Thanks to DJ Yediah I saw this incredible video for the first time this morning and couldn’t resist posting it up. Filmed at a massive-looking event in Moscow way back in 2010, this is classic Proteus and yet another lesson in feeling the music during a DJ performance.
Let’s step away from freeform again for a minute to enjoy a beautiful new Paokala track, one of the nicest downtempo tunes yet from Alek Szahala or any of his aliases. Right up there with some of Nomic’s piano pieces, I’m really glad that this has gone up on FINRG’s SoundCloud, giving the label’s followers a taste of the deeper sounds Alek is capable of.
If you’re after a 30 minute burst of NRG and freeform, look no further than this great Dyzphazia set from last week. His finger’s on the pulse as usual with some brand new selections, but the second half also has some lovely, unexpected choices that flow very nicely towards the manic Night Prey.
- Cyrez – Raver’s Legacy [Rebuild]
- Ikaruga Nex – Black Hawk Down [CDr]
- Le Dos-On – A (Cyrez Remix) [Splash Energy! Records]
- Substanced & J-Mx – Flawless Victory [FiNRG]
- Transcend – Eons [CDr]
- Alf Bamford – Heartburn (Dark By Design Remix) [Hard Timez]
- Kevin Energy & Proteus – London Helsinki Underground (Proteus Warcry Remix) [Nu Energy Collective]
- Technical Itch & Kemal – The Calling (Evol Intent & Ewun Remix) [Moving Shadow]
- Pain On Creation – Night Prey (Live Edit) [CDr]
I haven’t had time for Qygen’s Smiling Corpse mix just yet, but he also made an incredible recent debut on Freeformaniacs with this two-hour voyage into the trippiest of dark psy. The opening to the set is way out there, and had my freeform-conditioned mind desperately searching for some kind of structure. That’s not a criticism, though – it’s great to be thrown out of your comfort zone, and it’s a real journey as the set heads into some very nasty stuff.
I didn’t recognise many tracks on the first listen (maybe only long-time COGI favourite, Something in the Air), but thanks to Qygen himself we now have a tracklist, complete with label info.
- Atim – Theories (ZuluTunes)
- Luuli – Burnt Dust (Akashik Record)
- Magma Ohm – Aqui Atendemos Loucos (Akashik Record)
- Mergel – Blood Emo (Akashik Record)
- Parandroid – Metaprogram Language (ManiacPsychoPro)
- Daisy Pusher – Max’s Brain (JellyFish Frequency Recordings)
- Cybernetika – The Outer Reach (Cybernetika Self-release)
- Ben Atomgrinder – Burning Moth (ReBuild Music)
- スゲ (Suge) – kitchen in the dark (Druggy’s Acid RacK)
- Xikwri Neyrra – Between Hydrogen & Helium Particles (Twisted Minds Recordings)
- Aremakki – Dinol The Wastehead (Ultiva Records)
- Limbo – No Joke (Anomalistic Records)
- Furious – Puzzle Fussion (Insomnia Records)
- Cosmic Iron – Terrapia (Anomalistic Records)
- Nritya Shastra – Something in the Air (Tantrumm Records)
- Airi – October Projekt (2to6 Records)
- Psykovsky – Tanetsveta (Tantrumm Records)
- Psykovsky – Aura Leta (Tantrumm Records)
The freeform world’s already well aware of this bit of news, but a new Alek Szahala track always deserves a post of its own. Deimos is a wonderful mid-point between Alek’s current sound and the otherwordly melodies of a few years ago, and is an absolute floor-killer at slightly higher bpms.
Here’s a recent track from BRK that’s an essential for the NRG heads, and might even be one of his best so far. The melodies and synths are firmly in Lab 4 territory, which is about the highest compliment you can give a Hard NRG tune.
No Mercy was also included in Cyberdyne Seba’s newest set, Hoovers at the Edge of the Universe. The middle section is far too hard-housey for me, but there are some great acid picks here and there with the harder and nastier NRG saved for the second half. Really worth checking out, this one.
Going off the usual track for a fashion-related post here, but this is well worth a look for anyone interested in the wider Japanese scene. Style Arena is usually the place to avoid go for street snaps of Tokyo’s teenage fashion victims, but this month the site ran a feature on ‘Candy Ravers’, the 90s UK happy-hardcore influenced crew that can always be spotted at Tokyo’s hard dance/hardcore events.
Unsurprisingly, over the years I’ve bumped into all of the ravers featured – KANGU is a very good friend of mine and a long-time supporter of my sets and NRGetic Romancer. Club dancer RINKO is well-known to anyone in the Tokyo hardcore scene and another Romancer regular, while 7 was a big supporter of the darker/harder freeform DJs during the 2009-2010 golden era. Take a look here for all the photos, along with some (translatable) text to accompany each raver.
The deadline has been and gone for Le Dos-on’s A remix project, and the tunes are available to download on the Splash Energy Recordings site. The genres are eclectic to say the least, but the biggest track for freeform fans is definitely Cyrez’s slower, NRG-styled remix. It does a brilliant job of putting Cyrez’s stamp on the track, while keeping the Le Dos-on meets Alek Szahala feel of the original. Of the other remixes, my favourite is probably Supremacy’s ferocious gabber version, but head over to Splash Energy Recordings and check them all out for yourself.
It’s finally time for a look back at 10 Years of FINRG and my escapades in Finland and the UK – part of the reason for this write-up’s massive delay is the difficulty of doing justice to what was an utterly stupendous trip from start to finish. This might well be a long one (and in fact is version 3 of the post), but feel free to skip through to the event section where you’ll find my tracklist and a few other bits and pieces of behind the scenes-related stuff.
Important edit: Apologies to Raver71 for not crediting his photo of the Senssi decor. Check here for his awesome album from the night, and click here for the equally great Sessions2 photos, where you’ll find me looking especially psychopathic.
Le Dos-on has another release on the way, and has tried his hand at emulating yet another Finnish artist (or artists, this time). Here he’s gone for the Substanced/Alchemiist style, but bumped up to a nicely manic 185 bpm. This one might be lacking the power of his inspirations at the moment, but it’s making up for it in pace and energy, and strikes me as one of those tunes that’d sound brilliant somewhere in the middle of a set.
By the way, there’ll be one or two long posts tomorrow (as is usual at the end of the year on TYFTH), so make sure to check back one last time in 2012.