Looks really cool! Gonna be a very hectic day at work tomorrow so I'll have to listen to this... I tend to like this music and am desperately in need of some newer, more modern tunes, to fall in love with...

___________________
9-9-99 Never Forget

Quarantine Music Festival 2020

All My Mixes!

What a tracklist man, thanks for that. Review follows soon. A great set deserves a proper, uninterrupted listening

___________________
soundcloud.com/deeve1

Was in dumb meetings all afternoon so I had to split this into multiple sessions, good stuff though! To be perfectly frank I was honestly expecting to not like this all that much, as this style of progressive generally doesn't do it for me. This really worked, so bravo on that.

So this was as good as I was expecting, some fantastic tunes mixed together in an expert way. You have quite a talent for structuring these long sets, I always feel that you know when to keep with a particular mood or switch things up.

That section that enydo highlighted was indeed the highlight of the mix and totally drew my attention from the work i supposed to be concentrating on. There was also a track at the start that I thought was particularly excellent, so much so I was motivated enough to comment on soundcloud which I dont do very often (I think it was the remix of Denis A?). Also always nice to hear At Les, some fond memories of being sweaty in a Belgian field with that one

So yeah, overall sterling work. I've already shared it in the music lovers skype group we have at work and theres been a lot of love for it there too.

THe only annoying thing is that I was planning my next mix to be techy melodic proggy stuff, but I guess I'll have to wait until people have forgotten about this lest it be compared!

___________________

Dave King - Tales Of The Future [Trance]
Dave King - Personal Classics
MIX ARCHIVE!!!

Ah, cheers guys. That Skream remix of the Chems is just about the most main-room track ever.

Dave - yeah, I saw your comment. It was that Guy Mantzur remix of Denis A. Your praise about long sets gives me a warm glow. I used to strictly make 80 minute sets but now I find it much more fun to go on for longer. I'm well on my way to being the archetypal pompous DJ who "needs at least 14 hours to play a proper set".

Cheers for sharing it at work as well, and please please make a techy/proggy mix. I was scouring through your set archive the other day and was disappointed to realise how few things you've done that are properly proggy. According to Last.fm I've played your Echo Halloween one 22 times. Get it made!

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

Ok I really love that Danny Daze Remix of Tell Me Why.

Yeah, it's a bomb alright. I heard it in a Michael Mayer set and knew immediately it was a perfect track to ramp up the energy in a set. Quite unusual for a vocal track to be such a builder.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

Listening to this set whilst on the megabus down to London, so the following review will be far more detailed than usual...

First 20 mins are very nice and smooth, and I particlarly enjoyed the track playing at the 17 minute mark, with the chilled proggy melodies against the groovey beats, followed by a great transition with the vocals of the next track coming in.

Couldn't decide how much I enjoyed the next few tunes. Nothing wrong with them, and they would probably grow on me if I listened to them a few times, but I wouldnt have been buzzing my tits off to them in a club. The next tune though, which i assume is either tilt or cid inc, really caught my attention (35 mins). Great bassline and breakdown on that one, deffo going in the crate.

Next track is fantastic too, this is starting to sound like my kind of thing.

The set is taken back down in to the grubby tech house territory with the next tune. A good track, but not my usual tipple - I did enjoy the 'boom boom BOOM boom boom' lead though. Also, it lead nicely into the more anthemic housey section of the mix, firstly with the moody, druggy vocals of Tell Me Why, to keep the deep and dark vibe going, then the pace picks up with the Jeremy Orlander tune, and finally both barrels are unloaded with the Chemical Brothers. This tune instantly takes me back to Cream Finale when I walked in to the main room to Dave Seamen playing it. What an anthem! Interesting how you only played 'Goliath' for such a short time. If i didnt know the Chems I would have thought that was just one tune. Something to do with Key mixing?

