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The SADE Tour is now underway, and the first event was held last weekend at Senssi Lahti. I would have given anything to be there, especially as Nomic was one of the headliners. Unfortunately he was finishing things on the second stage rather than taking his rightful place on the main floor, but still it’s great to see him back among the big events. Other highlights on the second stage were Decion, Brothers In Techno and a particularly animated Substanced. There are snippets of every DJ in the video below.

Over on the main stage, the SADE all-stars look to have done the business, and thanks to saunatonttu78 we’ve got a nice 23 minute video from the set. Also fantastic to see Tyranoid & Strongstream playing – they were probably the perfect fit for this event, as were Heathen and Rx with their NRG set.

Let’s try that Dark Dimension post again, shall we? I’ve been asked to remove one of the videos that was up there previously, but now that Kohaku has also added a few more we probably have enough for a decent roundup.

The highlight for me was without a doubt 魅衣 (Mii)’s superb selection of Hard NRG and freeform, more than making up for Asahi’s absence. Some of the tracks I remember include ThermalForce’s Eternal, Nomic’s Black Lotus and Alek Szahala’s Mageslayer, while the whole set started off with Mirage – there’s a snippet down below (with me predictably right up the front as soon as I realised what was happening).

Anyway, I’m really looking forward to more sets from Mii, especially after also checking out her newest promo set (that she was handing out on CD) that features plenty of interesting transitions to go with the top-notch selection.

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There’ll be an extra post or two tomorrow, but for now here’s a quick heads up that the mix section has finally been updated with my two Munted! Monthly! sets. Thanks to TYFTH’s presence in the Facebook Freeform Hardcore group and my wanderings around Tokyo’s non-hardcore events, it seems there might have been some new faces checking out the site over the past couple of months. About time to get things up to date then…

Incidentally, there’ll be quite an exciting development here very soon (as in, the next few days), plus a hopefully interesting announcement sometime after that. Stay tuned, as they say.

Surely everyone’s heard this set by now, but anyone who somehow missed it is in for a real treat. Substanced and Aryx are two artists who’ve really come into their own over the past year, and the guys’ tracks work fantastically well together, maybe even better than I expected.

There’s a great flow to the tracklist too (including some great new material), and it must have done all sorts of damage when heard live. Thank the gods that this is a clean recording though, without the MC who was apparently present during the set – how an MC could add anything of value to a freeform set is absolutely beyond me, but particularly when the tracks are as emotional and aggressive as these. I’d imagine the last thing most people need is a ‘host’ telling them when to dance, and if it was a case of the MC rhyming over the tunes…well, no comment.

Anyway, congratulations to both Substanced and Aryx on an excellent set – it was Aryx’s first gig abroad, but more are sure to follow if he keeps up the momentum that has placed him in the front rank of producers these days.

The new Grimsoul mix reminded me that I never posted this excellent event report/music video that features Grimsoul’s Sorceresses. Almost a year on, it’s still a great track, and the perfect BGM to this collection of scenes from a very Finnish-looking underground party.

Thanks to Chip we’re finally able to get our hands on two more sets from last month’s Munted! Monthly! Midas went a bit Duracell bunny at the end of the night, playing an epic 3 hour session of freeform, hardcore and more, but sadly the recording didn’t manage to capture it all.

Instead, sit back and enjoy Chip/Dyzphazia and Nomic, a fitting end to what has been a brilliant series of events. The M!M! shows have done a superb job of bringing together freeform fans from across the world, and giving freeformers the chance to exchange a bit of banter while hearing DJs they might not otherwise have listened to has been a real highlight of the project, I reckon.

Of course, M!M! has also played a massive part in promoting Finnish and Japanese sounds, leading to releases and bookings for more than a few of the artists featured. As we often say, it’s just a case of exposing listeners to our kind of freeform – but it has obviously taken a massive amount of work by both Chip and Midas, who deserve massive kudos (and perhaps some kind of engraved horse trophy) for all their efforts behind the scenes.

