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CORE interview with Watchtower

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 17, 2012
Posted in: Drum & Bass, Events, Mixes, Releases, UK. Leave a Comment

A little bit late posting this up – Matt and Jamis of the good ship Watchtower were recently interviewed by CORE magazine, where they did a quality job of representing the scene and spreading the word re. the upcoming release of Volume 2.

Take a look at the CORE site for the full interview, where you’ll also find a really interesting mix from the Endemic guys. Obviously featuring the UK side of the label’s sound, it’s an ambitious set that combines some fairly angry drum and bass with the freeform. It’s all excellently mixed, and well worth a listen even if you usually lean more towards the Finnish side of things.

Le Dos-on – A, remix producers wanted

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 12, 2012
Posted in: Events, Japanese, Releases. 3 comments

Some exciting news from Le Dos-on tonight – he has plans to release some remixes of one of my favourite new tunes, his Alek Szahala-esque A. Interested artists only have until the end of the month to come up with something, but head over to the Splash Energy Recordings site for the download link.

Any fan of the FINRG sound will be interested in this – I’ve recently been hacking away at a tune of my own, but might actually give this a try too. Le Dos-on’s probably after a good remix though, so it’ll be interesting to see what some of the more talented artists do with the remix pack.

There’s also a TYFTH remix competition coming soon, but let’s wait until this deadline has passed before I post up all the info.

BEEZEE vs Alderz – Freeformaniacs

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 10, 2012
Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Mixes, UK. 4 comments

The second mix of the night is another very special one – longtime TYFTH supporters BEEZEE and Alderz have joined forces for a back to back session on the Freeformaniacs show, coming up with one of the most enjoyable sets I’ve heard for a long time. This is absolutely perfect TYFTH material, covering all our favourites from Betwixt & Between to Qygen, via Alek Szahala and Level 13, and is probably the ideal My First Deeper Freeform Set for any newbies out there.

The mixing is superb all the way through, and it’s a treat to hear Alderz playing for the first time in an age – his mixing style is ferocious, with new tunes hurtling in before you really know what’s happening. It works brilliantly though, followed up by the filters-and-dark-stuff from BEEZEE that we know so well. Special shouts to Alderz for the progression of his set, from the angry NRG of Einhander and Hase to uplifting tracks like Temporal Temple, while combination of the session might go to BEEZEE for that opening Stockholm Syndrome – Twisted Faith connection.

An absolute must listen then – well done to the guys, you did your fellow Horsers proud with this one.

=ALDERZ=
1. Nomic – Human Race 
2. Hase – Brionac 
3. EInhander – Fourbeast 
4. Alek Szahala – Mageslayer 
5. Synthwulf vs DJ RX – Ragnarok 
6. Alek Szahala – Deimos 
7. Qygen – Temporal Temple 
8. Level 13 – Is That All 
9. Carbon Based – Outer Rings 
10. Betwixt & Between – Niji 
11. Aryx – Chaldea DJ Fury Remix 
12. Amini – Lost Elegy

=BEEZEE=
13. Substanced – Stockholm Syndrome 
14. Epyx and Cyrez – Twisted Faith (Cyrez 2010 edit) 
15. FEN – Mad man 
16. Tyranoid and Strongstream – You Need Another Drink (Cyrez Remix) 
17. Qygen – Earth Shine 
18. Betwixt and Between – Reincarnation 
19. Alek Szahala – Freezing Clouds 
20. Micken – Oeh 
21. Epyx and Cyrez – Spiteful 
22. Betwixt and Between – Phase 6 
23. Alek Szahala – From Flesh To Machines 

Pearsall Presents Rampage Turbo 13 – A Stage One Music Special

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 9, 2012
Posted in: Mixes, UK. 1 comment

Back again after a few days of enforced silence – the posting plans for this week are all up in the air at the moment, but at least tonight I can finally draw attention to a couple of recent standout sets.

First of all we have a new installment of the Rampage Turbo series, courtesy of Pearsall. That alone should be enough to secure a download from most people, but this is a very special set with a focus on venerable hardcore label Stage One Music. Pearsall’s own Sonicrampage post gives a good idea of the basics, and diving into the set itself shows what a golden period of proto-freeform it was.

Anyone disappointed by the death of quality acid lines in modern freeform (hardly used by FINRG artists, and very lacklustre in Nu Energy tunes of the mid-2000s onwards) will find solace here, as Pearsall has made some superb selections alongside amens, vocals and happycore-esque big kicks. I’ve already given the set a few listens, and both the mixing and pacing are as spot on as you’d expect. Although I recognise a good few of the tunes, they’re from a time when I often listened to sets without a tracklist, and so this is a great opportunity to check who was responsible for these anthems.

With more and more people coming to freeform these days, sets like this can only be a good thing – great work by Pearsall, and let’s hope that there’ll be a few more history lessons yet to come.

