PG Tips

Welcome to the first PG Tips blog from island favourite Pete Gooding, letting us know what tunes are working for him and what he gets up to generally throughout the season.

Top 10 August chart
01. Pete Gooding feat Coni Soddemann – Gazing In Blue / My Way [Secret Life Records]
02. Ninetoes – Finder [Kling Klong]
03. Bambook & Andycap – Genius Child [Secret Life Music]
04. App – Yo Yo E.P [Kindisch]
05. Matthew Johnson – In The Stars [Crosstown Rebels]
06. Robot 84 – So Badly (Pete Gooding’s Secret Life remix) [Secret Life Records]
07. Moya – Lost & Found (No Logo remix) [Four To one Records]
08. Sketches from an Island – Island Life [International Feel]
09. Robot 84 – Giant / Wishing Well [Robot 84 Records]
10. Afterlife – The White Island [Subatomic]

Out & About…

It’s been a great summer so far this year for me here in Ibiza since I moved back in April. I have been playing, as always, at my long-standing residency Cafe Mambo, we have been packed and I have been very lucky to play some beautiful sunsets, which is still my favourite gig in the world! I started a weekly event at Cafe Savannah, called ‘Pete Gooding Presents’, this has been really good and I have had some great guests down to play with me, so far I have been very lucky to have my three fall time favourite Balearic DJs: Jose Padilla who is one of my all time favourites, Alfredo who came and played a classic downtempo Amnesia set, which was a rare treat and Jon Sa Trinxa who played a seamless mix of incredible music with a great selection of re-edits I had never heard before! All these mixes will soon be available on my blog www.secretlifemusic.com.

Droog, the man behind Culprit Records in Los Angeles, played some amazing deep house as did Jozif, definitely two of the finest current producer/ DJs. Then two of the previous Cafe Mambo residents came down, Jim Breese and Danny Whitehead, who always play fantastic music not to mention other artists that I have signed to my Secret Life Records label, firstly Fini Tribe who had a big impact on Ibiza with their music in the late 80s, we have just done several remixes of one of their classic tracks ‘De testimony’ due in September on our label with remixes from: Justin Robertson, Optimo, me and Robot 84 who is another of our label artists who did a great set at Savannah. Then Nicka & Kalle B, the organisers of Stella Polaris, the biggest chill out festival in the world, came down just before their event this year in Denmark, which I played at again, this is always one of the highlights of the year for me. This year some of the guests included Leftfield, Rob Da Bank, Nick Warren, App, Lulu Rouge and many other incredibly talented Danish artists. Up and coming U.K based artists Ninjury and Will Clarke have also played for me, making it a great start to the concept and giving me a huge amount of inspiration.

I have also really enjoyed popping down to play at the legendary Pikes Hotel on the occasional Sunday alongside Antz, it’s an afternoon in a famous location, with great people listening to great music and the Sunday Roast is also amazing! I did my first compilation in several years this summer along with Chris Coco for the beautiful Gecko Beach in Formentera, Chris covered the more down-tempo angle and I covered nice, deep, atmospheric house sounds. If you’re over in Formentera, Gecko is well worth a visit. Another of my favourite annual gigs is coming up very soon; this is my residency at my favourite UK festival, Bestival on the Isle of White. This year I’ll be playing on the following stages: The Wishing Tree, The Ambient Forest, The Hidden Disco and myself and Chris Coco will be presenting a live broadcast together on Bestival Radio. As always there’s a great diversity in the line up with international talent such as Elton John through to Chic and there are several new talents that have been supporting on my radio show The Global Network – Jagwa Mar and London Grammar, who I am looking forward to checking live and one of the highlights of the weekend for me will be checking out one of my all time favourite DJs, Greg Wilson, so I can’t wait!
Check out my sound cloud page for free downloadable recent DJ mixes from Cafe Mambo and Stella Polaris Festival and up soon will be some of my live sets from Bestival. Check out www.soundcloud.com/peetgooding

Music Reviews
Some of the tracks that have been catching my attention recently…

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Stella Polaris – The Nine Muses
(STELLA POLARIS MUSIC)
Stella Polaris is the worlds leading chill out/ electronica festival, based in Denmark. It’s now spread across 5 cities over 2 weekends, (first and second weeks in August). This year’s was bigger than ever and this is their 9th compilation and it’s as good as always. All tracks are exclusive and generally produced by people associated with the festival. This year, highlights come from Leo Ryan who delivers an amazing remix of Moby classic ‘Go’. There is an amazing remix of Laidback’s ‘White Horse’ by rising stars App. Danish heroes Lulu Rouge contribute their ‘Fyrkat’ track, which illustrates Stella Polaris’s signature dubbed out electronica sound. Ben Hoo does a solid mix on Tricky’s ‘Just A Matter Of Time’ as does Asle Bjorn on ‘Magic Kids’ by Indians. August makes his annual appearance on the cd with ‘Alone At Last’ and up and coming producer Violent Romance has a great track called ‘Shadows’. My project with Afterlife called No Logo also makes the cd with a track called ‘Now We Try’ with a remix from Jean Von Baden & Mashti. There are many more great tracks so not to be missed, get a copy direct from the website www.stella-polaris.dk

