It’s no secret that without Alek Száhala’s music I wouldn’t have set off down the freeform rabbit hole 10 years ago, and so I’m very honoured to have one of Alek’s finest tracks of recent years as part of In Praise of Shadows.

Dark and psychedelic in the style of years past, Enuma Elish goes beyond that with improved production and a superb master that easily stands up to anything appearing now. Some might not be aware that the track is actually a nine-minute epic, and this newest version features a number of elements not heard in Alek’s Live PA sets.

It says a lot for the strength of the compilation that an Alek Száhala track fits so well into the tracklist, and speaks to the unified atmosphere that I’m so happy with. As with Guld, I owe Alek a lot of thanks for his early support – this wouldn’t be happening without him.

There’s a small heap of posts at the moment that are either half-written or on the to-do list, but right now what’s most pressing is In Praise of Shadows news. Obviously delays have struck again, this time at the last possible moment before the CD manufacturing – it’s hard not to feel the frustration as deadlines merrily come and go, but these experiences will definitely stand me in good stead should a second release ever happen.

Either way, the final product is almost certainly going to be worth the wait. It’s already feeling very unified, from the art and graphics to the tracks themselves, and I’m even satisfied with CD2’s mix – it has been a regular commuting soundtrack since February, probably a sign that it’s one of my better efforts over the past couple of years.

Of more interest to everyone will be the unmixed tracks, and to finally make things more public I’ve decided to start uploading previews from this weekend. Starting tomorrow, I’ll add a track each day, giving you a chance to check each one out while we wait. At the end of that process I’m pretty confident that the album will be at, or close to, the manufacturing stage, and will then be available to order next month.

Most people will already know that the first track is Proteus’ Monochrome, but we’ve since decided on an improved master that honestly improves it a lot. The track structure itself is unchanged, so it might be nice to have track 2’s preview ready to hear tomorrow, as well.

Finally, to coincide with the previews there’ll be some logo action happening, incorporating a little preview of the album artwork. Hope that’s enough of a silver lining for now, and that everyone enjoys the Lucky Lotus set later today.

The schedules are all decided for this month’s HSB2015, and my set with Guld will be broadcast twice during an amazing looking sequence for the freeform brigade. We’ll be appearing at midnight on 24th July (BST) and again at 12:00 – 13:00 on the same day. JST will be 08:00 – 09:00 and 20:00 – 21:00 on the same day.

It’ll be worth tuning in early though, as the freeform starts with Thumpa, followed by Substanced, us, Dyzphazia, Cuedy, Nomic and Olly Addictive (!). Check the flyer here, while the Facebook event page is the in the same place it’s always been. All being well I’ll be lurking in the Happy Hardcore chat for the second sequence of the sets, and it’d be great to see some other Horsers there too.

Finally some news to reassure those saddened by the recent departures from the scene, in the shape of Twisted Freq, one of the founders of the dark freeform sound. Paradoxical Intentions looks to be his latest return to production, and this short preview shows very promising signs. No news of a release yet, but some new material of the quality of his Kreatrix heyday could be just what the scene needs right now.

Decion’s new mix is definitely worthy of a topic of its own – this is absolutely awesome stuff, with some excellent selections and very good mixing. The set is brutal Hard NRG, and is exactly the kind of thing that’s popular here at NRGetic Romancer or Hell’s Gate. I always think it’s hard to get a decent flow to a Hard NRG mix while keeping the interest up, but Decion’s done a great job here. Very much recommended!

1.Jon Bishop – Stalker
2.Twisted Psycho – Venom
3.DJ Rx – Hellfire (NARC Remix)
4.Random But Raw – Salty
5.NARC – 55 Calibre
6.Firefox – Oz
7.Twisted Psycho – Transformation
8.Random But Raw & Tekneak – Heavy Metal
9.James Nardi & Julian Dwyer – Evil Genius
10.Dramatik – City of Filth
11.Grady G – Afraid of the Dark
12.Key & JCK Vs. Darrell White – Get Down
13.Grady G – Maggots
14.Dramatik – Weapon of Choice
15.Twisted Psycho – Welcome to Oblivion

Download here (by clicking kuuntele, as usual)

Incredibly, Guld has pulled out all the stops for the next NRGetic Romancer….he’s only gone and booked the most talented producer in the scene at the moment – simultaneously realising my long-held hope for an Alek Szahala/Betwixt & Between joint event. Upon first arriving at NRGetic Romancer last May, one of my first questions to Guld was whether booking Alek was a possibility. He had been trying for quite a while already, but was thwarted by Alek’s lack of time and the small matter of a few thousand miles, of course. This really is spectacular, then, and given the rarity of Alek’s appearances abroad (only the UK and Canada so far?), quite a coup for NRGetic Romancer. After the last event, I was quaintly hoping for similar numbers in February – I think that now Studio Cube will be as packed as it’s ever been, rivalling last August’s Proteus/Adam Lab 4/Guld event.

To say I’m looking forward to it would be the understatement of the year (it’s only just started, so I can get away with that, I think), as the reaction of the NRGetic Romancer crowd to Alek’s tracks is always special – a whole set could really make for the best NRG/Freeform event that has been seen in Tokyo for a long while.