TYFTH Forum?

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 14, 2016
Posted in: Events, Japanese. 7 comments

One of those ideas that has been lurking in the background for a long while, but now with In Praise of Shadows imminent it feels like time for a proper talk about a TYFTH forum. I’m grateful to a couple of Horsers for recently bringing up the topic, giving me a kick to look into how possible it would be with all the time restrictions I seem to be battling lately.

Seems like a bare bones WordPress forum would be doable with very little trouble (famous last words), which would at least be a start. Making it even slightly attractive might be beyond me, mind, so any advice from those who know would be welcome.

Interest around the compilation might mean a few new arrivals to the site, and potentially a new group of recruits to the TYFTH community. Even if dreams of the forum being a long-awaited replacement for the FINRG site turn out to be too optimistic, it’d be nice if the current TYFTH crew had a proper place for discussion and I wouldn’t be too bothered if it remained as niche as that.

Let me know if you think this is something worth pursuing – I’m confident that a release date for the compilation will be announced in a couple of days, and a simple forum could be the next project after that.

Nomic – Lucky Lotus Online Music Festival 6 / Solvynt – Lucky Lotus Online Electronic Music Festival 6

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 13, 2016
Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Mixes, UK, USA. Leave a Comment

Lucky Lotus 6 was very high on quality, and I’m still working my way through a few of the sets from the event. So far my favourites have been Nomic and Solvynt, two distinctive sets that did a fine job representing freeform.

Nomic’s hour won’t disappoint – it’s one of the nicest balances of melancholy and harder stuff that I’ve heard for a long while, while the WIPs and new tracks mean there’s plenty for Nomic veterans to check out, too. We have to mention the opening, of course, as the third part of Falling Star is an absolutely beautiful track that does more than enough to distinguish itself from the ’08 version. Watch out for new track Shattered, as it starts a very classy section from there to Black Lotus, before the traditional harder finale, this time of Leave Me Alone / Mad Man and Holocaust.

Solvynt’s set comes at things from a DJ angle, and so in my book the transitions, selections and ‘story’ of the set should take centre stage. Right from the start it’s clear that Solvynt has kept that in mind, as the Superstition – Purple – Tendrils of Reality combination is about as good as you’ll hear anywhere. There’s a lovely flow to it, from the psychedelic darkness to the way things build up to the harder stuff with Tendrils, and if things had maintained those standards for the entire set we’d be looking at an all-time classic.

Easier said than done (and I certainly don’t think I’ve ever managed it either), but even when the flow is interrupted slightly the tracks themselves are high quality choices. It’s from Brionac, though, where things get back into top-level territory and the kind of twisted atmosphere that’s so hard to get right with freeform – that move into The Ghost of Jupiter is great, followed by some superb use of Nomic and Pain on Creation. Unicorn Grove signals a classic Alek/Betwixt finish, a nice way to end a very impressive hour.

In Praise of Shadows – Update 8

Posted by PlasmaDancer on August 8, 2016
Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Releases. 2 comments

Back from a recuperative few days away, and time for another update. In the back of my mind I’ve had 10th August as a release date to aim for, but alas there’s some more waiting to do and that won’t be possible. Two weeks ago I was told by the plant that an ETA on the CD’s arrival would be possible within seven days – still yet to hear anything, and so today/tomorrow will be spent chasing those responsible.

More news as soon as I have it, of course…

Shimotsukei – The Techno Shark Guest Mix: Freeform Showcase

Posted by PlasmaDancer on July 30, 2016
Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Mixes, USA. Leave a Comment

Time for a respectful tip of the hat to Shimotsukei for one of the finest sets so far this year. As you’d expect, Shimotsukei covers all the TYFTH bases from twisted synths to melancholy, moving between Japanese and Finnish sounds with some very high quality mixing.

The set fits a huge amount into two hours, but the careful arrangement of Hase and Pain on Creation tracks was what first caught my ear – the two of them really are leagues ahead when it comes to the filters we all love. The problem then becomes how to blend their tracks with the rest, and the first third of the set does a superb job of running through NRGetic Romancer friendly NRG in as smooth a style as you’ve ever heard. I often wince when I hear promos being shoehorned into a set for reputation’s sake, but well played Shimotsukei on the use of Disintegration – that combo with Eternal Cannon is one of the moments of the set, and more than worth waiting for.

In some ways it’s a shame the set isn’t shorter/split in two for these sections to be completely self-contained, as the move into the second half features some great old and new selections but lacks some of the smoothness of the opening. Often comes with the territory when mixing freeform, but there are still some very nice moments, like an especially ferocious combination between Freeform Mercury and Silver Cube.

A look at the tracklist should be enough for most TYFTH readers, but as in all the best sets, the transitions add a lot to the atmosphere and make this far more than just a roll call of classics and promos.

In Praise of Shadows – Update 7

Posted by PlasmaDancer on July 24, 2016
Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Releases, Swedish. 3 comments

In Praise of Shadows had a couple of important last-minute double-checks before printing finally started, but all the signs are that it’ll be arriving at TYFTH Towers in the very near future.

In the meantime, the image above shows a little something extra that’ll be included with the album. T-shirts and more ambitious stuff would be great at some stage, but with such a strong logo and artwork a sticker seemed like a nice initial choice. We’re part of the way there, then, but I’ll hold off on deciding a release date until the CDs are actually here…

CODEX7, 10th September @Shibuya Circus Tokyo

Posted by PlasmaDancer on July 22, 2016
Posted in: Events, Japanese, UK, USA. 1 comment

Long overdue, like a lot of posts these days, is a heads up re. CODEX7. Arriving in September, this looks to be another quality event of freeform and NRG, but this time with an additional psychedelic floor with ChankoDiving headlining.

