It’s no secret that I’ve been pushing for more carefully constructed freeform sets since the very early days – ten years(!) or so ago we had a fine crop of DJs who worked wonders with what was being released, but mixes of that quality have been pretty thin on the ground lately. Asukarai Matsuri to the rescue, then, with a set of older tracks that instantly belongs among the all-time greats.
Normally when I give a mix the spotlight around here I pick out a few highlight transitions, but the standard is so high for this one that it’s almost impossible to choose. Veterans will look at the tracklist and probably have something of an idea of what to expect – melancholy melodies with some pacy filters to keep the energy up – but I guarantee that some of the combinations will catch you by surprise. Old Proteus favourite El Orfanato used as a follow-up to Byrgius is one, The Last Breath into Geneva another.
It’s the overall atmosphere of the set that’s the biggest achievement for me though, as it finds and then explores the common ground between a pretty wide range of artists. From Nomic’s melancholy to Aryx’s uplifting sound, via Epyx and Cyrez or Substanced’s agressive synths, it really does make something new with these ingredients. Many freeform DJs (myself included) have struggled to handle that kind of variety in the past, but this is an almost perfect attempt. Deimos is the one track that doesn’t slot in as smoothly, but that’s a common problem when using Alek’s tracks and it’s back to business as usual with the excellent transition to Fairytale. The fine tradition of unpronounceable freeform track names continues here too, with Nirotiy’s impressive 沉渊低语 ending the set on a forward-looking note.
I can’t imagine I’ll be recommending many more sets as highly as this for the rest of year, so I urge you both to check it out and share it with any and all who might be interested
I’d say not to get too excited about this (it is a 7 year old album, after all), but In Praise of Shadows finally being available on a platform where you don’t need PayPal could be a big deal for some. Especially so for the Japan crew, which is who this is really aimed at. Since setting up the Booth shop I’ve opened it to non-Japanese orders too, so give it a look if the PayPal thing was what held you back in the past.
I was listening through the soundcloud previews again while I did all the intial Booth admin and (as biased as I am) it really is one of the all-time best compilations, isn’t it? Anyway, check out the Booth shop if you couldn’t support the release the first time around.
Belated notice if you missed it that Ri-nergy’s FutureProof EP released during summer. Alert Horsers will have heard both tracks in Ri-nergy’s excellent promo set, making this by far the best freeform release of the year so far.
All the tips of the hat to FutureProof – recent bursts of activity from FINRG aside, for me it’s quietly become one of best places to look for consistently quality NRG and freeform. There’ll be more mixing from me in November, so I’m planning to give both of these some play in sets and/or streams asap.
It’s not every day (or even every year, come to think of it) that we see a full album release that’s of TYFTH interest, so a recommendation from Sherkel to check out CBR and Shihen’s First Impact was very welcome. Don’t go in expecting freeform only, though – the topic list on the archive page lists everything but, as it’s very much on the Hardcore Syndrome/Hardcore Tano*C side of hardcore. That means we get everything from early 2000s happy J-Core to speedcore, along with some wonderful, Betwixt-influenced tracks. If that sounds up your alley, you’re not going to find a better album this year than the 12 tracks collected here.
Shihen’s Lost Planet is the first of the early tracks that could find its way into a freeform set (particularly one on the uplifting side) and I’m a big fan of the acid work and lead sounds. BeyondX is a much lighter hardcore track that somehow sounds to me like it might have a melancholy freeform track hiding inside, but it’s probably the second half of the release where we find more to perk up the ears of the typical Horser. Cloudburst is a brilliant high bpm track, heavy on the Betwixt influences despite (or because of?) being all over the place in terms of genre, while Disaster Foretold is as freeform as the album gets. Sounding at times like pre-freeform Betwixt mashed up with his later style, it’s a very impressive (and very fast) track. Shihen’s Aegaeon is my favourite track on the album – a lovely, weighty 5 minutes of NRG-ish freeform with some especially excellent work on the intro and break.
Overall it’s a superbly produced, high quality album, with more than enough freeform-adjacent sounds to come highly recommended. You can check out all the tracks via the slightly temperamental player on the release page, and download the album itself in full.
Over the past year or so I’ve (as usual, to be honest) been listening to my own mixes if I’m in the mood for some NRG or freeform, and three in particular have had the most play – the FINRG Podcast set, my tribute to Exemia, and the last twitch stream from the start of last year. I took elements from each of these with the goal to raise Dark NRG a level or two above the pretty good Hardcore for Life , an NRG set I’m quite happy with, but don’t listen to often.
The other inspiration was Proteus’ old NRG sets, so I aimed for a dark, industrial atmosphere in this one that looked to other genres for some of the tracks. Originally that meant me tinkering with tracks like Waldhaus’ Blood on Fire remix, but the challenge was finding something that matched the NRG atmosphere and added some heaviness at the right moments. That’s where the FINRG Podcast influence also comes in, as the second half of that set is still the blueprint for what my sets should sound like – dark, strange, and with some deeper psychedelic elements to them. With all those things in mind the set ended up using plenty of Proteus’ own tracks, with one hard techno track as a transition and the deeper finale of Louhi and Synchronicity. I’m especially happy with the progression from the weighty opening Proteus sounds to the increase in pace with the NRG and then into the section that’s probably got most of a freeform feel – more on that in a minute.
