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Features
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| 20 Years of Flying Free with JourneyOM | | Cosmic Flow talks wind surfing, the Prodigy, becoming a black belt and his mission - to help people feel, heal, and move together through sound – all ahead of his upcoming album release – ‘Infinity’! | | Fertile talk about the 90s spark, analog dreams, and the power of collaboration, ahead of their debut album release 'Everywhere' on Iono Music! | | Celebrating 35 incredible years of Banco de Gaia | | 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 |
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Oforia — psy trance legend hits UK!
Reported by Tom Cypher
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Submitted 22-07-05 01:51
Oforia AKA Ofer Dikoysky is one of Israel’s leading psy trance producers, perhaps not one of the most recognisable artists on the scene as, say, Astrix or Infected Mushroom, but Oforia can lay claim to being one of the original Israeli psy trance producers. Having first discovered the sound in the early 90s, he was transfixed and quickly set about making music himself and almost immediately went onto become one of the pioneers of the Israeli full on sound. With his live UK debut performance set at Antiworld’s mammoth Break The System Down event taking place at SEOne on Sat 23rd July, we caught up with Ofer as he prepares for his set
You’re regarded as one of Israel’s pioneers of psy trance. When did you first start mixing? Did you get into djing or production first?
I started mixing trance music back at 1994. I had a commercial studio with two partners (one of them was Avi Algranati — Space Cat) and after 4 years of working as technicians and producers in the local rock and main stream scene, we had our first meeting with the “new music from Goa”. The spell got into us and we immediately started to make the music in the studio and then djing and putting on live performances.
Basically I’m a musician and for me it starts and ends with this fact. I’ve been playing guitar since I was a kid and got involved in doing almost every kind of music. In the trance scene, I started first as a music producer and when the music was out here, I started performing as a dj, playing misc. stuff and then as a live set of my own music.
Did you want to be a musician when you were growing up, or was it something that you fell into over time? If you weren’t making music, what else would you be doing?
I always knew my future would be involved with music. I didn’t know with which kind of music, but it was clear to me since I was a kid that somehow this direction will be a major part in life.
Many people in my family were dealing with various kinds of art and I'm sure that if I wasn’t doing music I would probably deal with some other form of art.
Who or what were your biggest influences, musical and other, when you were growing up? And now?
I’m very flexible with music, I’m not stuck with one direction. I used to hear a lot of mainstream British bands like the Police, Depeche Mode, The Clash, U2 and some more, and on the other hand I was a very big fan of the American sound, like Steely Dan, Billy Joel, America, Joe Jackson and even jazz and fusion, from Pat Metheny, to Whether Report and Chick Corea.
I think that my biggest influences are coming from Pink Floyd and Depeche Mode.
Pink Floyd, in my opinion – the biggest band ever – were the ultimate inspiration for my musical personality and Depeche Mode were my “Godfathers” of electronic music and opened my mind to this direction in a very early stage in my life.
What have the highlights of your career been so far?
For me, every one of my albums was a kind of highlight in my journey. Each album got its own character and paints all the period of time around it, in his special colours. A special highlight was releasing an album on Dragonfly Records in England. To sign with the most respectable label at that time, owned by top British producer Youth, was a very exiting thing for me and gave me a lot of confidence in my work.
You were a member of the legendary Goa trance group Indoor, who released their first album to international acclaim in 1995. What were the highlights of this period for you? You must have some great stories from back in the day?!
Indoor was the starting line for me. It was the basic root of my musical way in the trance scene and memories like ‘the first track’ or ‘the first album’ are memories that are buried deep inside of me.
It was a good beginning, dealing with something new and being one of the first ones to do it was a very special thing, although the making of the music was ridiculous compared to today’s technology and comfort. The studio was full with big synth monsters that worked when they had the mood. The mix was never the same the day after and the music sounded like a different story than what’s going on today. Generally the music in the scene was more ‘musical’ and less ‘aggressive’; I think that it had some magic in it that is very hard to find in today’s style.
As part of Indoor you then joined the British DJ Dino to form Phreaky, releasing tracks on UK top trance label Dragonfly. What are your favourite tracks from this time?
We didn’t do a lot of tracks so I can easily say that I love all of them in very much the same way. Each one was a different story and had its own unique.
But in some ways I think that ‘Tornado’ was the most special one of all and was very innovative at that time.
