Things are too busy for much TYFTH action at the moment, but here’s a quick mention of a recentish upload for those who missed it on YT and Mastodon. Einhander’s NRGetic Romancer Live PA is without exaggeration one of the best NRG sets of all time, so it was a happy day when Shimo passed on the recording last month. You’re in for a real treat if you haven’t heard this one before.
There won’t be much (or any) time for TYFTH Lives for the next month or two, but I have a couple more sets from the archives to come.
You know a TYFTH Live roundup is late when the next installment’s already happened, but there’s plenty I’ve wanted to say about this one for a while. As the most melodic set I’ve played for years there was a lot I was trying out to make it a bit more TYFTH-friendly, so let’s have a little look back at how it went.
Of course one of the big goals of the set was to bring some more attention to the Chinese scene. After a few years of really top-quality releases it was probably overdue, but it was the release of show-stopping compilation Thoughost that really convinced me to give it a go. It’s so refreshing to see a new scene’s artists take on melodic freeform in a way that isn’t just chasing the sounds of Transcend, Substanced et al – something the Japanese scene fell into for a long while. Anyway, while I’m no expert on the melodic side of things I did my best to highlight some of the strongest tracks I’ve happened across so far, while still aiming for a smooth set that rewards a few listens.
Thanks to Thoughost I had a few tracks in mind right from the start, but it was Joulez’s beautiful Initiate the Massacre that really got the inspiration going. That intro is just superb, and I wanted to focus on the first half of the track before the atmosphere switches up. Although it took a heck of a lot of work to find the right track for that first transition, I couldn’t be happier with the way Helix slowly takes over. I really had to restrain myself not to overdo the transition, mind, and for a while was practicing a version where Initiate the Massacre came back in for a while. One of those times when less is more, I think.
One of the great things about putting the set together was the chance to use some favourite melodic tracks that I haven’t been able to fit in anywhere else – Meteorite is the first of those, as well as Into the Light, while jumping forwards a little the Phoenix Down – Invoker combo is one I’ve been sitting on since last year.
The first ‘new tracks’ transition is an example of something I worked hard on in the set, as I wanted to have more control over when and where the notoriously long melodic breakdowns would appear in the set. To help me with that I used quite a few breakdown sections as intros, or tried to time the previous track to finish halfway through a breakdown. That’s a nice way to keep the energy up (as with Universe Outsiderz into Garnet), but there’s also beautiful harmony potential aplenty when you mix melodies and strings/pads between the tracks (see 沉渊低语 (Whispers of Looming Shadows) into Dagor Dagorath). Into the Light and Now Or Never is similar, but here a combination of melodies and vocals. I don’t even like the vocals that much (it’s the Morita filters that get me), but the tracks work so well together that I couldn’t resist. The fact that I’ve known about the Attitude Problem transition for a long time helped too, and set things up for a more authentically TYFTH darker section.
Recall is another example of ‘shortening’ the breakdown, but in this part I was also trying to demo how effective a melodic track can be as a contrast in a darker sounding section. It took a lot of experimenting before I happened upon the combo with Access to your Soul, and that crossover point at the final part of Recall’s breakdown makes the change in atmosphere a lot more subtle than I would have expected.
I Think We Can Go To The Moon turned out to be the perfect intro for Whispers, so I repurposed a section of the Betwixt & Between tribute to help get through that section. I might have done some key locking/adjusting the first time around though, as something certainly sounds a bit off in this version. Either way, it gets us into the final section of the set, which I’m very happy with. The brilliantly-titled Lonely Ray is slightly shoehorned in at the end, but a beautiful track to finish on.
This was one of the most enjoyable sets to put together for a while, thanks largely to the inspiration of hearing new Chinese sounds, taking me right back to the early days of mixing Japanese freeform with FINRG. If this mix does a similar job of bringing more attention to the Chinese scene, then that’s mission accomplished. For now, at least – I’ve already got some darker Chinese tracks in mind for the long-in-the-works FINRG set.
