There were some brilliant freeform sets during last weekend’s Lucky Lotus, including this very TYFTH-friendly effort from Solvynt.
The tracklist alone should be enough to convince you, with plenty of harder melodic tunes, but there are some lovely connections that add some extra depth to the set. My personal favourite is the move from The Awakening to Darkside – a famously tricky tune to mix out from, here the combining filters and melodies are really excellent. The rest of the set is very well selected (including TYFTH’s Children), and already has me looking forward to the next Solvynt mix.
I’ll be posting on my own Lucky Lotus set sometime soon, but you can already check it out here.
Apologies for the patchy posts at the moment – there’s plenty going on behind the scenes though, and the big plans for TYFTH are still on track. They were even (partly) revealed to a select few at CODEX a couple of weeks ago, so stay tuned for more info asap. There’ll also be a write-up on the last event before too long…
In the meantime, an interesting edition of the Spider event is happening in little over a week, with headline sets from Guld and Munetica. It’s been way too long since I’ve been able to enjoy a really good club set away from CODEX, so I’ll definitely be making the short stroll from home to attend this one.
5/30(Sat) Ultra Hard Dance Party Spider-Limited-#1 Shin Okubo@unique-laboratory
A brief respite before the freeform-related busyness starts up again, giving me just enough time to mention the next edition of the Lucky Lotus festival. I’m very happy to have been invited to take part, and looking forward to introducing a few new listeners to some darker freeform, as well as providing a fix for those who already know.
There’s a Facebook event page that will likely have timetables up in the not-too-distant future, but it will also be worth keeping an eye on Doujindance, where the festival will eventually be streamed.
Whether you’re a Dragonball fan or not, Guld’s Solid State Scouter and Final Revenger were both glorious NRG reworks. Spirits of Saiyan is Guld’s latest effort, showing the confident production of all his tracks these days. No download for this one (or ability to embed, so follow this link to listen), but I wonder if we might hear this one at CODEX in a couple of weeks’ time..
A busy week has delayed a couple of other posts, but the release of Smiling Corpse 2 definitely deserves to jump the queue. Long-awaited is a bit of an understatement here – it probably won’t be too long until this two CD compilation sells out. Congratulations to the SC crew for finally completing the release, and the tracklist is really one of the strongest we’ve seen for a few years.
Trek over to the rather sexy new Smiling Corpse site, where you can order the release for a mere five pounds.
Fortuna into Sylph – that’s what first caught my ear here, but Olly Addictive and Damo’s back to back set also has a fantastic tracklist that makes it well worth checking out.
The selection here is a top example of what can happen when DJs with a knowledge of the UK scene mix things up with their love for the Finnish/Japanese sound. There are lighter moments, but the darker stuff is never far away and the tracklist flows brilliantly without ever needing the transitions to do too much work. The sequence immediately following Fortuna – Sylph is a great example – a series of nicely selected tracks that do a fine job of keeping the atmosphere consistent and the quality level high.
Whether this was an every-other-track style of B2B or Olly and Damo took on one half each, the chaps deserve kudos for a very nice set, and one that should have something for everyone.
01) Milo – Kill You
02) Oli G – Cordelia
03) Shox – State of Mind
04) Grimsoul – Some More
05) Twisted Freq – Innocence
06) Asa & S1 – Cured
07) Stormtrooper – Adrenalin Rush
08) Transcend – The Purification
09) Human Resource – Dominator (Brisk & Ham Remix)
10) Ephexis – Intensify (Greg Peaks & Solution remix)
11) Skampy & Mayhem ft K Complex – Perverted Science
12) Transcend, Cyrax & Iggy – Jungle Hijynx
13) Nomic – Fortuna
14) Aryx – Sylph
15) MHX – Gray Death (Sky Dragon Remix)
16) Alchemiist – Empire
17) Ephexis – Mind Grinder
18) Pain On Creation – Adaptation
19) Ephexis – Quantum Fury
20) Shanty, Tazz & Dodgee – Law of Hardcore
21) Tazz & AMS – Gettin’ Dirty
22) Ruffage & Size – Demonic Rose
23) Le Dos-on – Mental Madness
24) Nomic – You Have A Dream
Massive congrats to Dyzphazia for winning a place on the lineup at the next Hardcore ‘Til I Die, where he’ll be representing freeform alongside some very big names. His winning set submission is now online, and you can immediately see why it convinced the judges – enough uplifting, dancefloor freeform to excite a UK crowd, with some surprises along the way to a glorious, harder finale of Rx’s Eternal Cannon remix, Gozenzeuna and al Megiddo.
Another milestone for Dyzphazia, and I’m sure he’ll be representing the scene in fine style with some tasty selection and typically quality mixing. Huge news, then, and hopefully the UK Horsers will be out in force to support one of their own.
Not the first time I’ve heard this, but thanks to Vyral XIII for reminding me of Betwixt & Between’s beautiful The Eon. That breakdown’s the main draw here, though the combination with some older RaverRose style (the voice samples!) is pretty special. Definitely one of those tracks that only Betwixt could have created.
The world and her husband must have heard this news by now, but it’s worth repeating anyway – Alek Szahala will be making his first appearance at a Japanese event for 7 (!) years, headlining the next edition of CODEX.
10 Years of FINRG was the last time I saw an Alek set, while for most of the Japanese crew this will be the first chance since 2008’s NRGetic Romancer. Once again, enormous respect to Raqhow for all his hard work – if anything was going to bring more Romancer ravers back to the world of NRG and freeform it’s a booking of this quality.
There’s already a massive buzz around the scene here, and I can’t wait for what’s sure to be an amazing event. Keep an eye on the Facebook event page for more news, but for now here’s the lineup information:
“Twisted synth x Acid x Hoover”
/_/_/ Freeform Hardcore , HardNRG , Harddance , and more!! /_/_/
Place : R-Lounge Shibuya 6F
START : 2015 / 05 / 02 (Sat) 13:00 ～
Door:2500YEN(+1Drink) W/F or Guest :2000YEN(+1Drink)
/_/_/ Special Guest Live PA/_/_/
Alek Száhala from Finland (FINRG Recordings)
/_/_/ Special Guest DJ/_/_/ GULD (NRGeticRomancer)
Western Japan’s harder scenes are looking as healthy as ever, with a collection of producers and DJs that at least match Tokyo for quality. Longtime club comrade and fellow freeform DJ Taber recently played a (probably hardstyle) set at BIG CRUNCH in Nagoya, but here’s a little demo (via SamuraiStyleRaver) of his glorious shuffle-meets-raver step dancing style.
The recent Yoji event in Tokyo was too crowded for a proper raver reunion, and I really miss the Romancer days when the floor would be packed with such talented folk.
