Today’s mix is a lovely Hard NRG set from Decion, recorded at the recent Harder.fi event. This really flows well, with plenty of variety and some fantastic selections – it might even be my favourite NRG effort from Decion so far.
Kam-Pain – Stick A Filthy Rat On It
Karl Davis & Defective Audio – After Party
Defective Audio & Masmada – Hey Japanese Step Back
No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you – it’s my first recorded NRG/Freeform set for over two years (!). Many thanks to Guld for allowing this 7th Anniversary mix to go online, it’s now downloadable via the FINRG SoundCloud.
A quick look at the tracklist will show it’s a little different to (and slower than) my past sets, as we were working with a a few restrictions this time. The tunes are limited to artists who’ve played at NRGetic Romancer in the past seven years, and the track selection was split between me and Guld (any guesses as to who chose what?). It was quite a challenge to come up with a decent set before the deadline, but I’m fairly happy with the end result.
Anyway, I’m especially pleased with the first half, and there’s plenty of new material for NRG fans. I was struggling to fit things in towards the end of the set, but I quite like the Frozen Abyss – Ziggurat connection, followed of course by DJ One Hit Wonder’s remix of Hell’s Gate.
My next recorded set is on pause yet again, for reasons I’ll probably explain later in the week, but feel free to give this set a listen. Feedback’s very welcome, as always!
01. Proteus – Try Harder
02. Adam Lab 4 – Infernal Desire (Lab 4 Psycho Surgery remix)
03. DJ X Lab 4 – Captain Black
04. Jody 6 & ConfigSys Project – Japanese Ghost Train
05. Lab 4 – Concept of Love (Guld remix)
06. Guld – Hannya X (Android Lime remix)
07. Shanty vs Epyx & Cyrez – Frozen Abyss (Full Circle DJs remix)
08. Alek Szahala – Ziggurat
09. Zio – Hell’s Gate (PlasmaDancer remix)
10. Betwixt & Between – Tout est Bien (Sein zum Tode)
11. RR-ThermalForce – Al Megiddo
There haven’t been many freeform-only sets recently, but Labraska’s newest is one of those rare efforts that really takes you on a ‘journey’. Add some excellent mixing to the well-structured selection, and its no wonder that I’ve already given it a couple of listens.
Starting off with some of the better UK freeform tunes of the past year or so, things really take off with the introduction of Carbon Based’s Dark Side. I won’t spoil the tracklist, but the next mix had me nodding in approval as it came in, and the standard’s really maintained for the rest of the mix. For the first time in an age, I was genuinely looking forward to what Labraska was going to do with each new connection, which is always the sign of a great set.
Not a bad word to say about this one, then…it’s a must-listen.
Last night I wandered along to the latest installment of Rituals, a music/fashion event run by singer/DJ/designer KENZO-A. I was mostly interested in seeing Siki’s set, but the mixed (and very friendly) crowd of industrial fans, goths and the occasional raver made for a really interesting night.
I arrived just as KENZO-A’s electro-rock group Gabriels Stiletto were finishing their set, leaving the rest of the night to the DJs. Siki made a heroic effort at playing something for all the different groups in the crowd, getting through dark psy, schranz-with-vocals and industrial in her hour-long set. I took a quick video as she played her last couple of tunes, with NRGetic Romancer’s Kokekakiikii responsible for the visuals in the background.
It’s always educational/awesome to see artists at work in their sequencers, and an Alek Szahala demonstration has been on the TYFTH wishlist for a long time now. Today’s the day, then, and the track in question is the recent FINRG release, Ziggurat.
Like Aryx’s excellent Galaxis video, this really gives a sense of what’s needed to make a quality track, and anyone with the slightest understanding of Reason will get a lot from Alek’s showcasing of the melody lines and synths. Many thanks to Alek for taking the time to put the video together, here’s hoping that it inspires a few more tunes into existence.
Heathen recently played a very well-received Harder.fi set during his trip to Finland, and luckily it was recorded. This is a proper dancefloor set, with pretty much incessant energy from start to finish, and of course includes some of Heathen’s own new material (as well as long time favourite, Hesotarou Tankobu).
I’m hoping to get a full tracklist ASAP, but for the time being you can download here.
Something very different here, but after listening through Byproduct’s latest Easy Evening set I couldn’t resist giving it some room on TYFTH. Anyone who has heard previous EE installments (or indeed the Assembly b2b with Alek Szahala) will know that Byproduct really has a knack for interesting/smooth mix connections, and this hour or so of easy listening is well up to the usual standards. I’ve heard some truly woeful attempts to mix complex ambient drum & bass in my time, so it’s a real pleasure to hear a deep set that’s been so carefully put together.
The mix covers all sorts of downtempo genres, from vaguely dubstep to vaguely chiptune, but my favourite track was probably the fantastic LSD (In Dub Live). Anyone looking for a chilled-out set, this is absolutely recommended.
The spectre of work on Sunday meant that I wasn’t able to make it to Destroyed High after all, but thanks again to Soham for a great video of AT’s set. He told me last week that it was going to be quite an oldskool track selection, but here he’s playing NRGetic Romancer anthem Venla, Alek Szahala’s Ziggurat and the beginnings of a Lost Soul-style tune (which sounds familiar, but I can’t remember right now). Anyway, it looks like it was an excellent set – I really have to get to next month’s event, where Kanon will be guesting.
After the recent RaverRose talk, here’s a very old track that was given the demented synth treatment by Hase. He can make pretty much any tune sound amazing with his skill on the filters (I’m particularly thinking of his How Low remix from back in the day), and this is another example from around 2005…
This is turning into a good week for releases, isn’t it? Something a little different, but one of my favourite freeform tunes so far this year, Kreatrix/Level 13’s Time is now available for free via the Kreatrix SoundCloud. Twisty synthed, 180bpm freeform isn’t a common sight these days, and this one is absolutely recommended.
