Yoni Oshrat’s first visit to South Africa as Ace Ventura in February this year was certainly one to remember as he blasted his way through two sets of powerful, progressive psychedelic music. The event was highlighted not only by the response from the crowd who absolutely loved his music but also by Ace’s own reaction which was a simple “when can I come back?” he was so impressed with the quality of our dancefloors. Well he is back. For New Year’s Eve at Rezonance – a 4 day, 3 night electronic music extravaganza designed to serve up the cream of local DJ talent alongside top internationals.
Yoni started his psytrance music career as one half of Psysex alongside DJ Goblin, a project that lasted eight years and bore three very good albums. Predominantly a full-on project the duo also experimented with slower tracks as well as what Yoni describes as “breakbeat and freestyle tunes…just enjoying creating music.” I pick up the conversation from here…
What was the final deciding factor for you to give up Psysex and start your progressive projects?
“There were a couple of reasons. After 8 years working as a duo it just got a little old so it was really attractive for me to try and do it on my own. But the main reason was being fed up with the full-on scene and getting into the prog scene which had a totally different vibe to it, different people and much better parties. I was encouraged by my friend, Yuli Fershtat (aka Perfect Stranger), to try and produce a progressive track, and so Cardiac Arrest was born, which Yuli released on his compilation for Iboga records. After the positive feedback from this release, it gave me the push to make a change and take a leap of faith, to try and go in a new direction.”
Yoni is of course a Jim Carey fan although the adoption of the moniker has as much to do with the movies as it has with his father whose real last name is in fact Ventura! “Cardiac Arrest was about to be released and I didn’t have a project name… so I had to choose one real quick… didn’t go for the most original choice in the world, but it kinda sticks with people as it’s a catchy name that rings a bell…”
You reintroduced a much needed (in my opinion) tougher sound back into progressive trance. Was this always your intention or a result of your Psysex days?
“To be honest I didn’t have any master plan, I was just going with it. Obviously some musical notes from Psysex carried through… some tracks were more progressive and atmospheric and some had more power and floor blasting qualities – the latter by now being my signature sound.”
Chatting to Reshef [Captain Hook] recently he reckons full-on psytrance is dead in Israel now…
“It’s not completely dead but it’s obvious that in the last few years progressive music has taken over the public’s taste in Israel. Actually the Israeli Trance scene has been really kicking in the past few years… parties 3 times a week and of course big ones on weekends. Progressive trance has been the sound of choice but nowadays one can also hear Techno and prog-house at trance parties.”
Aside from Yoni’s Ace Ventura project, he has several collaborations on the go and reckons 2012 is a big year;
“Some serious releases on my part are due out. The second Ace Ventura album on Iboga records, the debut album with Rocky [as Easy Riders] will be released on HOMmega and another album which is underway is the debut Zentura album, my project with Zen Mechanics. Also a few Liquid Ace DJ sets [with Liquid Soul] are booked around the world… and last but not least, I just did my first live act together with Captain Hook a week ago in Tel Aviv and it kicked major ass – we will have more shows together in 2012. So it’s going to be a good year!
Catch Ace Ventura and a host of SA’s finest at Rezonance NYE 2011/12 this year.
Facebook Event: Rezonance NYE Festival 2011-2012
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