Individuals & Ariyan – Olympia [Doorn Records]
2. Hardwell vs. Dannic vs. Deorro – Losing My Religion
(Brett Kydd Mashup) [PROMO]
3. OneRepublic vs. David Gravell - Megatron Runs Out
(Brett Kydd Mashup) [PROMO]
4. Stonebridge Feat. Therese - Put Em High (Atilla Cetin
Nitec Remix) [HK Records]
5. Pep & Rash - Fatality (Quintino Edit) [Spinnin']
6. Jordan Suckley - Contaminated [Damaged Records]
7. Galantis - Runaway (U&I) (Kaskade Remix) [Big Beat
Records]
8. Deadmau5 - The Reward is Cheese (Nom De Strip
Remix) [Rising Music]
9. Fedde Le Grande - Rockin' N Rollin' (The Deep End
Remix) [PROMO]
10. Deadmau5 - Maths (Botnek Remix) [Mau5trap]
1. Mark Fanciulli - The Abyss [Inmotion Music]
2. Pig & Dan - Mamasita [Elevate]
3. Floorplan - Phobia (Re-Plant) [M Plant]
4. Dosem - Cuts or Cats [Suara Records]
5. Monika Kruse - Summer Drops (Nicole Moudaber
Remix) [Terminal M]
6. Deep City Groove - Look Ahead [Witty Tunes]
7. Sidney Charles - Warehouse Anthem [Moda Black]
8. Deep City Groove - Turn It Up [Witty Tunes]
9. Paul Ritch - Inside Me [Drumcode]
10. Underworld - Dark & Long (Christian Smith Hypnotica
Dub) [Tronic]
Ben Waa [UK] [House / Techno]
1. Danique, Distorted Beauty – Scream (Gabriel Ananda
Remix) [PERCEP-TION]
2. Daniel Klose – Hafenklang [Traum Schallplatten]
3. Fink, Quantum Entanglement – Need You [Vakant]
4. Ricoshei – Perfect Like You [Pampa]
5. Olafur Arnalds - Only The Winds (Ryan Davis' A Letter
From Far Away Variation) [Anjunadeep]
6. Downtown Party Network - Space Me Out feat. Egle
Sirvydyte (Mario Basanov Remix) [Silence Music]
7. Pawas – Meringue [Tulipa Recordings]
8. David Durango – Broken Element (Lake People
Remix) [The Exquisite Pain Recordings]
9. PHCK – Deaf [Gibbon Records]
10. Petar Dundov, Gregor Tresher – Flux [Bedrock
Records]
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 57

DJ CHARTS NOV / DEC 2015
Nathan Mc Grath [Ireland] [Bassline House]
1. Crown Duels - Forever (Taiki Nulight Remix)
[Saucy Records]
2. The Beat Goes On – Stanton Warriors [Punks Music]
3. Cowabunga – Ninjury [Ninjutsu Music]
4. Crown Duels – Forever (Pelikann Remix [Saucy
Records]
5. Sly One – Warm Red (VIP Mix) [Unsigned / Free
Download]
6. Ten Ven & Ripley Vs. Zebra Katz – 1 Bad Bitch
(Cause & Effect Remix) [MTA Records]
7. Spray – Badger (Original Mix) [Unsigned]
8. Danger – Primateria (VIP Mix) [HeavyWeight
Records]
9. Zed Bias – Shizam ft. Stylo G & Scruffizzer (My Nu
Leng Remix) [Black Butter Records]
10. Skapes – Make Me Feel [Punks Music]
D-Formation [Portugal]
[House / Tech House / Techno]
1. D-Formation – Twenty4hrs [Oto Music]
2. Reelow – Red Panther [Serkal]
3. Benny Rodrigues – Mster French [Voyage Direct]
4. Dapayk, Padberg – Layers (Rampa Remix) [Mo’s
Ferry]
5. Redshape – Leaves [Running Back]
6. Pirupa – Wise [Saved Records]
7. LosBikini – Bacon Cheddar (Serious Beat Remix
[Unclosed]
8. Dale Middleton – Tord – D-Formation Remix – EJ
Underground
9. Guy Mantzur – Survivors Guilt [Lost & Found]
10. Marc Antona – Brush Rush [Dissonant]
Psychonavigation [Ireland]
[Ambient / Chillout]
1. Autumn Of Communion 4 [Carpe Sonum]
2. Vladislav Delay - Visa [Rippatti]
3. Thomas Koner - Tiento De Las Nieves [Denovali]
4. John Beltran Presents Music For Machines [Delsin]
5. 5 years De:Tuned [De:tuned]
6. DMX Krew / 100 Tears [Fundamental]
7. Ultramarine / Passwords [Real Sound]
8. Loscil – Sea Island [Kranky]
9. Tosca – Have Some Fun [K7]
10. Andy Stott - Faith In Strangers [Modern Love]
Nick Hook [U.K.]
[House / Tech House / Techno]
1. DJ Dan & DJ PP 'Dance, Come On' [Instereo
Recordings]
2. Sonikross featuring Sara K - 'She's In The
House' (Nick Hook & Martin Sharp Remix) [Jeepers!]
3. Mike Vale - 'Can't Fight The Feeling' [Hotfingers]
4. Mat Playford - 'Ison' [Black Rock]
5. Siwell - 'I Need It' [Sphera Records]
6. Gala - 'The Beautiful' (Hoxton Whores Dub)
[Matriachy Records]
7. Mark Knight & Discoworker - The Diary of a Studio
54 DJ [Toolroom]
8. Groove Phenomenon - Africa Tribe (Absolut
Groovers Remix) [Work Records]
9. Reload - 'And It's You' [Conkrete Digital Music]
10. Pippi Ciez & Emma Jai - 'Angels Whisper' [Bloxbox
Records]
58 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

