The launch of the first Watchtower compilation isn’t far away, and the artist pages are livening up with some interesting interviews with each of the guys involved. Newest additions are Qygen and Transcend – check the whole lot out here.
I’ve been away for a few days, doing my tour guide routine for a visiting friend, but there’ll be plenty to catch up on over the next couple of days…
Substanced – The End of All Things (Aryx Remix) by FINRG Recordings
There’s obviously only one event to be talking about this weekend, the long-awaited arrival of Substanced’s massive album and 25 brand-new tracks. What a monumental effort by Substanced, both for coming up with such consistently high quality tunes and for all the work to organise the remixes. It was worth it though, and has definitely set the standard for any future artist albums.
Standout tracks for me are Skullcrush and Reptile Zoo, but once again it’s Aryx bringing the deepest sounds and some wonderful atmosphere with his remix of The End of All Things. Whatever flavour of freeform you’re into, there should be something for you – download all the tracks (though you probably already have) via FINRG’s SoundCloud.
Congratulations to everyone involved with last weekend’s Munted! Monthly!, another great event with some quality tunes and a nice group of freeform fans in the chatroom. Sadly I couldn’t wake up in time to hear Aryx’s set (I’m already looking forward to it going online), but Substanced, Midas and Dyzphazia all played some really nice stuff.
While we wait for the recordings, here are the four sets from Episode 1. I’m biased of course, but I thought the timetabling worked almost perfectly, what with Douglas starting off with some brand new UK freeform, Midas opening with more of the same but then adding some Aryx and Alabaster towards the end, and Chip setting me up perfectly with a lovely set of UK, Finnish and Japanese tunes.
Check them all out here (complete with tracklists), but if you haven’t downloaded mine yet, please head over to the FINRG SoundCloud instead.
Just in time to spread the word re. tonight’s (or tomorrow morning’s, this side of the world) Munted! Monthly! After the massive success of the first installment, let’s hope that Episode 2 does even better, and with Aryx and Substanced guesting there’s every chance of that happening.
It all starts from 10pm UK time on Krafty Radio – best of luck to everyone involved. All being well I should be around to make an appearance in the chatroom this time, too.
22:00 – 23:00 – Aryx
23:00 – 00:00 – Substanced
00:00 – 01:00 – Midas
01:00 – 02:00 – Dyzphazia
BEEZEE – ‘HANIVER’ (FREEFORMANIACS RADIO 12/01/2012) by BEEZEE
It’s already that time again for another BEEZEE Freeformaniacs set, and he hasn’t let us down this time with some interesting UK, Finnish and Japanese selections. The man himself has admitted that this one is pretty improvised, but even so it’s a really nice journey through some different styles and less-played classics, flowing nicely right up until the end.
The Ephexis psy-style opening is great, while there’s a nice piano and filters theme to the finale of Gravity’s Rainbow and The Brain Controls Pain. Excellent to hear Fury Theme in there, without doubt one of my tunes of last year, as well as some more support for the up-and-coming Le Dos-on.
1. Ephexis and Oli G – Spatial Inversion
2. Lost Soul – Warlock
3. Solution and Ephexis – Requiem
4. Carbon Based – Tuonela
5. Grimsoul and Pain On Creation – Fury Theme
6. Le Dos-on – Insane
7. DJ Rx – My Serenity (Endemic remix)
8. Alek Szahala – Ngarnuuk
9. Betwixt and Between – Gravity’s Rainbow
10. Cyrez – The Brain Controls Pain
[111216] raq’s_mix_vol13 “Freeform_Universe” by raqhow
Many will have already checked this interesting set from raqhow, but for anyone who hasn’t it’s another nice example of limiting yourself to certain tracks and coming up with some good ways to connect everything together. Going for a spacey, universe theme, it works far better than you’d imagine, and there’s quite a nice consistent sound to the whole set. For my money, the excellent connection from Starfall to Ghost of Jupiter alone makes the set worth a listen – Starfall is notoriously hard to mix well, so kudos to raqhow for coming up with the best attempt I’ve heard so far.
1. Paocala – Sunfire
2. Odyssey, Obie & Macca – Black Hole
3. Nightforce & Substanced – Operation Stardust
4. Lostsoul – Darkside Of The Moon
5. Synthwulf – Full Moon Freeform
6. Endemic & Lostsoul – Voice Of The Eclipse
7. Aryx – Aurora
8. Paocala – Starfall
9. Twisted Freq Presents Nightforce – The Ghost Of Jupiter
10. Substanced – Freeform Mercury
11. Lostsoul feat. Dark Angel – Deep Space
12. Epyx & Cyrez vs Mary K – Nebula
Dyzphazia & Cuedy – Complexity Of Dreams by Cuedy
Sorry for the brief absence, I went into stasis over the weekend to try and be productive, DJ and production-wise. Sadly it didn’t work at all, so now it’s about time to catch up on the massive crop of mixes that have appeared recently.
