After a bit of a delay, the three mix album TATWCV is now online for free download. Head over to the Crush on Hardcore site for full tracklists and the links. I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview of the FINRG set a while back and there are some lovely tunes on there, as well as a nice contrast of styles between JNKS/Swoosh’s first half and Rx/Carbon Based’s second.

An interesting new track from Subi has just gone up on FINRG’s SoundCloud, another rework of the ever-popular Requiem for a Dream theme. It’s a nice track and has some lovely sounds, but it’ll be a difficult one to get into faster sets.

It reminded me though of Beliar’s excellent freeform version, My Tower. It got a lot of play back in the day, but that was quite a while ago now, so there might be a few people unfamiliar with it. Very much worth checking out, but I couldn’t find it with a quick web search.. edit - Luckily BerN actually knows how to search for something, so we’ve now got this link: http://klubitus.org/musiikki.php?id=3920

A few more videos from the Spring Break Cruise have showed up, starting with a good one from J7’s set. Looks like she was playing psy this time, very nice track mixed in after the guitars here.

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SonofSam - Freeform Mix March ‘10  by  MedusaForm

Always nice to come across a new set, and here’s a freeform mix from Son of Sam that’s heavy on the twisty synths. The selection is more than fine, but the main reason I’m giving it a shout is for the really well thought-out transition from Matt England’s Psiosis to Carbon Based’s Eye of the War. As well as that, the first half of the set manages the always tricky job of keeping the sound consistent while using tracks from a lot of different artists, and even if it doesn’t quite keep the same standards up in the second half it’s been way too long since we heard tunes like Darkstar and Noitavasara in a mix.

1. Matt England - Psiosis
2. Carbon Based - Eye of the War
3. Grimsoul - Kadotettu Todellisuus
4. Alek Szahala - Voices of Babylon
5. Nightforce - Raindrops
6. Alek Szahala - Darkstar
7. Alek Szahala - Noitavasara

Really good to see the return of Operation Karma in just over a month’s time. Three guests will be performing - Lunch from THC, Kaz-B and P.R.D, which should mean a nice variety of sets. Don’t forget KA-NA, Minagi and MT, who’ll all be playing Hard NRG/freeform as usual.

What might be the event of the year is taking place at Studio Cube on the 7th May - pretty much every part of Tokyo’s underground/harder scene will be represented at an absolutely massive NRGetic Romancer.

Part of a Japan tour in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, BOOTEK will be headlining as the main guest. As if that wasn’t enough, Energetic Trance’s Munetica and StripE will be performing as ‘friendship DJs’ alongside all the Romancer regulars. Finally, an edition of ever free (!) will take place on Cube’s sub floor, featuring Kanon, Inugami, Kaz-B and HiDE, among others. It’ll be amazing to play alongside so many friends and big names from the scene, and definitely one of my biggest events as a DJ so far. Here’s the full info from the soon-to-be-released flyer:

NRGetic Romancer

BOOTEK JAPAN TOUR in TOKYO

2010.5.7(FRI)
@ARK STUDIO CUBE326(http://www.studiocube326.com)
DOOR:3500yen W.F:3000yen and BOOTEK LIVE Mix CD『BOOTEK ‘LIVE’ @Creamfields』
OPEN 23:00

■SPECIAL SHOWCASE ‘LIVE’
BOOTEK(BOOTEK Records, www.bootekdjs.com)

■ET Friend Ship DJ
Munetica＋StripE (Energetic Trance)

■DJ
GULD
COGI
PlasmaDancer

■LIVE
Full Circle DJs
Betwixt & Between

■VJ
VX PASTA
コケカキイキイ

-ever free floor-

■DJ
Kanon(TOKYO HARDCORE CONSTRUCTION/Party Pill)
狗神(TOKYO HARDCORE CONSTRUCTION)
DJ WILD PARTY(赤線企画)
HiDE(TWIST/xxx)
DJギズモ(ever free/C-NEON)
DJ Kaz-B(ever free/C-NEON)
手乗りおーかみ(ever free)
sxoxa(ever free)
原(NICONICONIGHT)

Support by FINRG, Full Circle Recordings, Kreatrix Recordings, Guhroovy and Anarchy

THC vs Twist turned out to be a really good event, and I’ve just finished uploading some videos. Still need a bit more practice, and could definitely do with an extra memory card or two, but hopefully you can get a decent idea of the atmosphere this time.

The turnout was very good, and it was nice to hear a variety of different sets from the Twist crew. I tried to check out as many as I could in between the usuals from THC. As I arrived WILD PARTY was finishing off his hardcore set, and next up was Twist’s JaQwa. The opening track started with deep subs and ambient pads, and I couldn’t believe it when it turned out to be an ambient dnb track in the style of Horizons. Following that was a classic mashed up amen track, and I was in absolute heaven for 10 minutes or so (even if it was literally just me and VX Pasta dancing to the tunes). Sadly though, the set gradually became more and more ‘modern’, and the breakbeats and pads gave way to two-step drums and Pendulum style wobble basslines. Things changed up again with a long sequence of dubstep tunes that completely confused the crowd, nobody had a clue how they were supposed to dance to them. Full marks for variation, but if only things had kept going in the early style… The video above was taken just at the end of the second track of the set.

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Vangelis - Rachel’s Song (Grimsoul bootleg remix) by FINRG Recordings

Just when I was starting to worry about the lack of melancholy freeform lately, Grimsoul has come to the rescue with a great bootleg of Vangelis’ Rachel’s Song. The main melody is perfect for freeform, and the track goes next level from the main breakdown - the vocal leading into the growly synths is really really nice. It’s available now on the FINRG SoundCloud in .wav format.

THC vs Twist tonight, and Lunch has released a preview just in time. Instead of the usual montage of DJ clips, this one goes the psychedelic route with some great visuals in time to Lunch’s newest remix of Tokyo Hardcore Construction. The second tune (Traffic, by HiDE) isn’t really my thing (mainly because I can’t stand that kind of hardstyle-esque vocal), but shows there could be a good mix of ravers at the event.

Good chance to post this up, too - at the event there’ll be temporary tattoos available, some featuring this extremely awesome THC skull-butterfly thing.

It’s a bit removed from our scene, but definitely worth a mention - hardcore tracks from M-Project and DJ Shimamura were played by Kutski on his latest radio show for the UK’s BBC Radio 1. The show seems to have been a Japanese themed edition, but the rest of the Japanese artists in the ‘freerange mix’ are mostly the more predictable choices like Remo-con, Yoji and Nish. Anyway, this kind of thing would have been unthinkable when I was last back in the UK, so huge credit to Kutski for the selections.