The original version of this post was lost to the ether during TYFTH’s recent troubles, so let’s have another try at recommending Shimo’s excellent streamed set from last year. What this one lacks in studio set precision it more than makes up for with live energy, helped by that always top-level Shimo track selection.
That’s not to say there aren’t some very classy transitions – Japanese Ghost Train into Nightmare Freak 2009 is my favourite, but watch out for Take Off into Weather & Escape for an example of how to switch between two quite different tracks. This being Shimo, you can also expect to hear plenty of rarities and unusual tunes, with highlights here ranging from Labyrinth of mind to Desert Eagle.
The set’s progression is its strongest point as it moves from aggressive filters into more uplifting territory. In the orginal version of this post I rather laboured the point that this set wouldn’t have sounded out of place at NRGetic Romancer, but it’s true – there was an uplifting side to the event that especially showed itself during Full Circle and Guld sets. Here Shimo takes it a step further with the selection of Heavenly Beatz, a track I like a lot but definitely crosses the line for Romancer. Rather than flying off into happy hardcore territory, though, the set deserves a respectful nod for taking things in a very original light-and-dark direction for the final three tracks.
Highly recommended, then, for its constant energy and very original tracklist. Don’t forget that Shimo is still playing sets of this quality every week (including plenty of freeform) on her twitch channel.
You’re reading this on TYFTH, so clearly you’ve already checked out Alek Szahala’s Neonya!! Live PA. This post is less about sharing news, then, than it is for giving credit to Alek for the effort he’s clearly put into developing the technical and structural sides of his sets. One of his all time bests, without a doubt.
For more than a decade, Alek’s sets have tended to run the whole range from uplifting to dark, but this is definitely the strongest in the ways it smoothly switches up the atmosphere and cruises through the bpms. It makes you realise how active he’s been lately, with the first half of the set entirely made up of new tracks and edits (including Ascend to the Stars). I can’t stress enough how impressed I am with how the hour is put together – a Live PA is less about mixing in key of course, but this is a far cry from Alek’s sets of a couple of decades ago, where each track would reach its outro and the intro of the next would come in for a few seconds before the switchover. Back then the tracks were so ahead of their time that a simple approach still did the trick, but here there’s a real understanding of the flow of a set, cutting tracks in to maintain the pace or change the atmosphere, as well as some very well chosen longer transitions. The edits do a lot to help with that, the absolute banger of the Lab-4 vs. Strobeflux rework being one of my favourites, as it edits its way in underneath Tears and Whispers.
There’s even a touch of the Melancholias in the use of samples to add some consistency to the set, with ‘I am your only friend’ being a lovely addition that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in 2004. On that note, I’ll admit that the appearance of The Sample in Fuji’s breakdown made me tear up a little, for reasons I’m not entirely sure of. The timely reminder of how much freeform can still move me, maybe? Whatever it was, it’s fittingly followed by a great cut into Blood from the Sky that signals the dark closing sequence, including a superb use of Origami Hearts.
This is next-level Live PA business, in short – if it sounds this good as a recording then it’s hard to imagine the impact it must have had live. Just a quick look at the soundcloud comments shows that some were hearing Alek for the first time, and that surely means there’ll be a few new additions to the growing 2020s freeform intake – this bunch starting in the best way imaginable.
What with all the recent melodic freeform releases on TYFTH and the unusually upbeat Live 012, this excellent set by Lyricals~ is nicely timed. There’s plenty on the tracklist that wouldn’t typically get a mention here, but one of the set’s most impressive points is how it keeps a fine balance between the light and dark(er) with some consistently interesting mixing. Although it appears that Lyricals~ has only been mixing for a couple of years, this mix is an easy recommend for just about any Horser (and far, far more advanced than I was at a similar point).
