Pearsall – Rampage Turbo 8

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 10, 2011
Posted in: Mixes, UK. 67 comments

I’ve finally had a chance to check out Pearsall’s newest mix, and it’s an absolute must-listen for anyone interested in the roots of freeform. Concentrating on the earliest of early tracks from the late 90s/early 2000s, the tunes from this era have a really nice feel, replacing the happy melodies of the mid-90s with trance/NRG-style acid and hoovers. Pre-internet and trapped in darkest Wales, I still managed to hear a few of the tunes in this set via pirated event mixtapes and the occasional trancecore set on Radio Cymru…the majority are new to me though, which made it a another fantastically educational listen.

Pearsall has done some fine work on the set itself, structuring it brilliantly, while the mixing is of course top class. Once again he has gone beyond the call of duty in his original post, taking the time to write a genuinely interesting summary/history of each and every track.

The tracklist is down below, but check the post on Sonicrampage for the download link.

01. Miss Nic & DJ Swoon – Der Sturm (GBT)
02. M-Zone – Into The Future (Jon The Dentist Future Mayhem) (Boscaland)
03. Lab 4 – Psychoactivated (Trebleate)
04. Tripswitch – Ram Raider (GBT)
05. Citadel Of Kaos – Aux 5 (xy2)
06. Eruption – Let The Music (Bang The Future Remix) (United Dance)
07. AG Systems – Active Tekno (Stompin Choonz)
08. Teknotyx – Time Becomes A Loop (Acid Test)
09. DJ Energy – Raver’s Revenge (Nu Energy)
10. Bang The Future – A Tardis To Brooklyn (GBT)
11. Brisk & Trixxy – Back To The Top (JAL Platinum)
12. Simon Apex – Time For The Sale (No Trix)
13. G.S.I. – Twister (Krafty)
14. Apollo & Burst – Drop That Beat (Space Race)
15. Distressed Frequencies – Victimised (Nu Energy)
16. DSU – The Dawn (Digital Beats)
17. Energy & DNA – The Bastard (Remix Records)
18. Marc Smith – Encounters (Nu Energy)
19. Trixxy – Here To Invade (Bonkers)
20. Sharkey – Hard Life (React)

Epilim – Windup

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 9, 2011
Posted in: Finnish, Releases. Leave a Comment

Just a quick post today (more to come tomorrow, though), for those who haven’t seen mixu’s recent upload of another older Epilim track. You can really hear the influences from hardcore, trancecore and early freeform in Windup – once again it must have been well ahead of its time, and is still a nice example of how doing the simple things well can make a great track.

SunCore – Hard NRG Wandering

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 8, 2011
Posted in: Finnish, Mixes. 11 comments

SunCore – HardNRG wandering by suncore_music

I’ve been meaning to mention this set for a while now – SunCore hails from Russia, and looks to be another up-and-coming DJ with an excellent sense of how to arrange a set. Get past the ferocious bpm of the brutally pitched up Icy Clouds and this is an excellent half-hour of twisted/melancholy freeform. While the mixes might not always be the cleanest, there’s some really excellent stuff going on with the selection, suggesting that SunCore definitely knows his stuff. Hopefully we’ll hear more from him in the future, but for now this (non-downloadable, sadly) set is absolutely worth a listen.

Thank You For The Horse Live, 6th November @23:00 (JST)

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 5, 2011
Posted in: Events, Japanese, Mixes. 4 comments

Thanks to early morning starts on Monday I haven’t been able to do a ustream set for a while, but as I’m off next week I think I’ll take the chance to play a few tunes tomorrow. I’ve got some new stuff to play, and will be rummaging through the Hybridize back catalogue for some tunes I haven’t used for a while.

It definitely won’t be playable tomorrow, but I finally had a bit of inspiration lately and have been working on a new tune. I don’t have much time for music these days, but as I’ve got at least one gig next month it’d be nice to have something new to play…

edit: Why do I ever promise anything? After checking the new tunes, it seems like I’ve got 6 or 7 Hard NRG promos here, so rather than Hybridize I’ll be using some/all of those tonight. Just time to make a restorative cup of tea, then I’ll be setting up…

Betwixt & Between – Tokyo CASE tracklist

Posted by PlasmaDancer on November 5, 2011
Posted in: Events, Japanese, Mixes. 4 comments

Betwixt & Between has just added the tracklist for his Tokyo CASE Live PA to the TOTAL DISCOMMUNICATION site. No download link at the moment, but as he mentiones in the original post he’s open to sending it to anyone interested. I heard bits and pieces of the set at the event last weekend, but sadly missed out on a lot of the newer/more unusual tracks.

