Here’s some very exciting news for folk living outside Japan (or outside Tokyo, even) – Zio has started to DJ live online! For various reasons he has been forced to pull out of NRGetic Romancer for a few months now, and so aside from the mid-week (until now!) Hell’s Gate it has been increasingly difficult to hear his sets.

Tuesday saw the first of his practice sets, using the Stickam social networking site. If Zio happens to be playing, the sound should be broadcast immediately, so no need to randomly click on Japanese options, thankfully. Of course, as it’s live, it might be slightly hit-and-miss whether you catch a set/practice session or not (Tuesday saw him play an hour or so, from about 1.30am Japan time), but if he has something more concrete planned, I’ll be sure to post the times up here.

Recently Zio has morphed from the Alek Szahala of Japan into something of a Hardstyle-head, but his practice mix still managed to fit in some dark NRG and freeform (including The Sanctuary and Lagas). He even mixed from Lagas into a Hardstyle tune (!) – and ridiculously it sounded quite good, believe it or not. So, keep an eye on Zio’s profile (and here, too) – hopefully there’ll be some more interesting sets on the way before too long at all.

Some other great Zio-related news is that the next Hell’s Gate is to be held on a Saturday! I was gearing up for a Wednesday event in Shibuya, but the 24th of next month (the day after your writer turns 27, distressingly) will be held at the home of NRGetic Romancer, Studio Cube. No news on the line-up (aside from Zio, hence the tidy new logo above), but plenty of time for that yet.