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Features Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022!

Digital Fusion presents Terminal Reported by Adam Symbiosis / Submitted 05-07-06 19:06 The scene was set for my second launch party in a month. On the way to the club I bumped into a man dancing away by himself at Oxford Street tube. Oblivious to those passing by he bopped away happily. Was this the start of a good night I wondered? Was this an omen that I’d be dancing all night? I was on the way to Digital Fusion presents Terminal at the resurgent Renaissance Rooms and had my fingers crossed that it was going to be a great night. Outside it was hot, hot night. In I strolled, straight into the club despite hearing of some problems on the door. Inside it was hotter still; I should have brought some shorts. K90 was ripping up the dance floor with ‘Dreamer’, of course it deserved a dance and already there were plenty of people doing just that. In fact I found I had some trouble manoeuvring through the people, packed out from front to rear. Impressive that there should be so many I thought at the time, congratulations to the promotions team for creating such a popular night. The room had been decked out with colours and lights, massive stacks of speakers, two dancer podiums, two massive projection screens, various stages covered in equipment progressively stepped back and higher on each other and of course K90 all toward the front of the room. Just to the back of the expansive main room and up some stairs was the VIP room, open to all and sundry this particular night. Through the gloom and past the sound bleed from the main room, the hardy souls danced to some funky house. I made a mental note to return here later as the music was pretty tasty with tracks like ‘Groove Is In The Heart’ being played. I quickly realised why everyone was in the main room when I stepped through one of the side doors into the Knowwhere room. I had been particularly looking forward to seeing this room as it had been sometime since I had been to a Knowwhere (back when it was still at the Fridge I believe) and the line up looked exciting. Pablo and Pathfinder were on a back to back and had ‘Fiji’ by Atlantis playing. The problem was with such a beautiful song, during the breakdown you need more or less silence to enjoy it to its fullest. Instead the sounds of hardcore came rushing through. Now I used to love hardcore and can still have a good little bounce to it (damn my creaking bones) but it doesn’t mix too well with trance. It seems an interesting concept to me and to many of the other clubbers that night that someone would take one room, split it in two using some curtains, then face two opposing types of music at each other. The least that could have been done was to have the djs, booths and main speakers back to back. But would that have rectified the situation? It may have sounded better for the clubbers but maybe not for the djs. Not that it was a perfect situation for them anyway. In the hardcore room the heat hit me like a brick, with the humidity coming close to what felt like 100%. I swam around for a bit before deciding to go for a drink. Back in the trance room and Anthony Dean was playing a fantastic set while I talked to Stevie, one of the Knowwhere promoters. He seemed as upset about the situation as the rest of us were and he assured me he’d already made comments to the organisers about the diabolical sound situation. As Anthony dropped ‘The Earthshaker’ by Sushi it was like there was a ground breaking battle occurring between the two rooms. The hardcore room would push the system a little harder forcing the trance room to do the same. My ears were beginning to hurt and I had earplugs! Andy Whitby was blasting it out in his inimitable style in the main room. Surprising myself, I loved his high energy remix of ‘10 into 1’ by Members Of Mayday and so did the crowd. I wandered round and had a chat to some of the up for it clubbers having it to Whitby’s hard house monsters being roared out by the Funktion 1 sound system. Not my cup of tea but there was plenty of people lapping it up. I felt as if the time was going slow, it was only quarter past 1 and Riley & Durrant were on in the trance room, my main draw for the night. I found the best place I could to enjoy the music and plotted to the sounds of ‘Two Full Moons & A Trout’. Half an hour went by and the boys were really toughening it up. Although I love their many tunes and remixes, I was not impressed. Quite frankly, there’s many more remixes of ‘Need To Feel Loved’ by Reflekt that would have suited the Knowwhere crowd, rather more than the stripped down, minimal piece they played: a flat, uninspired set that disappointed me and the people around me. I relocated to the main room and to Lab 4. The music was still tough but by far this was the busiest room. Up on the stage in front of the guys, a performance artist struts his stuff. Wearing a metal breastplate, he whacks, nudges and edges an angle grinder into it. I’m always impressed by this sort of show. It’s something out of the ordinary, something interesting to look at. In any case it’s better than the DVD that’s being played on the projectors. While it’s commendable the organisers thought to have visuals like this where many other parties fail to do so, maybe they could have gone that extra mile and had a VJ on instead of just a looping show? The visuals bared no relation to the ebb and flow of the music. Some of the best VJing I’ve seen has combined live visuals from the crowd, tailor made graphics and on the fly visualisations and renders. There was none of this, though I think touches like this will eventually sort out the super clubs from the also-rans and will certainly enhance any night I go to that provides such immersive eye candy. Upstairs, away from the hard beats I find Phil Reynolds dropping ‘Take Me Away’ by Haji & Emanuel as part of a house set. Tune! With that I’m instantly hooked and as he moves into a real bassy breakbeat tune I can feel my bones shaking from the loudness of it all but I’m set for the next hour. I can’t express enough how much I enjoyed and how bowled over I was by