DO WE ALL
REALLY NEED
HEARING
PROTECTION?
Hearing loss is the last thing on
anybody’s mind as they’re out
at a club or a party and
investing in hearing protection
is mostly at the bottom of
anybody’s to do list. For one,
I’ve never heard anybody’s
mother declaring “don’t forget
your earplugs!!!!” as her
beloved exits to go out on the
town for the night.
We’ve all experienced that
nasty ringing sound in our ears
after being out all night in a
really loud club or at a concert,
but as with most things we don’t
usually do something about it
until it’s too late. Hearing loss
and tinnitus are real problems.
For people who have a real
passion for music it can be
devastating to end up with your
hearing impaired and all the more
reason to be extra careful with
their hearing.
Tinnitus is a condition where a
constant ringing, whooshing or a
high-pitched whining sound can
heard in your ears. I don’t mean the
temrary ringing you get after a night
out, Tinnitus doesn’t go away it’s
permanent. Both tinnitus and hearing
impairment (where sounds become
muffled and distorted) are caused by
exposure to loud sounds of any kind.
Hearing damage occurs within the
inner ear. There are tiny hair cells
that convert sound vibrations into
electric impulses to be sent to the
brain which can easily be damaged or
destroyed by loud noise. Short
exposure to extremely loud or
elongated exposure to moderately
loud sounds are as equally dangerous
to these cells.
So let’s get down to it, how loud is
too loud? Here are the facts
according to NIOSH and CDC where
the exposure time associated with
each dB level is the amount of time
you can be exposed to a certain level
of noise before your ears are
damaged; Reference image on left.
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 59

“He was always obsessed
with flip-flops,” says friend
Devin Creighton. “Anyone
who went by his house saw
his closet full of the bleedin’
things. So what he did was
glue these flip-flop tops onto a
couple of massive speakers
and slide his feet in there. He
felt the beat through his entire
body.”
But what does
this actually
mean to a DJ,
party goer, festival
head or
just your average
music
lover? Well an
mp3 player at
full volume is a
whopping 110
dB! Concerts,
discos & clubs
can range anywhere
between
100 dB and 120
dB, so mix this
every weekend
with your casual
music listening
every day during
the week
and your ears
are already
damaged.
What can actually be done about this? The
obvious solution is to wear hearing protection,
but how will this affect the experience of the
listener? Most average hearing protection will
indeed pro tect your ears, but they are not
designed with quality of sound in mind and
will most likely alter the natural frequency response
of your hearing, greatly diminishing
your experience of the music.
Alpine Hearing Protection are here to talk
about their solution to this problem, read
60 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

What solution do you provide that solves
the issue of standard hearing protection
affecting the experience of music for the
listener?
We provide special earplugs with a filter:
Alpine PartyPlug earplugs. These have
many advantages to standard earplugs.
Will the Party Plug affect the quality or
the frequency response of music in any
way?
The PartyPlug will give you 100% music
quality thanks to the special music filter.
The high quality AlpineAcousticFilters in
the PartyPlug earplugs tone down the
volume of the music to a safe level. It is
as if the volume button is turned down.
The music experience and music quality
remain perfect.
How does the Party Plug achieve
attenuation of sound without altering it’s
natural quality?
This is possible thanks to the earplugs’
special acoustic filters. The Conical filter
with venturi bore and the shape and
diameter of the audio channel determine
the degree of attenuation. But of course
we can’t exactly explain the he secret
behind its success.
How does the Party Plug perform over
time? For example, at a nightclub dishing
out 110dB of volume, what kind of
exposure times are safe while using the
Party Plug?
It’s always hard to say this exactly. The
PartyPlug has a SNR of 17. So in a club
dishing out 110 dB you will have 93 dB
at your ears(110-17=93). Please note
that this is a oversimplified average
because an earplug attenuates different
at high level sounds and low level
sounds. To be sure download the
“MusicSafeCheck app” on your iPhone.
This app will show you the amount of
decibel and will tell you if you should
wear your earplugs or not.
While wearing uncomfortable earphones
for a long time the outer ear can also get
painful, will this happen after wearing
Party Plugs for an extended period of
time?
No, it won’t. PartyPlug hearing
protectors are made of the special, soft
and flexible AlpineThermoShape
material. This material takes on the
shape of the air, giving the earplugs a
perfect fit in the hearing canal, allowing
them to stay put in the air, making them
feel extremely comfortable. The earplugs
can therefor effortlessly be worn all
evening and night.
" I didn't want a deaf DJ on the label. I
didn't want the company to be touched
with the deaf stamp. Well, business is
tough and sometimes you have to make
awkward decisions and I've made harder
decisions than dropping the deaf DJ".
Jack Stoddart:
62 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

"The first time I heard
"Hear No Evil", I was
like "whatever". But Max
told me Frankie's story
and the penny dropped.
People love a good
tragedy. People love
handicaps, frankly. It
gets them emotional. I'll
get on that deaf train
with a wheelchair ramp,
no problem. First-class
ticket, please".
Jack Stoddart
While wearing uncomfortable earphones
for a long time the outer ear can also get
painful, will this happen after wearing
Party Plugs for an extended period of
time?
No, it won’t. PartyPlug hearing protectors
are made of the special, soft and
flexible AlpineThermoShape material.
This material takes on the shape of the
air, giving the earplugs a perfect fit in
the hearing canal, allowing them to stay
put in the air, making them feel extremely
comfortable. The earplugs can
therefor effortlessly be worn all evening
and night.
With standard hearing protection, it can
feel like that the ears are clogged, external
pressure can be felt around the
ear and sometimes itching due to allergic
reactions to the material used can be
experienced. Will this also be the case
with the Party Plugs?
No, it won’t. The special filters in the
PartyPlug earplugs are an open system
and therefor prevent you from feeling
disconnected. AlpineThermoShape, the
material of the earplugs, is hypoallergenic,
preventing itch in or around your
ear.
People already need to shout directly into
other people’s ears in order to be heard
at a club or a concert, will this be worse
while wearing Party Plugs?
No, it will even be better! Thanks to the
special Alpine AcousticFilters you will still
hear your friends talk. Even better than
without earplugs!
Most people don’t want to walk around
with ugly looking ear protection or anything
that will drag attention to the fact
that they are wearing ear protection,
how noticeable are the Party Plugs while
in use?
Because the filters in the earplugs are
transparent, the earplugs are hardly visible
in the ear. And if you think the
earplugs stick out to far you can easily
shorten them a little bit. Furthermore
you can choose your favourite colour out
of white, silver grey and black for the
earplug.
Where can extra information be found on
Party Plugs?
You can find more information at
www.alpinehearingprotection.com
Where can they be bought?
www.redbox-records.com
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 63

