Take a look at the Electronica Exposed site and you’ll see that a lot of vinyl and CD releases are being discounted on a pretty huge scale…£2.00 for a CD album?? Definitely worth checking out, and there’s plenty of Finnish/Japanese freeform there too, of course (including Guld’s Solid State Scouter on Kreatrix Evilution Volume 6).

Thanks to anyone who voted for Guld in the LOUD rankings recently - the results have just been announced and he’s managed to get 19th place! It’s his highest ever placing, and as he was saying today, the rest of the DJs are overwhelmingly techno/house - to get into the top 50 (or even the top 20, this time) when playing such underground Hard NRG is a great achievement.

Huge congratulations to Guld - I think I’ll see if I can pick up a copy of this month’s LOUD to see the rest of the rankings (you might see Munetica in 28th place on that scan, so congratulations to him too).

Thanks to Cogi, April’s set at NRGetic Romancer was recorded after all, so there’s actually something new for me to upload - the first time in over a year (!). I’ve given the set a couple of listens, and overall I’m pretty happy with it….

Cogi recorded it through a mic, so although the quality isn’t amazing, you can hear some of the crowd too, which gives a good idea of the atmosphere during the set. You can also hear how knowledgeable the Romancer crowd is - near the end I go from Freeform Mercury to Supriya, and after about 10 seconds of mixing the two basslines Detch (I think) shouts out ‘Alek Szahala!!’ They really know their stuff.

Here’s the tracklist again, anyway:

1. Nomic - Steradian
2. Nomic - There Is No Escape
3. IAF - Kinky
4. Re-form - Cobra
5. Kevin Energy vs Proteus - London Helsinki Underground (K Complex remix)
6. Albinoni - Adagio in G minor (Nomic remix)
7. EFM-7 - Dream Machine
8. Nightforce - The Second Redemption 09
9. Alek Szahala - Voices of Babylon
10. Sonic - Inside the Ride
11. Substanced - Freeform Mercury (pre-release version)
12. Alek Szahala - Supriya
13. Anomic - This Moment
14. Outro - Nomic

I’m pretty happy with most of the mix combinations, but that There Is No Escape>Kinky mix didn’t sound as good as I was hoping…not too sure what I was thinking there. Brace yourself at the end too - Cogi needed just a couple more minutes to prepare, so I threw in Nomic’s Outro - to tell the truth I forgot it was 190bpm… The speedcore massive (DJ Redd etc) liked it, at least.

Anyway, it’s a good example of the kind of thing I play these days (last weekend was a bit darker, though) - hope you enjoy!

Download here

There are a few videos from Konemetsä floating around, but here’s a great one from Substanced’s Live PA. It’s only a short clip, but you can Proteus dancing away in the crowd…surely a sign that this was a good set.

A couple of very nice Hard NRG mixes have appeared lately, and both are definitely worth checking out.

The first is from Mr Hard NRG himself, Decion, and shows his usual very tight mixing and quality track selection. Another great intro track, as always, and if Hard House/Hard NRG are your favourite genres, then this one is a must listen. Even for people like me who prefer the higher bpms, there’s enough darkness and nasty synths in here to keep the interest up right to the end.

1. Rodi Style & Ben Stevens - In Control
2. Defective Audio Bad Guy Smoked
3. Rodi Style - Mood Killer
4. Marc Johnson & Munkjack - Playtime
5. Sam one - Grimlock
6. Firefox & Valex - Jigga Jive
7. Firefox & Wildfire - Floor Eater
8. Twisted Psycho - Enemies (A.M.G & Dan Dyson Remix)
9. Darrell White & Rico - Come And Get It
10. Grimescale - Mugged
11. Grady G - B.M.T
12. Grady G - Impact
13. Michael Smith - Last Orders

Download here (kuuntele)

Next up is Sweden’s DJ Heathen, and his mix features a strong Japan-influence. Starting off with The Wander of Hesotarou Tankobu, he also covers Guld’s Nightmare Freak and his City of Solitude remix. There are some cracking tunes from Lab 4, Proteus…and a note for Heathen’s own Digital Destruction, a very nice track that shows there could be some quality stuff on the way from him in the future. Aside from a few clashing keys here and there, this one has a great selection and is definitely worth checking out.

1. Betwixt & Between - Wander of Hesotarou Tankobu
2.Paul Maddox - Phaserblade
3. J Nardi & J Dwyer - Evil Genius
4. Adam - Psychopath
5. Heathen - Digital Destruction
6. Lab 4 - The Uprising
7. Guld - Nightmare Freak 2009 (Wonderland)
7. Dj Rx - Hellfire (Proteus remix)
9. Alek Száhala - Iron Squid
10. Betwixt & Between - City of Soltitude (Guld remix)
11. Android Lime - Robot Noize (DJ X remix)
12. Lab 4 - Requiem (Metatron hard mix)

Download here

Heathen also has a new Hard House mix for download here.

A couple of months until the big event in Italy, but the flyer for September’s MASSIVE is already out, and it’s a great design. DJ X, Android Lime, BRK…it’s pretty much guaranteed to be a quality one, this.

It’s less than a month away, so last night we were giving out flyers for next month’s 5th Anniversary event. A bit hard to see here, but the cover is made up of every flyer design so far - Guld designed it himself, and it sounds like it was a pretty tough job to come out with something looking this nice in the end.

The other thing you might notice is that there will be a special Hybridize mix CD on entry….mixed by me! I’ve been messing around with possible tracks for a while now, and there’ll be a good few promos/unreleased material on there, from Finland and Japan. I’m really glad to have a deadline for it, but I’m going to make sure it’s as good I can possibly manage in the time I have - it’s a massive thing to be mixing this for the 5th Anniversary, and thanks go to Guld for the chance to do it. Of course, the mix will be appearing on here eventually too…finally I’ll have something new for people to listen to!

I’ve been really busy with music-related stuff this past week, but I’m back from NRGetic Romancer now and I’ll try to get a post or two up today. First of all, here’s a quick roundup of last month’s Operation Karma - I haven’t seen any video yet, but it was one of the best events I’ve been to in the past year, I think, so it’s definitely worth a mention.

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For anyone who missed the Android Lime and DJ -X vs BRK sets last week, they are now both downloadable. I’ve already given Android’s mix a couple of listens, and it’s great stuff once again. Starting off with hard dance, things get more and more frantic towards the end - my favourite section is probably the mix from DJ Rx’s In Memoriam to Android’s own remix of Hell Night, followed by the Jody 6 remix of Hatral.

Download the set here

I haven’t had a chance to check the DJ -X vs BRK set yet, but I’ll be doing so tomorrow - until then, everyone else can download it from here, too.

So Konemetsä has been and gone, and a lot of the FINRG/Hybridize artists were playing there. I hope we’ll get to hear a few recorded sets, and to start us off here’s one from Substanced. As you can see, it’s full-on freeform all the way with a really high BPM (just as it should be), and runs through a lot of Substanced’s classic older tunes plus Harder Than U Think, Freeform Mercury, that kind of thing. It would have been great to be there for this one…I wonder if anyone took some video during the set?

1. Horzi - The Elegy (Substanced remix)
2. Substanced - Lost Temple
3. Substanced - Escalate
4. Substanced - Worth Fighting For (Konemetsä edit)
5. Substanced & Grimsoul - Harder Than U Think
6. Substanced - Lost Temple Part II
7. Substanced - Dream of You
8. Substanced, Sam One & Horzi - Lionheart
9. Substanced & Horzi - Superior Pressure 09
10. Substanced - Freeform Mercury
11. (Substanced - F!CK ME)

Download here