You’ve produced tracks under a variety of pseudonyms, including ‘Tandu’, ‘Pigs in Space’, ‘Solaris’ and ‘Comet’. Why so many different names? Do you have a different style for each name?
‘Tandu’ and ‘Pigs In Space’ were album projects that had their own concept and sound. They were wide points in my career and I was promoting them as a major projects .All the rest were used for one or two tracks and came from a lack of choice and because of contract limitations and obligations.
You’ve remixed tracks for some of the world’s top artists, such as Pink Floyd, Man With No Name, Astral Projection and Tim Shudlt. What do you think makes a good remix? Is it difficult to take an already great track and make it your own?
I think that the most important rule in remixing is to take the original in a different direction and bring an idea from another angle. The more you make it different, the surprise becomes bigger for the listener. It’s not a simple job, you have to release the listener that knows the original track and swallow him to a new atmosphere that interprets the ideas of the original in a natural way.
In trance it becomes a bit harder to follow this rule because the dynamic is mostly pulling to powerful and even aggressive behaviour. In simple words, many remixes of full on tracks act pretty much the same as the original, changing almost just the sounds of the sequences and not the whole picture.
When you’re not making music, do you enjoy going out to hear other artists play? Do you class yourself as a clubber or a raver?
I was one for many years, going to parties as much as possible, but now it’s more to listen to other djs and artists. Anyway I’m doing it also when I’m playing in a party with others.
Which party do you remember the most out of all the nights you played?
The big demonstration party we did in the city hall of Tel Aviv in 1998. 50000 people came to protest against the police policy to the parties. All the local big names were playing there and it was really massive. The place is in the centre of Tel Aviv and some of the most dramatic events in the history of the Israeli state took place over there (P.M Rabin’s assignation, huge political demonstrations, etc). For me it was unbelievable. It was the most powerful trance gathering I have ever been to.
You’re just released your 4th album, ‘Heading for Infinity’ on BNE. Could you tell us about the concept behind this album?
The album is a mixture of delivering my known sound with an up to date sound and characteristics. It’s providing a fresh new style from me and meant to serve the dance floor hunger. All nine tracks are bringing some kind of strong atmosphere that are meant to take the listener to a different kind of power dancing and the whole package is more formulated and aimed to be groovy and pumping.
One of my favourite tracks off ‘Heading for Infinity’ is the awesome ‘Northern Lights’. How did this track come about? Did it take you long to get it into the dance floor killer it is today?
This track is the starter of the album because of its dynamic floating vibe. It starts with a deep minimal atmosphere and slowly transfers into a heavy full on playground with distorted guitars and and big sequences. I wanted to do a track that will take the listener slowly and safely to a special climax, a kind of surprising one that u can’t predict in the beginning of it. When I first played this track the reaction of the crowd to the first sections of it was a bit like they are moving to a more progressive tune, but in the middle of it, when it changed to a higher gear, it was completely surprising and took the crowd to another direction, more powerful and this was the exact purpose of it.
Why you think Israeli psy trance is taking the world by storm at the moment? Do you think there’s something special about Israel that brings this sound to the fore?
I think that most of the Israeli music sounds very good in production terms. There are so many artists here and the inspiration between them leads to a better results.
Also the fans prefer more full on sound today and Israeli psytrance is an expert in this field I think. Not only can you find the power in the Israeli sound but also a various and original styles in it.
What goals do you have for the rest of 2005? Are you working on any new tracks or projects you’d like to share with HF readers?
I’m planning to continue my album tour with some very exciting gigs for the next months. I have a new set of tracks, some of them are planned to be released in the upcoming months and some are going to be a part of the next album planned to be out in the beginning of 2006.
What are your favourite tracks to get the dance floor moving at the moment?
Space cat – speedy tours
Pixel – technology
Spectrum – Buddha stick
Time lock remix for cities of the future from infected mushroom
You’re soon to launch your own website at www.oforia.com When will this be available for your fans to check out your news?
The web site should be on air somewhere in the next 2 weeks. Can’t wait for it….
The launch party for ‘Heading for Infinity’ is going to be at Antiworld’s ‘Break the System Down’ at London’s seOne on Saturday 23 July. Are you looking forward to headlining the party? What can we expect from your set?
Can’t wait for it…. u can expect a fresh new set containing tracks from the album and also some new surprising tracks from my latest set of music .I hope the people won’t rest for a minute and I’m sure that it will be powerful and interesting.
Will you be checking out any other artists on the night?