GERMAN REPORT
FROM WUPPERTAL
LEGENDARY
FESTIVAL
Hi folks, before we start with our actual
activity as reporters of the German
scene we want to give a brief
introduction of ourselves: My name
is Frank Dueffel and my good brother
is Andreas. We both live in Wesseling,
near Cologne. We have both
been into the dance scene fo some
time, so will be covering many styles
to include; Trance, Techno, House,
chillout and classics.
As from now we will report about
what's going on in the German dance
scene. we will report about huge
dance events, smaller underground
club parties and anything in-between.
We will have interviews with
DJs, promoters and dazzling personalities
from the scene, we will also
report about the currents Ins and
Outs and will also introduce some of
our favorite tracks at the moment.
We hop you enjoy our reports, and
please fee free to contact us with
any news from Germany you think
should get a mention.
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 65

At the beginning of November we
eagerly travelled from Cologne to
Wuppertal (distance about 44
miles) with the LEGENDARY party
bus to the well known and popular
BUTAN Club where a huge trance
event called LEGENDARY festival
took place. A second party bus
transfered more trance fans from
South Germany to the club. The
Organisation team of the
LEGENDARY festival was constituted
of four different trance promoters of
local trance events, that joined
forces to create this big event:
-Heavens Gate (Herne)
-Save Our Souls (Cologne)
-Trance Mission (Ludwigsburg)
-Spirit Of The 90th (Wiesbaden)
Each crew had their own dancefloor
inside the club: Heavens Gate got
the main floor of the club. Here you
could listen to the sound of DJs like
Solarstone, Woody van Eyden, Mark
Sixma, Roger Shah and of Cologn´s
hometown boy TEKNO (awesome
set, my friend). Fat and driving
basslines combined with crystal
clear melodies made the trance fans
dance like they never danced
before. All sets of the main floor
were broadcasted on Afterhours.FM
(and can all be found on
Soundcloud to listen again).
Additionally to mention is the
impressive light show on this floor
including a multi colour lazer show.
The second and a little bit smaller
floor was hosted by the Save Our
Souls team from Cologne and
always full of dancing trance freaks.
Apart from the well known Dennis
Sheperd, Estiva and Extravaganza
SL mainly the Save Our Souls
resident DJs MCO, Iloco and Phil
Morris performed their progressive
oriented DJ sets. The moderntrance
sound called the shots.
The Trance Mission crew hosted the
third floor which is located directly
beside the mainfloor from which
you have an impressive view on the
stage and the dancefloor of the
main room through a huge glass
window. "Are you afraid of 138" was
the slogan of this floor and DJs like
Darren Porter and Patrick van
Budde burst to the dancefloor with
their energetic and euphoric
uplifting trance sets.
66 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

Last but not least the Spirit of the 90th
team hosted the smallest room in the
basement of the club. Beyond classic
trance tunes from the early nineties
also the three winners of a DJ contest
that took place a few weeks before the
event got the opportunity to play a 60
minutes set. Congrats to the contest
winners Refr3sh, DJ T.H. and Daniel
van Vaith.
Nick Tyrez brought back some oldschool
feeling when he played hisclassic trance
set completely with vinyl on MK2
turntables.
The crowd of the event was really
awesome (age range between 18 and
60). They came from all parts of
Germany to celebrate the sound they
love. And even people from other
countries like the
Netherlands, Belgium and even Ireland
have been recognized.
The bottom line is that the first
LEGENDARY Festival at BUTAN Club in
Wuppertal was a really nice and
professional planned and executed
event. We definitely got our rocks off.
Links:
www.legendary-festival.com
www.facebook.com/legendary.festival
In the next edition you can expect
reports about the following events: Alex
Di Stefano at Affenkaefig (Cologne) &
Above & Beyond at Live Music Hall
(Cologne)
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 67

HOUSE REVIEWS
NICK HOOK [UK]
DJ DAN & DJ PP 'Dance, Come
On' [Instereo Recordings]
ZONE MAG TOP TUNE
New on the excellent Los Angeles label,
Instereo Recordings, is a collaboration between
US producer DJ Dan and top Uruguayan
producer DJ PP entitled 'Dance, Come On'.
This seriously funky disco house tune is a
perfectly produced and structured piece of
dance music that could even get your granny
dancing around her zimmer-frame.
The track has two big vocal hooks, a catchy
disco vocal sample that instructs you to 'dance,
come on, get your back up off the wall', and a
deep male vocal repeating 'got a shake it,
pump it, move it…'. Along with the crowd
sounds and siren samples this track certainly
has some cheesy moments, but the
combination of the pumping tech house
groove, disco bass-line, funky guitars and
filtered loops give it all the elements to deliver
the command of its title.
This is certainly a top release from a label that
consistently delivers.
Rating: 9/10
MAT PLAYFORD - 'ISON' [Black
Rock]
MIKE VALE - 'Can't Fight The
Feeling' [Hotfingers]
ZONE MAG RECOMMENDED TUNE
Mat Playford has been releasing quality
electronic dance music for many years on some
of the best UK labels such as Skint, Southern
Fried, Saved and Hard Times. His album 'Too
Big To Fail', recently released on Brighton label
Black Rock, showed off his eclectic style and
received critical acclaim from industry peers.
Mat's debut single for Black Rock is the slice of
sublime piano house music entitled 'Ison'. The
track starts and finishes with a 303 acid bass
line that continues throughout the whole track.
I've been a fan of Mike Vale's productions since
his exceptional remix of Prok & Fitch's
'Symphony', on Stealth, a few years back, a
track which I played out at many clubs over a
long period, and it always did the biz. Since
then Mike has produced plenty of impressive
recordings for top labels such as Toolroom,
1605 and Great Stuff, and
his new single on Hotfingers is certainly up
there with his best work.
'Can't Fight The Feeling' grooves along with a
When I first heard the track I certainly wasn't
expecting it to morph into the glorious soundscape
of piano house that follows. The killer
piano riff filters in after 32 bars and continues
until the last 32 bars and in between is the
outstanding piano solo which goes on just long
enough. The track ends very neatly, exactly as
it began with the 303 acid line.
I highly recommend this fantastic track -
perfect as a mood changer or end of night
tune.
Rating: 9/10
pumping tech house rhythm and a repeating
vocal hook that pronounces 'I can't…, you
can't… and we can't fight the feeling'. It builds
up to a very effective piano breakdown and
kicks back in with a rocking percussive groove.
It all works extremely well, a guaranteed dance
floor smash produced by a master of the genre.
Another impressive release from Mike Vale and
Hotfingers - highly recommended.
Rating: 9/10
I must admit I've only discovered the work of
Italian producer Luigi Poggiani aka Siwell quite
recently, even though he has a discography
that goes back quite a few years. I've quickly
become a fan though because some of his recent
tunes have been quite exceptional house
music productions.
Siwell's latest single is on his own label Sphera
Records, which has been putting out some
great releases from top artists such as Peter
Brown, UMEK, Luigi Rocca and Lizzie Curious.
'I Need It' is a stomping funky tech house tune
with filtered disco samples, big bass line and
rocking percussive groove. This monster track
has a sensational production and is a guaranteed
floor filler. What more can you say? Buy
it, play it, enjoy!
9/10
SIWELL - 'I Need It'
[Sphera Records]
68 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