On the freeform side we have some great guest bookings in the shape of Evolutionize and Nu-Energy veterans Digital Commandos. I have high hopes for Evolutionize’s set, and finding myself on the lineup once again I hope to contribute a bit of darkness, too. It looks as though GULD has become a semi-regular CODEX member, and his set will raise the level that bit higher, as always.

This time I’m slightly sad to see that the venue won’t be R-Lounge, but Circus Tokyo is the recently refitted incarnation of amate-raxi and it’ll be interesting to see what has changed. I have heard talk that there will be a selection of CDs available at the event (maybe even including you-know-what), so stay tuned for more info on that as well as timetables and the like.

Main guest
Evolutionize from USA (Smiling Corpse)
https://soundcloud.com/dj-revenge-1
Digital Commandos from UK
https://soundcloud.com/digitalcommandos

Main floor DJ
Alabaster (Cradle to Grave)
GULD (NRGeticRomancer)
Hyphen (Splash Energy/SOLIDBOX RECORDS)
NONAKA+CHIN (SPREEMO / Freeform Bros)
PlasmaDancer (TYFTH/FINRG Recordings / NRGeticRomancer)
raqhow (CODEX / Freeform Bros.)

Psychedelic Floor DJ
ChankoDiving (cubegrams)
jube (Peace Day&Night)
kossy(D/0)
m9icchy(D/0)
TAK666 (Cradle to Grave)
Viral Program a.k.a 6th (Illigal wave Records)
yo5hi9 (Digital Om Productions/Wing Makers)

VJ
VJ ALE (RisingGENERATION / deeepa)
Manabirds (RisingGENERATION)

Photo
Mizuho

In Praise of Shadows – Update 6

Posted by PlasmaDancer on July 19, 2016
Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Releases. Leave a Comment

A small update this time, but as I’ve recently mentioned a couple of things on TYFTH’s Facebook page and twitter a post here is slightly overdue.

The biggest news is that the compilation is with the production plant, and in the works as we speak. The visuals and DDP images for the CD were being checked a few days ago, and the nightmare-inducing payment has also been made. Just a matter of sitting tight until it all arrives.

That means that a release date announcement is extremely close – I’m away for a few days at the end of the month, so whatever happens I’m thinking it might be best to look at an early August release. As much as I’d like to hand out the release for free, getting the sounds and visuals to these levels has inevitably required professional-standard production. It would be nice to recoup some of the costs, then, but as a small thank you to everyone I’ll be running a (very easy to enter) competition with one pre-release copy of the album as a prize.

Also, it might interest some that I’ll be adding occasional sounds and images to TYFTH’s twitter account that either inspired the release or speak to the atmosphere that TYFTH is going for, in amongst occasional bits of news and mix links.

Evolutionize – Preemptive Strike

Posted by PlasmaDancer on July 14, 2016
Posted in: Finnish, Releases, UK, USA. Leave a Comment

A brief pause in the manic TYFTH self-promotion to mention another great looking release that’s rather more immediately on the way. Evolutionize’s solo album has been in the works for a long while now, but will be releasing tomorrow (15th July) on Smiling Corpse.

I expect Smiling Corpse will be the place to keep an eye on tomorrow, but for now there are plenty of preview clips to check out and a promo mix by Dyzphazia. Evolutionize’s hyper-aggressive, Finnish-influenced sound works in almost any set, and the album looks to have a huge amount of variety. Personal favourites right now are Yolvenvur and Provisional Unit 05, which you can hear in the playlist above.

in Praise of Shadows CD 2 Track 14: Alek Száhala – Dryad Machine (Hyphen remix)

Posted by PlasmaDancer on July 11, 2016
Posted in: Finnish, Japanese, Releases. Leave a Comment

The final track of the compilation sees another brave soul taking on the remix of a classic, and this time it’s Hyphen with a brand new version of Alek Száhala’s Dryad Machine. The original remains one of my favourite tracks of all time, but Hyphen has wisely steered away from matching it for aggressive psychedelics and instead updated it with a fresher feel, higher bpm, and some lovely touches of his own style.

This preview gives you an idea of how the track builds from the classic break into a climactic mix of melodies – the fusion of styles really works, and this might be one of the most flexible tracks on the compilation, in terms of finding its way into sets across the freeform scene.

There you have it, then – thanks for following the previews as they’ve gone live, and for all the support, feedback and questions so far. Thank the gods that this evening (almost) saw an end to the major delays over the past couple of months, and it’s conceivable that the album will be sent for manufacture tomorrow. Rest assured that there’ll be joyous announcements to that effect, as and when, as well as news on the release date.

In Praise of Shadows CD 2 Track 13: Aryx – Aurora (GULD remix)

Posted by PlasmaDancer on July 10, 2016
Posted in: Japanese, Releases. 1 comment

And so we head into the final two tracks of the compilation, remixes that take on a couple of all-time classics. First up we have GULD, and his excellent NRG-styled version of Aryx’s Aurora.

This isn’t the first Aurora remix we’ve heard, but it’s definitely my favourite – the slight drop in bpm and well-used, aggressive filtering send things in a slightly different direction. The breakdown is where it all comes together though, as GULD has done a superb job of retaining the emotion of the original while introducing the NRG elements.

Stay tuned tomorrow for one more track…