Anyway, the mixes – download them all here, and the tracklistings are:

Dyzphazia

1) Config Sys Project – Superbeast [CDr]

2) Wyrm – Can’t You See It [Electrode]

3) Qygen – Neon Circuitboards [Ruffbeatz]

4) Carbon Based – Dark Side [FiNRG]

5) Penguin Conspiracy – Tripswitch [Electrode]

6) Transcend & Dyzphazia – Tormenting Flames [f/c Relentless Digital]

7) Blender & Fantazia – Oh My God [Camel]

8 ) Grimsoul – Jaan Hautaamat (Oli G Remix) [Camel]

9) Carbon Based & Nemes – Heaven & Hell (Alek Szahala Remix) [Electronica Exposed]

10) Betwixt & Between – Reincarnation [Khaotic Dimension]

11) Oli G – Jasmin (Helikaon vs Ephexis Camelrape Remix) [Camel]

12) Olly Addictive & TTE – The Difference Engine [Electrode]

Nomic

1.  Yuki Kajiura – Mezame (bootleg)

2.  Nomic – Chaos Maker

3.  Nomic – Black Lotus

4.  Nomic – Extinguish

5.  Fen Project – Mad Man

6.  Nomic – Bad Dream

7.  Nomic – Rift

8.  Nomic – Innocence

9.  Nomic – Suicide Machine

10. Nomic – You Have a Dream

11. Nomic – Holocaust

12. Nomic – Unique Mind (Horzi Remix)

Here are two more sets in the spectacular Munted! series, from FINRG man Grimsoul and Munted!’s own Midas. It’s been a long long time since the last Grimsoul set, which means a nice mix of classics and newer material. Look out for Pyromaniac Firefighter, and also Sorceresses, an interesting track with a beautiful intro (from Skyrim or something similar, isn’t it?). I actually played it at NRGetic Romancer last year, where it bemused Cogi but got a quality reaction from the crowd.

1. Substanced – Shadows of tomorrow (Grimsoul remix)
2. Grimsoul – Pyromaniac firefighter
3. Grimsoul – Jään hautaamat 2012
4. Grimsoul & Pain on creation – Fury theme
5. Grimsoul – Enchanted mind
6. Substanced & Grimsoul – Harder than you think
7. Grimsoul – I’ll bring the storm
8. Grimsoul – Kadotettu todellisuus
9. Grimsoul – Sorceresses

Midas’ set is packed with the sort of variety you’d expect from him, heavy on the Transcend and Substanced with a nice spot of Qygen at the end. As his mammoth set from last month’s Munted! Monthly! wasn’t recorded (see the next post), this is a nice way to make up for it.

  1. A.B & Solution – Naneater (hu intro mix)
  2. Nu Foundation – Le gra go deo
  3. Douglas feat Rhona – FM22012
  4. Amini – Guitaran
  5. Nick235 & Midas – Crystal ocean
  6. Transcend & dyzphazia – tormenting flames
  7. nomad – lose it (transcend remix)
  8. aryx – chaldea (dj fury remix)
  9. Substanced – Crank cleopatra
  10. Substanced & J-Mx – flawless victory
  11. Substanced – Reptile Zoo]
  12. Endemic – Whispers (Arkitech remix)
  13. Lost Soul – Aliens in Pyjamas
  14. Sustanced – Exodus
  15. Transcend – Lament configuration
  16. Transcend – Upwards
  17. Transcend & Greg Peaks – Cosmic
  18. Aryx – Sylph
  19. Substanced & ALchemiist – Skullcrush
  20. Aryx – Chaldea
  21. Qygen – L.E.D. Galazy
  22. Qygen – Psyberwarfare
  23. Ben Atomgrinder – Burning moth

I’m a bit behind with my mix-listening at the moment, but a few days ago I finally had the chance to check out J-Mx’s Munted! Monthly! set. This is a really nice mix, an interesting combination of Japanese tunes (leaning towards the J-Core side of things) with Substanced and UK tracks – the nicely consistent sound throughout shows that there’s some quality selection going on here. If you’re after an uplifting set with an edge, then this’ll do the job very nicely.

Download (kuuntele) here, via Klubitus.

  1. Dj Noriken – Apogee
  2. Substanced & J-Mx – Flawless Victory
  3. Alabaster – Acid Maker
  4. Substanced – Ghost Of The Future
  5. Lv.4 – Buster Launcher
  6. Aryx & Substanced – Untitled
  7. Lv.4 – Aestivalis
  8. Lost Soul feat. Dark Angel – Sacrifice (Endemic remix)
  9. Substanced – Stockholm Syndrome
  10. Substanced – The End Of All Things (Aryx remix)
  11. Kevin Energy – Veti Levu
  12. Lv.4 – Ill (2011 Remix)

With my sporadic recent posting you might not have noticed, but I’ve just returned from a little town in Shizuoka called Shuzenji Onsen, where I spent a lovely few days sitting in hot springs, eating soba and wandering around Forest Moon of Endor-style scenery. Above is my hotel the town’s namesake temple, Shuzenji.

 

Tonight will be my first trip to Dark Dimension at Decadance Bar – no AT/Asahi this time, sadly, but a very nice looking lineup. With any luck I’ll have some video to upload tomorrow…