EDM REVIEWS
BRETT KYDD [N.I.]
ZONE MAGAZINE TOP TUNE
Lurgan lads, Ryann Lyness & Brendy Cavanagh, make up ‘The Deep End’ duo. With
releases already signed to ‘Tackle Records’ & ‘Porky Records’ they released their remix of
Fedde Le Grande’s floor destroying record, Rockin’ N’ Rollin’, as a free download from their
official Soundcloud page. If you like the modern creation of what house music has warped
into, similar to Oliver Helden’s signature sound, you’re going to love this chunky, beefed
up version of an already great track!
The Deep End - Rockin’ N’ Rollin
Rating: 10/10
Listen/Free Download: https://soundcloud.com/thedeependmusic/fedde-le-grand-rockinn-rollin-the-deep-end-future-remix
ZONE MAGAZINE RECOMMENDED TUNE
With tracks signed to Spinnin’ Records, Diffused, Vicious Recordings and Tiesto’s ‘Magik
Muzik’ label, playing the main room of Cream Amnesia, Ibiza and playing at Creamfields
festival twice are a list of achievements by 19 year old Northern Irish lad named Junior J
(AKA Jay Hamilton). When ‘Scotland's Brightest Young Talent' and our very own Junior J
collaborate, it can only mean there's great music coming your way. ‘Thinking About Me’ is
an uplifting and high energy progressive house track with Rebecca's dynamic vocals truly
matching the euphoric sound of the young Northern Irish producer. This track won't have
you standing still on the floor!
Junior J featuring Rebecca Shearing – Thinking About Me [Black Hole Recordings]
Rating: 8/10
Producing from his home studio in Cookstown, currently unsigned producer ‘Gareth McA’
has been DJ’ing & producing for close to 6 years now and has released his own take on
the 3-way collaboration from Doorn, Garrix & DVBBS as a free download! It is loaded with
big room ‘hands in the air’ synths that leave the hairs on the back of your neck standing
upward! In my opinion, it is his best work yet.
Sander V. Doorn / Martin Garrix & DVBBS Ft. Aleesia – Gold Skies (Gareth McA Remix)
Rating: 7/10
Passionate deep house producers ‘Deep Audio’ hail from Belfast. Both have been playing
the underground scene for a number of years and have recently taken their music to new
heights
signing their latest track to KP Recordings. Their track, Animal, is complete with soft
vocals [from uncredited vocalist], clean slicing percussion and a deep, yet driving, bass
line that backs up the solid kick pattern! Animal will be hitting the Beatport charts on 9 th
January, take note!
Deep Audio – Animal – [KP Recordings]
Rating: 7/10
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 69

MARK
KAVANAGH
FEATURE
INTERVIEW
There are a handful of people in the lexicon of
Irish clubbing that truly have left their mark.
They haven't had "careers", moreso "legacies".
There's Billy Murray, founder of Abbey Discs -
need we say more? There's the late Jim Kenny,
arguably Ireland's first real club DJ and the first
to mix two records together. And there's the man
who we'll be talking to today; since the early 90s
he has shone like a big lovable, grinning beacon
sitting central in everything that has been Irish
Dance.
Red Records. Sound Crowd. Remix fanzine. Muzik
magazine and Hot Press contributor. Babydoll
Records. A heavy hand in naming an entire
international sub genre - "Hard House", the
producer of Ireland's biggest selling track of that
genre - "Bad Boy" - which would shift an
incredible 20,000 copies in a pre digital music
era. The presenter of Ireland's most influential
clubbing radio show - Remix on DLR FM - which
is responsible for creating more Irish club DJs per
square transmitting airwave bar none. I recently
discovered one of the shows in my PC "vaults"
from 1993 and it still jumps out of the speakers
like something that aired last week. The music is
organic, vibrant and, even at its toughest, Mark's
choices always had a big dose of soul dancing
around the heart of it with its hands in the air.
So that makes him our Pete Tong right?
Well he's that and a good bit more. He's as
friendly as Carl Cox. As pioneering and prolific as
Paul Oakenfold. As authoritative as the late
Frankie Knuckles. As hard working as Sven Vath.
As focussed as Sasha. As groundbreaking as
Derrick May.
He's all of those things combined and more. And
he's ours! If Billy Murray is the Godfather of the
Irish clubbing scene then Mark is it's Consigliere.
Its safe to say he's helped shape an entire Irish
industry and help many aspiring DJs along his
journey. Myself included.
70 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

