Marking 200 likes on his Facebook page, Alchemiist has released a new tune via FINRG that happens to be one of the best I’ve heard for a long while. As nasty as you’d expect, this one has a little more of the atmopshere of his darker NRG tracks than usual, which is definitely no bad thing. An absolute must-download, but be sure to also ‘like’ his fan page if you haven’t already.
Finnish
PlasmaDancer – Lucky Lotus, August 2013 by Plasmadancer on Mixcloud
I’ve had a couple more requests to put my Lucky Lotus set online, so here it is! The artists/DJs on the FINRG SoundCloud are pretty self policing these days in terms of what goes up there, and as in this case I don’t think the set is anywhere near the quality we should expect from FINRG I’ve dusted off Mixcloud instead. That’s not to say I was disappointed with what I came up with, mind, just it was always intended to be a one-off event-style set that showed off a few styles, not one for repeated listens.
Anyway, I was a bit unsure about where to pitch this one, but decided to go for some melodic sounds to start with (Beati Mortui aside) and then hit listeners with some harder, darker tracks. It got a pretty good response at the time, and I heard people picking out certain parts of the set that appealed to them, which is really what I was aiming for – if it inspired non-freeform fans to seek out some new tunes, then mission accomplished.
Have a listen and see what you think – apologies in advance for Face the Destiny – Neurotic and Toybox – Human Hater, those are the kind of lazy transitions I hate, though the rest of the set has a few old favourite connections from Ustream and Romancer.
The first set for a while from Nrgray is a nice 30 minute showcase of darker, melodic tracks. The big attraction here is obviously the Altered States version of Moving Flare, a beautiful tune that brings back lots of memories, but the set properly gets into its stride with Innocence into Morokai, nicely anchoring that all-important middle section of the mix.
1. ThermalForce – Moving Flare (Altered States) (CDR)
2. Transcend – Mindglow (Rebuild Music)
3. Nomic – Innocence (CDR)
4. Aryx – Morokai (Smiling Corpse)
5. Substanced & Alchemiist – Skullcrush (Transcend & Dyzphazia remix) (F/C FINRG Recordings)
6. Ikaruga_nex – Dodomeki (F/C Smiling Corpse)
Been quite busy this week, and too occupied with Codex prep to check out all the mixes that have appeared recently. Here are a couple though, and I’ll catch up on the rest asap – there’re some really tasty sets floating around at the moment.
First up is Dyzphazia’s Lucky Lotus set, a really interesting hour that eases into the freeform after a slower start. I went for a similar ‘rookie friendly’ start, but here the lower bpm works especially well, then moving up through the gears and eventually finishing with Hydra. Lots of newer stuff on show throughout, but for me the standout moment of the set was definitely the Skullcrush – Anthrax Injection combo, a really nice mix of melodies and nastiness that flows very well. A shame it doesn’t continue in the same vein a little longer, but you won’t find a bad tune in the tracklist, that’s for sure (though Pink Magic doesn’t actually seem to be in there..?).
- Marilyn Manson – Resident Evil Main Theme (J-Gear Bootleg) [CDr]
- Wyrm & Surtr – Tesseract [Electrode]
- Cosmic Gate – Back to Earth (Alchemiist Bootleg) [CDr]
- Alek Szahala – Lagash (Original Mix) [CDr]
- Betwixt & Between – East of Eden [CDr]
- Substanced & Alchemiist – Skullcrush (Transcend & Dyzphazia Remix) [F/C FiNRG]
- Alchemiist – Anthrax Injection [Smiling Corpse]
- Epyx & Cyrez – Unohdetut 2011 [Electrode]
- Yuki Kajiura – Mezame (Nomic Bootleg) [CDr]
- Proteus & Kevin Energy – London Helsinki Underground (Proteus Warcry Remix) [NuEnergy]
- Qygen – gXX-XeY-XQn 2010 [CDr]
- Alek Szahala – Pink Magic [FiNRG]
- Betwixt & Between – Hydra (Long Edit) [Hardcore Tano*C]
The Lush revival continues here thanks to Epyx & Cyrez’s remix, turning out to be one of the very best tunes of the year so far. Managing to nail the delicate balance between retaining the awesome elements of the original and introducing new ideas, this is a textbook remix and a top rank recruit to 2013’s raft of melancholy, darker freeform.