Phil’s set. Deep, funky, uplifting, fantastic. I’m sure I still haven’t told enough people yet. After what seems forever I decided to chance my arm (or should that be my ears) and made my way down to the Knowwhere room to catch JFK. He begins his set promisingly with some teasing, tantalising trance of the Solar Stone — ‘Seven Cities’ type (thanks Ped) and I decide to go with the flow, but by half way though the set the music reverts back to the earlier type of hard, too hard and I thought to myself, this is Knowwhere only in name. In fact I can find little difference other than speed between the rooms. Exit stage right. The open air hits me, opens up my sinuses, my ears and tense neck relax. Outside in the courtyard I find a little part of bliss. Attached to the Renaissance Rooms is an outdoor terrace littered with bodies. I make a mental note to question just why everyone is outside but dismiss it just as quick to enjoy the silence and to remove my earplugs. Out here people are talking, relaxing, enjoying. The return of a chill out area? If it is, it’s not a moment too soon. Though sparse on seating and decoration, someone points out the interesting usage of Wildchild posters on the wall and I’ve now seen the area completely redesigned with a Red Bull bar, chairs, mats and heaters. This space is certainly one to watch out for over the summer. Here’s hoping there’s a proper cover for the winter months as well! Back in the Knowwhere room Adam Sheridan and his purely digital set did nothing for me. I watch people press buttons on their keyboards all day. I don’t need to see it in a club and certainly not when he was playing what he was playing. I give up and make my way back outside quickly. Fair play though to Adam White, who I almost felt sorry for, considering what had gone on before. A few determined people had stayed for his last set and I popped in just for a while to grab my stuff before going. He’d certainly redressed the balance in the musical stakes playing tune after tune. The Oakenfold remix of ‘You’re Not Alone’, ‘Born Slippy’ and heaps more great tracks that I just didn’t have the energy to write down. Perhaps he could have been earlier, perhaps the other djs could have been 10 times better. In all a shaky start to what could have been a fantastic night if it had all come together. Atrocious sound quality, if not illegal, certainly health damaging. Poor layout planning that had a serious detrimental effect for the enjoyment of the clubbers in the trance room. There were some notable points: free drinking water at the bars, the stage shows, a glimmer of hope for the visuals and the outside terrace area. I hope some of my points will be taken on board for the next one, as this could become one of my favourite or indeed hated venues. Photos courtesy of Cheeky Chick and Mada0 from the HF archive. Not to be reproduced without permission. Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By Adam Symbiosis: Godskitchen Xmas Party: Reviewed The Big Chill: Reviewed Tiësto at Victoria Park: Reviewed Lilly Allen: Reviewed Digital Society May 2009: Reviewed The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable. Comments: From: Nomi Sunrider on 6th Jul 2006 07:31.13 Spot on review, nice to see some honesty. Totally agree with the issue's raised. From: *cheeky chick* on 6th Jul 2006 07:56.15 Symbiosis nice to meet you outside at the end for a quick chat From: Jennie B on 6th Jul 2006 08:38.08 We were so glad to be asked to host the main room along with Storm! Good review and all the issues that you have raised I completly agree with. All will be looked at for the next event which is coming soon so keep your eyes peeled! From: richbowenuk on 6th Jul 2006 11:36.25 Nice one and look forward to working with you again! From: MadaO on 6th Jul 2006 18:06.30 Nice review, sums up the night well not glossing over the obvious issues that were evident on the night. This night was good, I hope the next will be amazing. Thanks for the use of my photo's too From: *charlie*! on 6th Jul 2006 18:20.13 Hi guys, Thanks for your comments all feedback has been noted, I totally agree that the sound issue was a major problem however we had been informed by the venue in previous meetings that the curtains had been used on various occasions and worked fine, the visuals were being done by venue aswell. On the night we tried to work closely with the sound engineer to rectify sound issues but unfortunatly there wasnt to much we as a promotion could do on the night, we have taken this as a learning curve and can guarantee that we will work on these issues for future events. As a whole the launch was a success despite the issues addressed and would like to thank all involved, promotions and clubbers for there co-operation. Our next event is Nov 18th I hope to see some of you return again to check out what we have in store for you next, this time with all points from the last event taken in to consideration. Regards Charlie and the rest of the Digital Fusion crew! From: *charlie*! on 6th Jul 2006 18:38.58 for anyone who is interested, the Renaissance rooms posted a reply to issues raised regarding sound, pls have a read. http://www.harderfaster.net/?sid=f11af22cc75d5bb16528a2e730edb402§ion=forums&action=showthread&forumid=3&threadid=167554&pagenumber=5 From: Disco Diva on 6th Jul 2006 18:58.59 Honest review. I had a blinding night & although there were sound isues at times, I thought for a launch party it was fab. I think the bleed & sound was down to the venue more so was it not? Bound to be a few hicups on a first night I guess, shame as it was a good party with a good vibe. looking forward to the next one :thumb From: Claire99 on 11th Jul 2006 11:12.18 enjoyed this review, nice work From: Stevie on 11th Jul 2006 19:53.33 Always had the greatest respect for your honesty in reviews mate, and you've told it very much as you saw it again, so fair play. From: The Soundman on 16th Jul 2006 23:18.19 Good review. All the issues raised are valid. Let's hope that lessons have been learned and the organisers can go on to make Digital Fusion the great party that it promised/promises to be!

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