PAUL RUTHERFORD
Get Real
(SELADOR)
In its original form, this track is one of my all time favourite acid house tracks from back in 1988. It reminds me of going to dingy warehouse parties in my hometown of Birmingham back in the late 80s. This is a track that always stood the test of time as well and something I have always played at Cafe Mambo in Ibiza so when Dave Seaman asked me to remix this for his new label Selador I jumped at the chance. There is a great overall package as there are also remixes from Just Be (Bushwacka) and Darren Emerson. Just Be has been the most true to the original and Darren Emerson keeps its atmospheric and with lots of great 303 acid lines and I decided to totally change up the vibe from the original only keeping the vocal and a couple of other synth lines and kept it driving and trippy. Any fans of the original will see all mixes have been done with respect for the original and hopefully will like one if not all mixes.

AGORIA FEAT SCAIDE
For One hour
(REBIRTH) Shield for artwork
This is such a good and very consistent label so it’s no surprise I find myself reviewing yet another release. This time it’s from one of my favourite producers Agoria. The original mix is exactly what I expected – beautifully produced, musical, intricate sounding atmospheric electronic music, there is a subtle female vocal as well adding to the overall soundscape. The first remix is from Paradis, it’s kept simple, the drums are light, the bass is driving and more is made of the vocal. Very good indeed! Kosme’s mix is my least favourite, the energy is much lower so this is for warm up sets but very well done all the same and deep and moody. The last mix and maybe my favourite comes from the excellent Jack Dixon, he makes it a great piece of music with glistening harp lines and intense atmosphere, I played this at an after party in Denmark this weekend and it sounded great. Very good package indeed, pure quality!

BRYAN FERRY
Don’t Stop The Dance (remix)
(VIRGIN) (NUMU) for artwork
I have always been a big Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry fan. I actually played before them a couple of years ago at Bestival and they were such slick performers that I was amazed! This new release particularly excites me as ‘Don’t Stop The Dance’ is my all time favourite track of his and the original always captured that special Balearic feeling, so whoever commissioned this remix package has their head screwed on as it’s been done very tastefully indeed by recruiting some very talented producers. First up is one of the best modern Balearic producers, Todd Terje who does a more up-tempo, hypnotic dubby house mix. Punks Jump Up have done a great mix, I’m playing this every night at Cafe Mambo at the moment, it keeps the original song intact with a modern disco vibe then Greg Wilson and Derek Kaye come up with something similar to the original, I’m sure in a few years time this will be the version I still play, what a great package!

APP
YOYO EP
(KINDISCH)
August Jakobsen and Peter Pixzel make a second coming on Kindisch as APP this summer – with a 4 track ‘YOYO EP’. APP has been on fire recently with their Fabric London and Space Ibiza residencies playing at WetYourSelf which is owned by Peter along with his partners Jacob Husley and Cormac. The title track is a relaxed funk number with beautiful vocal cuts and a raw nu-disco vibe. ‘Why Not’ furthers the vibe and set a slightly more serious tone with the vocals pitched down and chords turned up. ‘Around You’ carries the most bass of all the tracks on the EP – and throws it around in a rhythmic, driving groove. Bringing up the rear is another nu-disco blend of house that throws us all the way back to when it all started with its retro feel and steady rhythms.

PETE GOODING FEAT CONI SODDEMANN
Gazing In Blue / My Way
(SECRET LIFE REOCRDS)
This is the fourth release from our label Secret Life and is a collaboration between myself and German singer songwriter Coni Soddemann. I came across Coni as she sang on a track by Leon that was on Steve Lawler’s Viva Music label. I got in touch and she got the train from her hometown of Cologne to meet me at lasts year A.D.E music conference in Amsterdam. We then made both the tracks and I’m pleased to say I’m really happy with the result. The main track ‘Gazing In Blue’ is a slow paced more Balearic sounding house, full on melody, warmth and a great song from Coni. Swedish duo Bambook has done a great remix of this. Thesecond track is ‘My Way’ a really trippy, deep, atmospheric house track from warm up or after hours sets and one half of Freaks, Justin Harris, has done a remix of this to complete the package, hope you enjoy it!