As usual, just in time to give the next installment of the Smiling Corpse podcast a mention. It all takes place tonight (GMT), with Dyzphazia hosting and none other than ikaruga_nex marking his entry into the Smiling Corpse collective with a debut set.
It’s really one to look forward to, but unfortunately I probably won’t be around for the live broadcast – tonight I’m heading off to Studio Cube for the first time in a year or so, to see K.U.R.O. play an old-school Goa set.
This one jumped to the head of my mix-listening queue recently for obvious reasons, and thankfully Mysterave has come up with the goods again – this is a planned-with-care set that does both Aryx and Alek justice. The mix mainly concentrates on the lighter side of their sound, and it’s actually the first time for me to hear tunes like Aryx’s lovely rework of Dawnstar and Alek’s Lagash 2012. With other new tracks like Deimos and Celestia, it’s a set with a very fresh feel, before finishing with some welcome darkness in the ever-anthemic Man Eaten and Desagoon Juniper.
Connection of the set for me has to be from Unicorn Grove to The End of All Things, a superb transition that could even have overlapped a little more without any problems, and that echo of UG‘s melody that you hear in TEoAT‘s first mini-break is just wonderful. Top, top work there.
An excellent set then, and maybe the first in a series…?
Quite busy at the moment, but in between I’m slowly working through some of the excellent sets that have appeared over the past couple of weeks, starting with Tyranoid’s Hardform.
This might be one of his most impressive sets so far, with a very strong theme running all the way through and a great mix of old and new. Really interesting to see some UK freeform in there – it’s thankfully not overdone and gives a nice melodic edge to the set, eventually leading into the classic Battle of Dawn. It’s also a lesson in how to set the scene with some slower tracks, then matching them in atmosphere with some well-selected freeform. Very highly recommended, then.
01 Lowroller – No Longer Human
02 SAM – Halluzinogen
03 Tiifa – Pleasure
04 Wragg & Log:One vs Iain Cross – Run For Cover
05 A+D+A+M+ Lab4 & The DiabloTraxx Collective – Infernal Desire (Psycho Surgery Remix)
06 Epyx & Cyrez – Game Over (Tyranoid/Strongstream Remix)
07 Lost Soul – The Answer
08 Douglas – Jonestown
09 Substanced & Alchemiist – Permission To Die (Original/Tornadoz Remix Mashup)
10 Tyranoid/Strongstream – Deepcore (unfinished edit)
11 Tyranoid/Strongstream – You Need Another Drink (Cyrez Remix)
12 Lost Soul – Human Being
13 Epyx & Cyrez – Crossfire
14 Blender & Nomic – Battle Of Dawn
15 Apollo 440 – Stealth Overture
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
It’s been tough not to mention this until now, but in June I’ll be joining forces with the Munted! crew again for my first UK set! The event will be Munted’s first of the year, and I’m sure everyone will agree that the lineup’s looking pretty fantastic. Headlining is UK legend Sharkey, followed by UK freeform stalwart Douglas, but here at TYFTH we have to give special, massive kudos to the Munted! crew for supporting the deeper side of the freeform sound with the booking of Aryx and Endemic. Midas is also no stranger to our corner of the scene, while the UK crew are well catered for with Arkitech, A.B and Laith.
I’ll obviously be doing my very best to show what the darker, emotional side of freeform can do – it’s beyond exciting to have a chance to play to a UK crowd, but especially at a time when more labels, DJs and ravers are giving deeper sounds a chance. Hopefully Proteus at next month’s Sinistry will also convert more to the dark side, before we get going in June.
I’m hugely grateful to Munted! for supporting me and the Finnish/Japanese sound over the past year, and determined to repay them in London with as good a set as I can manage. It’ll also be awesome to see as many of the UK/Europe crew as possible on home soil, especially as Finland next month isn’t looking too likely (more on that another time). As an ex-resident of Battersea and Southfields I’m also looking forward to seeing south London for the first time in about 8 years.
There are plenty of exciting events over the next couple of months, but keep an eye on the Munted! event page in the meantime for travel/ticket info and all sorts of animal-based hijinks.
We’re indebted to Alderz again for this awesome find – 50 minutes of madness from a youthful Proteus and Lab 4 at FreckShow in Australia. While the Lab 4 second half definitely won’t disappoint, it’s fantastic to see Proteus in full flow (complete with dreads), building up a set of NRG before dropping the early FINRG/Proteus anthems.
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.
Just in time to quickly mention tonight’s (GMT) Smiling Corpse show, featuring Horzi alongside this edition’s host, Wyrm. Once again I probably won’t be able to make the live broadcast – those who can should head along to Krafty Radio for what’ll surely be an excellent couple of hours.
A classic set here that’s been online for a long time, but I only saw it recently (thanks to Alderz). Anyone else who missed it should settle in for a treat – some of the very best in older NRG, all from the one and only Weirdo. Thanks to Guld and COGI, Weirdo’s tunes will always remind me of NRGetic Romancer and early morning sets full of twisty synths and amazing atmospheres, going from dark to uplifting and then back again. I’m a bit sketchy on the tracklist, but rest assured that all the anthems are in here.
edit: Thanks to that man Alderz for a top effort at the tracklist.
Two amazing tracks from Guld surfaced this week – his Unohdetut remix that’ll feature on the upcoming Freeform Exposed 2, and his brutal (but unfinished) boot of Candyman.
I heard a version of the Candyman remix recently, and on a second listen it’s sounding even better, with some really inspired cuts and fills in the intro.