Events

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.

Shimotsukei Freeform Stream, 10th February 5pm EST (11th February 7am JST)

Posted by PlasmaDancer on February 10, 2017
Posted in: Events, USA. Leave a Comment

Watch live video from Shimotsukei on www.twitch.tv

Chances to hear live freeform are few and far between at the moment, and so although Shimotsukei has already posted in the forum her upcoming live set is very worth a mention here too.

The stream will start on Friday afternoon at 5pm EST, translating to 7am on Saturday JST. Signs are that it’ll be quite a long one, so I’m hopeful to be a presence in the chat for at least part of it.

Smiling Corpse on Slack

Posted by PlasmaDancer on February 5, 2017
Posted in: Events, UK. 2 comments

I’m sure we’ve mentioned the Smiling Corpse Slack group before? If you were previously signed up to the now-departed Freeform Forum then you likely received a recent, gentle reminder that the Slack is the new place for freeform folk to gather. There’s definitely potential there and discussion seemed very lively when I first signed up, even if the time difference between Japan and Europe/the US makes it trickier for me to really take part. I’ll definitely be popping back now and then, and hopefully this link (thanks Sherkel!) will lead non-members to a sign-up page – with freeform awash in releases for an apparently shrinking audience, anything that solidifies the community a bit more is very welcome indeed.

Alek Száhala – Live @Säde NRG (Sep 26th 2003)

Posted by PlasmaDancer on February 3, 2017
Posted in: Events, Finnish, Mixes. Leave a Comment

Thought I’d make the most of this quiet spell for new sets by posting up another favourite from the Golden Age. This time it’s the very beginning – Alek Száhala playing at Säde, almost 14 years ago. That a good few of the tracks would still be in my all-time top ten says it a lot for Alek’s production, but this set is extra special for the live edits and interesting transitions that we don’t see much of from Live PA artists these days. Imagine hearing Invitation suddenly leaping into this set, back in 2003, or the atmosphere during the Afternoon Owl – Man Eaten mix.

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.

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Alabaster – Lucky Lotus Festival 6 Live set (History of Alabaster)

Posted by PlasmaDancer on December 4, 2016
Posted in: Events, Japanese, Mixes. 1 comment

Following on from the release of Galaxy comes a new uploaded set from Alabaster, and actually (as Shimotsukei pointed out the other day) his first ever downloadable set. This one takes the form of a Live PA, something he has only done a couple of times at CODEX, showing off what a quality back catalogue he has built up over the years.

The set goes back as far as a release on Druggy’s Acid Rack and finishes in 2016 with Galaxy, including a few of my all-time favourites. Acid Maker, Oxyale, Iolite  and both Rebuild tracks are all in here, as well as Void, a track I played at my very first Hell’s Gate. There’s a nice flow to the set as it heads towards the newer Rebuild/TYFTH releases, and it covers the full range of those distinctive Alabaster melodies – just staying the right side of ‘too uplifting’ and often heading into properly melancholy territory.

TYFTF

Posted by PlasmaDancer on December 3, 2016
Posted in: Events. 13 comments

Glance up to the top of this page and you should notice ‘TYFTH Forum’ alongside all the regular headers – it has taken a while, but now TYFTH finally has somewhere more useful for discussion. As long as user registration goes smoothly the basics seem to be in place, but bear with me in the event of any technical wobbles.

The haphazard early design ideas have been dialled back to something that hopefuly resembles the new site theme, but if you have any feedback on font sizes, background colour choices etc then please let me know and tweaks will follow.

Also, feedback’s welcome on the subforums as they stand – I’ve gone for NRG/Freeform Discussion, New Releases/Mixes/Events, Production/DJing Discussion and Off Topic. I’ve no idea how well subscribed the forum will eventually be, but even with what’ll surely be a smallish number of initial posters that feels like a workable setup.

That’s about it for now – no matter the size, I hope the TYFTH forum will end up as a welcoming spot for veteran Horsers and newcomers alike to share some thoughts. In a perfect world there wouldn’t need to be much moderation (I’ll be the only poster with the power of mod for now), but a short list of Forum Rules would probably be useful either way. For now, common sense is the way to go, and judging by the site’s comment threads over the years we don’t have too much to worry about.

I’ve gone for the old faithful, the introduction thread, to start us off, but feel very free to launch off into a new topic of your choosing!