Sure. There are 3 other bands that come with me from Israel – Psysex, Delirious and Psycraft and off course Paul Taylor.
Finally, do you have any advice for aspiring djs and producers reading this?
I would say: BELIEVE IN YOUR SELF. Everything can be done and reached and by your power only. As long as you’ll count on your skills and let your own musical ideas fly freely, you’ll get the desired reaction from the people you doing it for…
Thanks for your time! Looking forward to seeing you at Antiworld!
Oforia's forth artist album 'Headed For Infinity' is available on BNE // YoYo Records for more information visit www.bne.co.il/shop
All photos courtesy of Tom Cypher.
For more information on Antiworld events visit www.antiworld.net
Antiworld - Break The System Down
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On:
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Saturday 23rd July 2005
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At:
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S.E.One [map]
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From:
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Blast Off : 09.00pm Saturday Night Re-Entry : 01.00pm Sunday Morning!!!
17 hr special event plus After Party!!!
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Cost:
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www.antiworld.net
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Website:
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www.antiworld.net
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Ticket Info:
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Tickets on sale now:
Please call 0044(0)2083658918 or 0044(0)7940527867 or Never Enough Maria at 0044 (0) 78 13684399 or 0044(0) 283520705 for more info!
or visit:
www.antiworld.net or email finalfantasy@antiworld.net
For advanced tickets to be collect in Holborn (cash sales only), please contact neverenoughmaria@hotmail.com
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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ES Collective Present:
The International Indoor Festival 2 Birthday...
"The Summer Edition"
Saturday 23 July 2005...
Feat: "BREAK THE SYSTEM DOWN"
ES Collective In collaboration with:
Antiworld, Psygate, Teknoworld, Recoverworld, Discipline, Future Sound, Upfront Fifth Birthday, HOMmega, BNE, Club Republic, Frequency, Neon!!!
Music Styles:
Hard Uplifting Trance & Acid
Progressive & Full On Psychedelic Trance
Techno
Tek House
London Hard & Acid Techno
Hard House & Hard Dance
House
Electro
Funky Brazilian Beats
Chill-Out
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Flyer:
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 - 
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Region:
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London
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Music:
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Hard Trance. Tech Trance. Psy Trance. Hi NRG. HardStyle. House. Funky House. Hard House. Prog House. Tribal House. Acid Techno. Funky Techno. Techno. Breaks.
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DJ's:
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Main Room Line Up:
Antiworld Present "Upfront Birthday Party":
09.00 - 10.00 : Matt Handy
10.00 - 11.00 : Phil Able
11.00 - 12.00 : Simon Eve
12.00 - 01.00 : K90 (Live)
01.00 - 02.00 : Sol Ray
02.00 - 03.30 : Lab4 (Live)
03.30 - 05.00 : Lisa Lashes
05.00 - 06.00 : Nu Energy Collective (Live)
06.00 - 07.00 : Dj Hellreiser (Australia)
Second Main Room:
Psygate
09.00 - 10.30 : Grazer
10.30 - 12.00 : Marcelo Vor
12.00 - 01.00 : Gui-3s (France)
01.00 - 02.30 : Delirious (Live)
02.30 - 04.00 : Paul Taylor
04.00 - 05.30 : Oforia (Live)
05.30 - 07.00 : Simo
07.00 - 08.30 : Psysex (Live)
08.30 - 10.00 : Psycraft (Live)
10.00 - 11.30 : Marchello
11.30 - 01.00 : Kristian
Third Room:
Teknoworld
09.00 - 10.00 : Zana Mills
10.00 - 11.00 : Clodagh
11.00 - 12.00 : Jackie The Misfit
12.00 - 01.00 : Eduardo Herrera Vs Rafael Araujo
01.00 - 02.00 : Ross Vs Moon
02.00 - 03.00 : Sterling Moss
03.00 - 04.00 : Gas Vs Animatek
04.00 - 05.00 : Van Bass Vs Rasheed Wallace (Austria)
05.00 - 07.00 : Chris Liberator VS Mark EG
07.00 - 08.00 : D.a.v.e The Drummer (Live)
Plus 3 More Rooms To Be Confirmed!!!!
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Other Features By Tom Cypher:
Perfect Stranger Takes a Leap of Faith With His New Album
Marco Scherer's Patchwork 17
Lee Mortimer goes Loopy.
My Digital Enemy
Studio Talk with Organ Donors
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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