Japanese

COGI – Live @NRGetic Romancer 4th Anniversary, 16th August 2008

Posted by PlasmaDancer on April 6, 2017

Posted in: Events, Goa / Psy, Japanese, Mixes. Leave a Comment

The mining for Romancer mixes continues, uncovering a classic, almost decade-old COGI set that I thought had long since disappeared. This is a short (and through the mic again, I’m afraid) recording from NRGetic Romancer’s 4th anniversary, right around the time that COGI was experimenting with various configurations of dark psy and freeform.

He fits a lot into the 35 minutes, starting with Void Of Farthest and ending on Cosmo and OSOM’s Instrumental, via some really interesting transitions. The Epyx & Cyrez remix of Hanuman Visits Lanka was always one of his favourite tracks, while he does very well to shenanigan a mix between Ultimate Protection and Invitation. It’s a superb, if short set that brings back some very fond memories, and I hope the rest of you enjoy listening back as much as I have.

I’m sketchy on the three (?) dark psy tracks in the middle of the set, but here’s what I’ve made of the tracklist so far:

01. Hase vs Psyfix – Void Of Farthest
02. Twisted Freq – Hanuman Visits Lanka (Epyx & Cyrez remix)
03. ?
04. ?
05. ?
06. Carbon Based – Utimate Protection
07. Alek Száhala – Invitation
08. Cosmo vs OSOM – Instrumental

GULD – Live @NRGetic Romancer, June 2007

Posted by PlasmaDancer on March 12, 2017

Posted in: Events, Japanese, Mixes. 7 comments

Sorry there’s been a pause in the set uploads – but the next one, from Guld, is actually a nice follow-up to today’s Lab 4 post. This time it’s a mic-recorded Romancer set from 2007, a time when Guld was getting a feel for his own sound while Hase and Betwixt were already at the top of their games.

An excellent, aggressive 70 minutes that shows just what his sets sounded (and often still sound) like, Guld finds time for a fine selection of Lab 4 promos, some old and new tracks of his own, and a couple of unknowns that I really should be able to ID. Any ideas?

01. Hase – Meditation
02. GULD – Nightmare Freak
03. ?
04. Sex Pistols – Anarchy in the UK (Lab 4 remix)
05. ?
06. Lab 4 – Perfect Drug
07. Lab 4 – Falling Down
08. ?
09. Nish – Heart Breaker (Guld’s Hellfire remix)
10. Proteus – I See Things You Don’t See (GULD remix)
11. GULD – Hannya
12. GULD vs Betwixt & Between – Hatral
13. Lab 4 – Transformation
[encore] ?

Lab 4 Live @ Dark Dimension Tokyo, 4th March 2017

Posted by PlasmaDancer on March 12, 2017

Posted in: Events, Japanese, Mixes, UK. 2 comments

About time some posts started appearing again, starting with a recording of Lab 4’s set from last weekend’s Dark Dimension. By most accounts it was as good an event as you’d expect but I had to miss it, making this upload a welcome chance to catch up.

Overall this is a slightly disappointing set when compared to Lab 4’s previous Japanese appearance (at Ageha a few years ago), as it tries to find a middle ground between their pure NRG of the past and newer tracks that take in semi-hardstyle, fewer filtered leads and even some dubstep breakdowns. On the other hand this selection likely has wider appeal than an hour of ten-year-old NRG, and I’ve only heard good responses to the set so far. A nice selection of the classics also helps of course, my favourite being a lovely edit of Psychopath that introduces the final ‘old school’ section, ending with Candyman.

edit: Thanks to Shimotsukei for the tracklist, via DJ X:

Intro
Efini – 00.39
Rave Revolućion – 5.15
Last Night ( Lab4_Unit13 feat Steve Blue Eyes) – 9.19
Requiem – 14.16
London ( Party All Night ) – 19.54
Come With Us ( Genetic Response ) – 24.10
No One’s Gonna Take Us Alive – 28.05
Ex Machina_( Weaponised ) – 30.25
We Live _ Mash Up – 35.06
Psychopath – 39.32
The Uprising – 45.18
Candyman ( Drop Glitch ) – 52.58

Orfeus – Live @NRGetic Romancer, 30th October 2004

Posted by PlasmaDancer on March 1, 2017

Posted in: Events, Finnish, Japanese, Mixes. 8 comments

The next NRGetic Romancer set is a pretty formative one for the whole event, with Orfeus setting the standard for guest bookings for the rest of the decade. A lot of the FINRG artists were already in full flow by this point, possibly making Orfeus a surprising first choice until you skip through this absolutely on-point hour and a bit of NRG and early golden-era FINRG. The booking says a lot for Guld’s knowledge of the scene even 13 years ago, and Orfeus of course went on to use the deadly combo of Japanese and Finnish tracks in a lot of sets, a good few years before I started doing the same.