I still listen to the Exemia set often – it’s definitely one of my most inspired, with some of the best transitions I’ve ever managed. Here I tried to recreate the drive of the set, particularly in the way that transitions would avoid the ‘stop-start’ style of introducing new tracks with a breakdown. It’s something I used to do too much but have tried to improve recently and am very happy with how it went for Dark NRG. Gangstah into Knock Out is one of my favourite examples, and it gets bonus points for smoothly using two tracks in different keys. The vocal samples work well together, and the extra power of Knock Out increases the pace and leads nicely into the freeformy-NRG part of the set. Another good one is Rock N Rave into Heavy Fusion, the final step into the freeformy-NRG section.
Cyrez’ recently released Malicious was a late addition, matching up perfectly with the tricky Heavy Fusion. The Resurrection remix had been floating around the same part of the tracklist during planning, so it made sense to add it here. Tears Are Not Obedient was another late selection – I had found another in-key escape route from Resurrection, but it took the atmosphere in a direction I didn’t like. I left the set alone for a while to think about it, and eventually came up with the simple-but-effective Gus and Jorg track as the answer. Truth be told I was running out of enthusiasm for the set by then, and repurposed an In Praise of Shadows mix to follow up. There could well be some better options out there, and it’s probably weakest part of the set to my ears. Get Fire! and Louhi really work well together though, so maybe it’ll grow on me.
So that’s the set – very pleased with it even if it didn’t justify a full year(!) of planning. It has some strong moments that I like going back to, and there were lots of unused transitions that’ll be appearing in the freeform-only mix that’s in the works these days.
Quite literally one from the archives here – thanks to Shihen I was reminded of this classic Beezee and Alderz set from 11 years ago and realised that some newer Horsers might never have heard it before. Unsurprisingly I was all over it at the time but the set is no longer on soundcloud. Thankfully Beezee has kept it archived (along with some other quality mixes) on hearthis – I can’t see a way to embed stuff from there, mind, so head this way to check out the set instead.
My thoughts at the time still stand, but listening in 2023 it really feels like an ‘end of an era’ kind of set, when the original Finnish/Japanese atmospheres were getting harder and harder to find. Much later than this and sets would often lose it completely, but Beezee and Alderz have hit the sweet spot here of newer (for the time) tracks that still have enough of the older spirit to sit alongside the anthems.
Big thanks again to Shihen for the reminder, and to Alderz for help in tracking the set down.
Father Time gave me another slap in the face recently when I realised Melancholia’s last soundcloud set was eight(!) years ago. Almost as surprising is that nobody else has since come close to his hyperactive, genre-mashing brand of freeform/hardcore mixing, so it’s a genuine treat to hear him back at it. There’s no real point of comparison, but those who enjoy Shimo’s current mixing style are at least headed in the right direction. In short, it’s best not to worry too much about the tracklist – tracks appear so briefly and/or mashed up with others that you’ll likely be readjusting to a new tune before you realise it.
Saying that, the opening ticks all the TYFTH boxes with a very strong Betwixt/Guld start. It’s fitting that Aryx and Alek Szahala’s Byrgius is the centrepiece for one of the smoothest segments of the set (just listen to that inspired mix into Stargazer), but another of Melancholia’s strengths is knowing when to get through a transition without mixing in key when the flow of the set needs it. He balances the two approaches almost perfectly, meaning you never know quite what to expect from one section to another. This set also keeps up the tradition of throwing plenty of extra samples into the mix – some of the UK freeform-esque monologues in the longer breakdowns are very similar to past sets and do a fine job of giving the set even more of a distinctive identity, but you might be caught off guard by the extremely wholesome appearances here and there of Melancholia himself.
There’s plenty more that could be said, but I’m sure you get the idea. Whether you’re more of a listener or DJ, this is another inspired, superbly mixed celebration of hardcore by Melancholia, and comes as highly recommended as any set this year.
Anyone pining for emotional pianos and filtery leads has to check out Ri-nergy’s second promo set, as they don’t get any better than this in the current freeform scene. It’s also time to stop the Nomic comparisons now that Ri-nergy has developed such a strong style of his own – taking plenty from the master himself of course, but sounding very ‘modern Japanese freeform’ in the best possible way. There are lots here that I’ve already had in mind for a set, and others that I’ll be checking out asap, thanks to an extremely useful tracklist with links to various compilations.
The mix itself has a few more uncomfy moments in transition than the first promo set, but they don’t stick around for too long. As always, it’s a lot easier to forgive them in an artist set, and it does avoid the other tedious extreme of trundling though the DJ-friendly intro and outro section of every track. The tracks themselves are superb, with some genuinely standout emotional moments that match anything we’ve heard in the last decade. I’ve even noticed Ri-nergy’s releases popping up in the occasional UK freeform set, so he’s probably doing more than anyone right now to nudge both listers and DJs back towards the sounds of the golden era. A special mention too for Ende’s wonderful visuals that accompany the YT version of the set – I hope we see more of this in the future.