When I was just a mere pup in the
business Mark gave me one of my
breakthrough gigs; supporting The
Sound Crowd in the Olympic
Ballroom on a freezing January 1st
in 1994. The turnout wasn't at
capacity - it was the night after New
Years Eve after all - and I was on
first. But I'll never forget using
Technics SL1200s for the first time
(upto then it had been Citronic belt
driven antiques!) and getting to
warm up for not just the greatest
Irish Dance act of all time, but one
of history's best electronic groups
full stop.
After my set he was full of praise
and encouragement; the latter being
one of the most important things a
novice DJ will ever need. It was the
night Sound Crowd premièred "Sixth
Season" to some dedicated clubbers,
another Irish clubbing milestone in
Mark's career given the success it
had, and it was the night he went
from being "a great Irish DJ" in my
mind to being a bit of a hero.
Fast forward 19 years and Mark is
still very much a central cog in the
Irish Dance industry. No mean feat
given how tough a scene it can be to
survive in. Not only has he done
that but he's managed to pivot full
time into one of his original passions
of journalism, working his way upto
the position of Chief Sub Editor and
Senior Assistant Editor of the Irish
Daily Star, whilst still dusting off his
headphones for the occasional
special guest appearance in clubs all
over the country.
Like Mark, Im lucky enough to have
experienced three life cycles of
Dance culture in Ireland so far.
In the early 90s my friends and I
would swap tapes, mixed by DJs in
clubs we were too young to get into
like Sides DC. These amazing
groundbreaking things were coming
out of the speakers, like Beltram's
"Energy Flash", React II Rhythm's
"Intoxication" and "Rainbows In The
Sky" by the Hypnotist. It was
labelled "Rave" by the media and
grown ups but to us it was just
"f**king amazing!"
In the late 90s Ireland and the UK
hit its second Dance cycle, spurned
on by the new Ferry Corsten sound
and massive clubs like the Temple
Theatre. Mainstream media revealed
its best (and cheesiest) playing card
when Sky One commissioned "Ibiza
Uncovered". A whole new generation
of clubbers wanted to get their tops
off and go mental, Manumission had
midgets peeling potatoes in random
corners of the club and Corporate
Clubbing was born. Brands like
Cream and Ministry Of Sound led the
way.
Apart from the brief "Hed Kandi"
phase that peaked around 2004 I
think this is the third real great cycle
of club culture in Ireland ... and isnt
it amazing how strong the scene is
again? Every weekend every clubber
is catered for, with major acts and
DJs making regular appearances and
its a testament to certain promoters
in the city who love this industry as
much as Mark and I do.
For this entire heady 20+ year
magical mystery tour he has been
the driver of the bus, the captain of
the ship, the one leading the way for
all others to follow, to learn from
and sometimes look at and say: "I
want to be like him. I want to be a
DJ". He has grabbed Irish club
culture by the scruff of the neck,
shook it around and drank in the
ambrosia of everything 909, 808
and 303.
When I was asked to do this
interview with Mark I thought Id rest
the Sound Crowd stuff on this
occasion. That story has been told,
and any parts of it that haven't
surfaced yet will surely be part of
the one Mark will want to write
himself one day. There's definitely a
book in there somewhere amongst
such a rich tapestry of experience.
This time I wanted to know about
what has influenced the man who
has influenced so many:
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 71

Thanks for taking the time to do this
Mark, I know how crazy your schedule
must be. Id like to begin with
your DJing influences. It is widely
known how much Tony De Vit
shaped a new sound and changed
the game for you. But who else has
help form the DJ you became?
Tim Hannigan was a huge influence,
particularly in the first half of
the 90s. We had pretty similar
Moy was a fellow reveller was hugely
influential. After two weeks of
dancing until 6am to balearic beats
and early house in UK-run clubs on
Gran Canaria, Johnny went off to
London and immersed himself in the
emerging acid house culture and I
came home and started buying and
listening to loads of early house and
techno and playing what I could at
commercial discos
around the city.
international DJs did you look up to
in your early years?
There were so many Irish DJs who
played important roles in the early
development of the club scene in
Ireland. Among them were Liam
Fitz, Martin McCann, Fish Go Deep,
Nailer in Waterford, Tommy at Sex
Kitchen Galway, David Hales, Niall
Comiskey, David Holmes, Warren K,
Francois, Johnny Moy, Billy Scurry,
tastes in music and got each other's
tastes. From him I learned about
things such as song structures, arrangements,
the four-bar rule, production
techniques, synthesisers,
computers. To this day I have never
seen anyone with faster keyboard
skills.
A holiday I took in 1988 to the
Canary Islands on which Johnny
Hardfloor, New Order, Arthur Baker,
Kraftwerk, Chic, Afrika Bambaataa,
The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Moby,
N-Joi, Rollo, Public Image Limited,
Depeche Mode, Human League
and others too many to mention
helped shaped my sound.
That's interesting that Tim was such
an influence. What Irish and
Paddy Dooley in Galway, Colm Carty,
Buddy in Limerick, Iain
MacReady, Mark Dixon and Stephen
Mulhall.
In the early years, international DJs
I looked up were the likes of Justin
Robertson, Billy Nasty, Darren
Emerson and Andrew Weatherall.
72 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

