How about this for unexpected? Amazingly it looks like Betwixt & Between will be getting some play time on tonight’s Kutski show. Kutski has a well-deserved reputation for supporting lesser-known artists, but this would be massive for the Japanese scene.
I don’t have a clue what he might play, but tune into the show at 1am tonight (early Saturday morning, UK time) to have a listen.
Auferstehung was a very classy hardcore release from Invader and Nightforce a few years ago, and in a fit of generosity the guys have made the full Auferstehung EP available to download! The EP includes the original, the harder Blackout remix, and the excellent Full Circle DJs remix with that sharp and nasty synth work.
Anyone who missed out on these tracks back in the day can now get on the case by downloading here.
Thanks to Meke for the heads up on this excellently edited video, which was actually completed the best part of a year ago but is still well worth a look. The video itself was to promote the FORCE event, while the backing track (by Horzi and Meke) was released by FINRG and can be found here. I remember hearing the tune back when it was first completed – the classic Horzi filtered synths combined with the original’s fairly happy piano/melodies make for a nice contrast, and would surely work well in a UK-styled set.
Another mix from one of the TYFTH crew – this time it’s BEEZEE with an excellent set of melodic freeform. Although it includes both Aryx’s Chaldea and Aurora, the set mostly mixes up the odd bit of melancholy with plenty of UK-style energy. High fives to him for the inclusion of Colombia and Creation, tracks that were ‘released’ here on TYFTH, I bet Substanced and Rob.O.T.T will be pleased to see them getting some use in a set. Speaking of Colombia, the connection from that to Coming Up is so close to being a brilliant mix, it’s easy to see the thinking behind that one. The rest of the set’s technically great too, so this is another one in the ‘highly recommended’ category.
1. ENDEMIC + LOST SOUL – VOICE OF THE ECLIPSE
2. ARYX – CHALDEA
3. ENDEMIC – HURRICANE
4. SUBSTANCED – COLOMBIA
5. AB – COMING UP
6. ROB O.T.T – CREATION
7. NOMAD – LOSE IT
8. NOMIC – BLACK LOTUS
9. EPHEXIS – EXPLODER
10. LOST SOUL – MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
11. ARYX – AURORA
Substanced – The Free of Form Guest Mix 2011 by FINRG Recordings
I’ve been under the weather for a couple of days, and nearly missed Substanced’s guest appearance on the Free of Form show. Lucky I didn’t though, as this one’s a top-notch set with a good mix of melodies and harder stuff. Standouts among the newer tracks might include Substanced’s Aurora remix, Horzi’s excellent rework of Unique Mind and the Bad Girl bootleg, while there are plenty of other quality selections like Rachel’s Song and Point of No Return. Substanced also deserves kudos for the high bpm right from the very start, at a time when a lot of tunes/sets seem to be getting slower.
The quiet week is ending on a high thanks to Alderz, who has come up with a very timely mix of classics and recent tunes. DCTTUL is a great advert for the unplanned set, with an absolute ton of energy (that in a way is harder to get from a sit-down-with-pen-and-paper studio mix) and some quality mixing that does an impressive job of tying together tunes from the old days and the likes of Unhola, Aurora and Inexistenz. Hardly surprising though, as Alderz himself has been playing for about 13 years, alongside some very big names at UK events like Detox, Xposed and Blackout.
Thanks again to Alderz – with sets like this, it looks as though the sound we all love won’t be disappearing anytime soon.
It’s a quiet week so far, but luckily the rest of the month is going to be pretty busy, event-wise. Here’s a quick look at the three I’ll probably be going along to.
First up (on the 10th) is Tokyo Hardcore Construction. The lineup is looking reasonable, and as this one is the night before a national holiday there might be some other ravers there, too.
There’s a Tokyo Decadance on Saturday the 12th, but intelligent dnb legend LTJ Bukem is playing a special long-set on the same evening. Modern dnb or not, I can’t really miss this one, so I’ll probably end up two-stepping it with the drunken expat crew at Daikanyama’s Unit.
Finally (on the 19th) we have Dairin and KA-NA’s new event, Destroyed High. It’s a nice first-event lineup, and Kanon will be playing again as a special guest.
Another new set from Decion – this time a short 40 minute-ish mix of hard NRG. Maybe not quite as ferocious as the last couple of sets, this one really gets going in the second half and is another excellent break if you’ve had enough of freeform (for some reason).
I’ve been looking forward to Guld’s new set for a while now, and in all honesty it’s one of the best mixes I’ve heard for a long time. Full-on NRG from start to finish (with a couple of freeform tracks for good measure), this is just the kind of dark, aggressive sound we don’t hear enough of these days. The selection is spot on, but Guld has also done a quality job with the mixing, with some very nicely thought-out connections here and there. There are one or two tracks that I’ve been planning to use in my next set too, but mine’ll be 170-175bpm, I think.
No tracklist at the moment, but this one easily gets a golden TYFTH seal of approval. Take a deep breath before downloading though, as the wav file weighs in at around 500mb..
Thanks to kuilin/eirik for adding it to the comments section, but here’s Guld’s tracklist for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet:
Here’s another set, this time via Pearsall’s Sonicrampage blog. Mixed by Flip back in 2005, it’s a nice reminder of how things used to sound and features some excellent selections, including a couple of older Twisted Freq tracks. Listening in 2011 it seems like the set is a bit short on interesting transitions, but it’s definitely refreshing to hear tunes like Tlaloc and Underworld Species again.
01. Twisted Freq – Martyrdom (Volatile Digital Audio)
02. Carbon Based – Fatal Flashback (Electronic)
03. Pain On Creation – Adaptation (Finrg Digital)
04. AMS – God Of Hell Fire (Nu Energy)
05. Oli G & Dodgee – Heh (Nu Energy)
06. Invader & Oli G – Living Hell (Digital Beatz)
07. Alek Szahala – Tlaloc (Electronic)
08. Cynista vs Safe n’ Sound – Chemical Warfare (Nu Energy)
09. Carbon Based – Anger Ball (Nu Energy)
10. Kevin Energy – Crescendos Of Ecstasy (Nu Energy)
11. Twisted Freq – Burnin’ Up (Volatile Digital Audio)
12. Pain On Creation – Mortality (Electronic)
13. Carbon Based – Underworld Species (Electroplates)