Page 10 - Zone Magazine Issue 020

hil Thompson aka Moonface has been making his mark within the electronic music scene for well
over 20 years. After DJ’ing across the South Coast of the UK for some time throughout the early 90’s, he ended up becoming an international DJ playing performing in Moscow, Tokyo, Bali, South America, Greece, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Georgia where he ended up meeting his lovely wife. John Digweed’s global heavy weight brand Bedrock helped solidify Moonface as an international DJ with a string of events seeing him warm up for Sasha & Digweed, as well as being Bedrock resident for over 5 years. We met with Phil to get the lowdown of where’s he is and what we can expect from this talented producer.
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From the outside, it seemed like Moonface had taken a break from the music industry, but delving deeper, you've been busy releasing recently on a number of labels. How’s 2017 been for you on the production side?
2017 has been awesome in many ways looking back, something I don’t do very often. Often people have mentioned welcome back Moonface..... Nobody has taken much notice of me for over 10 years or more, yet I have been consistently making music, still djing at selective parties and churning out mix after mix on my Souncloud page. Sitting on Moonface productions never knowing what to do with them all. If interested you can look back through my releases on Beatport and see all the releases that have gone well under the radar year after year. Last year things stepped up a gear with suddenly everyone taking notice of “Progressive" music again. That being music that is always moving forward and progressing is how I see it. There is a small number of us who have stuck to our own sound for all these years never jumping genres to stay with the trends that happen and now the interest is coming back round to us again and that’s a great buzz after so many years of consistent hard work in the studio. As music always turns in cycles, we know this. Last year a few more Moonface tracks were released along with a compilation mix for Gibbon records early summer that features
some amazing music. A Montel remix of my now classic 20 year old track Moonface “U Get So Give” on Bedrock that’s doing some dance floor damage. My EP on Tulipa called “Enemies of your Satisfaction” near the end of the year. Also on Tulipa a track I made called “Planet Hopping”, plus a remix of “Lines and Curves” for Gonzalo Spain. Along with two unique tracks on Mirabilis Records “We R 1” a full-on meditation sunrise moment along with “Move closer” also a unique vibe. For me 2017 was an awesome year showcasing some really unique deep underground music. 2018 is already gaining momentum with a Compilation mix for Tulipa released February that features two new Moonface tracks and then another compilation mix for Astir records coming out in March also featuring two new Moonface tracks.
Your recent EP on Tulipa reminds us of why your music has always been firmly placed in a number of dj’s playlists, you must be pleased with the feedback that has come about from this release?
I enjoy the feedback you do get to hear. The buzz of making music and sharing it without any pressures hoping someone will enjoy it keeps me going. When you hear people’s reactions or your track featured in a mix you found online it motivates you to keep going.
10 ZONE-MAGAZINE.COM
MOONFACE