Level 13 – Is That All by Level13
Level 13 is back again with a stormer of a track – only a preview up for the time being, but there could be some release information coming very soon. Is That All mixes trance and NRG, with plenty of vocals and some fantastic melodies being messed around with by those trademark filters. I was really impressed with this one, it’s definitely a tune to keep a look out for.
It’s a while since we’ve had a Decion set on TYFTH, but Turbulence is right up there with his best. As seems to be the case with a lot of them, I’m keener on the tracks at the beginning of the set than the end, but that could just be unfamiliarity with the tunes coming through. The mixing is absolutely top quality, and the only disappointment is the lack of Alchemiist tracks this time – they always seem to give the mixes just that little bit of variety. Putting that to one side, this is another must-listen set for NRG fans, and easily saw me through a whole day of train journeys today.
Now this looks more than promising – Nitro X will be covering all sorts of harder genres, and there are a whole host of killer names on the bill. Standout DJs are THC’s Inugami and Azsa, but there’s also a live PA from suge, a performance from THC’s scratch-demon NDE and a potentially incredible ‘Hardcore Regiment’ b2b(2b?) featuring Azsa, Kanon and Betwixt & Between.
DJs
Inugami
Azsa
Kee
5364
MIYUKISS
Live PA
suge
REEZENT
Showcase
Hardcore Regiment (Azsa+Kanon+Betwixt & Between)
NDE Hardcore Juggling Show
All the video has finally been uploaded, so let’s take a look at what went on at the last NRGetic Romancer. This one was very special, with the 6th Anniversary the reason for a massive collaboration between Romancer, ever free and Adrenaline. It ended up being the event of the year so far, with a brilliant mixed crowd that really went for all the different styles being played.
As for me, it was probably my best set of the year too, maybe because I just went all out with a high bpm right from the start. The timing of the event worked out perfectly too, with some absolutely amazing tracks being completed just in time. We’ve got quite a lot of video this time from Soham, Kaz-B and my pixellated mess of a camera, so click below to check them all out.
I’m really happy to give Matt England’s new blog a shout here – Freeform Sound will be covering all sorts of interesting stuff, with a focus on production tips, interviews and track showcases. It’s hard to be anything but impressed with Matt’s sound these days, and this new project definitely deserves some support.
Take a look at the latest posts here.
Last weekend was Dreams Into Harder, and despite the really low turnout/bit of admin chaos it was all great fun to take part in. In the end it turned out to be a good choice to go with breakbeat hardcore, what with everyone else playing high bpm trancey happy hardcore.
Standout set was DJ 490’s very technical happy hardcore, with NEMO’s Scouse House a close second. DJ Minagi’s Anison (anime soundtrack!) and hard trance was a thing to behold – I didn’t have a clue what was going on half the time, but he mixed it all amazingly well. My set was so much fun to play that I actually re-recorded it at home last night – click below for the tracklist/mp3 and some photos from the event.
Rob.O.T.T – Sound & Fury by Thank You For The Horse
I’ve been meaning to do something a bit more productive with the ‘Tracks’ section for a while now, and thanks to the artists involved things are finally looking good for this brand new version. Instead of that messy collection of mediafire links, from now on the tracks will be up on their very own SoundCloud, which will make promoting/sharing tunes a lot easier. Hopefully this will make it a genuinely useful way of getting some of the newer guys some exposure – there will be links to it up on Facebook, among other things.
To kick off the revamp we have four fantastic tracks from Aquanox and Rob.O.T.T – how none of these have been signed up before I’m not too sure, but I’m incredibly grateful to both guys for making them public here. Aquanox’s Killer Loop will be familiar to a lot of people, a top quality tune with real pace to it and some brilliant acid lines. I was this close to playing at last month’s Romancer…
The other three tunes are from Hybridize’s Rob.O.T.T, but instead of his usual hard trance/hard dance, this time he’s taking on freeform! All three tunes nicely mix the UK and Finnish styles, and as you’d expect there are some great melodies, complete with plenty of freeform style filtering. My personal favourite is probably Sound & Fury, but don’t miss the haunted housecore of Creation or the awesome melodies of New Direction.
Thanks a million to both Aquanox and Rob once again. By the way, I’ve started ‘following’ a few fellow TYFTHers on SoundCloud, feel free to do the same if I haven’t found you yet!
Tyranoid/Strongstream – Burn 1 [selected works 2008-2010] by FINRG Recordings
A very welcome new set from Tyranoid/Strongstream here, this time with the focus on their slower industrial/acid tunes. As you’d expect, the mix progression is spot on with the lovely Unity remix starting things off, and nasty acid everywhere you look in the second half (including a nice remix of Segmentation Fault). Give yourself time to get into the bpm, then, and this is a really quality set.
By the way, there should be a bit of site news coming later today or (more likely) tomorrow
Time for Shiva-Ura Sound/Dreams Into Harder this coming weekend, and I’m fairly pleased with the tracks I’ve managed to find so far. The idea will be to play some happier breakbeat tunes without going into the wobbly basslines of modern jump-up drum and bass, but there’s still some more work to do before I’ve got a selection worth bringing along on Saturday. Anyway, it’ll be nice to play a post-midnight set for once, and I’m quite looking forward to checking out some of the main floor DJs, too.
23:00-00:20 Nagi♪aka 擂夢
00:20-1:00 Plasmadancer
1:00-1:40 DJ AEMI
1:40-2:20 DJ MERCHEN DIVER
2:20-3:00 DJ 490
3:00-3:40 Abitan
3:40-4:20 Clavia MAXXHEART
4:20-5:00 NEMO
DJ Shimamura – Tokyo Hardcore Music All Night Long- RBM028A (forthcoming) by ReBuild_Music
Not really anything to do with freeform, but while researching some happier tunes for the Dreams Into Harder set I came across this upcoming track from DJ Shimamura. Due out on ReBuild, it’s a nice (if fairly standard) example of his style these days, but the thing that caught my attention was the breakdown. In amongst the chopped up amens is the melody that plays when trains arrive at Mejiro station, the nicest place in central Tokyo (and coincidentally where I live).