It’s the quietest summer for a few years, but there are still some great tracks out there. A few of these have had some play time in my off-the-cuff ustream sets, and might even end up in the next ’studio mix’ (which I’m finally starting to think about again).
One of the things that has inspired me to do another real mix is this unbelievable Prodigy-only set from Bluefire. It was originally posted 5 years ago (!), but I dug it out again after listening to the Experience album this past week. Prodigy tunes aren’t really set up for mixing (as anyone who has tried will tell you), which makes some of the double drops/epic transitions in Bluefire’s set even more amazing. It’s absolutely recommended for anyone who hasn’t heard it yet, and after the slower opening section it thankfully concentrates on the Experience/Jilted Generation era. Check out Bluefire’s original post on Dogs On Acid, there might be an active link there somewhere.
A belated Top Ten for June - this month I’ve been listening to some other stuff in preparation for the next event, so I won’t include any of that. If I could get away with it, Alek Szahala’s Phobos would easily be in the top 5…but let’s wait and see if a finished version appears one day.
Two videos this time, both from Future Sound Of London’s Lifeforms album. If you haven’t heard it before, it includes some of the most inspiring/creative electronica you’ll find anywhere, and is almost certainly their best release (though Dead Cities runs it close). I was listening to it again for some ideas the other day, and it’s hard to believe it came out 16 years ago…
One more thing - in recent weeks the site has been under attack from a huge amount of (increasingly bizarre) spam, so it’s possible I might have missed a comment or two in the middle of it all. Please send an email to plasmadancer [ at ] ymail.com if you think yours might have been one of them.
Been a long time since the last Top Ten, but there was talk of me playing another gig this month (it’s been delayed, but hopefully it’ll still happen at a later date) so that stopped me posting until now. Some very melancholy/emotional tunes in here this time, seems like this year I’ve really settled on the style I like best…
In other news I’ve got a couple of tunes on the go - one remix and one original. Really hoping I’ll have at least one of them done in a week or two, but we’ll see…
Betwixt & Between - Point of No Return
Alek Szahala - Voices of Babylon
Steve Morley - Sacred City (Nomic remix)
Alabaster - Revenant
Apofish - Echiuridi
Nomic - Desolated Dreams
Betwixt & Between - From the Abyss
Re-form - My Sickness
Guld - Final Revenger (Another Future)
RR - ThermalForce - Rockin’ (Phosphorescence mix)
Today’s random video at the top of the post is great, I reckon - genius vocalist/musician Bobby McFerrin conducting an audience through the pentatonic scale. With a million-and-something views you’ve probably seen it before, but I could watch this one all day… If you’re lucky enough not to have come across his shows on YouTube, definitely take some time to check them out - a few minutes ago I was watching this improvised duet with the ever-amazing Aziza Mustafa Zadeh.
The first Top Ten for quite a while, but first here’s an amazing tune I completely forgot about until a couple of days ago. This week I’ve been listening to a very nice mix of Photek’s mid-90s dark, minimal tunes, and UFO is right in the middle of the set. It has some of the best use of voice samples I’ve ever heard, taking lines from the audio recording of the UFO sighting at Rendlesham Forest in the UK (here’s the second half of the recording that Photek sampled). Whether it’s a hoax or not (!) there are about a million sample-worthy lines, and Photek used them perfectly. With his trademark drums, amazing sub bass and weird sounds, it’s a special tune, no mistake.
Anyway, back to freeform:
Nomic - Muuttolintu
Alek Szahala - Lagash
Nomic - Walking in the Air
Alek Szahala -Astraia
Substanced - Crank Cleopatra
Guld - Hannya X (Proteus “Kampai Forever” remix)
Betwixt & Between - Nemesis
Poly Calamity - Unam Sanctam
Nightforce - Symphony for the Devil (The Virus Escaped)
Here’s the second big post of the day, but hope it’s an interesting one - just in time for the end of the year I’ve managed to ask around the biggest names here for their top 3 tunes of the past year. Some of the guys and girls have been playing a lot of older tracks, so it’s more of a ‘tracks you’ve played a lot’ than a ‘tracks that were released in 2009′ kind of list. One big miss you’ll notice is Betwixt & Between - that’s completely my fault, I forgot (!) until this morning that I hadn’t asked him yet. If he gets back to me in the next few days I’ll add him to the list.