First up we have Dyzphazia and Cuedy’s excellent Complexity of Dreams, a really nice mix of freeform and breakbeat hardcore. One of the reasons I stopped bothering too much with BBHC is that most of it seems to sound like modern drum & bass with a few trancier melodies (rather than oldskool hardcore with nice production/a focus on the breakbeats, which is what I hoped it would become). Anyway, Dyzphazia and Cuedy have done a great job of sticking with the style, showing what the newer tunes can sound like when mixed intelligently with some nice freeform selections.
That opening half from Mood Music to Concorde flows especially nicely, but the whole set is a top quality listen and in terms of mixing/selection has to be one of the best I’ve heard for a long while. It’s great to hear a few tracks from Ponder, Reese and Strifell, three of my favourite producers in this genre – one of my resolutions this year is to start mixing intelligent drum & bass again, but maybe I should take another look at BBHC, too.
Bit of a transition week so far – I’ve upgraded a lot of my gear, and so there’s a lot of new stuff to learn at TYFTH Towers. That includes a brand new Mac, so bear with me while I work out how to use everything.
Anyway, here’s another mini-mix from Nrgray, this time serving as a nice preview to the annual Top 3 post (which will be on the way asap). Here Nrgray has picked his top 5 tunes from the past year and mixed them into a nice little set. The opening The Brain Controls Pain into Aphrodite is a particularly nice connection…one of those times when intentionally limiting your track choice makes you come up with some interesting ideas. Actually the whole set flows well, with some very solid mixing.
Only a few weeks to go until the launch of Substanced’s solo album, and what a project it’s turning out to be. With the mix of genres and artists there really is something for everyone, as a look at the just-released tracklist shows:
CD1: ORIGINAL SIDE
01. Subi – When The World Collapses Intro
02. Substanced – Geneva Part II
03. Subi – Antidote
04. Substanced – Exploder
05. Substanced – Reptile Zoo
06. Substanced & J-Mx – Flawless Victory
07. Substanced – Shadows of Tomorrow
08. Substanced – Evolution
09. Substanced – There Are No Happy Endings
10. Substanced – The End of All Things
11. Substanced & Alchemiist – Skullcrush
12. Subi – Futu-Drum-A
CD2: REMIX SIDE
01. Substanced & Grimsoul – System Failure (Carbon Based Remix)
02. Substanced – Shadows of Tomorrow (Grimsoul Remix)
03. Substanced – Aquarius (Amini Remix)
04. Substanced & Grimsoul – Signal Lost (Endemic Remix)
05. Substanced – Apocalypse (Cyrez Remix)
06. Substanced – Geneva Part II (Proteus Remix)
07. Substanced – The Infection (RAF Remix)
08. Substanced – Crank Cleopatra (Epyx Remix)
09. Substanced – Geneva Part II (Alchemiist Remix)
10. Substanced & Jnks – Seismic Activity (Transcend Remix)
11. Sam One & Substanced vs. Horzi – Lionheart (A.B’s Varaslähtö Remix)
12. Substanced – Shadows of Tomorrow (D.A.T Remix)
13. Substanced – The End Of All Things (Aryx Remix)
14. Substanced – Evolution (Douglas Remix)
First Previews here:
http://soundcloud.com/
Substanced on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/
Dj Midas – somewhere between japan and finland by DjMidas
It’s always nice to see someone getting into Japanese freeform for the first time, and the latest convert is DJ Midas, who played at last month’s Munted! Monthly! He’s obviously got hold of the classic Khaotic Dimension (definitely the best place to start), and has combined that with a couple of TYFTH tracks. Have to say, I’m pleased/amazed how well the Hell’s Gate remix stands up to Moving Flare, that connection has never even crossed my mind – thanks to Midas for giving it a try.
Anyway, this set is a nice trip down memory lane, into the darker tunes that we don’t hear enough of these days. By all accounts it sounds like my Munted! set has sparked off a bit more UK interest in the Japanese scene, which is great news. Stay tuned in 2012, there might be some more activity release-wise, too…
1. Thermalforce – Moving flare
2. Zio – Hells Gate (Afagddu Remix)
3. Betwixt & Between – Phaedra
4. Betwixt & Between – Reincarnation
5. Betwixt & Between – Discord
6. Betwixt & Between – Phase 6