You took it down way too much after that for my liking. Nothing memorable about the next few tunes, which just pass me by untill I've readjusted to the fact that I'm not listening to a big, epic set anymore. I know you are not a fan of mixes that build in a very linear fashion, and I guess I can see where you are coming from, but I think going from the highlight of the set to a couple of yawners is a heavily flawed strategy.

I kind of enjoyed the acid tune that's playing at the 77 minute mark, and after that you seem to be heading back towards the mood you established in the first 20 mins. I find this really confusing to be honest - the tracks are great but I'm not so much in the mood for them as I was an hour ago. I actually reckon that 'Sometimes I Feel So Deserted' just belongs in a different set to be honest

Very nice melodic track follows this one, with a hint of acid, another one for the beatport cart. I notice the tunes are getting much longer at this point. I was wondering if there was an error in the tracklist as it looked like there were only 5 tracks left in the last 40 mins. The next track with the vocals is great as well! You've got me back on side at this point, but it did take you a good 20 mins.

Think we are on to Guy-J - Nirvana. I find him a bit over rated as a producer, but he seems to be the go to guy for most people when it comes to modern prog. This is a decent track to be fair, it gets better as it goes on, when all the trippy bits come in at the end.

The last track is alright. Very deep.

Haha, fair play for writing all that out on a bus! I understand what you've said about certain changes of direction in this set, although I don't agree entirely. I think that Jimmy Van M tune after the Chems is another main room banger, and I guess from other people's comments that I'm not alone. After that, I definitely did reign things in and change direction to something less banging and anthemic.

However, being on a bus you must have listened to this on your headphones, which I think doesn't do some of these tracks full justice. Most of this set alternates between the keys of Dmin and Fmaj. Fmaj is a key I find is used by a lot of psy trance and drum 'n bass producers - genres based around really heavy basslines. The whole 40 minute section from the Chems through to Guy J is all in this key. I stuck this mix on at our pre-party on NYE and it blew the fucking roof off! I didn't realise myself how big some of these tunes sound. On headphones the transition from Dreams -> Daytona sounds like it kills a lot of energy, but when played loud the heaviness of the bass carries more of the energy across.

Apart from that, the Christian Smith remix of At Les is one of the best examples of a peak time melodic anthem from the last ten years. Perhaps it sounded sonically underwhelming after the boom-boom section, but I'll stick to my guns that this is a massive tune. Pretty sure you loved it when Zabiela used it in his Essential Mix - I remember you sticking that mix on after a night out, years ago.

quote:

Interesting how you only played 'Goliath' for such a short time. If i didnt know the Chems I would have thought that was just one tune. Something to do with Key mixing?

I was just using it as a tool to ramp up the tension. If this went straight from Tell Me Why into the Sometimes I Feel So Deserted I don't think the impact would have been the same. When I'm playing prog I will generally play tunes in full, but techno is all about moving on pretty quickly.

Anyway, thanks for the mega review from the mega bus.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

I really liked tracks 14, 16 and 20. The rest, I don't know, it's pleased enough but, and I know this makes me sound like a wanker, just sounds a bit too overproduced to me. Everything's well engineered but between the clinical percussion, the super-processed bass and the well-fitted melodies there's just that spark missing for me. I think you can hear that in the Smith remix, which is a bit older and just sounds more earthy and organic than the rest to me. But then again, i've never been a big fan of the modern tech-prog sound, so keep that in mind.

___________________
June 2018 mix

I'm surprised you even listened to this. I understand the beef with modern tech and I often think the same, but this music is all about hard gleaming edges and processed futurity. I've always been open to different ways of doing stuff - I don't have preconceptions that analogue "warm" sounds are inherently better than rigid digital sounds, for example. It's a different methodology for a different intended outcome.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

Obviously it's a valid way of producing, it's just that for whatever reason over the years my ears have developed a bit of an aversion to it.

I do think there is a certain "objectivity" to "analogue" sound or whatever you want to call it though, for example basically everyone will prefer the sound of a mastering for vinyl over the technically more precise digital mastering.

___________________
June 2018 mix