2013’s Assembly has been and gone, and once again Alek Szahala has placed highly with his entries. His solo effort is the eccentrically titled Bom Shiva Shankar Zai Zilumi Zapati, a fabulous snippet of goa-meets-NRG that deservedly got some recognition.
The other track is a collab with Byproduct – I love this one, it does a brilliant job of combining their sounds into something a little different, and the breakdown is pretty special.
Speaking of Byproduct, let me also quickly mention his title track for the recently released MUKS, an indie exploration shooter with echoes of the classic Lunar/Solar Jetman games. Byproduct did a lot of excellent work on the soundtrack, and fans of his trademark melodies will very likely enjoy this one.
Here’s a set I’ve wanted to mention for a couple of months now, another stormer from the one like Alderz. A quick look at the tracklist should be all you need, but worth mentioning the variety here, slipping in some UK freeform (of the more aggressively filtered, Finnish sort) in the middle section, bridging the melodic stuff and the nastier, harder finale.
Alderz’s trademark mixing style means there’s hardly time to draw breath before a new tune comes hammering in, it’s a great way to combine a lot of different material and definitely keeps the interest up. A quality set then, and definitely worth a download.
1. Alek Szahala – Dawnstar (Aryx Remix) / Rebuild
2. Transcend & Lost Soul – 7 Light Cycles / Watchtower
3. Amini – Fcking Pirates / Rebuild
4. Substanced & Alchemiist – Facemelt / Finrg
5. Betwixt & Between – Liberation / CDR
6. Nomic – Suicide Machine / Smiling Corpse
7. Endemic – Xen / Watchtower
8. Transcend – Lament Configuration / Watchtower
9. Substanced & Alchemiist – Permission To Die / Finrg
10. Epyx & Cyrez – A Bit Rougher / Watchtower
11. Marilyn Manson – This Is The New Shit (Nomic Remix – 2013 Edit) / CDR
12. Kilamorza – Sirius / Freeformatted 008
It’s fair to say that I haven’t been keeping track of freeform recently, but now that the toughest three months for a long time are over I’m able to catch up a little on things. A batch of new and remastered material from Pain on Creation’s the perfect way to start then, with this new version of Lush and the long-awaited release of Chameleon definitely top of the list.
As fabulous a tune as ever, this brings back very happy memories of past freeforming years, as well as a certain June evening in London (more on that later). Wonderful to see some more activity from PoC, but don’t forget to also check out Tyranoid & Strongstream’s superb Drifting Away if you haven’t already.
What I’d give to be at this event – following up Munted’s superb support for the freeform scene is the latest Sinstry, a three-room spectacular that ticks all the right boxes as far as I’m concerned. The main room can hardly fail to bring in a big crowd, but has a very strong underground feel that will go to the next level with the addition of BRK. As the winner of the recent mix submission contest, he’ll take the main stage into even darker territory with his now top-quality productions and selection. Massive congrats to him.
The freeform room is where we see the real event headliner though – Nomic will be returning to London for the first time in years, with some superb new material that’s surely the perfect fit for Sinistry (check out his amazing preview of Turbulence if you haven’t already).
The cyber theme and Slimelight floor are finishing touches to what looks a fantastic night, surely a must-attend if you’re anywhere near London/the UK. As usual, the Facebook event page has plenty of extra info to check out.
Two new free releases here courtesy of E&C and Watchtower, a very nice surprise after the launch of Two Against the Void. Risk Addiction 2 might be the headliner here, a great rework of the classic original that manages to squeeze in some harder sections alongside the energetic melodies, going in a different direction to Substanced’s still-awesome remix.
Psychotropic is a fantastic left-field track, sounding unlike anything else we’ve heard from the duo for a long time. It raises all sorts of possibilities for use in a slower set – I can already imagine it working brilliantly in a Tyranoid mix, for example.