The full flyer is now ready (I’m off to Shibuya tomorrow to look for the real version), so here’s a look at the back, too. My old ‘plasma’ picture seems to have been used this time, but maybe it’s better than the mad staring photo from that old Hell’s Gate flyer…
I know, this is a drum and bass mix, but it includes a great sequence of 3 or 4 tunes that are a perfect example of telling a ‘story’. Anyone familiar with drum and bass will know Doc Scott, one of the early pioneers with the ambient/intelligent jungle sound back in the mid-90s, and this set does a pretty good job of rounding up some ‘deep’ modern tunes. First of all, take a look at the tracklist.
ASC and Blu Mar Ten are names from back in the good old days too, and the three tracks in bold make up the sequence that caught my attention. Dead Rising is almost dubstep style (it might even be dubstep, I’m not really familiar with it), and is one of those tunes that is really made by a well chosen sample – “Two news agencies are reporting accounts of the dead returning to life”. The pace of the sequence builds up with a rolling drumbeat and ominous bassline in Deadlock, before the vocal and more melodic style of Believe Me shifts the atmosphere again…it’s quite a beautiful tune, but sounds slightly disturbing/melancholy when matched up with the other two tracks.
I’m usually not a fan of modern dnb, and I wasn’t keen on a few of these tunes, but this is an amazing sequence and very inspiring, a dark/melancholy freeform set could definitely try to create the same sort of atmosphere. It shows the kind of ‘journey’ a good DJ can take you on, for sure.
If you fancy a listen after all that, download from here.
A quick heads up for this coming Wednesday, Android Lime’s first mix as a resident will be broadcast on Live Sets Online Radio, with plenty of dark and nasty NRG in store (don’t ask me how I know, I just know). Show some support and give it a listen if you can, and don’t forget that DJ X (Lab 4) is also a resident, so definitely worth catching his sets too. If you’re after more info, be sure to check out Android Lime’s resident page here, and DJ X here.
I’ve just noticed the flyer for next month’s Tokyo Hardcore Construction, and it’s one of the best yet. It has definitely become a ‘must-go to’ event for me, but this one’s on the 19th – the day after NRGetic Romancer. Monday is a national holiday in Japan, but I’m working in the afternoon…
That’s right – new Hybridizes are now available for free download (!) from the FINRG homepage, inlcuding some great tunes from all the regular crew, plus a collaboration between Japanese artist Dexterpurpure and Tyranoid (Ascension, a favourite of Guld’s for a while now).
It’s obviously a big change for Hybridize, and if it gets the tunes out to even more DJs and listeners then it’s surely a good thing – of course I’ve been pushing them a lot at Hell’s Gate and NRGetic Romancer, and recently Hybridize tunes have been turning up in sets by Betwixt & Between, DJ Minagi, Alabaster and others. The newest batch includes everything from hard trance up to Substanced’s amazing Freeform Mercury (which I’ll be playing again next month, no doubt), and now there’s nothing stopping you from checking them all out.
There’s a new event coming up from the Full Circle DJs, starting next month. You’ve probably noticed that the Full Circle style has changed quite a lot during this year, and this looks like more of a dedicated event for that kind of sound. Promising House, Soca (not sure what that is, to tell the truth), drum and bass and more, it’ll be interesting to see what other DJs will be playing there. It’s in the same venue as the recent foolish event, Nakameguro’s OVO.
Ah, sorry for the lack of updates this week, but not much has been going on. I did make it to Project Karma in Kawasaki last night though, so my legs are currently absolutely killing me… There was lots of video etc taken, so maybe I’ll up some of it here in the next few days.
In the meantime, last weekend was the latest Vinylize event in Shibuya. I wasn’t there (Guld was, and said it was great), but here are a couple of videos, just so I’m posting up something.
First is Remo-Con playing with live violin backing – maybe not exactly my kind of thing, but live/DJ collab performances are always interesting:
Next is Remo-Con alongside Yoji, playing Yoji’s track Airport, I think. I’ve seen a few Yoji videos lately, and seems like he’s playing slightly harder tunes again…or maybe it was just wishful thinking..
To tie in with next month’s NRGetic Romancer, Jody 6 has just finished a remix of one of the tunes of last year, Guld/Betwixt & Between’s Hatral. This one really shows what a remixer can bring to a track, with the bpm dropping and it becoming more of a hard trance effort…I could definitely imagine someone like Munetica coming out with this sort of tune. Anyway, it’s already out on NRGetic Romancer Records (and seems like it’s a ‘featured tune’ on Trackitdown, too), so any hard trance/house heads should take a look here.
static : pulse from Samuel Cockedey on Vimeo.
Not much going on this week, so in the meantime here’s a late Top Ten for last month. The video above is by Samuel Cockeday…Tokyo might look a bit of a mess during the day, but you’d have a hard time finding a more amazing city once the lights come on, and this is a great piece of work.
The flyer for next month’s NRGetic Romancer is out, and it’s finally ok to announce the two guests – Australia’s Jody 6 and Justin Charge. Both big names in the Australian scene, with releases on all sorts of different labels, this Romancer is themed around a Japan vs Australia hard dance ‘world war’, as you can see. A check of Jody 6’s MySpace shows that he’ll definitely have the catchy/uplifting side of things covered (he used to be a resident at the now-deceased Code in Shinjuku, which speaks for itself), and it should be a good complement to the darker tunes we usually play.
I’ll be representing Japan, of course, and although with 8 DJs/Live PAs in total I’ll probably be playing a much shorter slot this time, I’ve already got a good few ideas as to what sort of thing to play. What with there being two guest artists, the door price will be 3500yen this time, with 3000/possibly 2500 (don’t quote me, I’m not sure yet) for guests. As always, anyone who happens to be in Tokyo should feel free to drop a message here!