We have Gaia to thank for some great info on Experience DJ and hardcore producer EXCALIpUR, including this very nice freeform remix of a track from the Fate/stay night visual novel. The trouble with living in the home of anime is that there’s so much utterly awful stuff that it becomes impossible to spot the gems, and so this series has completely passed me by. After some background reading, I discovered the excellent original version of PDBW (Emiya) was remixed for the anime by none other than the master himself, Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell, Avalon, The Sky Crawlers etc).

Anyway, EXCALIpUR’s why we started all this, and PDBW is a fantastic take on the track, if a little gentle for real freeform. The other tunes I’ve checked out so far lean towards happier J-Core, but I’m definitely looking forward to his set next Saturday.

Towards the end of last year Meke let me know about this fantastic looking radio event, and now the recordings are all online courtesy of Pearsall at Sonicrampage. As you can imagine, I haven’t got a huge amount of time for set-listening at the moment, but I recently checked out the Proteus and Meke sets, while Pearsall’s Rampage Turbo 9 is next on my list.

Proteus’ set is a mix of oldskool hard trance and rave tunes, recorded at an event in Helsinki. Old-timers will surely recognise a few tunes, and I especially enjoyed the progression in the second half. Meke’s Happy New Yearave, meanwhile, is a fabulous hour of rave/gabber that wouldn’t sound out of place at the very best Tokyo Hardcore Constructions. Really well mixed, it was great to hear so many old favourites like Pessa Pessa (or at least the Buzz Fuzz remix) and guilty pleasure Everybody’s Free.

The other sets span everything from acid trance to gabber, so there’s plenty to be getting on with. I’m especially looking forward to Ciriliox’s makina set, after getting a recommendation from Pearsall himself. Harder dance genres were in closer contact with each other back in the 90s, so no matter what you were into there’ll probably be some memories stirred by this collection of sets, as well a chance to catch all the stuff you missed the first time around.

Pearsall (admirably) doesn’t do things by halves, so once again there are discog links to all the tunes, full tracklists, and cue files for the CD burning crew. Check out the full post over at Sonicrampage.

Something a bit different here from Decion, a hard house set that might be a nice diversion if you’re in need of a break from the higher bpms (in that case the next post might also be keeping you busy for the foreseeable future).

It all starts off with a Linkin Park remix (that I can’t deny had me reaching for the mute button), but after that there are just enough filters and harder sounding synths to keep most NRG fans interested, as well as the solid mixing you’d expect from Decion. It’s always interesting to hear DJs take on a different genre, and this set brought back fond memories of past Hell’s Gate events with its mix of hard(ish) and uplifting tunes.

  1. Linkin Park – In The End (Random But Raw Remix) [CD-R]
  2. John Geary & Dave Owens – Custard Ganned (Equinox Remix) [Digital Cohesion]
  3. Dave Curtis & Defective Audio – Hurt Me [Encoded NRG]
  4. ATB – Lost In Love (James Gibson Remix) [CD-R]
  5. Ross Homson – Mutt Strut [Stereodays Recordings]
  6. Dr Tre – RTZ [Stereodays Recordings]
  7. Matt Pickup & Dave The Elf & Riggsy – Elevate [Rise Up Digital]
  8. Dr Tre – 9MM [Stereodays Recordings]
  9. Matt R – Source [Piston Records]
  10. Rodi Style – B2R [CD-R]
  11. Michael Smith – Massacre [Spin Hard Recordings]

Download here (kuuntele, of course)

This one comes via our friends at Watchtower, something that producers in general (and Reason users in particular) should find really useful. Similar to Alek Szahala’s Ziggurat video, here Qygen gives us a tour of his excellent Watchtower release, Past Blaster. This is an amazing look into some of the complex melodies he comes up with, and even if Past Blaster is on slightly more of a conventional freeform tip that some of his previous goacore tracks, this is an absolute must-view for anyone producing in our genre.

The next installment of Experience! is on the way, and it has all the makings of a quality event for freeform. This time the headline set has to be Le Dos-on’s vs session with Horser raqhow, but there’s also guest support from the ever-excellent 490 and Black Maria’s 6th.

I’m also very excited to see Nrgray’s set in the Lounge – I can’t believe I missed his debut, and will definitely be there for this one.

I can’t seem to find the flyer image right now, but here’s the full lineup, at least. Thanks to raqhow for the flyer image!

