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Features
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| Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! | | Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! |
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Hard House Academy - Review
Reported by bunny
/
Submitted 13-08-02 23:24
Anyone arriving at Brixton Station after 7pm on Saturday, 10th August 2002 would at least get a sneaking suspicion that something big is going on. The place is heaving with a mish-mash of colours that would make even Andy Warhol think ‘Steady on!’ Take a step outside and you can see it flowing all the way down Brixton Road and into the glowing green dome on the corner with Stockwell Road.
Now this can mean only one of two things:
1. I really need to get more sleep.
2. Hard House Academy, the Event, has arrived.
It’s my third time at a HHA and after the excellence of the October/March extravaganzas I’m hoping for a hat trick. It’s always a good sign to see so many bright and smiley people before you’ve even stepped into the club, it reminds you (as if you needed it) that yes, the Academy really IS that special!
A quick warm-up drink in the Prince of Wales means a chance to compare outfits, tips and stories. I was told by one unlucky clubber that after queuing for 2 hours waiting for the ticket office to open she was STILL turned away because all 800 tickets had sold out by the time she was just halfway down the line! Umm, ok guys, looks like it’s gonna be pretty busy so I think we should head down there now...!!!
Grabbing a bag of salt’n’vinegar crisps along the way (a nutritious meal in a bag, carefully balanced between the four essential food groups of salt, starch, fat and preservatives) we’re at the Academy by 9.30. You can’t see the concrete for the combats as a good couple of hundred people mill about, waiting for their rave buddies and desperately trying to barter down the £70 (!!!!) a ticket price on offer from unscrupulous ticket touts. The queues themselves are refreshingly brisk and the staff are well-organised - within quarter of an hour we’re inside and checking our stuff into the cloakroom. Luverly-jubberly!!
One of the many things I love about Brixton Academy is that the minute you walk through the door the party plants a beautiful big smacker straight in your face. The Storm arena in the main foyer is a tasty, toasty little play-pen of disco lights that gives you a rare chance to get up close + personal with the DJ’s, almost like a mini-club-within-a-club. There’s always a cool draught along the left hand side as well, perfect towards the end of the night when you need to knock the body temperature down a degree or six 
Then you stand before those big, black double-doors, take a deep breath, push forward, and the full-force of the main room comes out at you like an F5 Tornado in a Technics warehouse. The dancefloor slopes down gently towards the stage, tempting you forward to where the main action is gonna be. People are pouring in from all directions; everyone’s chatting, meeting, greeting, buzzing. Steve Hill’s on stage ripping up a set more uplifting than a champagne-fuelled hydraulic crane and looking around I can see more than a few calf muscles are already warming up a treat! We say a few ecstatic ‘hellos!’ then head up to the balcony to take it all in.
[/inr]Trying to chill at a Hard House Academy is like trying to drink a glass of water when you’re drowning: not only foolish but totally impossible. The minute we take our seats Steve Blake’s I Get A Rush goes shivering down our spines and it’s all rise for the first stomp of the night! Tune after tune after tune of pure elation goes rolling round the room and bouncing off the essential Frantic Big Spiky Balls (I love you Big Spiky Balls, ha ha ha!!!) and we decide it’s time to do some serious dancing and race back down to the dancefloor. The place is wall-to-wall euphoria, Spencer Freeland’s taken over the decks as the rapture continues. Lee Haslam’s Music Is The Drug whips everyone into a deeper frenzy; arms, legs, elbows whirling, so many glo-sticks flying about it’s like an Attack of the Giant Gloworms! By this point we’re well into the thick of it, pounding away in the middle of it all, working up a gorgeous sweat. Thankfully the air-conditioning at the Academy is more than capable of dealing with a few thousand Sweaty-Bettys, so the temperature comfortably stays on the right side of the line between sticky and squelchy for the whole night. Nice one!!
After Spencer Freeland’s top-notch set come the one and only Tidy Boys. Right from the moment the MC introduces them the audience goes utterly B for Ballistic. The music turns harder, there’s a raw feel to every note and beat and no one fails to pick up on this. Ravers all around knuckle down to the serious business of GOING HARD, there are moves being chucked about the place that seem to involve some carefully rearranging of the shoulder joints. ‘Who needs aerobics?!’ one happy stomper calls out to me.
Yeah, Mr Motivator, eat your spangly leotard and weep!