On a first listen the opening really caught my ear, as Ziki_7’s Ultra Spark is teased in with some nice cuts away from Kokomochi’s Beryl. The eventual switch over is abrupt, but that’s where the teasing does its job, the repetition of those earlier cuts doing a good job to keep things sounding more consistent. It’s soon obvious why Ultra Spark was chosen, as the transition into Nirotiy’s 沉渊低语 (Whispers of Looming Shadows) is top class and one of the best in the whole set. It’s such a hard track to mix out of though (as I learned recently), making the less smooth switch into Abandoned Metropolis understandable. I’m imagining the idea here was to sacrifice a bit of smoothness to keep up a similar atmosphere, which it does well, before starting a wonderful sequence from here to Hommarju’s Zusammengehorigkeit remix. Extra credit should be given for the looping of Zusammengehorigkeit while mixing in over (deep breath…) Large-scale Cryogenic Gravitational Wave Telescope.
That fantastic sequence comes to an end at Origami Hearts, but only just and that’s because I’m being extra picky – it’s one of those transitions that is so close to lining up perfectly that it’s hard not to use it. In most sets this would be one of the highlight transitions, but it falls ever so slightly short of the level that Lyricals~ is obviously aiming for here. Still, top marks for creativity and a moment in the set I enjoyed a lot.
Meanwhile, Lucius into Sunray is as good as you’re going to hear anywhere this year, superbly navigating the chasm between melodic UK/Japanese-style freeform and Alek’s unique atmospheres. More looping extends the transition, and the cut into Sunray is perfectly timed. I still await the day when we see a freeform mix with transitions of this quality from start to finish, but the switch into Neptune is a very worthy follow-up. A complex, lengthy transition, it’s another very good example of how to amoothly shift the atmosphere of a set. The introduction of Back Heaven is really impressive too – sudden in some ways (it would work a treat in a club environment), there’s actually a lot going on here, and the return of Neptune’s melody is a lovely combination of mixing styles that doesn’t outstay its welcome.
From this point the selection leans more into melodic freeform, buiding to a pacy, uplifting finale. Hommarju’s excellent Fall of Icarus had me half-expecting that things would carry on that style for longer (maybe with some ikaruga_nex, that kind of thing), but the switch into less filtery melodies is well-handled, especially from Calamity Drive into I.S.O.L.D.E. There’s a lovely touch of melancholy with Betwixt’s So Sweet Bitter Days, an extremely hard to mix track that I haven’t heard handled as well anywhere else. sustain stumbles in a little bit at the end, but I’d put that down to the brave use of So Sweet and the fact that it’s the last track – I’ve also been know to shoehorn in a transition at the end that isn’t as smooth as the others. It’s also a fine, uplifting climax that ends the set well, totally justifying its selection.
All of which is a lengthy way of saying that this set comes very highly recommended. While obviously not as dark as TYFTH’s In Praise of Shadows ideal, this set touches on some of those atmospheres in a new way, with some superb, considered mixing that’ll only get better as Lyricals~ becomes more experienced. Give it a try, I’ll be interested to hear what other Horsers make of this unusual, inspiring combination of new styles and some of our old favourites.
One of the other big releases recently was a lot less conventional than Ephemanent, showing what a good state the scene is in these days – at least in terms of new tracks being produced. Escape the Time is more on the freeform fringes, what with the very strong psy/hi-tech influences, but it’s definitely worth a TYFTH mention as one of the most diverse EPs there’s been for a while.
While the first two tracks are probably the furthest from freeform, I really enjoy the progression of Impending Flux and the goa-esque melodies that appear in the second half. This is one that really could find a good home in a darker, psychedelic set. Depths of Phantasmagoria starts as my favourite track on the EP, but slightly loses steam by heading in a less goa direction from the breakdown onwards. Following that is the excellent new version of Cinder Glade, then more quality Nirotiy, this time with a remix of Elk Cloner.
Although this might not be an EP you’ll have on repeat given how unusual most of the tracks are, there are some brilliant ideas in here and it deserves support. There’s a lot of mixing potential here too, so there’ll very likely be a future TYFTH set appearance for at least a couple of these.
With a big list of posts on the to-do list, let’s get going with one of the more obvious ones. Or is it that obvious, given that it’s on the lighter side? Either way, Ephemanent from Chinese label Thoughost is as good a compilation of melodic freeform as you’ll find anywhere this year, even with plenty of it around at the moment.
