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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! | | 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! |
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Roobarb preview with Matt Smallwood
Reported by Dave Austin
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Submitted 12-07-06 12:27
Matt Smallwood began his djing career at the age of 16. At the age of 17 he was awarded his first residency at the Collosseum in London. Since those early steps Matt has become both a respected dj and producer. He is well known for his collaboration work with Ali Wilson, and the duo have had many releases on labels such as tidy, Vicious Circle, 999 and Nukleuz. They have been working hard on the new Tekelec label, which has brought a fresh sound to the scene.
I have known Matt for a while now, and he is one of the nicest people you could meet. Plus he’s always up for a party, which is a bonus. I’m pleased that Matt has agreed to come up to Norwich to play for our Roobarb night, and I thought it would be fitting to ask him what he has been up to lately.
Hi Matt. This will be your debut playing for Roobarb, have you played in Norwich before?
Hi mate! Yep, it is my Roobarb debut and I’m really excited about it! I’ve been out in Norwich a few times and have met some wicked people there, but have never played there before. It’s always nice to play in new venues and to new crowds so I’m really looking forward to it!
We had Ali Wilson play for our first event at the Waterfront a while ago and he can vouch for the great atmosphere we get. Are you looking forward to coming down?
Yeah I’m definitely looking forward to coming down, I came down with Ali to that first night and have been itching to get back ever since! The Waterfront is an awesome venue and from what I can remember attracts a wicked up for it crowd, so all in all a DJs dream gig, haha! Bring it on!
We used to dj together when Bedlam was going. We haven’t had the chance to catch up for a while, so how’s things on the gig front.
We certainly did mate, was a while ago now eh, how time flies! The past 6 months or so have been quiet for me on the gig front actually. The first part of the year I was involved with promoting an event in London which took up a hell of a lot of time! More recently I’ve been spending half my life in the studio, helping Ali run Tekelec, working together to try and launch a tour and getting involved with reviewing tracks for various labels, so there’s been plenty to be getting on with!
Also due to the fact that I’m not playing ‘hard dance’ anymore I think a little break was just what I needed so I could re-group, and develop my style further before I felt 110% confident to play the clubs again, so it all worked out quite nicely. The whole ‘hard dance’ thing just wasn’t doing it for me anymore and I felt I needed something fresh and exciting to get my teeth into. I’ve always played techno in my sets but decided to move purely into techno and tech trance, especially as crowds are a lot more receptive to this sort of sound these days compared to a few years ago.
I’m more than happy now, am confident with the direction my music is going in and can’t wait to get back into the clubs again, and I will be concentrating more on the bookings side of things for the rest of the year. Gigs this month include: a Free Party at The Fridge on July 7th (Wilson and Smallwood back 2 back Tekelec Global Tour Taster!); Roobarb 14th July (obviously, haha!); and a Progression Records Beach- themed Boat Party on July 29th where Ali and Myself will be filming a music video for our latest track ‘Evissa Twighlight’ that will hopefully be aired on Rapture TV. So if you wanna get yourself in the video then come and join in the fun!
The Tekelec label seems to be going from strength to strength, how’s the production work been going?
The early success of the label has surprised Ali and myself, even though we obviously believed in the music we were making, it was a hard time to be launching a new, forward thinking label in these troubled times for dance music sales. But yeah, thing’s have been going great! Carl Cox has signed our latest track ’Evissa Twighlight’ to his Carl Cox Global Compilation, so that was a huge pat on the back for us, and in total Coxy has signed 5 of Ali’s tracks to various compilations, which is more than deserved! He’s been one of the earliest supporters of the label, and we’ve also had support from Paul Van Dyk, Marco V, Judge Jules, Above & Beyond, Agnelli & Nelson and John Askew, which, to be frank has just blown us away!
We’ve been trying to take things to the next level with regards to our production sound to attract different types of djs and crowds, and I think we’re starting to achieve that now, which is a great feeling for both of us. We just have to make sure that we keep focused and try to do the best we can for the label.
You work really well with Ali, do you have any other collaborations in the pipeline?
Yeah I mean me and Ali have been making tracks together for a good 5 or 6 years now, and things have always gone quite smoothly for us when we get in the studio together. We communicate well, our styles and tastes are very similar and we’re best mates, so it’s never a problem for one of us to let the other know if he’s unhappy with a certain part of the track, haha!
