Last Dance – Main Floor Timetable

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 31, 2009
Posted in: Events, Japanese. Leave a Comment

No updates for a few days again, sorry about that – but nothing much has caught my eye in the middle of practicing for tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, here’s the final timetable for the main floor at Last Dance: Hell’s Gate Final (only actually revealed tonight). As you can see, I’m last on the bill, starting at 4.10! My set might well be a bit harder than the last two I’ve played (or at least, that was the plan…), so I’m a bit concerned that it will be too much for everyone (I’m working tomorrow, so it’ll probably be too much for me, never mind anyone else). Well, we’ll see, and I’m definitely honoured to be the very last set at the very last Hell’s Gate.

Here’s the full lineup:

23:00-23:40 – MA-X
23:40-24:20 – AEMI
24:20-01:00 – TAKEHIRO
01:00-01:40 – MINAGI
01:40-02:20 – A2C
02:20-02:50 – YOSHIMASA
02:50-03:30 – MUNETICA
03:30-04:10 – ZIO
04:10-04:50 – PlasmaDancer
04:50-05:00 – ZIO CLOSING

Betwixt & Between – Broken Visage

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 26, 2009
Posted in: Japanese, Releases. 2 comments

I only heard this tune a few weeks ago, and as my next mix is still in the ‘thinking’ stage (I know, I know..), here’s the YouTube version in the meantime. Broken Visage is a tune from a couple of years ago, I think, and appeared on the 100% Touhou Carnival compilation. It’s a pretty original mix of Alek Szahala-style swirly synths and jungle amens, and although that piano melody is a bit hit and miss (it’s a rework of a Perfect Cherry Blossom theme), from 3.32 in particular it’s absolutely classic Betwixt.

Energetic Trance @ Shibuya amate-raxi, 8th March

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 26, 2009
Posted in: Events, Japanese. Leave a Comment

8th March?? This one is a long way off yet, but as Guld will be performing I thought it was worth an early mention. It’s surreal seeing Guld as the third name in the DJ section of any flyer, but this is another amazing design. Also worth mentioning that DJ Yousuke and Buzzmasta will be appearing on the Lounge floor (which will make for a pretty hectic lounge, I reckon). Anyway, this is definitely one to keep in mind during the next couple of months.

FINRG Audio Player

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 22, 2009
Posted in: Finnish, Releases. Leave a Comment

I’m proud to present the newest audio player from FINRG and Hybridize, showcasing some of the best new tunes of 2008 (including the yet to be released-but-awesome Titor’s Quantum Theory) and upcoming releases for early this year. I’ve been looking into getting some previews up on TYFTH for a long while now, and this is perfect – enjoy!

Last Dance – Hell’s Gate Final Party @ Studio Cube, Jan 31st

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 22, 2009
Posted in: Events, Japanese. 2 comments

We’ve finally been given some more info about the upcoming Last Dance, and the DJ lineup’s looking very nice. Zio and Munetica are obviously big names, but Yoshimasa will also be making a rare appearance. I’m especially looking forward to Aemi’s set after seeing her at a Hell’s Gate event early-ish last year, where she played pretty twisted hard house.

With the number of DJs, it’s looking like everyone will be playing for 40mins, which always feels a bit short to me….Zio’s set should be great though, as he’s already taking requests for tunes (any genre!) to play this time. I’ll be doing my best to end on a high, too – click down below for the full DJ lineups on the Main and 4th floors.

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Minagi’s tracklist @ HARD JAM!

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 22, 2009
Posted in: Events, Japanese. Leave a Comment

Well, it’s been a pretty slow week for news, sorry about that – here are a couple of recent bits and pieces, though.

Hell’s Gate DJ Minagi recently played an NRG/Freeform set at the HARD JAM! event in Chiba, and I thought it might be worth posting up the tracklist. I wasn’t there, but from what I hear the ‘event’ was a mini 3-hour thing – it’s a shame more people couldn’t have heard this. Anyway, I’ve been banging on here about Epyx & Cyrez, Sam One and the rest of the Hybridize artists for a good while now, and it’s brilliant to see some other Japanese DJs using their tunes too. Here’s the tracklist:

  1. Nomic – Extinguish
  2. Opeum – Audible Forensics
  3. [Not sure about this one, sorry]
  4. D4RK – Reassimulated
  5. D4RK – R4GE (D4RK Original Mix)
  6. PR3D@TOR – Double-D (Dixon & Demp-z)
  7. Guld vs Betwixt & Between – Hatral
  8. Epyx & Cyrez – Unohdetut
  9. Cyrez & Sam One – Reboot the System
  10. Nightforce & Substanced – Operation Stardust
  11. Sam One – Black Pearl

Nish – End of year 2008 Mix

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 15, 2009
Posted in: Japanese, Mixes. Leave a Comment