01. Cortex – Summer Lovin’ (xy2)  
02. DJ Energy – Anticlockwize (xy2)  
03. DJ Fury – Soundflow (Remix) (Stompin’ Choonz)  
04. Cortex – Digital Brotherhood (FDN)  
05. Teknodred – More Understanding feat Dave Jay (Stompin’ Choonz)  
06. DJ Fury – Lemonade Raygun (FDN)  
07. Helix & Fury – Sanctus Dominus (xy2)  
08. Cortex – Eurosis (xy2)  
09. Citadel of Kaos – Paradise Lost (Just Another Label)  
10. Helix – Helixia (Stompin’ Choonz)  
11. Brisk & Trixxy – Back To The Top (Remix) (Just Another Label Premium)  
12. Square Wave – Like A Criminal (Stompin’ Choonz)  
13. D-Zyne – Digital Havoc (xy2)  
14. Teknodred & Ad Man – A Voice Spoke To Me (Helix Remix) (Stompin’ Choonz)  
15. D-Zyne & Fury – Hyperhydrosis (xy2)  
16. DJ Fury – Desensitize (Stompin’ Choonz)  
17. Helix & Teknodred – Mindless Pleasure (Stompin’ Choonz)  
18. DJ Fury – Lemonade Raygun (Main Floor Mix) (Stompin’ Choonz)  
19. Helix – Now Control (Stompin’ Choonz) 

DJ Rx – Code of Silence (Le Dos-on remix)

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 3, 2012
Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Releases. 2 comments

This all happened too late last night for yesterday’s roundup, but Le Dos-on’s first FINRG release is surely worth a post of its own. It’s been a few years now since the Code of Silence remix competition, so it’s nice to hear a more up-to-date version. Once again, Le Dos-on has done an excellent job of combining FINRG influences with his own take on the Japanese freeform sound, this time taking CoS into slightly darker territory.

His Shadows of Tomorrow remix is still to come, so let’s hope that this is the first release of many on FINRG.

New FINRG releases

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 2, 2012
Posted in: Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Releases. Leave a Comment

Next year’s FINRG & FUTURISTICS event has just been announced, and my oft-delayed look back at 10 Years of FINRG will be coming over the weekend. Before that then, here’s a brief roundup of the FINRG releases from the past month.

The biggest news was of course the recruitment of Alchemiist – great to see FINRG accepting one of the most consistent producers of the past year into its ranks, especially if it means we see more tunes of Permission to Die’s quality. Fate is at least as good, and another excellent dark track to add to this year’s collection. Substanced has also added the new version of Crank Cleopatra for fans of his Facebook page, while Radical Vibe is a lovely new tech-ish trance tune from Solar Emotion.

Finally comes the BRK remix of Hatral, a great balance of the original’s atmosphere and BRK’s brutal hard dance style.

[TYFTH Tracks] Qygen – Across the Ancient Universe

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 1, 2012
Posted in: Releases. 8 comments

I’m very happy to announce that the next addition to the TYFTH track collection is from none other than Qygen! Past dithering over the upgrade of the account meant that talk of a submission couldn’t come to anything, but in the meantime Qygen has racked up an impressive number of releases on physical and digital labels, making him one of the most exciting new artists of recent years.

His contribution to TYFTH is Across the Ancient Universe, a simply superb ten-minute journey of a tune that I immediately fell in love with. Opening with his trademark goacore riffs, the track ends up heading into a wonderful, melancholy breakdown, some freeform-style melodies and a brutal, uplifting finale. Huge thanks to Qygen for a pretty special track – I hope everyone enjoys this one.

Lunatic Sabbath Halloween Revolution, 27th October

Posted by PlasmaDancer on October 31, 2012
Posted in: Drum & Bass, Events, Japanese. Leave a Comment

Last weekend I made it to Lunatic Sabbath’s Halloween special, probably the biggest event so far from ac-key and the rest of the Sabbath crew. Headlining was Zardonic, Venezuela’s drum and bass/dubstep/industrial maestro, who put on a fantastic high bpm set that was quite heavy on hardcore/gabber sections too. Although most people these days dance to drum and bass at ‘half speed’, the structure of the set also worked really well for the more energetic folk, with the occasional dubstep section giving them a rest.

There was also dnb from ac-key and a superb dark psy set from Siki, definitely one of her best. As well as two great suspension perfomances, another highlight of the night was JURI’s short-but-intense drumming set. She seems to make the occasional appearance at Decadance and other alternative events, but this was first time for me to see her live and luckily I didn’t miss the chance for a video.

Betwixt & Between – East of Eden (UFS Remix RIP Betwixt & Between)

Posted by PlasmaDancer on October 26, 2012
Posted in: Japanese, Releases. 5 comments

To be honest I’ve hardly listened to freeform for the past couple of weeks, but I’ll do my best to catch up with some interesting new bits and pieces during the next few days.

Before that, I’m sure everyone has been checking out the tribute tracks dedicated to Betwixt & Between, but here’s UFS’ brilliant remix of East of Eden, probably my favourite so far. I have fond memories of the original, as it was the first track in a Betwixt Live PA that introduced me to freeform and set me on the road to everything that’s happened since. Well done to UFS on a wonderful rework.

A couple of the other tribute tracks are 3R2’s remix of Tindaros and Hommarju’s Zusammengehorigkeit.