Some video from this month’s Sinistry is finally appearing, including this dark-but-atmospheric clip of Alek Szahala playing Iron Squid. Looks as if Alek’s set was as well-received as ever, though I’d love to see a tracklist and some more video/photos, if there are any floating around online.

The master has returned! Nomic is back with Suicide Machine, a brand new track on Smiling Corpse that has all the signs of becoming a future classic. While in Finland I was lucky enough to hear a work-in-progress at Nomic’s studio, and even the day after the guitars had been recorded it was already a phenomenally complex tune. The guitars add some real weight to the pre-breakdown, while the melodies are just beautiful - reminding us once again that Nomic’s in a league of his own when it comes to danceable melancholy.

The next I Love Hard Beats is coming up in a couple of months, featuring a Substanced - Aryx b2b (!), and to mark the occasion the HBC crew have posted a quick interview with Aryx. Sounds like it’ll be quite an event, and Aryx will have yet more new material ready to play.

Facebook fans can (hopefully) check this link for the full interview.

Here’s a very highly recommended set from Olly Addictive (of Smiling Corpse infamy), mixed just before last week’s Sinistry over in the UK. This was a really nice surprise, from the creative tracklist to the interesting mixing - fans of the older FINRG sound, filtered hoovers and acid will feel right at home, with Olly’s pacing and selection absolutely spot on.

Photic Zone is an excellent choice to start, and there’s a great blend of nasty filters and melodies in the first half. The overall atmosphere of the set is pleasingly dark, while any fears that things might tail off after the promising opening are put to rest with some quality connections like Geneva II - Kadotettu Todellisuus and the mad-but-it-works Adagio - The Definition of Freeform. This has been my commuting soundtrack for a couple of days now, and is absolutely worth a download.

01) Weirdo - Photic Zone 
02) The Mexican - Land of the Pharaohs (Carbon Based Remix) 
03) Tempestarii - Lightning Force 
04) Carbon Based & DJ Rx - Reptile 
05) Oli G - Cordelia 
06) Raver Rose & Thermal Force - Eternal Cannon (DJ Rx Remix) 
07) Substanced - Geneva pt. II 
08) Grimsoul - Kadotettu Todellisuus 
09) Lost Soul - Outta My Brain 
10) Endemic - Loki 
11) Mark Ashley & K-Complex - Imitation of Life 
12) Nomic - Unique Mind (Horzi Remix) 
13) Alek Száhala - Barber’s Adagio for Strings 
14) Tazz & Shanty ft. MC Drew - The Definition of Freeform (Olly Addictive Remix) 
15) Scott Brown - Boomstick

Wonderful to see that Betwixt & Between is getting back into music again, starting with a set this Friday at KOTOBUKI NIGHT in Aoyama. He’s also been looking through his back catalogue, and recently uploaded an old (and previously unheard) track called I Believe Nothing.

It’s vintage Betwixt, with some beautiful melodic sections up against dark semi-industrial hardcore - an awesome combination, and the unusual style suggests all sorts of possibilities for use in a set. Although it’s absolutely deserving of a real release, for the time being it’s downloadable here.

This is a set from last month that I’ve only just had a chance to check out - ASAHI is making really big strides now that he’s resident at Dark Dimension, and seems to being doing a great job of finding a new audience for his style of NRG/Freeform.

Final Destination starts off in traditional ASAHI/AT style with a Nomic track, this time it’s Falling Star, with a lovely transition into PoC’s Adaption. The rest of the set is full of nice selections that most Horsers will approve of, but interesting to hear BRK’s new FINRG releases (The Nobodies and Keep on Pushing) back-to-back, something he also tried at one of last year’s Destroyed Highs.

A really nice set then, and for anyone also into dark electro/industrial ASAHI has recently upped a Dark Dimension style mix that’s also well worth a listen.

Having been back a month now, I’m unfortunately remembering the many things I dislike about this city - thank the heavens for today’s event at Club Asia then, which turned out to be the perfect escape and a great gathering of ravers from the various sub-scenes around Tokyo. Of course I was mainly there to see Guld, and almost everyone from the NRG scene was there too, from the NRGetic Romancer crew to producers/DJs like Alabaster and Asahi.

I was a bit late arriving, and Guld was already on his third tune, a truly brutal new track from him that I’d heard before, but sounds incredible through a big PA (there’s a release forthcoming, so stay tuned). The rest of his set was dark, aggressive and heavy on the vocals, with Nomic’s New Shit remix and Einhander’s excellent One Immortal both making it in. As usual I was dancing through most of it, but stopped to take a video during the Einhander remix of Sagittarius, another Guld favourite of the past year. The whole set went down surprisingly well with the mostly tech-dance and cheery UK Hardcore crowd, but just goes to show once again that if people have the chance to listen to our genre it’ll make them move.

That’s a big if these days though, and a few of us were chatting about freeform’s worrying recent decline in Tokyo. The DJs and producers are (mostly) still around though, so hopefully we’ll be able to build things back up again during the rest of this year.

The lineup over at Smiling Corpse is looking better by the minute, as this latest track is comfortably in my best 3 of the year so far (alongside Aryx’s The End of All Things remix and Le Dos-on’s Intro). Morokai is an Aryx take on the darker side of freeform, his first since he’s achieved so much success with releases over the past year or so. The 10 Years of FINRG crew might recognise this tune - Aryx pulled out all the stops to finish a 10 Years of FINRG edit just a few days before I left Japan (for which I’m forever in his debt). There it absolutely did the business towards the end of the set, slotted in between two Betwixt tracks, and hearing it again now brings back all sorts of awesome memories.

This version has a few new elements in the breakdown and some improvements to the mastering, but it was a phenomenal track anyway and even amongst the quality stuff on the way from SC this’ll surely be a standout release.

An excellent recent upload from mixu was Carbon Based’s Lost in Space, a tune that has never seen the light of day on FINRG and I’m not sure I’ve ever heard before either. It’s a brilliant tune, with a wonderful main melody and some classic CB filters, though there might not be quite enough going on to fill the full 10-minutes. Anyway, an unheard Carbon Based tune’s always a treat, so thanks as always go to mixu for digging this one up from somewhere.

Proteus’ newest mix album is on the way next week, with a very tasty looking tracklist and plenty of support for the Japanese scene, as you’d expect. There are also a couple of tunes from Proteus’ newest project Skylight, and I’m really looking forward to hearing how it all fits together.

01. Proteus - New Dawn
02. Skylight - Devil Down (Instrumental)
03. Skylight - Stargate (Original)
04. DJ Husband - Activate (Proteus Remix)
05. Proteus - Sucker! (Main Mix)
06. Atari Teenage Riot - Black Flags (Muffler Remix)
07. Antolini & Montorsi - Are Am Eye (Original Mix)
08. Tnt Aka Technoboy ‘N’ Tuneboy And Kutski - Sucksess (Extended Version)
09. Wragg & Log One Vs Ian Cross - Run For Cover
10. Betwixt & Between - Wanderer Of Hesotarou (Proteus Remix)
11. Satronica - Blood On Fire (Waldhaus Vinyl Rmx)
12. Kevin Energy & Proteus - London Helsinki Underground (Proteus 2011 ‘Warcy’ Remix)
13. Proteus - Get Fire!
14. Substanced & Alchemiist - Skullcrush
15. D-Passion - Pride       16. Guld - Hannya X (Proteus ‘Kampai Forever’ Remix)