Main Floor DJs

Guest DJs

DJ 490 (SKETCH UP! Rec.)

6th (Illegal wave Records / Black Maria)

EXCALIpUR (Tribullets / fairly field)

Special B2B

Le Dos-on (Splash Energy Recordings.) VS raqhow

experience! crew

puyo7

soloist (DUGEM BAYANGAN)

ikaruga_nex (不可逆ハードコア / W.T.F Records)

puruhite2

Lounge DJs

Nrgray

KeI_13th

DJ kani (なりみやDog)

uKLEina

WAKU

emusho (Nameless records)

L.Dragon.

SHIRIA@ ( Azalike Records / HARDCORE OMORO)

Yizzer (なりみやDog)

I’ve been listening to a few sets recently, so here’s a compilation post with a few of the best. There are still one or two others to check out this week, so they might well have their own posts before too long.

First up we have the Munted! Monthly! sets from January. It was another top quality event with plenty of variety, and a couple of brilliant sets to start off. Sadly I couldn’t wake up in time to hear Aryx on the night (morning), but I checked it out as soon as it was available for download and it didn’t disappoint. With an excellent new work-in-progress track starting things off, it’s another Aryx showcase with some other freeform classics in the second half.

Substanced’s set was an excellent promo for his new album release, as well as some new stuff that still hasn’t been made public. The first half was especially good, but the whole set was a top quality listen. Midas and Dyzphazia finished things off with some UK freeform sounds, even if a lot of Dyzphazia’s tracks were Japanese. Neither set was what you’d call dark, though it made for a nice lively second half to the event (plus an utterly mad tune to finish).

Another set I’ve been enjoying is Substanced’s set for the Free of Form show (at the top of this post). This time the second half was the hardest-hitting, doing a great job of including new and old tracks.

Finally (for now), and away from freeform, I’ve been listen to the various sets that made up the 247drumandbass oldskool session. It’s hard to find a better oldskool DJ than Extreme, and while intelligent jungle is a bit thin on the ground (aside from some nice selections from Omen) the other sets are all excellently mixed, and a nice reminder of the days when drum and bass was a real dance music genre. Check out the massive mp3 here.

I might be wrong, but I don’t remember posting about the FINRG Anniversary minisite before. Most will have see it already, but if not there’s plenty of useful info on there for those heading to Lahti next month.

I’ve also got a Hybridize-related question for everyone – thinking back to when Hybridize releases were pretty regular, what were some of your favourite tracks? Of course this is in no way related to the fact that I’m playing a ‘Hybridize set’ in a few weeks’ time…

Congratulations to the Watchtower crew – Watchtower Vol. 1 has now been officially released! Many will have pre-ordered, but those who haven’t yet should head over to Hard Beats Download to do the deed. A lot of the best freeform these days is available for free, so it goes without saying that it’s worth supporting such a pro-standard physical release from a forward-thinking label.

What an utterly awesome tune from Alchemiist and Decion – a Hard NRG stormer with some of the roughest synths I’ve heard for a long time. The occasional psy-like sounds are a nice touch, and it does pretty much everything you could ask from a darker track. Definitely one to look out for, it’ll surely be released somewhere soon.

Midas was quick off the mark with this one – a set of tunes from Substanced’s fantastic new album. This set covers a lot in 45 minutes, from the Subi DnB to UK freeform remixes, via the nastier Finnish tracks in the middle and a nice nod to the opening sequence with Skullcrush and its ferocious breakbeats. Credit to Midas though, the set’s very nicely mixed even with all that variety, and as the tunes are still very fresh it’s a very nice listen, even if you grabbed the album on release.

  1. Subi – Intro
  2. Subi – Antidote
  3. Subi – Futu-Drum-A
  4. Substanced – Reptile Zoo
  5. Substanced & J-Mx – Flawless Victory
  6. Substanced – Geneva part II (Alchemiist remix)
  7. Substanced & Grimsoul – Signal Lost (Endemic remix)
  8. Substanced – Seismic Activity (Transcend remix)
  9. Substanced – Shadows of Tomorrow (DAT remix)
  10. Sam one, Substanced & Horzi – Lionheart (A.B’s varaslahto remix)
  11. Substanced – Evolution (Douglas remix)
  12. Substanced & Alchemiist – Skullcrush