Who was it gave you a break in the
business?
Timmy and I made our own luck
with Red Records, we didn't get a
lucky break as such. As a DJ, Liam
Ryan who owned the Olympic
offered me a residency at the
Ballroom in 1991 to replace the
original multi-DJ line-ups because
one week all of the other DJs who
used to play there had gone off to a
big party elsewhere and I got to
play for nearly four hours and held
the floor. The residency lasted two
and a half years and was huge — we
had more than 1,200 people in
every week for about 18 months of
that run.
But I think most people would agree
that the radio show I hosted on DLR
during the same period was far
more important in establishing me
both as a DJ and as a 'commentator'
on clubbing (for want of a better
expression).
And I would be one of those
agreeing wholehearidly with those
that mentioned DLR! Which early
Irish nightclubs did you go to before
you were standing behind the decks
yourself?
Tamangos, McGonagles, Sides DC
and Sir Henrys.
A nice variety of venues there.
Which of them stands out as the
most influential for you?
Sides DC was in my opinion the
most important club in Ireland in
that era. Liam Fitz and Martin
McCann were heroes who every
aspiring DJ including me looked up
to.
Sides DC seems to be a common
influence for many back then. Apart
from the music - how do the Irish
clubs of the late 80s and early 90s
differ from today's?
Everything was different before the
rave scene revolutionised Irish
nightlife. DJs had not been
respected, and clubbers had not
been respected. There were only a
few exceptions to this...
You were one half of a group that
made some of the most amazingly
melodic music Ive ever heard - of
any genre! For me, "Think About It
Please" will never be topped for me
as the best Irish Dance track of all
time. Sound Crowd influenced a
generation to go and themselves
make music. But what have been
your musical influences over the
years?
I think every record that turns your
head and makes you go 'wow'
influences you in some way. What I
find heartwarming and exciting is
that after all of these years I am
still excited by new music, by
sounds or styles I have never heard
before, by infectious songs and by
the strangely beautiful and
beautifully strange.
Nicely put. Its, perhaps, the hardest
questions a DJ can be asked but lets
give it a shot; What are the three
Dance tracks that have influenced
you above all others?
The Age of Love: The Age of Love
Rollo Goes Mystic: Love Love Love
(Here I Come)
Hardfloor: Acperience II
What are the top three non Dance
ones?
New Order: Blue Monday
Massive Attack: Unfinished
Sympathy Grandmaster Flash: The
Message
I'd love to know what journalists
have influenced you over the years
and you must have a voracious
appetite for reading given your day
job. That said; who would be the top
three journalists who have shaped
your own style?
Ireland is blessed with many great
journalists so I would have lots of
heroes currently working in Irish
print media, way too many to laud
here ... I am not sure that any of
them would have shaped my own
style.
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 73

The three that I believe maybe did
would be:
Paul Morley
James Hamilton (RIPRecord Mirror
Jocks magazine journalist. I had the
great privilege of meeting once at
an Irish DJ convention organised by
the late Tamangos DJ Jim Kenny).
Alan Jones (another great Record
Mirror, Jocks and DJ magazine
journalist)
And if you could only bring three
books with you to a dessert island,
what would they be?
bit about any future projects you
have coming up. I believe there's
the matter of another Red Records
Christmas party on the horizon?
Next year there will only be one Red
celebration party, and I have been
approached about co-promoting a
massive all-night event next New
Year's Eve but that is a long way off.
On December 27 this year I am
teaming up with UFO resident
Francois at the Button Factory and
even at this early stage it is looking
like an advance sellout which is
fantastic.
We will have more lasers than ever
before and joining us at a Red event
for the first time is Sides DC legend
Liam Dollard, one of the most
important Irish DJs ever.
Next year's new years eve event
sounds intriguing and best of luck
with this year's Button Factory gig.
Many thanks Mark, it was a pleasure
- we'll let you get back to work!
Words By Jason Dee
Something by Will Self, Paul
Morley's Words and Music, and one
of Peter Murphy's. It would make
more sense and take up less space
to bring an iPad Air 2 with a Kindle
app loaded with dozens of great
books. And I could fill it with music
too.
Your Ipad option sounds much more
practical. Finally Mark, tell us a little
MARK
KAVANAGH

HIP HOP REVIEWS
Fiachradh Finch McDermott
If words could describe just how great
this album is, I am yet to discover them.
Lethal Dialect (hereby called LD) has
grown so much in three albums, it is
simply astonishing. The emotional
content in 1988 is something else. The
artwork itself is plain and simple. Nothing
too deep; let the music speak for itself.
With 'Lethal Dialect X JackKnifeJ' written
above, less is more.
Kicking straight into a phenomenal
introduction to the album, School Dayz
Are Over is the perfect beginning. The
synths are deeply peaceful, and really
flow. That automated snare is a big
difference to what LD's music usually
consists of, which marks a new artist.
'LD50 is the artefact' is a strange way to
approach it, but the lyrics are very
personal, if that would be the correct
word. Talking more to himself than the
listener, it is a much different style
indeed. The rhythms and flow keep
building up, dropping; setting the perfect
groove. A step away from traditional hiphop,
Lethal Dialect has found his own
style. It's so far apart from Irish hip-hop
that it would be hard to place it, aside
from the accent. With an outro of over a
minute long, this is one phenomenal
introduction to an album.
At this point, 13 'Til Infinity would be
well known among us Irish hip-hop
heads, but nonetheless its placement on
the album is perfect. The harmonious
intro, coupled with the sound of rain, is
tranquil. The bass and voices in the
background have depth, kudos on the
production.
In the same light as previous,
Headstrong (ft. Jess Kav) would be
known at this stage too. A fade in with
alluring chords, the ambient crashes in
the back are glorious. One would feel
that flow is sacrificed to give more power
to the statements being made, and while
this isn't a bad thing, it surely is a
different light being shed on LD. The
momentum of the groove is kept going
with the brassy samples brought in, and
there's a certain air of sentimentality
about the song.
Another one with Jess Kav, 26 Laws is a
simple beat, but effective. Smashing
through Still A Darkhorse, which at this
stage is a common feature throughout
LD’s albums, and bouncing through a
comical interlude, LD is showcasing his
diversity across tracks, and JackKnifeJ is
truly the perfect match here.
Back to the game face, Set You Free has
a marvellous vocal intro. A very slow
beat, consisting of a few trap hats, the
kick is quite suppressed. The synths,
again, keep swirling in the background,
and although a common feature
throughout the album at this point, the
production of said synths is
exceptional. Moving away from this laidback
atmosphere, Beast-Mode, with
4Real, is a lot harder. The only other
rapper featured on a track, it can't but
sound individual. The brass samples in
the back are strange; they sound like
they should be the main riff, not
bouncing around in the back. Still,
variance is always appreciated.
The last feature from Jess Kav, Energy,
suits her well again. The chord
progressions are very nice, and the
hollow snare with a bit of delay sounds
big. It's peaceful, but with a sort of
underlying feeling of anxiety. The
unsettling atmosphere can be
disconcerting at times, but this only adds
to the track. Jess Kav's vocals are
exemplary, only adding to the emotional
content, and this emotional experience
leads into the last song on the album,
featuring Damien Dempsey, a big name
in the game.
Synths and (presumably) chimes open
up the track, as does a scrappy beat.
Dempsey sounds unusual, his unique
style contrasting with LD's. The chimes
really have a magnificent resolving chord
progression. Around 7 minutes the track
ends, falling into total silence.
The track is dead silent for about a
minute, then the bonus fades in. Some
soft synths, a sick drum groove and a
funky bassline is a peculiar way to finish
the album. The bass, being layered with
a very high frequency synth, or heavily
filtered guitar, is a perfect example of
the diversity of JackKnifeJ's production
skills. The whole album up to this point
seems perfect, ie: each song follows the
next perfectly. Brave is the closer, it
resolves the album; completes it. We
don't expect any more. This hidden track
changes all that, it skews this fact
entirely. It ends the album on a different
note, and we need something more after
it. Fade out. Fin.
Sicker than sick and doper than dope,
the album exceeds any expectations at
all. To see LD grow over three albums in
such a way, and to find his own style,
with JackKnifeJ, is just astonishing.
Perfection doesn't describe the album.
On his way to great things, it's a proud
moment for him for sure.
A step ahead of the rest in the Irish
scene, LD truly is going places. The
scene lacks definition, something that
comes naturally to LD. The album is an
immense piece of work, and
sentimentality prevails throughout.
Working with one producer can be a bit
limiting in the sense that artistic abilities
are restricted, but at the same time, as
shown here, there's a contrast. LD and
JKJ bring out the best in each other's
styles. Excellence at its finest, for a
tenner, you're essentially buying the lads
a box of fags. You can part with that, I'm
sure.
Bandcamp link: http://
lethaldialect.bandcamp.com/
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 75

