Releases

Exemia – This is Synthform

Posted by PlasmaDancer on October 23, 2016
Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Releases, USA. 1 comment

Qygen’s not the only one going in interesting directions with freeform this year – one of the best releases of 2016 so far has now arrived, courtesy of Exemia.

Released earlier this month, Synthform is a pitch-perfect take on synthwave-as-freeform that really does sound like something new. The best frame of reference for us is probably Byproduct, but here with a harder edge that shows Exemia’s experience in the freeform scene. The addition of a mighty impressive Hyphen remix also means that this could be another Blue Revolver-esque gateway into the wider genre for new listeners.

My favourites so far are Defend the Bass and Digital Blizzard, but the whole album is top class and more than warrants a physical release. Instead it’s available on Bandcamp for free, but Exemia’s work deserves a lot more support than that and naming your price is surely the way to go for music of this quality.

In Praise of Shadows @GUHROOVY

Posted by PlasmaDancer on October 15, 2016
Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Mixes, Releases, USA. Leave a Comment

Some news aimed at the based-in-Japan crowd here – as part of my efforts to broaden the audience for In Praise of Shadows I’m very pleased to say that the album has been on sale at Shibuya’s Guhroovy for a couple of days now.

TYFTH’s online store handling payments via PayPal is a bit of a problem in Japan, as it still doesn’t have much of a presence here. This has meant that the Japan crew have been at a disadvantage up to now and I’ve been hoping to give them some other options – it explains the very healthy sales on the first day at CODEX, but now anyone who missed that has this avenue.

It’s also a biggie for another reason, as having the label’s first release on the shelves of a music store is a pretty decent milestone – the fact that it’s Guhroovy makes it even better, as it comes almost exactly 10 years after I placed an order there (from the UK) for Khaotic Dimension. How far we’ve come, eh?

On that note, if you’re outside Japan then for goodness’ sake don’t order though Guhroovy, as the stock is fairly limited and getting the album from the TYFTH store is far cheaper thanks to the (in hindsight perhaps too generous) free postage worldwide.

Blue Revolver

Posted by PlasmaDancer on October 12, 2016
Posted in: Drum & Bass, Goa / Psy, Japanese, Releases, UK, USA. Leave a Comment

I’ve been meaning to get this post online for a week or so, but now it’s especially timely – Cave/Raizing-inspired shmup Blue Revolver was released today (JST) on Steam, and is essential if you’ve even the slightest interest in the genre.

What should be of interest to all Horsers is the soundtrack, composed by Qygen and featuring remixes from the likes of Hyphen, Exemia and Blue Phoenix. In Praise of Shadows aside, Qygen’s work here is far and away the best freeform I’ve heard this year, and it’s really exciting to consider how many people could be exposed to his sound if this release does as well as it deserves to.

The top of this post is a recent episode of STG Weekly, featuring Blue Revolver and its developers. Although my shmupping has lapsed a bit over the past year, I’ve been back at Guwange and Crimson Clover recently and can’t wait to give BR a proper go.

The art of Gabriel Wigren

Posted by PlasmaDancer on October 4, 2016
Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Releases, Swedish. Leave a Comment

I mentioned this here and there last week, but I’d like to give Gabriel Wigren’s work another hat tip on TYFTH itself. He’s of course the artist behind In Praise of Shadows’ cover art, which should be reason enough for you to check out the rest of his portfolio posthaste.

The end result speaks for itself, but regardless lets do some speaking – the whole process was never less than incredibly professional, and with only my concept for the album and a few representative tracks (this was back in 2014, so before any of the In Praise of Shadows tracks were ready) Gabriel did an unbelievable job of visualising it all.

Whether you’re in the market for a commission yourself or just want to enjoy some dark, beautiful atmospheres, Gabriel’s devianart is very special indeed, and couldn’t come more highly recommended.

