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.

Intersect Fractional Vol. 3

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

                           

An interesting new techno/trance/electronica compilation was released on Saturday, and includes a remix by Betwixt & Between of Dee!’s Leave the Nest. I haven’t heard the original, but I’m guessing it’s a vocal Eurobeat-style number – Betwixt has done a decent job of bringing his own style to the track, but can’t completely smother the happiness of it all.

Other tracks also seem pretty nice from the previews up on the site, and I’m actually quite interested in this release. I’m not a huge fan of Tano*C style J-Core, but this is a lot more eclectic, even if a few of the Tano*C crew have contributed tunes – including M Project, Roughsketch and Thanatos (although Thanatos is really developing his style these days and is becoming one to watch, for sure).

NRGetic Romancer, 14th June

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 18, 2008
Posted in: Events, Japanese. Leave a Comment

                          

Apologies for the lack of posting last week – I’m back from Kyoto, Gifu and Nagoya now, and just about survived the weekend while somehow managing to get to NRGetic Romancer (with DJ X Lab 4, so well worth the effort).

Now we’re stepping into a time machine, going back, back, back….all the way back to…er, the 14th June. Cogi has kindly provided me with some photos, so here’s a quick sum up of what I can remember from the last but one event (photos/video from last weekend coming soon, I think). By the way, the photo (taken by Cogi) at the top of this post is me – or at least, my t-shirt – it’s become my regular NRGetic Romancer uniform, and will probably get another airing next month while I clang through some tunes at Hell’s Gate.

You might remember that Betwixt & Between had an impossible schedule that weekend, playing at Hardcore Tano*C (if I remember correctly) earlier in the afternoon? Well, he came up with a novel way of coping – er, don’t play at NRGetic Romancer. It wasn’t looking very feasible, really, and so Guld, Cogi and Yousuke raided their tune collections and played for an extra 30-40mins or so each instead.

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PlasmaDancer live at Hell’s Gate, 14th September!

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 9, 2008
Posted in: Events, Japanese, UK. Leave a Comment

　　　　　　　　

ジオさんおかげで、次のヘルズでDJやります！デブユーですからやっぱりちょっと緊張してるけどたくさんリリースされてないフィンランドと日本の曲をかける予定してます。イベントは日曜日ですが月曜日が休みですね。よかったら日本に住んでいる方がいたらぜひ遊びにきて下さい！一生懸命頑張って本当に楽しみしてます！

I still think I’m hallucinating every time I look at the flyer, but thanks to the efforts of Zio I’ll be playing at the next Hell’s Gate! Good grief, eh? A year and a bit after going to my first Japanese event at Studio Cube (May 2007’s NRGetic Romancer), to be playing there is more than incredible, and naturally the nerves will be setting in soon, I reckon. There are a few other DJs making their debuts/second appearance, mind, so I’m not alone.

The plan is to bring a bit of the NRG Monogatari style to a live/event set, but the tunes will be slightly more Finnish than Japanese this time, I think (so a reverse of my usual Japan-promoting mixes, in a way). I’ve already got a few unreleased/brand new tunes from both countries in mind, and now I’m trying to sort out a structure of some sort….it usually takes me an ice age or two to decide on tracks to use in a set – I haven’t got that luxury this time – but I might use a few tunes originally planned for NRG Monogatari 3. Twisted/melodic freeform all the way though, that’s the main idea so far.

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DJ X at New Sentiment, Osaka

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 9, 2008
Posted in: Events, Japanese, UK. Leave a Comment

                                     

DJ X has got a pretty tough schedule next week – I just heard that he’ll be playing at the New Sentiment event in Osaka on the 15th (Friday), before heading to Tokyo for NRGetic Romancer on the 16th. New Sentiment seems to be more slanted towards Tech Dance and Drum and Bass, so it might well be a very different experience to Saturday’s event. Funnily enough, I’m coming back from Kyoto on Friday (to be back in time for NRGetic Romancer), and so it’s conceivable that I could make it to this event too – Osaka is next door to Kyoto, after all. I think I’ll do the sensible thing though and give this one a miss, the recent batch of events (Bootek tour, Hell’s Gate, Dance or Die) took some recovering from, after all…

Panzer AG – Filth God (Tyranoid/Strongstream bootleg remix)

Posted by PlasmaDancer on July 31, 2008
Posted in: Finnish, Releases. Leave a Comment

Hard NRGとAcidの曲を作ってるフィンランドのTyranoid & Strongstreamというユニットは「Filth God」の新曲できました。すごくダークでハードなボカルの曲だと思ってダウンロードが無料ですから本当におすすめです。サイトでほかの曲もすごいかっこいいです。

Up on Tyranoid & Strongstream’s site now is a ferocious bootleg of Panzer AG’s Filth God, which really does a great job of moving the track into acid electronic territory. Dark, hard and aggressive, it might not be the kind of NRG that I often listen to, but you can’t beat a bit of raw power now and then – especially when done this well.

Hardcore Syndrome 2

Posted by PlasmaDancer on July 30, 2008
Posted in: Japanese, Releases. 4 comments

                               

The sequel to Hardcore Syndrome was released here yesterday, and Betwixt & Between’s new City of Traitors has found its way on there. The rest of the tracks look like standard Hardcore Tano*C fare, so if you’re into that kind of thing, this is a must-get. I want to hear Alabaster’s Void in particular, as apparently he’s been working on some ‘Lab 4-style’ tracks recently. I wonder if this is one of them? Umbrella’s Olive will almost definitely be worth a listen too, going by the quality of his last few tracks.

The tracklist:

01.Joshka – Serotonin 2008
02.Ryu* – orion
03.REDALiCE – Cross Breeding
04.DX PASTA – Steampunk
05.DJ TECHNORCH – 虚無への供物 〜For Nothing〜
06.DJ-Technetium – Tc-ma_009
07.Alabaster – Void
08.源屋 – Make me Feel
09.umbrella – Olive
10.kenta-v.ez. – you ArE NEvEr ALoNE oN thE dANcEfLoor
11.Betwixt & Between – City of Traitors
12.RoughSketch – No Eyes
13.USAO – Unstable shake
14.t+pazolite – to Luv me I *** for u.

Full Circle Recordings vol.2 – Big Kisses and Darkness

Posted by PlasmaDancer on July 27, 2008
Posted in: Japanese, Releases. Leave a Comment

                             

I got back from Hell’s Gate this morning (report/photos coming soonish, hopefully), so I’m not entirely awake again yet, but here’s a nice bit of news – the next Full Circle is just around the corner, and entitled Big Kisses and Darkness. Maybe not quite as great a title as Psychadelic New Rose, and so far not so much has been revealed re. the tracklist – all I’ve heard so far is that there’ll be some remixes as well as original tunes on this one. For the time being, then, we’ve just got the cover art to gaze at – but it should be available pretty soon on Electronica Exposed and later as an mp3 release.