Since seeing his set at NRGetic Romancer (in 2007, scarily) I’ve been quite a fan of Nish, and so even if his sound doesn’t exactly fit in with the rest of the stuff on TYFTH lately, I thought it might be worth mentioning that he has a new mix up on his site. Sadly it’s only available to stream, as far as I can see, but it’s a combination of tech dance and more uplifting tunes (look out for Nish’s remix of Alphazone’s Flash Back, especially), and well worth a listen. In the ‘What’s New’ section on the right of this page there should be a news piece looking something like this:

A Happy New Year!
今年一年も応援よろしくお願いします！
新年のお祝いとして、昨年オンエアーされたEnd Of Year Countdown 2008のNISH DJ MIXを期間限定で公開中。聴き逃した方はチェックしてね。

Click on the ‘More Info’ below that.

The tracklist, by the way:

1. Spaceshokkers – Angelius (NISH Remix) / Joyride
2. Joe-E – Summer Lovin’ (NISH Tech Dance Remix) / Tranzlation
3. NISH – Beat Crash!! (Techy! Mix) / Harderground
4. Amber D & Morgan – On My Mind (NISH Remix) / Tidy Trax
5. Antonio & Vavildi – Konzert / Exit Tunes
6. Alphazone – Flash Back (NISH Remix) / Quake
7. Fallen Skies – Stealin Love (Dima Krasnik Remix)
8. Reminder – Fortitude (Sonic Element Remix) / Afterglow
9. Adam Szabo – Altra (7 Skies & Static Blue Remix) / Fraction Zero
10. Dereck Recay – Dream Way (Arctic Moon Remix) / Redux
11. Sundriver – Monique (Redstar vs Evbointh Remix) / Red Force
12. Orjan Nilsen – Vivida / Soundpiercing
13. Nish – Blue Sunshine (Sean Tyas Remix) / Harderground

Tokyo Hardcore Construction, 11th January

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 14, 2009
Posted in: Events, Japanese. 1 comment

As you might have seen from the last post, I got back from THC on Monday morning, and it was one of the best events I’ve been to for a while, with a great atmosphere and amazing decor once again. As well as the surprise of how good Lala’s selection was, there were particularly great sets from Stanfield, Lunch, Kanon and Betwixt & Between.

Betwixt played a DJ set, rather than his usual Live PAs at NRGetic Romancer, and went for Alek Szahala tracks only! Not only that, the bpm was at least 185, maybe even 190…

From memory, the tracks played were something along the lines of: Afternoon Owl, Darkstar, Vengeance, Unicorn Grove, Man Eaten, one or two that I’ve forgotten, before finishing with Human Flesh Engine (!). All tunes that I haven’t heard live for a long long time, and the mixing was very good too, especially considering the manic bpm.

THC is becoming pretty essential these days, and I imagine the next event’s sometime around March. I’ll definitely be heading to that one too.

Tokyo Hardcore Construction – Lala promo mix

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 14, 2009
Posted in: Japanese, Mixes. Leave a Comment

Sorry for the lack of updates during the last few days, I was a bit busy with work and then went to Tokyo Hardcore Construction on Sunday night (Monday was a national holiday, thanks heavens). Anyway, one of the DJs at THC was Lala, a regular there but someone I’ve never actually seen play – you may also remember him from the recent THC preview videos. Anyway, I was expecting dark and nasty speedcore or something, but his genre of choice is actually retro-themed hardcore/gabber. His set on Sunday was really good fun, and so here’s his promo mix from the Hardcore Construction site, if you’ve missed it until now (as I had).

I’d forgotten how much I love those old happy hardcore style kicks and simple melodies, and I defy you not to have a little dance/head-nod while listening to this set. The file’s only 30-something Mb, so you’ve (almost) nothing to lose – download it here.

Full Circle DJs – NRGetic Romancer set + Demo Mix

Posted by PlasmaDancer on January 8, 2009
Posted in: Drum & Bass, Japanese, Mixes. Leave a Comment

Two new sets for DJ Yousuke/Full Circle DJ fans, the first is the backing mix for the excellent Full Circle Live PA at last month’s NRGetic Romancer (once again minus Buzzmasta’s effects/percussion and Yousuke’s guitar). Download here, and a tracklist will be coming soon too, I think.

The second mix is really something special – mixed by Yousuke, I suppose you’d call it ‘breakbeat’, but moves from an initial hip-hop track, into modern(?)-old skool/jungle, psychadelic breakbeat (is that a genre?), and finishes with some very banging drum and bass bootleg tunes. On the first listen through I hardly knew any of the tunes, but I managed to pick up on er, someone’s brilliant remix of The Police’s Walking on the Moon (which I first heard in an older Yousuke set), and The Acolyte’s Cypherpunk. Apart from that, I was lost…but this is really quality mixing, and some of the jungle-style tunes are sure to bring back good memories for anyone of a certain age.

Tracklist as soon as I can, but listen to it anyway, here.