Sam One – Hardtrance Mix vol. 2

Posted by PlasmaDancer on September 10, 2008
Posted in: Finnish, Mixes. Leave a Comment

Sam One released this one a few days back, another collection of his own productions/collaborations. I really am a fan of the first one, and there’s some really inspired mixing as well as the impressive tunes, so I was very keen to check this one out. Once again, there are a few storming tracks – he really knows how to come up with energetic melodies – and the epic intro followed by Supernova is a great way to kick things off. Other highlights include his remix of Rx’s Code of Silence and already released Hybridize material (The Future and Lionheart). I have to say that I do prefer the first mix, as that seemed to have the perfect combination of hard trance style melodies and freeform roughness, but this is still a great set and definitely worth checking.

  1. Sam One – Intro
  2. Sam One – Supernova
  3. Sam One – The Future
  4. Sam One – Hypnotize
  5. DJ Rx – Code of Silence (Sam One remix)
  6. Sam One & Horzi – Fear of Reality
  7. Sam One, Substanced and Horzi – Lionheart

Download here (by clicking ‘kuuntele’/’listen’): http://klubitus.org/musiikki.php?id=5749

Hell’s Gate images/New Zio track

Posted by PlasmaDancer on September 6, 2008
Posted in: Events, Japanese. Leave a Comment

10 more days until Hell’s Gate, and to mark the occasion Stanfield has come up with another inspired design (above left). Above right is the official timetable, to be used during the event at Studio Cube. Stanfield has also produced a few other notices/information posters, all looking very professional indeed.

There have also been some whispers of a new track by Zio, under construction as we speak – and if ready in time, it’ll be getting its first airing next week. Good news for fans of his first track (Glacial) is that this one is also Hard NRG/freeform, rather than the Hardstyle that he’s often been tinkering with recently.

Hell’s Gate timetable, 14th September

Posted by PlasmaDancer on September 3, 2008
Posted in: Events, Japanese, UK. Leave a Comment

Zio has confirmed the timetable for this month’s Hell’s Gate, and I’ll be playing the pretty prestigious spot in the middle of the event, following Zio’s first (Hardstyle) session. To be perfectly honest I was expecting to be the warm-up, so this is quite an honour – the set I’ve decided on so far should appeal to a decent range of ravers though, so fingers crossed that it goes down well. More info/interminable promotion as we get closer to the time, but for now here’s the full timetable:

11:00〜0:20　 Minagi aka RAYTHM
0:20〜1:20　take-de-x
1:20〜2:20　ZIO (HARD STYLE SET)
2:20〜3:20　PlasmaDancer
3:20〜4:20　Stanfield
4:20〜LAST　ZIO (HARD NRG SET)

Guld European Tour, November

Posted by PlasmaDancer on September 3, 2008
Posted in: Events, Finnish, Italian, Japanese. 3 comments

                

The dates for Guld’s tour in Europe have just been confirmed, and he’ll be playing first (on the 22nd November) at SADE (alongside Proteus), then at DJ BRK’s event in Italy (on the 26th), MASSIVE. Guld has played in Finland once before, but the Japanese scene was far less known back then (I won’t say smaller, as it’s pretty small now), and so there should be quite a reception for him. It’s also his Italian debut, and it’ll be great to see what kind of a scene is going on in that neck of the woods, too.

Tano*C 7th Strike/Touhou Carnival 6/Tokyo Hardcore Construction

Posted by PlasmaDancer on September 3, 2008
Posted in: Events, Japanese. Leave a Comment

Three events involving Betwixt & Between this month – first up is the 7th Tano*C Strike event, this coming Saturday. A great looking lineup includes Betwixt himself, kenta-v.ez, Alabaster and umbrella, while the event starts at the get-home-in-time-for-tea time of 12.00pm.What with a section of the Tano*C crew going increasingly down the Betwixt/FINRG-influenced road, I’d like to make it to this one – but that pesky work-shaped thing is blocking the way as usual.

Next up is Touhou Carnival 6, which is taking place on the 13th at Studio Cube. The lineup looks good for this one too, including Technetium, Betwixt, Alabaster, t+pazolite and many more – and also among the slightly excessive five VJs you’ll notice the name of Thanatos. I didn’t know he went in for that sort of thing…could be interesting. The door charge of 3500 yen is a bit hefty, mind (*ADVERTISING ALERT* turn up on the following night and I can get you into Hell’s Gate for a knockdown 2000 yen, after all). Once again, looks enticing, but I’ll be pretty busy getting things ready for my own set the next day, so I doubt I’ll be able to get to this one either…

Finally we have Tokyo Hardcore Construction, a consistently good event for gabber fans. This time the presence of Lunch, Kanon and Betwixt & Between alone make it worth a look, but there are plenty of other big names. Cube is hosting this one too, and I could well be heading that direction on the 27th of the month.

Click down below for the full lineups for each event.

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Alabaster – Delta Attack

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 29, 2008
Posted in: Japanese, Mixes, Releases. Leave a Comment

                                

Here’s the long-awaited news re. Alabaster’s new ‘Lab 4-esque’ tracks, plus a whole new album. Delta Attack is another game-related arrange work, this time concentrating on Final Fantasy and other Square-produced role-playing games. The standout track here is Zable Fuhr, a pounding hard NRG style tune complete with grinding synths and slightly-repetitive-but-addictive lead melodies. Interestingly, the tune is based on a piece of BGM from one of my old favourites, Seiken Densetsu 3 (or Secret of Mana 2), the Super Nintendo classic of yesterdecade. It should be noted however that this album is mixed, with two bonus tracks at the end (neither of which is Zable Fuhr, unfortunately).