HIP HOP REVIEWS
Fiachradh Finch McDermott
Buggsy – Time Is Ticking
Buggsy truly is back with this slammer.
Hailed as the biggest head in the Bristol
scene at the moment, one can understand
why. With fast lyrics flowing through the
sound system, he's making a statement and
being on the receiving end is a blessing. A
step away from the rest of the scene, his
style has taken a new turn. Instead of the
traditional reggae we would be more used
to hearing, he's veering towards – dare I
say it – trap, and it's blissful.
A beautifully peaceful introduction to the
track sets the record straight, and immediately
one can see the diversity in Buggsy's
style. The sonic space is incredible here,
credit to Drog. The hollow click keeps the
beat, then the track drops into trap. A
strange direction, but Buggsy has more
than enough talent to rap over the beat. His
speed is still unrivalled here, and the flow is
incredible. For those of you with bad soundsystems
I sympathise, but that bass is subsonic
frequencies and has the potential to
sterilize you. Production is something else;
the bass is perfect. Buggsy keeps it real,
with the iconic 'Agagagag' featured. In a
word; perfect. One needs no more proof
that Buggsy is getting better and better;
he's on the way up. This track simply exemplifies
the fact that he has the potential to
rival the big names in the business.
Other recommended tracks: Skitz Ft Buggsy
– Born Inna System, Ft Eva Lazarus - No
Time To Waste.
Another unique release from another U.K.
Heavyweight, iNDEX has changed considerably
since the Scribble The Pen days. Losing
the old-school grooves for this new track,
Chro sets it apart from iNDEX's other releases.
It is in no way a disappointing feature,
and one only needs to listen to see he still
retains his usual characteristics. With more
references to weed than your local farmer
shop's top quality herbicide, you can see iN-
DEX still has it. That characteristic flow is
still present, although the music is a lot
brighter than before, and has much more of
an optimistic feel. The random choppy intro
sets the mood, and a long clappy snare
keeps the groove. Frequent slow build-ups
make sure we stay interested, and a relaxing
guitar is perfect. There's a very new ambient
quality to the music, something that
one might say is unexpected, especially in
contrast to earlier releases. Very different,
and much more unique, change is always
appreciated. On a bonus note, he looks a bit
high in the video.
Other recommended tracks: Scribble The
Pen, Appreciation.
iNDEX – S.A.G.E.
The title track of Fliptrix's slamming new album,
it promises a great release. Another
artist who has taken a new direction with
their music, this track is a lot more electronic
than previous features. In no way a bad
thing, as change is always excellent, Fliptrix's
release is all produced by Molotov. The
video for this track is a pleasure, with a better
light show than a Pendulum gig. The production
is incredible, with numerous synths,
strings, chimes; everything combined for the
perfect mix. The flow is remarkable, and it
really showcases how far Fliptrix has come,
and the ability of Molotov. The slow repetitive
qualities of the track are trance-like,
and induce the listener into a different state
of consciousness, almost. Polyhymnia, the
album, is out now on High Focus records.
Other recommended tracks: Paradise, War
To Your Door, Wylin' Out.
Fliptrix – Polyhymnia
76 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

