Most people will already have seen this long video from the recent Harder.fi event, but the Japanese crew should appreciate J-Mx and Xelfer playing Awakening in the middle. Looks like it was a nice event, with all sorts of genres getting some play time.
Anyone into the Re-form brand of freeform (that’ll be everyone, surely) will like this – a mid-production video of Laz at work on the upcoming track Decade. Personally I’m not a fan of the dubstep-style bass wobbling that’s popular at the moment (as I’m a dinosaur and can’t let go of the 90s sub), but the tune itself is sounding excellent, with some really good melodies.
Anyway, it’s both very cool and educational to see the track under construction like this, and also good that Re-form are still working on new material. Back to reality after this post though, as I’m going to spend a bit of time on a newish track I’ve been messing around with…very little chance of it turning into anything playable, but you never know.
Substanced is on a production roll right now, including this upcoming tune (set for Hybridize, it looks like), set for release on Hard Underground Music. It’s pretty common that Substanced nails the intro/outro to tunes, but this one is especially nasty, with some real weight to those synths. Post-breakdown it’s a nice catchy melody too, albeit not as evil as you’d expect for something called The Grim Reaper. A quality tune then, definitely one I want to hear through a big PA.
Some fairly recent news was the addition of Sweden’s Heathen to the FINRG crew! It’s been a long while since we’ve had some ‘new blood’, but Heathen’s really been putting in the hours with his DJing and production lately. Add in the fact that you won’t find a nicer guy in the scene, and it all makes perfect sense. Big congratulations to him – let’s hope there are some more tasty tracks/collabs in the works that match the standard of All of Us.
Not long to go until NRGetic Romancer, and it looks like things are unchanged from the cancelled event earlier this month. No Lunch, but it’s still a great lineup that’ll hopefully bring in a good number of ravers – as you’d expect, a fair amount of the takings on the night will be going towards helping people in the badly affected areas.
NRGetic Romancer vs ever free
NRG to the people
2011.4.9(SAT)
@STUDIO CUBE326(http://
Door: 2500Yen / WF: 2000Yen
OPEN 23:00
-NRGetic Romancer-
■DJ
GULD
Full Circle DJs
COGI
PlasmaDancer
■LIVE
Betwixt & Between
■VJ
VX PASTA
コケカキイキイ
-ever free-
■DJ
Kanon (T.H.C./ever free)
狗神 (NITRO-X/NIGHTMARELAND)
TETRA (Gothic Bar Heaven/Club Theatic Show)
Siki (LunaticSabbath/Android+)
Kaz-B(ever free)
Support by FINRG, Full Circle Recordings, Total Discommunication, Kreatrix Recordings and Guhroovy
http://
http://
http://
With the next NRGetic Romancer only a week and a bit away, it’s probably time to start getting back into the swing of things on TYFTH too. I’ve hardly touched freeform for the last few weeks, so I’ll try to catch up in the next few posts..
First of all, here’s an excellent effort at visualising Betwixt & Between’s Awakening, courtesy of Poland’s Tokimeki VJ. We sometimes talk about Awakening as a ‘5am as the sun’s rising’ sort of tune, but (maybe not that surprisingly) it also matches really well to scenes of Tokyo at night.
Anyway, a nice way to start things off again – I’d love to see a few more of these from Tokimeki.
Guld has just let me know that we’re postponing tonight’s NRGetic Romancer (probably until sometime next month). This is obviously related to yesterday’s earthquake and tsunami here – although Tokyo escaped with very little trouble, we’re still without gas, and transport has only just started up again…postponing is definitely the best idea for everyone’s safety.
Everyone I know seems to be fine, but best wishes go to people in the coastal/north eastern areas, where it’s a terrible scene at the moment. You can find an NHK stream of what’s happening here.
Anyone looking to help might find this google page useful, where you can make donations to several different organisations.
Auferstehung was a very classy hardcore release from Invader and Nightforce a few years ago, and in a fit of generosity the guys have made the full Auferstehung EP available to download! The EP includes the original, the harder Blackout remix, and the excellent Full Circle DJs remix with that sharp and nasty synth work.
Anyone who missed out on these tracks back in the day can now get on the case by downloading here.
One of the great things about the early days of hardcore was the way that DJs used happy/dark tunes in the same set, and here’s a really good effort by Meke to do an up-to-date version of the same thing. A glance at the tracklist will tell you a lot about what’s going on here, but Meke covers a million and one genres in 70 minutes or so, from industrial to uplifting hardcore, via twisty-synth freeform and drum and bass. The sheer variety means that you might come across sections that aren’t to your taste – but it’s always interesting to hear a set doing something a bit different with freeform tunes, and it might give the other DJs out there a few new ideas.
00. Cyber Raver Intro (Horzi & Meke)
01. Tactical Sekt – Devil’s Work
02. Siva Six – Line In…Line Down
03. Twisted Freq – Horsehead
04. Euphony & TST – Release The Pressure
05. PCX & DRK SOL – Slammin Da Funk
06. Fretman & Alek F – Fire
07. Smartyz – Beat Me
08. Ultraviolence – Diamonds
09. Phosphor – Shakedown
10. Blood Stain Child – Peacemaker
11. Oli G & Jessica – Miasma
12. Arkitech – Dehumanise 2007
13. Horzi vs Meke – Hardcore Minion
14. Synthwulf – Syndrome of Sanctimony
15. Ultraviolence – Separation (CC Mix)
Correct me if I’m wrong, but this month’s NRGetic Romancer is looking incredible, and might be the best example of timetabling we’ve seen for a while. Siki and I have swapped over this time, so I’ll have to come up with a decent set to match her usual standards, while the rest of the night features (among others) a whole hour of dark psy from TETRA and Cogi, gabber from Kanon and Lunch, and a Betwixt & Between/Guld finale.
There’ll be a guest list for this one, so those in Tokyo or nearby should feel free to get in touch this week!
23:00 Siki
23:50 PlasmaDancer
00:20 Kaz B
00:50 TETRA
01:20 COGI
01:50 Inugami
02:20 Full Circle DJs
02:50 Kanon
03:20 Lunch
03:50 Betwixt & Between
04:20 GULD