Alabaster has also come up with two more Hard NRG tracks which really show his newfound grasp of the genre. The first is Void, as we suspected all along – this one is very pacy with a slightly retro Finnish feel to it, and can be found on the Hardcore Syndrome 2 compilation. The other is Headless, which features some brilliant, almost Hase-esque synth work at a slightly lower bpm. Currently I’m not too sure when/where it’s going to see a release, but I’ll be sure to update this post with any info as soon as I get it.

Dezigned 4 Ravers

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 29, 2008
Posted in: Releases. Leave a Comment

News has been a bit thin on the ground this week (and the events seem to have dried up until you-know-what arrives next month), but I’ve just noticed that extremely promising dark freeformer Aquanox is part of a small group of Hungarian artists who have their own collective/site, Dezigned 4 Ravers. You can buy some of their best tunes via IMO Download too, including Aquanox’s fantastic Thunderbird, but other recommended tracks include Protonic’s uplifting Kick Da Nation and DJ Flatline’s Hit the Roof and Are You Ready?

I think the site has actually been around for a year or so now, and so I’ll be looking out for more tunes from Aquanox – Thunderbird and Enkera are great tracks, but another year of learning the production ropes will have benefitted him no end, I reckon.

Full Circle DJs – Live @ NRGetic Romancer, August 2008

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 22, 2008
Posted in: Japanese, Mixes. 1 comment

DJ Yousuke has recently uploaded the mix that accompanied the Full Circle Live PA at NRGetic Romancer this month, and it’s another stormer. It’s missing Yousuke’s guitar/Buzzmasta’s taiko and er, laser-thing-that-makes-a-noise (I don’t have a clue what you call it), but you get the gist of things, at least. It was an awesome set live, with a rock gig/hardcore atmosphere that had everyone hooked by the end, and it’s also worth checking out for the remix of Shanty vs Epyx & Cyrez’s Frozen Abyss, which Yousuke has recently been making good use of in his DJ sets.

Tracklist:

  1. Full Circle DJs – Things Past
  2. Buzzmasta – For Action (Full Circle DJs remix)
  3. Full Circle DJs – Break The Enter
  4. Shanty vs Epyx & Cyrez – Frozen Abyss (Full Circle DJs remix)
  5. Full Circle DJs – Halcyon
  6. DJ Rx – Hellfire (Full Circle DJs remix)
  7. Full Circle DJs – Gate Crasher

Download here

Kreatrix Evilution Volume 6 – The End

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 22, 2008
Posted in: Canadian, Finnish, Japanese, Releases. Leave a Comment

You might well have seen this one already, but definitely worth mentioning – the last chapter in the Kreatrix Evilution series, this is without a doubt the best tracklist I’ve laid my eyes on for a good while. Nomic, Tyranoid/Stongstream, Micken, Epyx & Cyrez, Substanced….it’s really a roll-call of the new generation’s best artists.

Of extra interest for visitors to this place is the inclusion of Guld’s DragonBall-influenced Solid State Scouter. If you haven’t heard much of it yet, it’s slightly mad, twisted and surprisingly melodic – and seems to be a bit of a slow burner, it’s really become one of my favourites recently, having listened to it for a long while without being totally convinced. Anyway, great news for Guld, who has also seen Requiem get a recent release in Japan, and has just completed another crazed track – brace yourselves for that one.

01 Epyx & Cyrez, Substanced, Twisted Freq, Tyranoid/Strongstream – Intro
02 Substanced & Grimsoul – Harder Than U Think
03 Nomic – Dead Angel
04 Micken – Prophecy
05 Horzi featuring Alchemiist – Life for Freedom (Epyx & Cyrez remix)
06 Grimsoul – Escape Forever
07 Substanced – Why Me (Micken remix)
08 Horzi – Infernal Psycho
09 Guld – Solid State Scouter
10 Twisted Freq & Cyrez – The Edge of Extinction
11 Tyranoid/Strongstream vs Substanced – Still Hope?

Betwixt & Between – The Moon From Below

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 19, 2008
Posted in: Japanese, Releases. Leave a Comment

It’s time for yet another Touhou arrange album, a sequel of sorts to the ALiCE’S EMOTiON-released Fanatic Hardcore set. Just as the last arrange album saw two of Betwixt & Between’s best new tracks, Wide Awake and Dust to Dust, this compilation sees him contribute a thundering schranz tune, The Moon From Below. Slightly reminiscent of Zusammengehorigkeit, it doesn’t overdose on the melodies but is a really powerful track. Betwixt actually played it on Saturday, and while there’s no way in the world that you could mix it into something like Mirage, his newer tunes are quite often schranz-influenced, and so it worked quite well (actually following Zusammengehorigkeit, if my sketchy memory serves me right).

Putting my neutral observer hat on, it might not really be worth the price of Scarlet Eyes alone, though, and so if your interest doesn’t run as far as the RED ALiCE-style of arrange tunes, it might be best to give this one a miss. It would however be a crime not to mention the brilliant cover artwork, the ALiCE’S EMOTiON label is really setting the standard on that front recently.