Our next release is a 3 track EP due out on Tekelec next month so keep your eyes peeled for that! With regards to other collabs, the last ones I did were over 18 months or so ago now so are very much hard house/techno crossover stuff. I did a track with Chris Hoff which was released on MUD Digital and one with Mark Maitland which went out on Brain Damage.
More recently, myself and Ali along with Baz & Glenn from Type 1 have spawned the Techno pseudonym of Doubles. Our first track is a funky but filthy track called ‘Sickbag’. (You’ll know why when you hear it!) We are in the studio again soon to get a AA side done too, so watch this space for more from Doubles . . .
I personally love the Tekelec sound and have played most of the releases in my sets. Are any other labels likely to sign up your new productions?
Thanks mate, glad you’re liking it! We do like to keep the majority of our own material for the label as it is an outlet for us to push this new sound, and we obviously have full control of release schedules etc. We have been experimenting with electro and house tracks too so if we do something that may not necessarily be suited for Tekelec then of course we will listen to any offers from other labels.
We have done a few remixes for other labels though; we are currently working on a remix for Intec Records which is Carl Cox’s label and also a remix for Budai & Vic from Egoiste Records. We love doing remixes as we really get to push a few boundaries and do something a bit different, especially when writing for European labels. So basically, I think that most of our original material will remain on Tekelec, but we are always up for getting our mitts on other artist’s tracks and whacking out a remix!
You’re very well known in the London area. Do you have any plans to play further a field?
Oh yeah definitely! I have played abroad quite a few times in New Zealand, France, and Ibiza the last couple of years but I’m always looking to get abroad as I love travelling! As I mentioned, the Tekelec Global Tour is shaping up nicely with regards to international gigs so fingers crossed we can clock up a few air miles between us!
Any chance of getting a gig in Ibiza this summer?
Yeah, we are playing over there in September on a boat party as part of the tour which will be amazing! I love Ibiza, we always have such a wicked time over there and I’m sure this year will be no different! Hopefully we will be able to arrange a few more gigs between now and then and really make the most of our time there!
Can you tell us a bit more about this tour Matt?
Well from the end of this month we are launching The Tekelec Global Tour which will be an opportunity for us to hopefully travel to various countries all over the world to push the our sound to see how it goes down, so hopefully it will go down ok! So far we’ve had interest from New Zealand, Brazil, Italy, Hungary and as I mentioned Ibiza. Hopefully we can get the other dates locked down 100% and really try to get everything confirmed soon. The UK leg will take place in between international dates but final details and dates for the whole tour will be available soon!
At Roobarb we try to bring down djs who haven’t played in Norwich before. Everyone who has previously played has had a great time. Have you heard any feedback about our nights?
Yeah like I said I came up with Ali to that first night and had an awesome time, and I saw that you had Nicki S play a few months ago and I hear she played a blinder too! All in all I’m really looking forward to coming down, have been for ages, so roll on, and see you all on the 14th!
Everyone is looking forward to you playing for us & it should be an awesome night. Thanks for your time Matt and see you on the 14th!
All photos courtesy of Matt Smallwood. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Roobarb
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On:
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Friday 14th July 2006
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At:
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The Waterfront [map]
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From:
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22:00 - 04:00
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Cost:
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£7 / £6 NUS
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Website:
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www.clubroobarb.co.uk
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Ticket Info:
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Pay on the door
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More:
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Roobarb has its next installment of hard dance fun at the Waterfront this month.
We welcome Matt Smallwood from Tekelec Recordings, who will be making his Roobarb debut.
As well as being a superb dj, Matt has been very busy in the studio & we look forward to hearing his cutting edge sound in Norwich.
Matt will be supported by some of East Anglia's finest djs who will take you on a fantastic journey through hard dance.
The venue will be transformed with UV decor supplied by Looney Module.
Come & join some of the friendliest clubbers around for a night to remember.
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Flyer:
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 - 
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Region:
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SE England
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Music:
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Trance. Hard Trance. Tech Trance. Psy Trance. Hard House. Funky Techno. Techno.
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DJ's:
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Matt Smallwood (Tekelec)
Dave Austin (Roobarb)
Clare Mclaren (Baklash)
John Charles (Roobarb)
James Barker
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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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well done mate & good luck 
Intec