By now I’m totally lost in the music and visuals. Sadly no lasers but some mind-blowing TV screens to lose yourself in, with the additional astounding strobe action that gives everything that lovely freeze-frame effect. The Tidy Boys are obviously on a mission to go bigger and better than their set of last week and I think I can say in all fairness that it’s not a lost cause The extra 15 minutes are just B.A.N.G.I.N. No further explanation needed. Thanks guys!
Now it’s come to the point where we decide we just have to escape from the main arena and give the other rooms a chance. With the knowledge that Paul Glazby’s hitting out some hard beats we make a break for the main foyer. Twenty minutes into the set and the words ‘disappointment’ ‘slow’ and ‘dull’ have been erased from our vocabularies, never to be seen again. The tunes are fast and hypnotic, the people are bouncy and charged and the DJ is first rate! We came in just as Glazby’s Rock It (Paul Janes' remix) – cheers Jon for the info!! – starts and it’s all the way up to the rafters from there on in. Loving it!!
Afterwards it’s time to try and take a little break, so we venture up to the balcony again. It’s packed. The dancefloor is packed. You get the impression that people would be swinging from the rafters, if there were any. We take a pew down the front and try and relax but K90 is on, and after a few minutes of twitching legs and arms we’re up out of seats and losing it once more! I take a look behind me and the whole balcony is on it’s feet, hands twirling, like a Mexican wave that’s gone brilliantly wrong. Five minutes later and we back at the front of the dancefloor, stomping for Queen and country. This is undoubtedly the night for absolute exhilaration, everyone’s going so strong, the music’s so energizing, the lights so spectacular, that I feel like I can run up and down mountains with diving boots on K90 plays Dreams, live. Quite possibly one of the most intense experiences in Hard Dance.
Phil Reynolds is 100% blistering, as he always, always is! I realise, far too late, that I’ve missed Tara in the upstairs room  (three times I’ve been to the Academy and not once have I made it up to that bar). Sorry, Tara, but you were amazing at Ravemonkey!!
The MC announces that it’s time for Andy Farley and the last hour. There’s NO WAY it’s 5am already. Except it is...the last hour everyone – make it count!!
Man, does it count. It’s like advanced algebra. Andy Farley rolls out a beautiful new set, surprising us at every turn with tunes pure and pumping and so, so good. I’ve lost it, the whole place has lost it, there’s only one thing to say; this is LIVING!!
Limbs are flying in all directions at velocities previously unknown to mankind, those who still have a voice to scream with are yelling out their appreciation at an average of 5 decibels (nothing seems to capture the feeling of complete jubilation better than ‘WOOOOOOHH’!!) and the world is a truly beautiful place. One final encore later and the lights are up, the glo-sticks are down and everyone tries to remember what it’s like to breathe at a rate slower then the speed of sound.
AT 6 o’Clock the tubes and cabbies will take them home to bed
Extremely tired little clubbing bears...
Retrieving the goodies from the cloakrooms is quick and easy, as is getting out. Altogether, there were no major problems that I could see, no attitude and no hassle. So a big thank you to all involved in organising Hard House Academy, to all the DJ’s for giving it your all, to all the staff for taking care of us, and to all you lovely ravers out there.
Hard House Academy: does exactly what is says on the flyer
The next Frantic event is Timeless on the 25th August.
Relevant Links:
Frantic
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Other Features By bunny:
It's about music - interview with Alex Parsons
Monkey business as usual: interview with Shaf De Bass
Twistathon – Twist’s 12 Hour 1st Birthday Bonanza
Zoology's 2nd Birthday - Review!
becomeone: Unified in Sound - Review
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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Comments:
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From: V.J. 2012FX on 14th Aug 2002 20:09.41
yep must say it was great fun and by the way the screens you talk about tripping out on were run by 2012fx's VJ Robyne and myself.this was her 2nd time on her own with only a little help at points from myself.the graphics you saw will be out on DVD from SONY end of year with the mix done by Mr 4 Decks and FX DJ Sterling Moss and will have tracks on it from Fatboy Slim - Dave Clarke and X-Press 2 among many others.keep ya eyes out for it.its called E.D.X..
would just like to say thanks to all the club heads out there for making this a top night.look forward to seeing some of you at tribal and endorphin this month and fevah* *(TBC).take care love light and megabytes craig AKA VJ 2012FX
From: UFS… on 16th Aug 2002 08:32.09
a day in the year that truly captivates ...& then it hits u twice in 2 months (literally) ...but until then i will live in the aftamath & that will once again promise another epic 2 come... gr8 review sugar - 1 that jus takes u back!!!
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