A very special Christmas edition of the Freeformaniacs show is almost here, with 12 DJs playing one massive set. The full lineup is looking awesome, and it all starts from 9am (GMT) on Krafty Radio. Best of luck to everyone involved – I’ll still be at work though, so hopefully the recording will eventually make an appearance.
Substanced & Alchemiist – Skullcrush by FINRG Recordings
I recently heard that this tune was under construction, and the preview more than lives up to all expectations. Mixing Substanced’s production and melodies with Alchemiist’s nastiness, this tune has just about everything, including a ferocious DnB section that really adds a lot to the track. Then it’s back to the aggressive filters – what a great tune, and comfortably one of my favourites on the album so far.
I made a mistake when working out which days I’m free this week, and it turns out that I’ll still be in Tokyo tomorrow evening too. As I don’t have work the following day, that might be a better choice to play a few tunes. Sorry for the last minute change, but the 22nd will hopefully still work for those who made the track requests!
Substanced & J-Mx – Flawless Victory by FINRG Recordings
Flawless Victory is another great sounding preview from Substanced’s upcoming artist album, When the World Collapses. Produced with J-Mx, it’s easy to hear his influence in the structure and excellent main breakdown.
Experience3 demomix by Le Dos-on
Many thanks to raqhow and Akibakei for introducing me to a very talented freeform producer, Le Dos-on. Quite how I’ve missed his work so far I’m not sure, but it shows all the signs of Betwixt & Between / Finnish influences and some amazingly crisp production. Particular favourites at the moment are INSANE and the very impressive For You (I’m Like Madness remix), and what’s more the tracks are all available for download from Le Dos-on’s SoundCloud.
The top of this post highlights his excellent demo set for Experience 3 – only 30 minutes long, but there’s some genuinely interesting mixing, and a selection that immediately gives you an idea of what he’s all about. Doing a great job of combining darker / older Alek Szahala with Hybridize sounds and the usually impossible-to-mix Lacrima, this is very highly recommended.
- Alek Szahala – Man Eaten
- Alek Szahala – Ngarnuuk
- Digital Anarchy vs Skampy & Mayhem – Illusions of Sound (Horzi & Meke remix)
- Substanced – Dream of You
- Horzi – Blind Faith
- DJ Rx – Lacrima
I’m not sure I’ve recovered from the last two gigs yet, but as things are relatively calm this week there’s just time for a quick pre-Christmas ustream session. I’ve actually had a few tune requests, so those will definitely be going in, as well as a few that I couldn’t quite fit in to the Munted! set. I’m also planning on trying out some tracks from the fantastically promising Le Dos-on (see the next post), so there might be some interesting sounds to make up for the no-frills mixing.
Now that the excellent first edition of Munted! Monthly! has been and gone, I’ve finally had time to check Alek Szahala’s recent HBC set. As expected, it’s top quality, and the new material is a wonderful return to the darker side of Alek’s production.
Enuma Elish is a fantastic track, with a repetitive-yet-addictive main riff and an aggressive feel that really recalls classics like Maruuk, while it’s also great finally hear both Macuahuitl and the beautiful Dawnstar in a set. By all accounts Alek devastated the Krafty chatroom, and it bodes very well indeed for his set next March.
01. Alek Szahala – Macuahuitl
02. Alek Szahala – Ziggurat
03. Alek Szahala – Astraia
04. Alek Szahala – Sunray
05. Alek Szahala – Dryad Machine
04. Alek Szahala – Deimos
06. Alek Szahala – Voices of Babylon
07. Alek Szahala – Enuma Elish
08. Alek Szahala – Maruuk
09. Alek Szahala – Iron Squid
10. Alek Szahala – Dawnstar (2008 Remastered)
11. Mark Seibert – Erana’s Peace (Alek Szahala Remake)
I’m more than happy to announce the arrival of another new Japanese DJ – this time it’s the turn of Nrgray, aka NRGetic Romancer staff member Akibakei. His first demo is a 30 minute minimix, but shows all the signs of a quality taste in tunes, plus some solid mixing. There’s a nice consistency to the sound, as well as some Japanese-Finnish action, so I’m looking forward to the first full length set.
1. Aryx – Aurora
2. Endemic Vs Solution – Outbreak (DJ Rx Remix)
3. DJ Noriken – Hologram
4. Substanced & Grimsoul – Harder Than U Think
5. DJ Rx – Frozen Flame
The timetable for Munted! is now up, and I’ll be finishing the night off with my set. If anything it looks like I’ll have to leave out a lot of great tunes, but I’m tentatively happy with how things are coming together so far…
(All times are GMT, of course)
22-23 Douglas
23-00 Midas
00-01 Dyzphazia
01-02 PlasmaDancer
Epyx & Cyrez – Unohdetut 2011 Music Video from Trombit 2011 on Vimeo.
Amazing work here from Epyx, who has put together an awesome video to mark the upcoming release of Unohdetut 2012. The track itself is sounding great, and works really well with some nicely edited footage of the guys in the club and studio.