Yoko Kanno – Inner Universe (Hyphen Bootleg)

Posted by PlasmaDancer on September 25, 2016
Posted in: Japanese, Releases. Leave a Comment

After Icon’s freeformish remix of Inner Universe I was hopeful that we’d hear some other versions that could fit more smoothly into a set – Hyphen has taken on the challenge, and come up with a very fine track that definitely lives up to expectations. There’s no overwheming the vocal with freeform elements here, but the pace is excellent and even with the acid lines and filters the production is somehow just as crisp as always. Definitely worth mentioning that the track is a free download from Hyphen’s SoundCloud, so there’s no excuse not to check this one out asap.

In Praise of Shadows: Update 10

Posted by PlasmaDancer on September 15, 2016
Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Releases. 3 comments

Just realised that I gave a post-release update on Facebook but not here – mainly it’s to thank everyone for the support so far, and to let you know what’s been going on in the days since.

The release at CODEX was a big success, and from the first few minutes the online store went live there have been orders from all over the world. The FB announcement was to let people know that I made the first round of deliveries on Monday and Tuesday, but since then there have been plenty more and they’ll probably be sent out tomorrow.

Really heartfelt thanks to everyone for supporting and promoting the release, it gives me hope that there’s still an audience for our music and the potential for growth is definitely there. I’m hoping to get on the case with advertising more widely in other scenes, and there might need to be some alternative ways to buy the album for people in Japan, so stay tuned for that.

As an aside, I forgot how bad I am at packing anything, so apologies in advance for some over-enthusiastic efforts that might require a chainsaw to get through…

TYFTH: In Praise of Shadows, 10th September

Posted by PlasmaDancer on September 8, 2016
Posted in: Events, Finnish, Japanese, Mixes, Releases. 3 comments

In Praise of Shadows finally has a release date, and it’s the day after tomorrow – you will be able to order the compilation on Saturday, or head along to CODEX where you’ll be able to pick up a copy on the day. Orders placed online will be sent out asap – probably the following day, depending on the response.

The compilation will cost a fairly standard 1500 yen, but some good news is that postage will be free (or absorbed within the cost of the CD, whichever way you want to look at it) and will take 6-8 days to most countries via airmail. I’ll have a simple guide to the ordering process over on the Music page, but of course feel free to drop me a message if you have any questions. The online store side of things is another expedition into uncharted territory, but I’ll be doing my best to make things as smooth as possible.

I’ll be promoting the release in all the usual places, but as time always seems to be short these days some word-spreading from the Horsers would also be really appreciated. How about thoughts on music sites etc. that might be interested in reviewing the album? I have a couple of places in mind, but I’m open to suggestions.

Apologies again for the silence here lately, but it was for a good cause – and hopefully things will pick up again after this weekend.

In Praise of Shadows – Update 9

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 18, 2016
Posted in: Japanese, Releases. Leave a Comment

[Apologies for a shameless timesaving copy/paste from the TYFTH Facebook page]

Bad news with a silver lining, this time:

Earlier this week In Praise of Shadows arrived in seemingly finished form, and the release date was all set to be announced. Unfortunately a small but incredibly important mistake was made during the manufacturing process and there was no option but to put another round of CDs into production. This is happening as we speak – although the hoped-for release on the 20th won’t be possible, there is still a fair chance that the album will appear this month.

In the midst of it all there was at least time for a preview photo. Here you can see more of the album’s wraparound cover art by Gabriel Wigren, plus Sellekhanks’ work on the logo and design.

More info very soon, and thanks as always for the patience and support.

CODEX EP1

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 16, 2016
Posted in: Events, Japanese, Releases. 3 comments

This year is turning into a vintage one for freeform releases, and now we can add the soon-to-appear CODEX EP courtesy of Raqhow and the CODEX crew. The release was a nice surprise for me too, so I’ll be looking forward to each preview as much as anyone – Hyphen’s Ignition is the first, and bodes very well indeed. Keep an eye on Raqhow’s SoundCloud for more until the release at CODEX7.