I’ve plenty more sets to mention, so stay tuned, and there’ll be at least one new one from me pretty soon – more about that on Mastodon.
Been a while since the last event-recap post, hasn’t it? Although I’d heard about Dark Dimension’s comeback earlier in the year, I was expecting a smaller/low-key affair for starters – not a bit of it though, as even without any guest DJs from outside Japan this was up there with the very best of Dark Dimension’s subculture mashups. LOFT turned out to be a brilliant venue too, which is always a nice surprise when these live houses are used for electronic events. The main speakers were a bit too enthusiastic on the top end, but the main floor was decently sized and gave enough room for both the ravers and industrial dancers in attendance.
The crowd was genuinely impressive, as every subculture represented made the effort to turn out in force. For most of my time there I was catching up with old Romancer ravers, and I recognised plenty of people from my travels through other gothic and industrial events. The second ‘chaotic’ floor lineup was perfectly judged and seemed to work as an escape option for the goths when things got too energetic in the main room.
Obviously I was mainly there for Guld’s set, but arrived just in time to catch most of Suke’s dark psy live PA. I’ll never cease to be amazed how people outside of a typical dark psy event will still go all out to dance to such fast, repetitive tunes with very few breakdowns – maybe it’s another quirk of the scenes here, but seeing even the goths and steampunks giving it a go was a surprise. Talking of steampunk, right after Suke was an excellent, atmospheric fashion show by kennycreation (who also played the backing tracks). Like something from Tokyo Decadance, this was probably the moment when I realised what a grand job the DD crew had done of bringing together such a disparate crowd. The last set before Guld was Chika with her hard techno – it might be the easiest of all the harder genres to mix, but that makes the selection extra important. She structured the set very well for the audience, lightening things up here and there but keeping it mostly dark and hard.
Guld’s set was superb, opening up with his Candyman remix. The first drop after the intro set off all the Romancer ravers at once, and if you squinted a little you might even have convinced yourself that you were back in Studio Cube in 2008. The rest of the set was heavy on Hase and ThermalForce (see the first video up above) and some old and new tracks that perfectly matched the atmosphere for this event. There was another fashion show early in Guld’s set, this time from the cyberpunk brand D/3, which is well worth checking out if you’re not familar.
Of course the big highlight for me was hearing Cyhyraeth in a club setting for the first time – Guld and I were (again) complaining recently how hard it is to get a chance to play NRG/freeform to fans of other darker scenes, despite the fact that they invariably enjoy it, and here was my track getting the perfect chance to do just that. I didn’t do a great job of showing the size of the crowd in my video (there are others floating around online that give you a better idea), but there was a spectacular response as it was (surprisingly) mixed in from One Immortal. In the most literal sense it felt like being in a dream as I looked around, seeing the Romancer ravers react to the ‘you’re supposed to dance to this part’ sections exactly as I’d hoped. Obviously I’ve nothing but thanks for Guld for playing the track, and it was biggest kick in the inspiration I’ve ever felt. In fact I was working away on another track in the month leading up the event, but shockingly couldn’t get it finished in time.
Sisen followed Guld with one of the harder sets I’ve ever heard from him, along with the usual stellar stage presence. I dredged up some energy for some more dancing, before heading out to navigate the post-apocalyptic scenes of early-morning Kabukicho. Talking to organiser Akira during the event it sounded like the plan is for Dark Dimension to put on at least another event this year, and the only shame is that it probably won’t be a very regular thing. The crowds are there to support it though, so perhaps it’ll be sooner than we expect…
Here’s a set that certainly hasn’t found the number of listeners it deserves, one that should be of interest of anyone and everyone still checking TYFTH. Last year was the 10th anniversary of Betwixt’s passing, and Shimo put together a fantastic tribute set alongside Sphaera – I won’t blow their cover, but they’re also a long time friend of TYFTH and one of the scene’s best for complex, well-planned sets.
With Shimo involved it’s no surprise that this hour absolutely rockets through the bpms, starting with an inspired combo of schranzy industrial tracks. I’ve tried and failed to put this kind of thing together in the past, and Piropiro to Enter the Void is as good a sequence of Betwixt mixing you’ll hear anywhere. That’s unfortunately followed by an example of the weaker aspect of the set – two or three transitions that have too many clashing melodies for me to enjoy. The move into Eternity Has Passed isn’t the worst offender, mind, and on the whole they can probably be put down to the DJs swapping in and taking on an unexpected melodic track.
Don’t let that put you off though, as there are some spectacular moments in here. Personal favourites are Tankobu to Point of No Return, and Tout est Bien into al Megiddo, as well as a tracklist that takes in a lot of Betwixt’s styles over the years. You’ll notice a few less common tracks and remasters too, so this’ll be an educational listen for many Betwixt fans.
This was obviously a special project, but I really hope we’ll see some more recorded sets from Shimo and a comeback of sorts from Sphaera. Both are, for me, just about at the top of the freeform DJing tree, both in terms of mixing and track selection. With plenty of newcomers on the scene these days it’s more important than ever to keep Japanese/Finnish freeform in touch with its roots, after all.