This is a live recording via the mixer, giving a nice clean sound minus crowd noise and any nasty volume changes. The tracklist is a tricky one though, as apart from the obvious selections I’m having a really tough time identifying many. I love the first track after the intro, but up until the Kraken – Epilim combination I don’t have much of a clue what’s playing. Would anyone like to give it a go?

Even without the tracklist this is a lovely set in classic Proteus/Guld style – slanted towards NRG, plus melodic FINRG tracks as interludes that are still hard and dark enough to slot in smoothly. This might be my favourite of the Romancer sets I’ve discovered, but there’s more to come.

edit: Thanks to SteTN and Solvynt we’ve already got a pretty respectable tracklist. Feel free to pitch in if you have some ideas for what’s left!

00:00 = PoC & Orfeus – Intro (uses parts from a very early prototype of PoC & Orfeus – The Sanctuary)
1:27 – 8:30 = Proteus – Dark Queen (?)
…
14:24 – 19:54 = Reyes – Fuck You / Captain Tinrib – The Kraken (?)
19:54 = Epilim – Rapid Fire
…
30:30 – 35:09 = Flatus – Cloaca
…
45:25 = Alek Szahala – Chimaera
51:20 = Epilim – Plasma
56:20 = RX – Uprising
1:03:16 = Epilim – Desert Eagle

Betwixt & Between – NRGetic Romancer Promo CD

Posted by PlasmaDancer on February 23, 2017

Posted in: Events, Japanese, Mixes. 7 comments

Here then is the first of what’ll be a few Romancer-related uploads to TYFTH’s YouTube channel – a set from Betwixt & Between that’s probably a new listen for anyone who wasn’t a regular at NRGetic Romancer back in 2008.

This set was mixed for Romancer and handed out as a CD promo, around the time that promotional mixes were becoming a common sight at the event. The mixing is a bit haphazard in places, but production-wise it really shows Betwixt at his best, a period when a lot of his oldies still got play alongside newer tracks like Wide Awake and Surendrajit.

I hope everyone enjoys it and will be looking forward to more – there might eventually be a downloadable home for the sets but they will be collected here for the time being.

edit: Almost forgot to mention, but in the original recording the transition from Genshi Kurage to Zusammengehorigkeit suddenly (and I assume accidentally) cuts off, with silence for a few seconds before a second version of the transition cuts back in and continues the set. It’s not a pleasant listen, so I’ve cleaned up that 20 second section to allow Zusammengehorigkeit to play without interruption. Full disclosure, and all that.

A DAW view of Hyphen’s AWAKE remix

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 27, 2017

Posted in: Finnish, Goa / Psy, Japanese, USA. 1 comment

Believe it or not, over the past few months I’ve actually been making more of an effort on the production front, putting in a few hours each week. Not quite the daily grind that I remember Aryx and Substanced both recommending, but I’m determined not to only have the Hell’s Gate remix to my name and it’ll hopefully end up leading somewhere. Seems like I’m not the only one, as the forum has woken up slightly with the first hoover/leads production discussion.

What with freeform being such a niche affair, videos that show the producers at work are an absolute mine of inspiration and guidance – some classics are of course Alek’s Ziggurat, Aryx’s Galaxis and Solar Flare, and Qygen’s Past Blaster. Now we can add Hyphen’s AWAKE remix to the list, doing for FL what the previous guides did for Reason users.

Hyphen’s YouTube channel already has some very nice tutorials and a look into his track Laser Fusion Reactor, but this video goes way deeper with almost 30 minutes of back and forth through the track, including detailed looks at the synths and piano rolls. This will massively benefit anyone, no matter the DAW, and whether you’re looking for a more uplifting sound or not this is surely the best introductory freeform tutorial so far.

