Last week I returned fully charged from the Transition festival and inspired by the experiences I had, the people I met and the conversations I had with them. I was fortunate enough to continue the vibe this week as I was joined by psy trance DJ Andy Force who joined me in the studio. He was able to share his story of his musical journey from enjoying rock and metal, through discovering Hard House electronic music and enjoying the parties in London to enjoying his current adventure with Psychedelic Trance and how he’s now able to DJ at great parties and co-organise his own events, such as the next Astral Circus event on the 31st May. I enjoyed hearing some of his current favourite songs he enjoys and plays, such as by Psynina and Ginetik.
One of the many things I love about the psy trance scene is how the people involved are able to share their experiences and demonstrate new ways how humans can co-exist. This is often demonstrated at events such as festivals which show how sustainable living can be achieved outside the current defined system. Andy and I talked about this and it led us onto another of his great passions which is politics and how he saw the Occupy movement as the first way he could get involved rather than being a worried, powerless spectator which many of us can be led to feel. We talked about how the weaknesses of the capitalist system and how it’s failed the general population. The conversation was well timed because of the death of Margaret Thatcher on Monday and we talked about the effect she had on the direction of politics since she came to power. This led us to play music along these themes such as Fuel by Metallica, which Andy wanted to play for the students who occupied Sussex university because of the privatisation there, Toxicity by System Of A Down, which was appropriate when we were discussing the banks and the always welcome Killing In The Name by Rage Against The Machine. It was a great way to end the show and we played it for the people mentioned in the Calum’s List memorial page who died as a direct result of the welfare reforms which are part of the policies which have continued since Margaret Thatcher’s reign.
Here are a couple of sources of alternative news which we talked about during the show:
https://www.indymedia.org.uk/
https://www.truthdig.com/
https://www.schnews.org.uk/index.php
You can find out more about Andy here, on the page promoting his participation at his first international gig at the fantastic Vibe festival this coming June. It includes links to his mixes such as this one.
And you can listen to the show again here at your leisure:
Andy Force – Musical Meanderings 9th April 2013 by Graham Stannard on Mixcloud
Here is the playlist for 9th April 2013 (Albums in brackets)
1. Meat Puppets – Paradise (Huelva)
2. The Wedding Present – Dan Dare (Seamonsters)
3. Psynina – Necrastate Patterns (Sexy Secret)
4. Ginetik – Makes Me Wonder (Wild Prospective EP)
5. Chameleon & Temporal Coding – Quixotics (VA – Organic Dream)
6. Metallica – Fuel (Reload)
7. Elvis Costello – Tramp The Dirt Down (Spike)
8. System Of A Down – Toxicity (Toxicity)
9. John Trudell & Bad Dog – Crazy Horse (Live à Fip)
10. Rage Against The Machine – Killing In The Name (Rage Against The Machine)