The Sugarshack & Digitized with Above & Beyond, Jon O'Bir & Autophase March 7th 2008

[Cliffy Burrows]

The Sugarshack & Digitized @ The Empire Theatre

Friday March 7th 2008

Main room:

Above & Beyond (Anjunabeats)

Jon O'Bir (Conspiracy Recordings)

Cliffy Burrows (Digitized Recordings)

Upstairs:

Autophase (Curfew & Global Underground Recordings)

Lucien Fraud (Digitized & Digiprana Recordings)

Above & Beyond:

Acclaimed as one of the finest UK dance outfits of the past few years, Above & Beyond’s meteoric rise to the top of the global dance music scene continues unabated. As artists they’re constantly pushing at the boundaries of uplifting electronic music and reaping the rewards (and awards) in equal measure.

Their debut artist album ‘Tri-State’ was rated ‘Brilliant (5/5)’ by DJ Magazine and was acclaimed as a standout electronic album of recent times. The UK’s biggest selling tabloid newspaper The Sun described “Tri-State” as “one of the most original dance albums for years” and it was one of iTunes’ Top Ten selling dance albums of 2006.

The plaudits are never ending: consistently heralded by their DJ peers (an Above & Beyond track has been voted tune of the year by listeners to Armin Van Buuren’s radio show for each of the last 3 years), and the press who give their releases unwavering 5/5 reviews, you’ll also find clubbers singing along to their tunes in a spectacle more akin to stadium rock gigs. What sets the trio apart? Try the strength of song-writing that runs through every vocal production, and the ever-present musicality that could only come from classically trained musicians.

As DJs, Above & Beyond, aka Tony, Jono, and Paavo, have scooped Radio 1’s Essential Mix Of The Year Award and are ranked No.6 in DJ Magazine’s latest Top 100 DJs poll (the highest new placing for a British-based act this decade). They perform regularly at the world’s biggest dance festivals and clubs, often to audiences in the tens of thousands.

Above & Beyond's weekly radio show has built a fanatical global following on the internet and via its worldwide syndication on FM stations and XM Satellite Radio in the US. The show stands at the forefront of trance and has been responsible for breaking many of the scene's biggest records.

The best records from the show and from the trio’s respected Anjunabeats label (“One of the most innovative dance imprints around”, DJ Magazine) feature in Above & Beyond’s popular ‘Anjunabeats Volume’ compilation series. The latest episode, Anjunabeats Volume Five, was released in summer 2007 to yet further acclaim.

2008 promises to be another groundbreaking year for Above & Beyond as they continue work on the eagerly-awaited Oceanlab album, and mix the next Anjunabeats compilation to celebrate the label’s 100th release. They’re also embarking on an unprecedented Anjunabeach world tour to locations including India, South America, and Eastern Europe.

Jon O'Bir:

Jon is one of the leading DJ’s at the moment who is carving the new face of the trance genre. One of the key aspects that differentiate Jon from many of the other DJ’s in the trance genre is his effort to incorporate upfront trance productions by unsigned producers. In terms of his own productions, Jon’s first collaboration with similarly impressive upstart Gareth Emery (GTR) was in the form of ‘Escapade’. This proved a huge success and found favour with the likes of Paul van Dyk and Tiesto. Jon then went back into the studio with Gareth to complete their most successful collaboration to date, ‘Bouncebackability’. Their 3rd single, ‘No Way Back’ received massive support from Armin van Buuren being voted ‘Future Favourite’ and ‘Tune of the Week’ on his huge ‘A State of Trance’ radio show.

Jon’s love for Trance allowed him to create his own record label ‘Conspiracy Recordings’ alongside up & coming U.K producer Rob Stevenson. The label has been a huge success with virtually every release receiving great support from all the big jocks and tracks being included on Tiesto’s and Armin van Buuren’s mix compilations. 2006 also was the year of Jon’s 1st 2 solo productions ‘Effectual’ and the massive ‘Ascendancy’ which went down a storm in club land.

The future is looking very bright for the Nottingham born DJ. An artist album is due out in 2008 and his radio show ‘Ways & Means’ is becoming ever more popular with it being signed up to various internet and FM stations worldwide.

Autophase:

One murky night in the town of little Richmond, North Yorkshire, an inebriated Tom Collingburn wonders into a house party… drunk drunk drunk and a bone to pick with the DJ, he stumbles towards the decks.

Peter Kipling looks up,, who the hell is this?? What is this about?? “Kipling” you say – you must mean my little brother…

“Ahhhhhhhhh……”

It could have gone terribly wrong – but thanks to that lucky lady named fate – no fighting was happening here tonight, no, just the meeting of like minds, and the discussion of all things musically great.

And so a friendship began,,, and AUTOPHASE were created.

In 2004, the boys started to find there footing in the industry:

Peter Kipling Featured in IDJ Magazine and also played in Various Venues around the north for example, Mook and Oslo in Leeds and Tom Collingburn began remixing on various projects with Source of Gravity Recordings, which gradually led on to a well deserved remix for Justin Xara & DJ Criminal’s ‘5000KWTS’ on Deeper Substance Records in 2006.

