Tokyo Hardcore Construction is almost happening as we speak – I can’t make it this time, but my girlfriend is probably going. Anyway, for folk like me who can’t get to the event, we can create the same atmosphere in our own homes (minus huge speakers and a crew of cybergoths) with a huge crop of gabber/NRG/all sorts of other stuff mixes over at the THC archive. I must admit that I haven’t had time to listen to all the sets yet, but for freeform fans the standout will surely be Betwixt & Between’s hard NRG mix, the tracklist of which is as follows:

1. Nomic – Make Me Real
2. Alek Szahala – Superstition
3. Marco V – Godd (Tyranoid/Strongstream extended remix)
4. Eclipse – Stairway to Brooklyn
5. Distressed Frequencies – Victimized
6. Alek Szahala – Anmitzcuacua
7. Alek Szahala – Firecloud

Pretty tasty, no? It gives a really good idea of Betwixt’s NRG/freeform influences, and is very nicely put together – dark and extremely hard, with an interesting choice of Stairway to Brooklyn in the middle there.

I also have to recommend the mixes by Lunch (quite possibly the finest gabber DJ in Tokyo) and Kanon, also a master of ‘real’ dark gabber (rather than the demented anime-style efforts of Sharpnel et al).