Now this looks more than promising – Nitro X will be covering all sorts of harder genres, and there are a whole host of killer names on the bill. Standout DJs are THC’s Inugami and Azsa, but there’s also a live PA from suge, a performance from THC’s scratch-demon NDE and a potentially incredible ‘Hardcore Regiment’ b2b(2b?) featuring Azsa, Kanon and Betwixt & Between.
DJs
Inugami
Azsa
Kee
5364
MIYUKISS
Live PA
suge
REEZENT
Showcase
Hardcore Regiment (Azsa+Kanon+Betwixt & Between)
NDE Hardcore Juggling Show
All the video has finally been uploaded, so let’s take a look at what went on at the last NRGetic Romancer. This one was very special, with the 6th Anniversary the reason for a massive collaboration between Romancer, ever free and Adrenaline. It ended up being the event of the year so far, with a brilliant mixed crowd that really went for all the different styles being played.
As for me, it was probably my best set of the year too, maybe because I just went all out with a high bpm right from the start. The timing of the event worked out perfectly too, with some absolutely amazing tracks being completed just in time. We’ve got quite a lot of video this time from Soham, Kaz-B and my pixellated mess of a camera, so click below to check them all out.
I’m really happy to give Matt England’s new blog a shout here – Freeform Soundwill be covering all sorts of interesting stuff, with a focus on production tips, interviews and track showcases. It’s hard to be anything but impressed with Matt’s sound these days, and this new project definitely deserves some support.
Last weekend was Dreams Into Harder, and despite the really low turnout/bit of admin chaos it was all great fun to take part in. In the end it turned out to be a good choice to go with breakbeat hardcore, what with everyone else playing high bpm trancey happy hardcore.
Standout set was DJ 490’s very technical happy hardcore, with NEMO’s Scouse House a close second. DJ Minagi’s Anison (anime soundtrack!) and hard trance was a thing to behold – I didn’t have a clue what was going on half the time, but he mixed it all amazingly well. My set was so much fun to play that I actually re-recorded it at home last night – click below for the tracklist/mp3 and some photos from the event.
I’ve been meaning to do something a bit more productive with the ‘Tracks’ section for a while now, and thanks to the artists involved things are finally looking good for this brand new version. Instead of that messy collection of mediafire links, from now on the tracks will be up on their very own SoundCloud, which will make promoting/sharing tunes a lot easier. Hopefully this will make it a genuinely useful way of getting some of the newer guys some exposure – there will be links to it up on Facebook, among other things.
To kick off the revamp we have fourfantastic tracks from Aquanox and Rob.O.T.T – how none of these have been signed up before I’m not too sure, but I’m incredibly grateful to both guys for making them public here. Aquanox’s Killer Loop will be familiar to a lot of people, a top quality tune with real pace to it and some brilliant acid lines. I was this close to playing at last month’s Romancer…
The other three tunes are from Hybridize’s Rob.O.T.T, but instead of his usual hard trance/hard dance, this time he’s taking on freeform! All three tunes nicely mix the UK and Finnish styles, and as you’d expect there are some great melodies, complete with plenty of freeform style filtering. My personal favourite is probably Sound & Fury, but don’t miss the haunted housecore of Creation or the awesome melodies of New Direction.
Thanks a million to both Aquanox and Rob once again. By the way, I’ve started ‘following’ a few fellow TYFTHers on SoundCloud, feel free to do the same if I haven’t found you yet!
A very welcome new set from Tyranoid/Strongstream here, this time with the focus on their slower industrial/acid tunes. As you’d expect, the mix progression is spot on with the lovely Unity remix starting things off, and nasty acid everywhere you look in the second half (including a nice remix of Segmentation Fault). Give yourself time to get into the bpm, then, and this is a really quality set.
By the way, there should be a bit of site news coming later today or (more likely) tomorrow
Time for Shiva-Ura Sound/Dreams Into Harder this coming weekend, and I’m fairly pleased with the tracks I’ve managed to find so far. The idea will be to play some happier breakbeat tunes without going into the wobbly basslines of modern jump-up drum and bass, but there’s still some more work to do before I’ve got a selection worth bringing along on Saturday. Anyway, it’ll be nice to play a post-midnight set for once, and I’m quite looking forward to checking out some of the main floor DJs, too.
23:00-00:20 Nagi♪aka 擂夢
00:20-1:00 Plasmadancer
1:00-1:40 DJ AEMI
1:40-2:20 DJ MERCHEN DIVER
2:20-3:00 DJ 490
3:00-3:40 Abitan
3:40-4:20 Clavia MAXXHEART
4:20-5:00 NEMO
Not really anything to do with freeform, but while researching some happier tunes for the Dreams Into Harder set I came across this upcoming track from DJ Shimamura. Due out on ReBuild, it’s a nice (if fairly standard) example of his style these days, but the thing that caught my attention was the breakdown. In amongst the chopped up amens is the melody that plays when trains arrive at Mejiro station, the nicest place in central Tokyo (and coincidentally where I live).
The very last batch of releases from freeform stalwart Electronica Exposed are almost here, and the Six Feet Underground compilation is looking especially nice. As well as a lot of unreleased Shanty material and a new Cyrez edit of Twisted Faith, look out for one of Dye In Sound’s latest tracks, the filtertastic Extended. I played it a few weeks ago in my short ustream set – it’s definitely one for Twisted Freq fans to check out. Take a look at the complete tracklist and order the CD here.
I’m suddenly playing at another event before next month’s NRGetic Romancer – something different, but it could be a lot of fun. This one is the latest edition of Dreams Into Harder, taking place on the 4th floor of trusty old Studio Cube at the same time as a techno/psychedelic event (Shiva-Ura Sound).
It’s a bit hard to tell from a glance at the DJs involved, but this was originally meant to be a happy hardcore/trancecore event – so after having a think about it today I might try playing some breakbeat hardcore (!) for at least some of the set. A few of the tunes I’ve been listening to lately are excellent, and really keep the spirit of old 90s hardcore going…I’m actually looking forward to playing some happier tracks for a change. More news next week, but for the time being here are the lineups:
DJ AEMI（SUNRISE/Sola -Dreams Into Harder-）
DJ MERCHEN DIVER
Clavia MAXXHEART（LuXuRia）
DJ 490（SKETCH UP! Rec.）
Plasmadancer（NRGetic Romancer/FINRG）
Nagi♪aka 擂夢（Colorfulphoria/Karma-業-）
NEMO（Scouse!TOKYO）
Abitan（Gadget）
