Oct 25, 2001 - Text: Diogo - Photos: Dreamlab

WHAT´S THE STORY OF FLOW RECORDS ?

BAsically I was djing for quite a while and was involved in the trance music dj scene, and many times foreign dj´s and artists asked me about portuguese trance musicians and labels and i could only reply "i don´t know or there´s no label yet", so the rest of the history is quite obvious, I took the initiative and Flow recs started in the beggining of the millenium, being now a recognized label.

HOW DO YOU SEE THE MUSIC YOU ARE INTO AND WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN IT ?

Now i´m into the more groovy and progressive side of psytrance, the music is changing quite fast and getting blended with all styles, so at this point we can hear loads of different kinds of trance, but basically i like the hear a good groovyfunkypsytech rythmn with lots of space between the sounds, i also like a lot to hear percussive tracks, loads of dj´s are now getting into the progressive house and groovetech to play in the daylight which i really like, but with moderation, not too much or too less, i like to add the psyfeeling in my sets, so i blend a bit of everything to make the balance....so each set can be a suprise depending on the dancefloor, I like also too see the girls in the dancefloor ;-)......

WHAT ARE GOING TO BE THE NEXT RELEASES ?

After the Paste ep, i will release a comp. in the end of september called Non Toxic Frequencies feat exclusive tracks from Reefer Decree,Paste, Xv Kilist,Adrenochrome,Droidlock,Filur,Quarz,Tegma and Antix, so is a quite kicking and progressive, then i will release a Filur ep(sebastian mullaert) and a comp with groovy and morning tracks afterwards....

HOW DID YOU BECOME A TRANCE DJ ?

I was an electronic music fan, listening to all sorts of industrial electronic music, noise rock, etc...then started to go to tecnho parties, then in 96 discovered the trance in the first open air party(free) in the boom fest site and then was something that changed and suprised me, an all new world in front of me, so i started to go to the trance parties and saw that loads of dj´s were using dats and cd´s, so in a few time i started mixing and playing for friends then after some time i met boom fest diogo and then he gave me the oportunity to play...and then was it....i never stoped until now.....going from the dats to the cd´s and vinyls....

WHAT´S YOUR VISION OF THE SCENE NOWDAYS ? IS IT GOING BETTER OR WORSE THEN BEFORE?

Hard question, cause i´ve seen lots of good parties now but also some really bad ones, so basically the festivals wordwide are allways great(allmost all of course) and we get some good vibes and energy from all the people to keep it going, and about regular parties some are good some aren´t, if you have parties with only agressive music or really fast music the girls tend to quit after some time and that´s not good, and that´s happening here in Portugal a bit, but i think it will change again, this is an evolving and melting scene where some stay and some don´t. Also, some promoters work really professionally but others don´t, lots of times some promoters just book you and at the last minute they cancel the party, etc....so i´m pointing only some aspects of the scene which should be improved. Anyway, i´m still going to parties and having great fun with them, it´s a matter of choosing the good ones but sometimes you can also have fun in the bad ones so.....this is psychedelia ;-) But basically we also can see that now there are sort of two diferent scenes, one more techgroovy and progressive and one more full on psy, all have they´re highlights and bad points, so in some time everything will start to blend(this is happening), cause for me what matters is the balance of everything, not too boring or too noisy and confusing.....

WHAT ARE YOU FAVORITE ACTS AT THE MOMENT ? ARE WE GOING O SEE THEM RELEASING STUFF IN YOUR LABEL?

I like quality production and groovy music, so favorite acts are Son Kite/Ticon for the quality and killer live acts, Antix for the organic groovytechtrance, Reefer Decree for the kicking bouncing tribal music, SBK(and his projs) for the inner musicallity and massive production aswell, Xv Kilist and Bitmonx for the quality funkygroovness, S-Range and Human Blue and Atmos for the ethereal spacey morning sounds for the these are the ones who just came to my mind right now, of course there are some more...some i already released on my compilations....

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE LARGE QUANTITY OF LABELS THAT APPEARS NOWDAYS....? IS IT GOOD OR BAD TO THE SCENE ?

Basically never thinked about that too much, lots of artists are building they´re own labels which is a good way to get more money and being in control of everything but i think it will not affect the scene, it can affect other labels but not the scene in general or the regular music buyer, it´s a matter of getting a good distribution, but of course there will be less money in general for all labels so afer some time some will survive and some won´t, the future will tell.

HAS A DJ , WHAT WAS YOUR BEST SET EVER AND WHAT IS A GOOD SET IN YOUR OPINION ?

I cannot tell you what was my best set, basically i don´t know but had had some good feedbacks , what matters is the connection to the crowd and seeing everybody dancing and having fun until the end, basically this is what matters.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THIS SUMMER ?

Going to voov, then palying in denmark on campelektric fest, then portugal for some beach on zambujeira, then have some contacts for greece and israel and then maybe cape town and australia(will go but don´t know the date yet)

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE PORTUGUESE SCENE... WHAT´S GOOD , WHAT´S BAD ?

The good thing is that we have good climate and some good places to make open air parties, also we have lots of parties all weekends so we have the chance to hear all the good(and bad) dj´s and artists which will influence the local dj´s on music taste, it´s good and very important to hear all kinds of trance being good or bad, the bad thing is the politcs being held by some promoters where if you play for one you cannot play for other(this without some kind of contract), this is not the trance philosophy.....also since we have so much parties some promoters don´t have the quality needed for a good party, decor and sound system wise, so the artists come and don´t have the minimum quality in the venue. The vibe in the north of Portugal is really kicking, more full on but they are open for everything since it´s some sort of new thing, really party people, in Lisbon is a bit diferent we have more parties for some years, so is getting a bit harder, but know after some good festivals(with more diferent dancefloor styles ) held and promoted by big companies, new people heard trance and enjoyed so i think now it will change, anyway this is the same everywhere....