I’m a bit late with the news of Decion’s latest NRG set, a ferocious hour of some of the best tracks (in this genre, at least) I’ve heard for a long time. This kind of NRG often seems to have all the right dark sounds, but melodies that don’t really do them justice, sometimes sounding a bit too light/catchy. No such trouble here though, maybe thanks in part to the number of Alchemiist tracks – as we all know, he really knows how to create a dark atmosphere, and there are some excellent, aggressive synths in tunes like No God and Head Trauma.

There’s a nice progression to the tunes here too, so for a nasty 160bpm interlude this is definitely the set to go for.

1 Matt R – Phased Array [Piston Records]
2 Matt R – Subatomic [Piston Records]
3 Anna K & Zoe Holborn – Nipple Twister [CD-R]
4 Grady G – Turn The Bass Up [Slingshot Recordings]
5 Defective Audio – Body Warmer [Deprivation]
6 Alchemiist & Decion – Code Red (2012 Remix) [CD-R]
7 Dr Tre & Disturbed – Imposters [Oktane Records]
8 Alchemiist – Locked Up [CD-R]
9 Random But Raw & Sinobe – I Am Cockney [Digital Damage Recordings]
10 Alchemiist – No God [CD-R]
11 Alchemiist – Head Trauma [CD-R]
12 Random But Raw & Rob Brown – You Can’t Hide [Boxed Digital]
13 Ben Townsend & NooNoo – Till Death Do Us Party (Grady G Remix) [Small Town Records]

The launch of the first Watchtower compilation isn’t far away, and the artist pages are livening up with some interesting interviews with each of the guys involved. Newest additions are Qygen and Transcend – check the whole lot out here.

I’ve been away for a few days, doing my tour guide routine for a visiting friend, but there’ll be plenty to catch up on over the next couple of days…

Substanced – The End of All Things (Aryx Remix) by FINRG Recordings

There’s obviously only one event to be talking about this weekend, the long-awaited arrival of Substanced’s massive album and 25 brand-new tracks. What a monumental effort by Substanced, both for coming up with such consistently high quality tunes and for all the work to organise the remixes. It was worth it though, and has definitely set the standard for any future artist albums.

Standout tracks for me are Skullcrush and Reptile Zoo, but once again it’s Aryx bringing the deepest sounds and some wonderful atmosphere with his remix of The End of All Things. Whatever flavour of freeform you’re into, there should be something for you – download all the tracks (though you probably already have) via FINRG’s SoundCloud.  

With his release on Watchtower arriving soon, Qygen is getting recognition elsewhere too, including this new free-download ‘album’ via Ruffbeatz. Most (if not all) of the tracks were already available in his pretty phenomenal back-catalogue, but with any luck this’ll help to spread Qygen’s sound further around the scene and set him up for a quality 2012.

Head over to the Ruffbeatz site for the download link.

  1. Qygen – Psyberwarfare (Short Edit)
  2. Qygen – 721
  3. Qygen – Moonlight Shower (Freeform Mix Remaster)
  4. Qygen – Digiplex
  5. Qygen – Dough Djinn Corps
  6. Qygen – Neoncircuitboards
  7. Qygen – Fafjlksa
  8. Qygen – Vast
  9. Qygen – L.E.D. Galaxy
  10. Qygen – Foreign Horizon

Le Dos-on – Stance-Another Story- by Le Dos-on

Le Dos-on is quickly making a name for himself, and here’s yet another pro-quality track available for free download. This one’s a lovely tune, with a beautiful main melody and an excellent flow/structure – I immediately went for the rewind after the first listen, which doesn’t happen often these days. I suspect it might disappear fast, so get on the download asap.

Congratulations to everyone involved with last weekend’s Munted! Monthly!, another great event with some quality tunes and a nice group of freeform fans in the chatroom. Sadly I couldn’t wake up in time to hear Aryx’s set (I’m already looking forward to it going online), but Substanced, Midas and Dyzphazia all played some really nice stuff.

While we wait for the recordings, here are the four sets from Episode 1. I’m biased of course, but I thought the timetabling worked almost perfectly, what with Douglas starting off with some brand new UK freeform, Midas opening with more of the same but then adding some Aryx and Alabaster towards the end, and Chip setting me up perfectly with a lovely set of UK, Finnish and Japanese tunes.

Check them all out here (complete with tracklists), but if you haven’t downloaded mine yet, please head over to the FINRG SoundCloud instead.

Just in time to spread the word re. tonight’s (or tomorrow morning’s, this side of the world) Munted! Monthly! After the massive success of the first installment, let’s hope that Episode 2 does even better, and with Aryx and Substanced guesting there’s every chance of that happening.

It all starts from 10pm UK time on Krafty Radio – best of luck to everyone involved. All being well I should be around to make an appearance in the chatroom this time, too.

22:00 – 23:00 – Aryx

23:00 – 00:00 – Substanced

00:00 – 01:00 – Midas

01:00 – 02:00 – Dyzphazia

BEEZEE – ‘HANIVER’ (FREEFORMANIACS RADIO 12/01/2012) by BEEZEE

It’s already that time again for another BEEZEE Freeformaniacs set, and he hasn’t let us down this time with some interesting UK, Finnish and Japanese selections. The man himself has admitted that this one is pretty improvised, but even so it’s a really nice journey through some different styles and less-played classics, flowing nicely right up until the end.

The Ephexis psy-style opening is great, while there’s a nice piano and filters theme to the finale of Gravity’s Rainbow and The Brain Controls Pain. Excellent to hear Fury Theme in there, without doubt one of my tunes of last year, as well as some more support for the up-and-coming Le Dos-on.

1. Ephexis and Oli G – Spatial Inversion
2. Lost Soul – Warlock
3. Solution and Ephexis – Requiem
4. Carbon Based – Tuonela
5. Grimsoul and Pain On Creation – Fury Theme
6. Le Dos-on – Insane
7. DJ Rx – My Serenity (Endemic remix)
8. Alek Szahala – Ngarnuuk
9. Betwixt and Between – Gravity’s Rainbow
10. Cyrez – The Brain Controls Pain

[111216] raq’s_mix_vol13 “Freeform_Universe” by raqhow

Many will have already checked this interesting set from raqhow, but for anyone who hasn’t it’s another nice example of limiting yourself to certain tracks and coming up with some good ways to connect everything together. Going for a spacey, universe theme, it works far better than you’d imagine, and there’s quite a nice consistent sound to the whole set. For my money, the excellent connection from Starfall to Ghost of Jupiter alone makes the set worth a listen – Starfall is notoriously hard to mix well, so kudos to raqhow for coming up with the best attempt I’ve heard so far.

1. Paocala – Sunfire
2. Odyssey, Obie & Macca – Black Hole
3. Nightforce & Substanced – Operation Stardust
4. Lostsoul – Darkside Of The Moon
5. Synthwulf – Full Moon Freeform
6. Endemic & Lostsoul – Voice Of The Eclipse
7. Aryx – Aurora
8. Paocala – Starfall
9. Twisted Freq Presents Nightforce – The Ghost Of Jupiter
10. Substanced – Freeform Mercury
11. Lostsoul feat. Dark Angel – Deep Space
12. Epyx & Cyrez vs Mary K – Nebula