Alchemiist – Parasite (Preview) by Alchemiist
Great to see Alchemiist taking on some more freeform, this time with a really fierce track. Parasite takes a little while to get going, but even this preview version has some amazing sounds, and a very nice melodic breakdown in the second half.
It’s been a while since the last footage from Finland, so thanks to Syntse for this video of what looks like a quality lineup. Proteus vs Neon is always going to be a great set, but the main interest this time was surely the wonderful mother-daughter b2b of Nette and SuzuS – just one minute of YouTube is enough to show that they have perfect taste in tunes, and how nice it is to see them playing together.
Sam One & Amini – Melophobia (Mastered) by DJ-Amini
This track has been so close to an NRGetic Romancer playlist for a while now, and finally Amini has given it some well-deserved space on SoundCloud. Melophobia is a very fine sounding NRG track with some lovely synths in the breakdown – it’s great to hear two trance-heads taking on such a nasty genre, and doing such a nice job, too.
Substanced – Wonderland (Clip) by Substanced
I completely forgot to mention this recently, but Substanced’s newest track is sounding like another stormer. Once the breakdown starts up the track really comes into its own, with some lovely melodies and a nice dreamy atmosphere.
It seems like way too long since the last freeform track from DJ Rx, but his newest collab with Kevin Energy could be on its way very soon. Translate Replicate sits somewhere between UK and Finnish freeform – the lovely bass and lead have an unmistakeable Rx influence, while the structure/melodies sound closer to a mainfloor-friendly UK track. As we heard in the latest Crush on Hardcore set, that also makes it a very handy tune for connecting older and newer FINRG tunes.
Substanced – Aquarius (Amini Remix) – Unmixed by DJ-Amini
Amini’s already gaining a name as a hard trance DJ, but his freeform remix of Substanced’s Aquarius is one of his first steps into production. Have a listen and you’ll probably agree that it’s showing plenty of promising signs – the post-breakdown sequence/lead doesn’t quite have the impact that it should, but I love that hard trance style bassline, and the oldskool Finnish filtering in the intro/outro is great to hear. With some obvious influences from Sam One and Substanced himself, I’m looking forward to hearing some more tracks soon..
Here’s Chaldea getting an awesome response from the Laserpoint crowd – big congratulations to Aryx, it’s a sure sign you’ve made in the scene when Proteus is playing your tunes at such a massive venue.
A real treat for everyone today – thanks to BerN for unearthing this video of Alek Szahala playing a different version of Phobos and an unknown tune at Helsinki’s Assembly Summer 2009. Phobos is sounding a lot more developed here, with some lovely pads in the breakdown taking it even further into euphoric territory when the kick comes back in, while the ‘new’ track’s breakdown is just…well, take a listen for yourself.
The other three videos in this sequence feature Astraia and Maruuk, by the way.
Dyzphazia – Untitled, Unmastered and Unfinished by Dyzphazia
It’s Dyzphazia to the rescue again, this time with a super-high bpm version of the Hard NRG mix I’ve been searching for recently. This one starts off with Nemesis, followed by some very nicely selected Hard NRG, pitched up to within an inch of its life. On the freeform side of things there are some great choices, especially Alabaster’s Sarcomite and Leadbeater from Alchemiist and J-Mx, while standout mixes for me were Heartburn>The NRG and Major Paranoia’s Suspicion>Resurrection. Excellent stuff from our man, very highly recommended.
J-Mx and Labraska have done a good job with the tracklist on SoundCloud, but here’s the full version:
This set is a month or so old, but the link via Nomic’s site has been dead for a while. For anyone who missed the inspired/insane reworks of children’s songs, check it out instead on Alek Szahala’s download page. Stick with the set until the end as things gradually speed up, ending with a lovely chiptune from Nomic, his Winwon Windows sound effect-track, and finally some Nomic-brand speedcore.