Congratulations to Le Dos-on for his second place in the recent Permission to Die remix competition (which I completely forgot to mention, sorry about that). It’s a brilliant rework of the original, with some awesome synth work that has a slightly rougher (and very welcome) feel to some of his other recent tunes. This deserves to get a lot of play, as does the overall competition winner from Tornadoz.
Releases
The biggest news this week has to be the free release of two Nomic tracks, hopefully marking the master’s return to action after Suicide Machine. Most will know that Chaos Maker has been a favourite of mine for years, and while an incredibly useful addition to a set is also a superb standalone track. Rift is newer (and might even be remastered here), featuring some of those wonderful, emotional sequences you’ll only find in Nomic’s productions.
Limited downloads here, so make sure to get over to Nomic’s own SoundCloud asap.
otakuoverdrive’s YouTube channel tends to feature some excellent Japanese freeform, and recently he outdid himself with an awesome and very obscure umbrella track. Descent 0.7 was apparently only released on a mini-album from White Evil (way back in 2007) which explains why it completely passed me by until now. There’s an obvious Finnish influence here, but also more than a hint of ThermalForce in the simple, addictive and heavily filtered riffs.
It reminds me that I’ve got another great (and old) umbrella track on a hard drive somewhere with a higher bpm and a really nice Afternoon Owl-style lead. I don’t even know the title, but as there might be time for a ustream this month I’ll try to play it then.
Another release from Alek Szahala here – now we’re moving back up through the bpms with Commanche, a trance track that a few of us heard at 10 years of FINRG last year. Reminiscent of some of the Forgotten Tracks set, this is another of those relatively short, beautiful tunes that Alek does so well.
Epyx & Cyrez fans are having a right old week, finishing in fine style with the long-awaited release of All of Us. A very versatile tune, it’s been a fixture in Guld’s sets (and mine, come to think of it) for almost a couple of years, working nicely with freeform or NRG. This is one of those Facebook-related promotions though, so follow this link to the E&C page to get access to the tune.
Two amazing tracks from Guld surfaced this week – his Unohdetut remix that’ll feature on the upcoming Freeform Exposed 2, and his brutal (but unfinished) boot of Candyman.
I heard a version of the Candyman remix recently, and on a second listen it’s sounding even better, with some really inspired cuts and fills in the intro.
Watchtower has just announced that Two Against the Void, Epyx & Cyrez’s new artist album, will be with us next month. The previews are already online and the mix of melodies and harder tunes is looking excellent, along with remixes from Endemic, Tyranoid & Strongstream and Pain on Creation & Substanced.
Congrats to Watchtower and E&C for what’s sure to be a blinding release – head over to the Watchtower site now to place a preorder.
For those who weren’t aware until now, there’s one heck of a freeform release on the way from one of the founders of the sound, Electronica Exposed. Following on from the excellent Freeform Exposed, this second edition will have two Shanty-mixed sets and 37 (!) unmixed tunes spread over 3 parts, set for release in February, March and April. No sign of tracklists just yet, but check out the release page for a very promising list of artists and a schedule for the promo clips (starting with the great Finfish remix).
Let’s step away from freeform again for a minute to enjoy a beautiful new Paokala track, one of the nicest downtempo tunes yet from Alek Szahala or any of his aliases. Right up there with some of Nomic’s piano pieces, I’m really glad that this has gone up on FINRG’s SoundCloud, giving the label’s followers a taste of the deeper sounds Alek is capable of.
The freeform world’s already well aware of this bit of news, but a new Alek Szahala track always deserves a post of its own. Deimos is a wonderful mid-point between Alek’s current sound and the otherwordly melodies of a few years ago, and is an absolute floor-killer at slightly higher bpms.