Cyberphunk Party with ManMadeMan
Saturday 22th of July
We arrived at the party at around 1:30, after some tiny delay on the que we got in
and by surprise I saw that things have changed a bit, a full professional security
team operates gently and do their job well without any misunderstandings. After a
short talk with Adreas the lead man of the Cyberphunk team who told me about the
new and ambitious I would say plans of the team, we moved to the main floor. The
place itself is well known, it is nicely decorated, big enough and the air-flow was
good.
The first DJ which I presume is Evan (I maybe wrong though) played a warm-
up set ranging from some minimal techno stuff to acid techno and the more familiar
trance soundz, I have to say that I really enjoyed the first purely techno selections
as the mixing was very good and I am not into stomping beats anyway. So I rate
this man high and to back it up I will just add that he played "Crunchy Moles" from
Koxbox and you should know by now that I am mad fun of the group.
The crowd responded well and the place was packed by time ManMadeMan took controls.
Kicking off with a fantastic funky number (a tremendous groove drove the track), the
crowd started to lose it badly and as ManMadMan pushed the layers to the max and
moving to more "classic" trance soundz the crowd got really mad with cheers and
mad screams. A certainly "clan" consisting of three girls where out of their minds
screaming and enjoying themselves to the max. It is a good thing to see people
losing it to the vibe and never getting it back...
After the -I have to say- excellent performance of Sonya and Paul, resident DJ Kostas took over playing his usual selection of German stomping beats which I do not quite like but this time the mixing was better so was the selection and build of the set. It pleasants me to see that vinyl got back its reputation as the "Wheels of Steel" s got fire this night instead of just gathering dust and pretend to be a stand-alone table for dats. So overall the night was excellent, the crowd being a mixture of classic trance nutters, usual
trainspotters and travellers, was up for it and we all had a laugh after that night.
On a closing tip we had a little talk with ManMadeMan who I have to say are great and
friendly without a sign of egoism. ManMadeMade as you may already know consist
of Paul Baguley and Sonya Baily. The duo met seven years ago and started
making music due to a strange accident they encountered. They had a close
contact and since then they try to picture that feeling with their music. That explains
those "alien" lead lines and sounds that are trademarks of most of their stuff I
believe. Background info regarding Paul is that he is a proper musician playing the
guitar, songwriting and even singing. Sonya in contrast was a listener that gradually
moved into the studio and finally made it to the other site of the producer-consumer
chain.
In 1994 they travelled the world getting the goa bug and since then they have
a remarkable release schedule, including collaborations with high acclaimed artists
such as Tristan. Some years ago the duo moved from Matsuri and signed a contract
with Flying-Rhino which seemed more suitable at that time regarding musical
direction, where after two 12" singles ("Desire" E.P and "Down to Earth" E.P) they
released their debut album "Love Technology" which I fully suggest. ManMadeMan
spend a long time in the studio (along with their two months new-born baby-girl) so
they do not have much time listening to other peoples music which is reflected by
their unique sound. They use mostly analogue equipment despite digitalization and
they would like to see the melody making in back to the trance sound. As far as the
global scene concerns Paul and Sonya believe that it is expanding rapidly with the
music getting better and better as people bring their influences back in.
Regarding their recently released debut album the duo said that it is selling well and the reactions from the press are very good. On the live itself ManMadeMan said that
was the best gig of their lives as they really enjoyed the night. The greek crowd with
its well known enthusiasm and warmth was sending positive karmic vibes to the
band who then as it should sent those good vibes back to the crowd. Finally I would
like to say that I had a great time and I have to thank firstly Adreas (Cyberphunk
team) for his help and secondly Paul and Sonya for being very nice and friendly.
Sequential-X for chaishop.gr
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