Just to show we’re not only about kickdrums and filtered synths, here’s another wonderful instrumental track to follow Alek Szahala’s Alanamra edit. The Broken Glass is classic Nomic, but this time the drums are stripped away to give us 2 minutes of distilled melancholy. Apparently he wrote this in an hour (!), which is impressive to say the least.
This event was actually Horzi’s first solo gig (his previous sets were all collab/b2b), and this time he combined his own tracks with live guitar in really impressive style. The two tracks here are his remix of My Serenity and the very nice Infernal Psycho – definitely seems like the crowd was feeling it (and that J-Mx knows every single beat of Horzi’s tracks).
Syntse was also playing, so hopefully we’ll be getting some more video from him before too long.
Alanamra (Electronic Symphony Edit) by FINRG Recordings
I’m listening as I write, and predictably lost for words. A slightly retro electronic symphony remake of Alanamra makes perfect sense as soon as you hear it, and like some of Nomic’s slower instrumental pieces it shows again what a talented artist Alek is. I’ve got so many nice memories from playing the original (especially at Hell’s Gate), they all come back listening to this version, too.
If you’re in the mood for some Hard NRG, then this mix is definitely worth checking out. I finally gave it a listen the other day, and Kohl’s selection is really good, with older classics like the still amazing Groove Overdrive alongside some rarer (and newer) tracks. The bpm’s a bit slow for me, but picks up towards the end with some nice hardcore/gabber.
Intro
1. Nish – Dying For You (Wragg & Log:One remix)
2. Lab 4 – Groove Overdrive (Turbo Charge 2005)
3. IK – XBass (Yoji Biomehanika Remix / Kohl Short Re-Edit)
4. Lab 4 – Requiem (DJ X Lab4 Heart of Darkness remix)
5. Crypsis – Dust in your eyes
6. Lab 4 – Hellboy
7. Dark by Design – Death Approaching
8. Dark by Design – Candyman
9. Dj Thera – One Year 4 Years
10. The Beholder meets DJ Zany – Euphoria
11. Zany – Overcome
12. Crypsis feat. Dana – Transmission
A quiet couple of days, so let’s have another break with some nice drum and bass. A couple of post-2000 tunes in this one, and some very deep tracks from the early days.
I don’t think I’ve ever posted the link, but I must have mentioned this before – it’s PFM’s The Western. I once put it at no.1 in my all-time Top Ten, and it might still be there…15 years of listening and I still love it.
Aryx – Chaldea (ReBuild Music) by Aryx
Now here’s some good news if you were one of those that missed out on the Worldwide Freeform CD – Aryx has decided to release the full version of Chaldea for free via SoundCloud. It’s definitely his best track so far (one of the best on the CD, I’d say), and the breakdown especially is top class.
Harder Faster has just posted an interview with Proteus, and there are some really interesting thoughts on hard house, reasons why he switched from psytrance to harder styles, and he also mentions that he’s working on his second artist album. Check the whole thing out here.
Labraska-Lite Freeform by Labraska
Seems like almost everybody commented in the Never Forget/Solar Hive post, so you might already have the SoundCloud link for Labraska’s Lite Freeform set. I gave it a full listen on the way back from Yokohama today, and it’s more than worth its own post – we’ve obviously got another up-and-coming DJ here.
You’ll see from the tracklist that it’s a mix of mostly UK and Finnish freeform, and it reminded me quite a bit of some the Full Circle DJ sets we hear at NRGetic Romancer. It’s heavy on the acid and hands-in-the-air breakdowns, with some nice Finnish style at the start and end. Mixing wise it’s very impressive, Utopia>You Are (Not) Alone is a great mix to start things off. Personally I didn’t like Gunfire much, but the idea was obviously to suddenly change up the style, and the progression through the next four or five tracks is really well thought out (ending up with One World and Voices of Babylon’s twisty synths). Finally, massive kudos for the selection of Eternal Cannon>Three Or Three. It’s extremely tricky to find a tune that can follow either version of Eternal Cannon, but TOT is an inspired pick. I’ve heard it here in Tokyo before but didn’t have a clue what it was – always nice to learn something from a set.
I’m not the biggest fan of the UK style, but the tracks here work well together and the mix is never too far from some more nasty acid. Definitely recommended, and another chance to hear a fellow Horser’s (?) taste in freeform.
- Impact & Nomad – Utopia (Strings Intro)
- Nightforce – You Are (Not) Alone
- Alek Szahala – Supriya (Live edit)
- Nightforce – Raindrops
- Expression & Riddler – Gunfire
- Lost Soul – Human Being
- Robbie Long & Devastate – 50,000 Watts (Shanty remix)
- Technikal – Technikal Support (Nomad remix)
- Synthwulf – One World
- Alek Szahala – Voices of Babylon
- RR-ThermalForce – Eternal Cannon (DJ Rx remix)
- Ruben XXL 0.1 – Three Or Three
A slower set this time from Australia’s DJ Fez – it’s actually a re-recording of his FUNERAL set though, and well worth a listen. It starts off with hard trance, but you’ll notice how the tunes get harder towards the end as Fez sets up for ConfigSys PROJECT.
1] Hypernox – To The Moon
2] Lab 4 – Concept of Love (SQ Remix)
3] Manik & Future Resonance – Response (Rob.O.T.T. Remix)
4] Scott Genetik – Higher
5] Hypernox – Desire
6] Steve Hill & Technikal – Can You Dig It?
7] PSR & Scott Genetik – Turn the Heat Up (Jody 6 Remix)
8] Sebastien – Implosive State
9] Hypernox – Shock To The System
10] Hypernox – My Command
11] GULD – Hannya X (Android Lime Remix)
12] Psycho Keaton – Hell Night (Android Lime Remix)
Always first with the breaking news – here’s a two-year-old video from one of Alek Szahala’s sets. It’s one of the best Alek videos you’ll find, and that was partly the reason for the delay in upping it…you can hear the whole of Astraia here, and I was a bit worried some morally lacking DJs might try ripping the audio to play live (!). Paranoid maybe, but sadly I’ve heard more than one or two low-quality previews of FINRG tracks being played by Japanese DJs in Tokyo, and the less that happens the better…
Anyway, listen out for the last minute and a half or so after Astraia, there’s another really nice trancy track that I don’t know at all…fabulous breakdown, I guess it’s been played in a few Finnish sets since then? If that’s not enough, have even more fun by playing ‘spot the FINRG artist’ among the groups of people chilling in the field.