01. Betwixt & Between – Out of Blue
02. Betwixt & Between – Tankobu Hesotarou no Hourou
03. Vice Tek Heavy Industry – 3m3sis3
04. Betwixt & Between – Ultraworld 6
05. Betwixt & Between – Point of No return
06. Betwixt & Between – So Sweet Bitter Days
07. Betwixt & Between – Zusammengehorigkeit
08. Rank 1 – Airwave (BTW bootleg remix)
09. Betwixt & Between – Tout est Bien (Sein zum Tode)
10. Betwixt & Between – Hydra (long edit)
11. Betwixt & Between – Nothing Compares 2 U

Rituals The Head Shop Vol.4, 28th October @Shinjuku MARZ

Posted by PlasmaDancer on October 31, 2011
Posted in: Events, Japanese. Leave a Comment

Last Friday I went along to the latest installment of Rituals, and had a great time meeting some of the crew of this super-niche fashion/music event. The early sets were pretty left-field, with a tribal set followed by a totally unexpected piano/synths live performance, but I was mainly there to see Siki and P.R.D. They both came up with some excellent stuff, and P.R.D’s set in particular was an awesomely atmospheric mix of slower but darker genres.

Designer/DJ/Vocalist Kenzo-A’s set was also great, leaning towards electro and rock, while the encore also had some quality tracks, like the demented Mario sound effect-ridden tune that I seem to be hearing everywhere these days.

I ended up spending the following night in a tiny visual kei (!) bar in Kabukicho, and at some point managed to commandeer the PC/sound system to play a few FINRG tracks from SoundCloud. I went for Private Demon, Maruuk and Voices of Babylon – the elegantly gothic decor of this fantastic little place fitted the tunes perfectly.

Tokyo CASE presents 「UK x JP Hardcore Special Session」, 30th October @2.5D

Posted by PlasmaDancer on October 30, 2011
Posted in: Australia, Events, Japanese, UK. 1 comment

Very late notice, but here’s something that should definitely interest some of TYFTH’s J-core crew. UK/J-Core event Tokyo CASE has booked Sc@r to play at a special early-evening event with Shimamura, kors-k, Genki and Betwixt & Between. Interestingly the event’ll be broadcast on ustream, and there’ll also be a Q&A session after Betwixt’s set. That’s where I come in, as I’ve been asked to interpret (!) for Sc@r when the questions are directed at her. From past experience I know that my brain tends to shut down when I have to switch between English and Japanese, so this could be…interesting, to say the least. The rest of the timetable is looking nice though, so calamitous translations aside, this could be really worth checking out.

■イベント概要
・開催日時：2011/10/30(Sun)
OPEN／START：17:00
CLOSE：22:00
・開催場所：2.5D（池尻大橋）　http://2-5-d.jp/
・イベント内容：DJプレイ、トークショー
・観覧入場：人数限定制
＜観覧料＞
事前予約：2,000円(1Drink別)
当日入場：2,500円(1Drink別)
★予約受付ページ　http://2-5-d.jp/schedule/20111030/

■出演者
≪Special Guest≫
・Sc@r (Raw Elements) from UK

≪DJs≫
・DJ SHIMAMURA (DYNASTY RECORDS / SHOT MUSIC)
・kors k (S2TB Recording / SHOT MUSIC)
・Betwixt&Between (TOTAL DISCOMMUNICATION)
・DJ Genki (SKETCH UP! Rec.)

≪MCs≫
・MC Euthman (HAPPY JACK)
・楽天斎 (DYNASTY RECORDS)
・MC STONE (HAPPY JACK)

≪VJ≫
・VJえが (低速飯店/PUTIN)

-Special Talk Show-
≪MC≫
・Yukacco

Tokyo Decadance Special 666, 22nd October

Posted by PlasmaDancer on October 25, 2011
Posted in: Events, Japanese. 2 comments

You’ve probably noticed that TYFTH has shut down all non-essential systems at the moment – I’m horribly busy, meaning fun stuff like Ustream is having to wait for another time. The forum is also still on pause unfortunately, as I”d like to be able to keep track of what’s happening on there/contribute in the early days. On the bright side, I’m coming up with some possible posts/competitions/interesting things ready for when it does eventually surface.

Anyway, last weekend I made the most of my evening off to attend Tokyo Decadance’s enormous Halloween event (I also went to last month’s Petit Decadance, but haven’t had time for a post yet). Taking up the whole of Christon Cafe and Decadance Bar, the scale of the event took me by surprise, with perhaps more than 1000 people crammed in by about halfway through the evening.

Crazy subculture gathering or not, after a couple of hours the bouncy electro on the main floor was starting to dissolve my brain, so I spent the rest of the time up on the industrial/goth ‘Dark Floor’. I’m glad I did, as Tokyo Dark Castle resident DJ Chihiro was fantastic – I haven’t heard such a well-considered/atmospheric set since the last NRGetic Romancer, when Yousuke came up with a stormer (that massively delayed post is still on the to-do list, by the way).

Following Chihiro was Siki, who played a far harder set than I was expecting, full of schranz and some awesome dark psy. It was all too much for most people though, and somehow (considering this was one of the biggest Halloween events in Tokyo) the floor almost completely emptied at one point, leaving four of the NRGetic Romancer regulars and some of the Decadance crew. I didn’t pick the best time for a video, but hopefully you get the idea.

I’ll be at another event this coming Sunday, but this time as a staff member (not a DJ, though). More on that later in the week…