IRISH LABEL SPOTLIGHT
www.irishmossrecords.com
Irish Moss Records now on their
29th release, where founded in
2011 by Dublin based D.J/Production
duo Barry O Brien and
Jason Rymer aka 'Dirty Dubsters'
set out with a very simple
ethos. To find the hottest Reggae
and Bass artists on the
scene and deliver top quality
recordings, blending the classic
Sound System culture with modern
day bass music.
The independent label has won
great support worldwide releasing
tracks from Top Cat, Burro
Banton, Turbulence, General
Levy, Tenor Fly, Mystro, M.A.D
(Superstylin, Groove Armada) to
name just a HANDFUL of the top
class, and world renowned performers
associated with the label.
They also host the biggest
all day RubaDublin Reggae Festivals
3 times a year firmly cementing
themselves as the premier
Irish Reggae label!
Back in 2011, the roster was
launched with Dirty Dubsters,
who in essence brought attention
to the newly founded Irish
Moss Records with a string of
anthemic releases, delivering a
powerful LIVE show at venues &
Festivals across the continent.
Over the past three years, the
growth has been unprecedented,
with remix credits from DJ
Vadim, Zion Train, Wrongtom,
Marcus Visionary & Kenny Ken,
furthering the well-respected
discography.
Irish Moss’s latest
release drops in December with
new Russian Mystro, DonSteppa
Style with ‘See the World’ a
monster 18 track LP, with Steppa
inflicting bass heavy riddims
laced with messages of positivity
- nothing but good vibes from
this
one!
CONNECT:
Dawn Kelly:
press@irishmossrecords.com
By Moggi
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 77

RADIO STATION
SPOTLIGHT
SCOTLAND [UK]
Groove City Radio Interview with Iain
Boney Clark
Hi Iain, thank you for taking time out
to speak with The Zone.
As key figures at Glasgow's Groove
City Radio can you introduce us to
the station please. How and where
can it be heard and what can new
listeners expect on tuning in?
We are an internet radio station
based in the heart of Glasgow with a
host of primarily local and
surrounding area presenters who
have their own Club Nights, Record
Labels or just well known names on
the circuit bringing a very eclectic
mix of music. You can hear us on our
own site,www.groovecityradio.com or
you can hear us through the
www.tunein.comas well. And if you
miss a show you can always listen
back to our archive, again through
our own site or Soundcloud.
Regarding background and
development we understand this in
one of the most audacious radio
projects of it's type in Scotland. Did
yourselves and the team when
envisaging the concept feel there was
enough of an appetite now for a
station of this nature given the recent
boom in dance musics popularity via
crossover artists such as Disclosure,
MK and Gorgon City?
We don’t think its audacious but
more for the love of music. There has
been and will be more stations
popping up all the time, it goes back
decades with pirate stations who set
pop up FM sites and tried to be one
step ahead of the authorities before
having to move and set up in new
areas. Now with the internet anyone
can do it. The difference with a lot of
sites is the effort that is put in. We
are trying to be a bit different from
the other stations who kind of pigeon
hole themselves, either soul, house
or em that type of thing. We have a
broad range of styles from, Northern
Soul, Hip Hop, Afro Beats Latin, Jazz,
African Rhythms, House, Trance and
EDM to name a few so there is
something for everyone, we also
have an alternative show which
caters for the indie listeners as well,
playing ska, punk, reggae and all
that was 70’s 80’s 90’s. Some of our
biggest shows on the station are the
EDM type ones but we want to give
our listeners something a bit
different. We could easily have every
single show playing the big anthems
and have a shit load of listeners but
thats what makes us different from
the rest I believe.
The house sound is just one element
of Groove City's output however, with
a multitude of musical styles ranging
from trance and EDM to Reggae and
Trap all being represented to. Is this
reflective of Glasgow's offerings gig
and club wise? If so it certainly is an
appealing mix for any Global listeners
planning a weekend city break?
As we said in the
previous question we
have diverse genres
on the station which
covers the majority of
people. We have a
vision that we want
all styles of music on
groove City Radio
including daytime
stuff, buts thats way
down the line at the
moment. As everyone
knows Glasgow has
always been the
capital of Scotland
when it comes to
music, it has been,
and always will be the
centre of the music
scene and I mean all
types of music. So
yes Glasgow does
offer everyone
something.
78 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE

comes to music, it has been, and
always will be the centre of the
music scene and I mean all types
of music. So yes Glasgow does
offer everyone something.
What's interesting with the studio
itself is that we believe it to be
located within a busy bar, we
guess that may provide it's
challenges but also positives in
that the atmosphere can translate
on air in a way that a traditionally
more sterile station environment
can't offer?
Yes you’re correct, GCR is situated
in a Bar in the Centre of Glasgow,
the Bar is called Bar Groove which
obviously ties in with the station.
We are the only radio station in
Britain to broadcast from a bar.
Our studio is built in the middle of
the station so when the punters
come in they can see through the
glass into the studio and watch
everything that is going on. They
sometimes get the chance to be
part of some of the shows,
primarily on a Saturday night when
the town is jumping. A great bit of
marketing for both the Bar and the
station. We sometimes do all
dayers in the bar, we have two
rooms where we can have two
different styles of music. We can
broadcast these live events as well
or just keep the normal schedule,
we can switch between both.
Stepping out of the studio the
station also boasts an impressive
list of outside broadcasts. Can you
guys tell us a little about these?
Any particular highlights?
For a station in it’s infancy we can
boast of some great events. We
have a great relationship with
Streetrave and Colours who are
the biggest promoters in Scotland
and have been for many, many
years and attract the biggest DJ’s
in the world to Scotland. So they
have kindly let us broadcast some
of their events. We have also
broadcast Barraloadasoul which
was a Northern Soul all dayer from
the world famous Barrowlands
right here in Glasgow. These are
just a couple but we have done
more and intend to do lot more
next year. We plan to broadcast
local clubs to the masses where
that will not only give the clubs a
boost but also get GCR more and
more listeners.
Moving forward and into 2015 are
there any projects that listeners
should keep both an eye and an
ear out for? If so, what's the best
method to stay up to date with
what's happening at the station?
2015 we will hopefully go from
strength to strength. Our DJ’s that
are part of the station are hard
working and are obviously an
integral part of the station. We
have some incredible DJ’s with
some fantastic talent… bare in
mind that a lot of these DJ’s were
never involved with radio before
but have held down shows for
sometime now and their listeners
are growing. I’m not going to
mention any shows here as that
would be unfair as all our shows
are equal but the best way to find
out about the shows is to tune in.
At the moment we have a few
things in the pipeline that are
awaiting confirmation, so the best
way to keep up to date with
Groove City Radio is to keep
www.groovecityradio.com in you
bookmarks on your web browser.
Words By John Steel.
ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 79