The master has returned! Nomic is back with Suicide Machine, a brand new track on Smiling Corpse that has all the signs of becoming a future classic. While in Finland I was lucky enough to hear a work-in-progress at Nomic’s studio, and even the day after the guitars had been recorded it was already a phenomenally complex tune. The guitars add some real weight to the pre-breakdown, while the melodies are just beautiful – reminding us once again that Nomic’s in a league of his own when it comes to danceable melancholy.
Releases
Wonderful to see that Betwixt & Between is getting back into music again, starting with a set this Friday at KOTOBUKI NIGHT in Aoyama. He’s also been looking through his back catalogue, and recently uploaded an old (and previously unheard) track called I Believe Nothing.
It’s vintage Betwixt, with some beautiful melodic sections up against dark semi-industrial hardcore – an awesome combination, and the unusual style suggests all sorts of possibilities for use in a set. Although it’s absolutely deserving of a real release, for the time being it’s downloadable here.
The lineup over at Smiling Corpse is looking better by the minute, as this latest track is comfortably in my best 3 of the year so far (alongside Aryx’s The End of All Things remix and Le Dos-on’s Intro). Morokai is an Aryx take on the darker side of freeform, his first since he’s achieved so much success with releases over the past year or so. The 10 Years of FINRG crew might recognise this tune – Aryx pulled out all the stops to finish a 10 Years of FINRG edit just a few days before I left Japan (for which I’m forever in his debt). There it absolutely did the business towards the end of the set, slotted in between two Betwixt tracks, and hearing it again now brings back all sorts of awesome memories.
This version has a few new elements in the breakdown and some improvements to the mastering, but it was a phenomenal track anyway and even amongst the quality stuff on the way from SC this’ll surely be a standout release.
An excellent recent upload from mixu was Carbon Based’s Lost in Space, a tune that has never seen the light of day on FINRG and I’m not sure I’ve ever heard before either. It’s a brilliant tune, with a wonderful main melody and some classic CB filters, though there might not be quite enough going on to fill the full 10-minutes. Anyway, an unheard Carbon Based tune’s always a treat, so thanks as always go to mixu for digging this one up from somewhere.
Proteus’ newest mix album is on the way next week, with a very tasty looking tracklist and plenty of support for the Japanese scene, as you’d expect. There are also a couple of tunes from Proteus’ newest project Skylight, and I’m really looking forward to hearing how it all fits together.
01. Proteus – New Dawn
02. Skylight – Devil Down (Instrumental)
03. Skylight – Stargate (Original)
04. DJ Husband – Activate (Proteus Remix)
05. Proteus – Sucker! (Main Mix)
06. Atari Teenage Riot – Black Flags (Muffler Remix)
07. Antolini & Montorsi – Are Am Eye (Original Mix)
08. Tnt Aka Technoboy ‘N’ Tuneboy And Kutski – Sucksess (Extended Version)
09. Wragg & Log One Vs Ian Cross – Run For Cover
10. Betwixt & Between – Wanderer Of Hesotarou (Proteus Remix)
11. Satronica – Blood On Fire (Waldhaus Vinyl Rmx)
12. Kevin Energy & Proteus – London Helsinki Underground (Proteus 2011 ‘Warcy’ Remix)
13. Proteus – Get Fire!
14. Substanced & Alchemiist – Skullcrush
15. D-Passion – Pride 16. Guld – Hannya X (Proteus ‘Kampai Forever’ Remix)
2012’s M3 isn’t far away, and Le Dos-on will be there with copies of his first full album. This cross-fade demo has been online for a while now, a really excellent sequence of snippets from each tune. I actually played a couple of these tracks at 10 Years of FINRG (where both went down very well indeed), but there’s plenty of brand-new material here too. The last few tunes I’ve heard have really stepped up a level in terms of quality, and he’s doing a brilliant job of forging his own sound from the obvious FINRG/Betwixt/Alabaster influences.
After M3 the download version of the album will be going on sale next month, so no matter where you are it’ll soon be possible to grab these tunes and support one of the most exciting new guys in the scene.
Crossfade tracklist:
1.Intro
2.toivomus
3.Material
4.Stance-Another Story-
5.Aurora
6.Le
7.Sena(Original Mix)
8.Forever
Great news came from Electronica Exposed a couple of days ago, re. the launch of the new free label, Electrode. To mark the event Shanty has come up with a typically comprehensive release, a very tasty looking 3 parter of brand new material.
Some of the tracks I’ve heard (or even played, in the case of Unohdetut), but the vast majority are new to me, including tracks from Wyrm and Olly Addictive & TTE that I just can’t wait to hear. The showcase set from Shanty is already downloadable, with the DJ-friendly separate tracks on the way soon. This is one of those rare times when I’m posting about a set I haven’t listened through yet, so any opinions/feedback from the comment section crew would be great.
The current page on the EE site seems to be a placeholder – personally I agree with Shanty that even if the music’s free it should be presented properly/professionally, so I’m very much looking forward to the new site design, too.
Let’s finish today with Alek Szahala’s wonderful new downtempo track, Wraithverge. Alek has done a brilliant job of translating his style into a slower bpm, thankfully steering well clear of dubstep and coming up with one his most impressive atmospheres for some time.
Adagio for Strings also appeared on the FINRG SoundCloud recently, a long-awaited release and a lovely example of that whiplash aggression that was so common a few years ago.
Finally, the Finland/10 Years of FINRG post will be appearing this week (6 day workweeks are slowing me down a bit) and I’ll do my best to catch up on emails/facebook stuff tomorrow.
Another track I missed from last month is a real treat – a freeform remix of the anthemic Concorde from Byproduct. As much as I love his production and style I’ve often hoped that some harder tracks would make an appearance too, and this doesn’t disappoint at all. Currently the tune’s without a download link – I haven’t heard anything either way, so maybe the good folk at FINRG will see sense and add one soon.
edit: Thanks to Bern and Alderz for pointing out that it’s downloadable from Byproduct’s site right now.
Thanks to Amini I heard Stockholm Syndrome while in Tampere, and it’s great to see that Smiling Corpse has snared it for release. Incredible production once again, and J-Mx was talking the other day about the lovely breakdown (even if I could do without the vocal again, truth be told).
A brilliant track then, and speaking of Amini his excellent Guitarian is also set for release on SC, as well as the really interesting Thunderhead by Xombei. Very encouraging that some more experimental sounds are appearing with the big-hitters, the first release is already looking essential.