Hardcore Vibes: A Very Happy New Year For UK Hardcore!
Ravers, welcome to 2017! We’re less than two weeks into the year and there’s already some wicked new tunes coming through and some big, big parties locked into the calendar!
We start of course with the announcement that HTID in the Sun is returning to the party resort Magaluf on the Spanish island of Mallorca in June, under new management and under a new roof as the event shifts across town to BCM Planet Dance for four consecutive nights of UK Hardcore raving. BCM is a renowned superclub venue and is consistently voted to be one of the top 10 club venues in the world according to the annual DJ Mag Top 100 Clubs poll.
The HTID In The Sun line up is being announced in a tantalising drip-feed fashion, with two out of the six line up phases released so far. UK Hardcore A-listers Darren Styles, Breeze, Joey Riot, Gammer, Hixxy, Dougal and MC Whizzkid are already confirmed along with an very well deserved appearance by Macks Wolf representing alongside the all the heavyweights in the second phase announcement. The line up so far also has a most intriguing twist with the inclusion of two of the world’s finest Euphoric Hardstyle artists, Code Black and Atmozfears. With all this musical goodness, plus unlimited all-inclusive bar every night, plus so much more still to be announced, it’s clearly time to go and book your rave holiday!
As for events on home turf in the UK itself, the Ravers Reunited crew seem to be unstoppable at the moment, with the recent event Ravers Reunited: The Black Party, held to celebrate the brand’s 10th birthday, being widely hailed as one of the best UK Hardcore events of the year, featuring Fracus & Darwin, Alex Prospect, Gammer, Dougal, Scott Brown to name but a few plus live vocalist PAs and top-notch event production. The next parties take place at the end of this month at Emporium in Coalville and in April at the O2 Academy in Leicester.
In May this year Ravers Reunited will join with the mighty Clubland brand to host the Clubland Weekender at Pontins Southport. Taking over a usually family friendly holiday park and turning the whole place into a party is a very British rave experience, with ravers staying the whole weekend sharing holiday cabins with their mates and making the most of every hour of the weekend!
Our enigmatic Swedish friend Nanobii has bounced into the 2017 with a big new release “Chipland”, which is getting incredible exposure thanks to its release on Canadian multi-genre label Monstercat. Chipland takes you straight back into the golden days of video gaming with its fantastic 8-bit style video game melody but without the slightest hint of cheese or tackiness, in fact this track is the complete opposite; “Chipland” is a divine modern UK Hardcore tune bringing all of the smiles and setting a standard for the year ahead.
Also just dropped this week on Monstercat is the Darren Styles remix of “The Only One” by Stonebank ft. Ben Clark. Stonebank has his roots in the UK Hardcore scene but is equally skilled at turning his hand to virtually every genre of dance music. Whenever Stonebank and Styles work together the results are amazing and this remix is no exception; “The Only One” has taken the scene by storm and is turning up in almost every DJ set I hear at the moment!
USA based artist Mitomoro has definitely caught the ear of those in the know in the scene, with his latest release “Limit Burst” being released on MC Whizzkid’s label Broken Records UK. Whizzkid created the label specifically so that he could use his position in the scene to provide a platform for talented artists breaking through to the next level in their careers and after a bit of a hiatus the label smashed back on to the scene last year with an artist roster that most definitely reads as a list of names to keep a close eye on in 2017, including Jason Bouse, Technical Difficulties, Jekyll and more.
There are big things coming up this year from the Core Fever label! Label head Chris Fear has collabs in the work with big names including Marc Smith, Dougal, Jakka-B and label regular Eufeion. The ever-creative Eufeion himself kicks of the year with a big new track, “Hold Ya Fire”.
The leading lady of UK Hardcore, Sc@r, gets the new year off to a flying start with her latest solo production, “Rave Colours”. A cover of a well known, uplifting (and IMHO absolutely classic!) song, Sc@r has been rocking dancefloors around the world with this one!
Vocalist Harri Rush continues to make her mark on the scene as she features on the latest track by the OneSeventy crew, Technikore & JTS. “Close The Door” is an example of that magic UK Hardcore recipe where an upbeat tune combines with powerful vocals to create a track packed with both energy and emotion. Far from closing the door, I think lots of doors will be opening this year for Harri Rush as she builds her career in the UK Hardcore scene!
There does come a time in life when you can feel like you’ve had too much of a good thing (like we all felt about alcohol by the 2nd of January perhaps?), or that you’ve reached as far as you can go in a role or project. Even DJs and producers can feel like that – when you’ve lived, breathed, created and performed music every day for as long as you care to remember there can still come a time when it’s time for a break. The difference however between a creative profession and a standard career path is that to be truly creative means truly loving what you do. This true love might feel faded for a while but eventually it comes back and from the embers a new fire ignites, as seems to have happened for Kevin Energy who has recently reawakened his label, Nu Energy.
The recent Nu Energy release comprises two tracks, both by Kevin Energy & Paul Hardcore, which are distinctly different to each other but what they both have in common is that they transport you as a listener back to some of your best raving memories, with “The Other Side” having an Early Rave to feel it while “Enigma” has the classic Kevin Energy Freeform feel to it.
The best news is, Kevin Energy has assured fans that this is just the first of many Nu Energy releases due to come our way over the next year.
And just in case you need further proof that everything’s already coming up roses this year, we’ve just heard that the artist best known these days as Audiofreq is going to start making some UK Hardcore again 🙂
Thanks for reading! Catch you soon!