Top 3 Tracks of 2016

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 22, 2017

Posted in: Japanese, Releases, Top Tens. 5 comments

The last couple of choices have just been submitted, and so it’s now time to share the Japanese scene’s favourite tracks of the past year. As with the 2015 edition I’ve added links to as many of the tracks as possible, hopefully helping those who want to hunt down the unfamilar choices.

In an effort to keep mine unbiased I’ve ruled out any tracks that appeared on In Praise of Shadows. Although that made things tricky (had the compilation appeared on a different label all of my choices would very likely have come from there) it was good fun to dig through the rest of the year’s releases. The three I’ve gone for are still excellent tracks of course, and would have been challenging for a place in the list either way.

As always, I hope you enjoy the look back – with such a strong year of releases it’d be great to see some Horser choices in the comments, too.

GULD (NRGetic Romancer)

Hyphen (SOLIDBOX RECORDS)

Alabaster (M&C Recordings)

Morita Yuuhei (Illegal Wave Records)

Kokomochi (FutureProof Sounds)

Raqhow (CODEX, Freeform Bros)

Morita Yuuhei – Now or Never
Kokomochi – Iron Sky [FutureProof Sounds]
Kevin Energy & Cube::Hard – Voice of Carme (Transcend remix)

NONAKA+CHIN (SPREEMO, Freeform Bros)

ASAHI (CODEX)

PlasmaDancer (TYFTH, FINRG, CODEX, NRGetic Romancer)

CODEX7, 10th September 2016

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 8, 2017

Posted in: Events, Japanese, Mixes. 3 comments

Time for the traditional ‘look back at a CODEX from months ago’ post – as the only Japanese freeform event of 2016, CODEX7 definitely deserves a proper recap. With guest cancellations and a last-minute change of lineup there was potential for calamity, but Raqhow and the rest of the crew managed to put on one of the best events of recent years. There was also the small matter of In Praise of Shadows’ release, and it was on sale at the event alongside the CODEX EP, Alias A.K.A.’s Freeform Remixes, and the new Tesla Tracks compilation.

Futureproof Sounds Vol 1

Posted by PlasmaDancer on December 26, 2016

Posted in: Australia, Japanese, Releases, UK, USA. 1 comment

What was already the strongest year for releases in a long time just keeps improving, as Futureproof Sounds’ first compilation has just sneaked in before the end of 2016. A UK label with a taste for the darker side, Futureproof has given strong support to the Japanese scene in FS Vol 1, with tracks from Hyphen and Kokomochi.

I’m not sure I’ve heard the Hyphen track yet, but judging from the collection of preview clips Kokomochi’s Iron Sky leads the way in the rest of the lineup. One of those Hyphen/ikaruga/Falchion-esque tracks that goes heavy on the melodies but anchors things with some nastier sounds, it sounds like a track that could fit into a lot of sets.

The rest of volume one features some interesting melodic tracks without heading too far into darker territory (Transcend and Cyrax’s Forever is a nice example), but the release is definitely one to keep an eye on. It’s available now from the Futureproof site with a very limited run of 100 copies.

Alias A.K.A. – Freeform Remixes 2

Posted by PlasmaDancer on December 17, 2016

Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Mixes, Releases, UK, USA. Leave a Comment

Everyone’s familiar with Alias A.K.A., if not for his multi-genre productions of the past few years then definitely as Electronica Exposed’s main man, Shanty. I’ve been following Alias’ releases and mixes for a while and really should have mentioned them here, especially the fabulous Prime Suspect album.

Praise be, then, as the latest Freeform Remixes compilation takes on some of those darker tracks along with all sorts of other fun and games for a compilation of very big names. The majority of the artists lean towards UK freeform, but we also have some high quality deeper sounds on show. Nomic’s Regret remix is the big standout for me so far, but Wyrm and Sutr are a perfect fit to take on Nurgle, originally one of those excellent Prime Suspect dark trance tracks. The remix doesn’t quite hit the dark atmosphere of the original (it is named after the god of disease and decay, after all), but the second half of the clip shows a ton of promise – pacy, twisted and heading in a darker direction.

The last of the previews went online recently, but keep an eye on the Alias A.K.A. SoundCloud or Facebook page for more info on the release.