This’ll be the last post of 2009, so I’d just like to add a massive thanks to everyone who has supported TYFTH through the past year. It’s been amazing to see more and more people checking the site, leaving comments, and giving me support too - I really appreciate it. Also a huge kiitos goes to Guld and the FINRG crew for obvious reasons.
So, I hope the lists are worth a look - there were some new tunes for me in here too, and just from the three tracks you can get a nice idea of each DJ’s style. If you had your own favourites this year, definitely feel free to add a Top 3 in the comments section.
I was at Studio Cube again (!) last night, for the TRANCE Halloween event, featuring former Velfarre resident John Robinson. Of more interest to me was the 4th ‘Hard’ floor, as Zio, Minagi and Aemi were all playing. There might be some video/photos on the way, so stay tuned. The roundup of last week’s NRGetic Romancer will be here tomorrow, too.
Lately I’ve been listening to Nookie again, so here are a couple of my favourite remixes by the great man. The first is a rework of Omni Trio’s Soul Promenade - try to overlook the dodgy sounding piano, this is a perfect example of what jungle was all about back then. That breakdown and the drums at 3.00… Next is a remix of Goldie’s Inner City Life - a seminal tune if ever there was one - Nookie uses some of my favourite breakbeats and a chopped up amen on this version.
Now the Hybridize CD is ‘out’ I can put up a late Top Ten of what I’ve been into over summer. There’s been some great stuff from Hybridize lately (and there’s more on the horizon too), definitely stepping into the gap left by the few FINRG releases. I thought I’d take a break from freeform while I was on holiday, but ended up listening to Alek’s tunes on a Vietnamese beach..it didn’t really fit the mood, but I had to get my fix somewhere.
The video above was taken at August’s NRGetic Romancer - another amazing set from Cogi. I’ll try to get on the case with a proper report once some photos etc eventually turn up…
Alek Szahala - Sunray
Nomic - Desolated Dreams
ADAM Lab 4 - Psychopath (Proteus Hard Boiled remix)
Not much going on this week, so in the meantime here’s a late Top Ten for last month. The video above is by Samuel Cockeday…Tokyo might look a bit of a mess during the day, but you’d have a hard time finding a more amazing city once the lights come on, and this is a great piece of work.
Substanced - Freeform Mercury
Nomic - Steradian
Alek Szahala - Voices of Babylon
Horzi - The Elegy (Cyrez remix)
ADAM Lab 4 - Psychopath (Proteus Hard Boiled remix)
Betwixt & Between - From the Abyss
Kanon vs Lunch - You Controlling
Betwixt & Between - The Wander of Hesotarou Tankobu
A bit late with this one, but here’s the top ten for last month. Still no report from NRGetic Romancer, but a few of the tunes in my playlist are here - look out for Freeform Mercury, which I think is one of Substanced’s best tunes yet.
The video up top is a preview of what’s to come when I can gather up the others from NRGetic Romancer - this one features Miran dancing with a ‘double face’. It looks incredibly, incredibly cool, and you might notice Voices of Babylon playing in the background - guess whose set this was?
Anyway, I was listening to plenty of 170bpm+ tunes last month:
Substanced - Freeform Mercury
Nomic - Steradian
Alek Szahala - Voices of Babylon
Psycho Keaton - Hell Night (Android Lime remix)
DJ X Lab 4 - Requiem (Heart of Darkness)
Grimsoul - Moment of Wonder
Nightforce - The Second Redemption 09
ADAM Lab 4 - Psychopath (Proteus Hard Boiled remix)
Alabaster - The Clairvoyance (Distortion Girl)
Betwixt & Between - Tankobu Hesotarou no Houro/The Wander of Hesotarou Tankobu
