I should stop looking out for new tunes, I think – I’m never going to get this mix finished otherwise. Anyway, here’s a release from a lesser known Japanese artist, qurter, courtesy of digi-up. To be honest, I hadn’t heard anything of him before, but a quick look at a few previous tunes shows that qurter usually leans more towards the trancey/techno side of things (plus a bit of Roni Size-influenced Drum and Bass, apparently). Solid State Spider, aside from having a spectacular name, shows a few signs that he is at the ‘still learning’ stage, but this might be partly the result of taking on an unfamilar genre.
The other tune I forgot to mention recently is Epyx & Cyrez’s Subida Del Muerto, one of my favourites right now. Note that I don’t always relate everything to the Japanese scene, but this tune really does have a bit of a Hase feel to it, particularly his old remix of M-Project’s How Low? Anyway, great tune, and I notice that it’s in Proteus’ current Top 10, too. No release yet, but Electronica Exposed are coming out with CDs like there’s no tomorrow, so don’t quote me on that.
FINRG’s new compilation CD, Hakkapeliitta, arrived a short while ago after an epic wait – which is quite understandable, as it is the label’s first CD release. All in all, it’s pretty impressive, and in general the tracks are excellent choices. Rx’s Code of Silence, Alek Szahala’s Maruuk and Iron Squid and Proteus and Carbon Based’s Heavy Fusion are all well known, but still classic tunes. The stand out for me though has to be Re-form’s Silver Cube, an absolutely storming tune that either hasn’t been released before, or has simply passed me by completely until now. My previous favourite Re-form tracks (Cobra and Sunstroke) are both great, and wear their ‘Made By Re-form’ mark very conspicuously, but on listening I sometimes wish for a few more of the filtering tricks etc that other artists have been making use of for many a year. Silver Cube definitely delivers, sawtoothing away through the early sections until a classic Re-form melody kicks in after a couple of minutes. I’m not sure when the track was originally produced, but it bodes very well for the duo’s comeback this year.