After scooping the top two prizes at the North Yorkshire DJ competition and being featured in local newspapers, AUTOPHASE were snapped up and started a residency at Bar Enigma in Newcastle and set up their own arena in the Richmond Live Festival for two years running..

More recently as a result of their music production, in Jan 2007 – AUTOPHASE were featured as Top Pick in the Pick ‘n’ Mix section of DJ Magazine."[Their own tunes] are all excellent glitchy house music. Dirty, Funky, Deep, this duo will surely go far." Terry Church, DJ Magazine

Their tracks are mainly influenced by the likes of M.A.N.D.Y, Tiefschwarz, Dave Clarke, King Unique, John & Jesper Dahlback, Stephan Bodzin, Marc Romboy, DJ T, Trentemoller and Phil Kieran. Their taste in music has varied and broadened over the years but Technique in Leeds introduced them to the dirty tech house and minimal beats that has certainly shaped AUTOPHASE into what and who they are today.

With their tracks being supported by both IDJ magazine and DJ magazine and artists like Mason, Jim Rivers and Audiojack – it seems that 2007 is not the year of the pig at all – but the year of the wonderful, the great, the fabulously talented and charming AUTOPHASE. In the upcoming months you are sure to find AUTOPHASE playing at many nights throughout the North – so keep an eye on the calendar, jet-set your mind, peel back your ears, prepare your body and soul, for the immense and life changing experience that is AUTOPHASE.

Cliffy Burrows:

He has played gigs around his home town of Middlesbrough and across the UK. He also has secured Radio Residencies on Afterhours.FM and Nettwerked Radio. In March 2006 he was picked from thousands of entries to appear on ETN FM's Rising Stars. The following month the same mix he did for that show was picked for Mix Disc Monthly's April 2006 Showcase which he went onto win and is now in their hall of fame.

He was also head of promotions for Trancemixers.Com where he secured guest mixes from the likes of Ferry Corsten, Judge Jules, Activa, John Askew, Perry O'Neil, Manuel Le Saux, Graham Gold, Ian Betts, Thomas Datt, Neal Scarborough, Lange & Phynn plus many others. He also organized the Trancemixers night in Ibiza in conjunction with Vicky Devine at her Charlys Angelz night in Play 2. He took the station from a handful of listeners to maxing the server.

2007 has started well for him with 2 Guest Mix appearances on Kuffdam’s Club Damage Show on DI.FM, a mix broadcast on national radio station Galaxy 105-106 FM and it has also seen him start ‘Digitized’ in conjunction with DJ Gaz Smith. Digitized is a company that spans all areas of Dance Music. There is Digitized Recordings the record label, Digitized Promotions and Management and of course Digitized the club night. The club night was held at various venues in Middlesbrough and it has seen DJ's play at the night such as Activa, Kuffdam, Greg Downey & Jon O'Bir with Cliffy being one of the residents. 2008 looks to be an even bigger year with the night moving to famous Empire Theatre in Middlesbrough.

Lucien Fraud:

Lucien is a young Dj from the north east of England who has a passion for all things electronic and underground. Frequenting clubs such as *riffraff, Back2Basics, Shindig, Sugarshack, Bugged Out! (to name just a few) have influenced and fueled his love for dingy, dark tech fuelled music.

From the early days of clubbing in the empire it was no surprise that this youngsters first passion was to be involved in the club scene. Watching the likes of Oli Faulkner, Buckley, Dave Seaman, Lisa Loud, Anthony Pappa, Timo Maas, Sander Kleinenberg, Paul Oakenfold, Danny Tenaglia and many of the other elite dj's of the world, made its mark on Lucien, and these days will remain with him forever.

For more details on the DJ's above please click on the links below:

Above & Beyond - www.aboveandbeyond.nu

Jon O'Bir - www.jonobir.com

Autophase - http://www.myspace.com/autophase

Cliffy Burrows - http://www.myspace.com/cliffyburrows

Lucien Fraud - http://www.myspace.com/lucienfraud

The Empire Theatre

Corporation Road

Middlesbrough

TS1 2RT

For more info:

www.theempire.co.uk

www.digitizedmusic.co.uk

Tel: 01642 253553

Edited January 23, 2008 by Cliffy Burrows

[Neuro]

I've really rated Jon O'bir since he appeared a few years ago. He even looked for old Jules tapes in his attic to help the archives! Top bloke.

[phleppy]

My last night at the Sugar Shack! This was an excellent night with some great tunes played by all the DJ's and to my surprise not that busy which I prefer anyway. The most memorable tracks on that night I remember were Jon O'bir playing Sander Van Doorn's 'Riff' and A+B playing their own 'Good For Me'. Im sure there was only two of A+B though!

[Cliffy Burrows]

Yeah it was Pavvo and Jono. Epic night. Weird seeing this post pop up I put the gig as my TBT yesterday. Spooky.