Canadian

We already know that Alchemiist sets are worth looking out for, and thankfully his recent Freeformaniacs appearance has kept up the standard. There’s a really nice atmosphere in this one, maybe best described as melodic dark freeform – any set with a lot of Alchemiist tunes is going to be pretty nasty, but this one does a good job of switching back to the slightly-lighter side to throw in some melodies. Excellent use of a couple of classic Kreatrix tracks gets the set an extra thumb up.

01. Substanced – Ghost Of The Future (Alchemiist Remix)
02. Transcend & Dyzphazia – Tormenting Flames (Original Mix)
03. Twisted Freq pres. Nightforce – The Ghost Of Jupiter
04. Substanced – Damage Point
05. Ephexis, DJ Rx & Carbon Based – Decimator
06. Alchemiist – Anthrax Injection
07. Alchemiist – Noise Of Thunder
08. Substanced & Alchemiist – Facemelt
09. Twisted Freq – Kreation
10. Endemic – Xen
11. Alchemiist – Neurotic 

Download here

I’ve now had a chance to listen to both sets from last weekend’s SC podcast, and it’s a big recommend for anyone else who missed the live event. Wyrm’s set in particular is a fantastic hour that sets a new standard of mixing modern freeform with dark psy, obviously really well-considered with a nice consistent theme all the way through. This is helped by a couple of amazing Qygen tracks – 60Hz Power Rave has to be one of the most impressive tracks so far this year. As always, it’s hard to combine harder freeform with psy, but Wyrm does a fine job, and the trippy breakbeat of Funkin’ Jungle is a lovely selection.

Horzi’s set is more conventional, but maybe that’s no bad thing after the experimental sounds of Wyrm. Heavy on the brand-new FINRG releases, there’s also an interesting choice of the two Elementz Records releases towards the end, as well as a pitched up Fist of the North Star.

A great show then – wander along to the Smiling Corpse site for tracklists and download links.

For those who weren’t aware until now, there’s one heck of a freeform release on the way from one of the founders of the sound, Electronica Exposed. Following on from the excellent Freeform Exposed, this second edition will have two Shanty-mixed sets and 37 (!) unmixed tunes spread over 3 parts, set for release in February, March and April. No sign of tracklists just yet, but check out the release page for a very promising list of artists and a schedule for the promo clips (starting with the great Finfish remix).

Another great set this week comes courtesy of Custom Built DJ’s Jon Mysterave – a nicely selected tribute to Kreatrix. With its firm commitment to the dark side and a relentlessly high bpm, Twisted Freq’s label was in many ways ahead of its time, so praise be for sets like this that remind both veterans and rookies of the good old days. Tracks like Wannabe Gansgstah and Danse Macabre aren’t heard too often anymore, but here sound as good as ever alongside classics like Unleashed and Exaltation. Kudos to Mr Mysterave too for spreading out the ‘breakbeat tunes’, giving a really nice overall rhythm to the mix.

Make the extra effort to negotiate the not-so-familiar TempoPlus site, this one is really worth a download.

The final upload for this week is a special one for Kreatrix fans – Level 13’s updated version of Is That All. We previewed it back in the day here on TYFTH, and earlier this year I used it in the first part of my 10 Years of FINRG set. While I’m not often a fan of vocal freeform, this is a very original tune with quite a different feel to a lot of tracks, while of course keeping the manic filtering that Kreatrix is famous for.

Looking at the downloads these past few days it seems that a fair number of people are discovering/catching up on the account’s older tracks too, so this is probably a nice point to stop the uploads for now. Fear not though – there are already some more tunes on the horizon which will be going online very soon indeed.

 

Fantastic news from the Smiling Corpse crew – the first full CD compilation has now been released, and is available to buy from the SC site. For a mere £5.37 you can get hold of some of the best tunes of the year so far while helping to ensure there’ll be more releases to come in the future, making this an absolute must-buy. Massive congrats to SC for an awesome release, and of course for firmly supporting the deeper side of the scene.

Yes indeed, this week’s announcement is the return of free tunes on TYFTH, after being cryogenically frozen for a year or so. I’m really happy that the account is alive again, but things have obviously changed a lot in the scene since it first started. These days there are plenty of labels doing a very professional job of releasing new music for free, and so my original ambitious plans have been scaled back – that particular Horse has long since bolted.

I reckon there’s still a place for tunes on TYFTH though, and from now on the SoundCloud will hopefully be performing two main roles. The first is to be a place for up-and-coming producers to get some extra publicity – the account already has quite a decent following, which now combines with infinite downloads and strength in numbers among all the other free tunes, making it a nice stepping stone to the ‘real’ labels for new artists. The second role is to make some older tracks available that otherwise would be forgotten, starting tonight with the excellent Whipped remix/mashup.

It should be clear already, but the account absolutely isn’t meant as a competitor to any of the other free labels out there, rather as a ‘training ground’ before making the step up to better things/an archive for older material. That doesn’t mean the tracks won’t be worth listening to, as I’ll be aiming to keep the standard high, even if it’ll be significantly lowered by any of my own tunes that end up there.

Many thanks to Tyranoid & Strongstream for starting us off again with Whipped, a slightly edited mashup with the Substanced remix from many years ago. I have a few other tracks that were originally submitted back when the account went into hibernation, so there’ll be one or two of them going online every day or so next week. After that it’ll be dependent on submissions, so do feel free to get in touch if you think you might have something that fits the rambling description above.

Dye in Sound fans might be interested in Nuclear Warfare (from 3form Records), as it includes Kill You Slowly, the Dye in Sound Fugees remix with a very strong Nightforce feel to it. The version I’ve played in a couple of sets has always had a good response, but it’s probably a good idea to check the other previews before deciding if this one’s a worthwhile purchase.

BEEZEE made another appearance on the Freeformaniacs show this week, with yet another trademark set of filtered madness. This time he’s dropping a few promos, including plenty of new Smiling Corpse material, but the flow is as good as ever. My personal favourite is the Morokai – Prelude connection, an awesome combination that really makes the finale of the set.

  1. Substanced – The End Of All Things (Aryx mix)
  2. Wyrm – Tendrils Of Reality
  3. Penguin Conspiracy – Tripswitch
  4. Micken – Portal
  5. Nomic – Chaos Maker
  6. Pain On Cration – Lush
  7. Transcend – Upwards
  8. Heliakon Vs Ephexis – Exploder
  9. Aryx – Morokai
  10. Epyx and Cyrez – Prelude (Penguin Conspiracy mix)
  11. Alchemist – Anthrax Injection