I don’t think I’ve posted any of Alek Szahala’s tracked music before (created under his Paokala artist name), but his newest track really blew me away. Apparently it’s an entry in Helsinki’s Assembly Summer 2010 competition, and anyone who enjoyed his recent symphony tunes will love this one. Listen out especially for the Szahala-like melody that comes in during the second half…
If anyone has some free time tomorrow, I’ll be playing a small set at around 11pm (Japan time) on Sunday night. It won’t be anything as long as the two and a half hour epic of a while ago, but I have a few tunes in mind, at least. I expect that there might be time for a few requests too…
Thanks to DJ Swoosh for showing me this awesome video from DJ Street and Sam One’s recent set. It looks like a good crowd, and a nice atmosphere…but how about that setting? Hard Trance as the sun comes up in the background, very nice indeed.
Big congratulations to Guld for once again making it into Loud magazine’s top 50 Japanese DJs. This time he’s in there at 24, but as the magazine is 80-90% house that’s still a great achievement in such a quiet year for NRG.
By the way, thanks to some real chaos at TYFTH headquarters I haven’t been able to post all week…things should be back to normal soon, so from today posts will be coming more regularly. If possible I’ll be playing a quick live set at midnight (Japan time) on Sunday night, but only if I can find somewhere to set up my gear (it’s a long story). Anyway, I’ll confirm it by the end of tomorrow!
Sorry for the late notice, but the next live set on Ustream will be happening next weekend, not today. On a first glance at my schedule it looks like Sunday might be a better bet than Saturday, but I’m more than willing to shift things around if people can’t make it. I’m guessing that there’ll be an NRGetic Romancer this month (the 6th Anniversary!), but that won’t be for at least a couple of weeks.
Dye In Sound – The Storyteller by Nightforce
Promising ‘experimental, innovative and futuristic’ freeform, Dye In Sound could be one of the most exciting things to happen to freeform for a long while. The group has been set up by Twisted Freq and Nightforce, and this preview of their first DIS track is showing all the signs of being a bit special.
The Storyteller already has an amazing breakdown – even if I’m not usually the bigest fan of long voice samples in freeform, once the kick and lead come in the ‘It is the exception…’ also works really well. So far there seems to be just the right balance of dark, nasty synths and melody, so (as you might have noticed) I’m really looking forward to this one.
It’s been a while, but here’s another dose of nasty NRG from Decion. This set opens up with some storming tunes, and even if the later tracks don’t quite match up (nothing from Alchemiist this time, unfortunately), Decion’s mixing is as good as ever and keeps the set pumping along in fine style.
1. Dramatik & Bass Junction – Ground Control [Spin]
2. Glennroy – Lab Rat [Raw Power Recordings]
3. Ben Townsend – Chemical Evolution [Toolbox Recordings]
4. Anna K & Irish Dave & Defective Audio – Driller [Encoded NRG]
5. Defective Audio Vs. Tom Urwin & Weazal – Tech Support [Definition Recordings]
6. Dramatik – Parasite [Tonka Trax]
7. Defective Audio & Tony D – Shoot to Thrill [Awsum Hard]
8. Wayne Smart & Phatt-Beats Vs. Defective Audio – Death Warrant [Encoded NRG]
9. Gem Stone & Steve Hewitt Vs. Sparx – Look At My Growler [Raw Power Recordings]
10. Dan Andres – Numero Ocho [Spin Hard]
11. Glennroy – Krank [Digital Razor]
12. Grady G – Operate Da Mixer [Spin Hard]
13. Dramatik – Vicious Distortion (Rusty Nail Mix) [Spin Hard]
By the way,has anyone heard a decent Lab 4-style NRG set recently? It seems like the last one was a few months back (Kohl’s Degenerate) and it’s definitely about time for a new one…
Nette – Fābula by FINRG Recordings
Nette has been making a name for herself as one of the youngest (make that the youngest) DJs in the Finnish scene, and she’s even managed to get a track released on FINRG. Fabula is a lovely tune, and if you check the credits on SoundCloud you’ll see that Mr Kimon Kukulis (aka Nomic) was involved in the production. It’s definitely got a Nomic feel – Nette couldn’t really have a better teacher, so hopefully we’ll be hearing more tracks from her in the future.
In the past week or so the Hardcore Tano*C site has been spruced up with a clean new design and a few new features. Looks like there’ll be an official shop coming before too long, but the front page is worth checking out right now for the Ustream footage from RED ALiCE’s last show – an epic 3 hour set that has some great tunes if you like your J-Core.
Talking of Ustream, I’ll probably be doing another live set this weekend – not 100% sure when though, so watch this space.
A belated Top Ten for June – this month I’ve been listening to some other stuff in preparation for the next event, so I won’t include any of that. If I could get away with it, Alek Szahala’s Phobos would easily be in the top 5…but let’s wait and see if a finished version appears one day.
Two videos this time, both from Future Sound Of London’s Lifeforms album. If you haven’t heard it before, it includes some of the most inspiring/creative electronica you’ll find anywhere, and is almost certainly their best release (though Dead Cities runs it close). I was listening to it again for some ideas the other day, and it’s hard to believe it came out 16 years ago…
One more thing – in recent weeks the site has been under attack from a huge amount of (increasingly bizarre) spam, so it’s possible I might have missed a comment or two in the middle of it all. Please send an email to plasmadancer [ at ] ymail.com if you think yours might have been one of them.
- Betwixt & Between – Point of No Return
- Poly Calamity – Unam Sanctum
- Nomic – Painajaiskarkoittaja
- Nightforce & Twisted Freq – Ready or Not
- Alabaster – Revenant
- Betwixt & Between – Hydra
- Re-form – My Sickness
- Suge – Tanasinn
- Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest – Bloody Tears (RAF remix)
- Proteus – I See Things That You Don’t See (Guld remix)