Overall it shows a strong Japanese/UK influence with breakbeats, pianos, and breakdowns long enough to take a little nap before the drop – but this is high quality stuff, and many of the melodies are a step above what we tend to hear these days. I used quite a few in my TYFTH Live set (more on that pretty soon) and while they are some of the strongest on the compilation there are some more typical TYFTH tracks tucked away in here too. The favourite for me is probably MiYAjY’s Nightmare Trigger, an aggressive track that builds into a quality atmosphere, partly thanks to those nicely gritty filters. Joulez’s Bezerk is also a highlight, with a Betwixt feel to the structure and melodies.
Elsewhere it’s more of what you’d expect, with two great contributions from Nirotiy to finish things off. Perhaps not a gold star TYFTH recommendation – only a few of the tracks would be contenders for me in a ‘normal’ TYFTH set – but if you’re looking for a break from the dark side and want to build up your collection of modern melodic freeform, this is definitely the place to start.
The recent M3 event in Tokyo was a big one for freeform, with a cluster of albums and EPs released. Until the last minute I was supposed be there too, but thankfully everything I had my eye on has since become available online/digitally. Although last weekend’s TYFTH Live featured a few of the new tracks (more on that soon), it didn’t end up including anything from the most TYFTH-friendly album of them all – Khaosnet Civilization Vol.4.
Impressively from a lineup heavy on newer artists (and even the more experienced here haven’t been around for that long) the track selection gave me some In Praise of Shadows-esque first impressions. Granted there’re some uplifting sounds here and there, but the album as a whole sounds like it’s taking on the darker and deeper sounds that IPoS was trying to resurrect. No NRG here though – it’s freeform all the way with some of the bpms really getting up there.
Picking a track of the album is tough, but I’ll go for Elfen lied – instantly my all-time favourite Kokomochi track, the first five minutes or so is some of the best dark freeform you’ll hear all year (in a year when there’s actually some competition). Add in some Guld-esque filtered melodies and you have one heck of a track, which is already on the to-play list for my darker FINRG set.
Other highlights for me are Ri-nergy’s Empty Dream, Samiyama’s Azelf, and polaritia’s Strange Dream, but truth be told the quality level is very high throughout. Even Kannami’s Lose Control, a track that seems to have more of a Transcend/UK freeform influence, adds more darkness than you’d expect with some weighty filters.
Compilation of the year, then? It’s in the lead for now, I’d say. Congrats to Kokomochi on this release – another sign of hope in a scene that really seems to be waking up again.
Some will have heard this pretty spectacular acid freeform track when it appeared on Nirotiy’s SoundCloud recently. Following up one of the best ever remixes of an Alek track isn’t easy, but Ray of Oblivion makes a fine job of it, keeping the Alek influence but sounding much more experimental than Iron Squid.
What you might not have noticed was its release on the huge compilation of harder Chinese sounds The Silent Xosmos -United and Unbound –. While the compilation itself is far too all over the place to get a TYFTH gold star, Irish Kappa’s Fabulous Action and Valtrax’s Recall are two quality freeform tracks on the melodic side. Have a browse through the rest of the album for everything from hardstyle to makina – if you have a Shimo-level range of listening/mixing tastes then this could be the album for you.
It’s no secret that getting the psychedelic/goa influence back into freeform is one of my goals these days, but interestingly this lovely album is coming at things from the opposite direction. Clearly from a psy/goa background (or at least with more experience in that area), Yogga* shows a good ear for when and how to introduce NRG/freeform sounds to all seven of the tracks here.
It’s probably the kick and bass that most betray the lack of freeform experience (and the occasional happy hardcore-esque combined kick and clap definitely takes some getting used to), but get past that and you’re in for an excellent listen. If anything, the opening track (Seratonin) is the least freeform of them all, sounding more like a pacy, acoustic goa set-ender. Still a lovely track, mind, nicely setting up the atmosphere for the rest of the album.
Oxytocin is one I can definitely imagine fitting into a freeform set, with some excellent goa acid and filtered synths leading into a quality breakdown. Unfortunately it is on the shorter side – the album is seemingly put together to be listened to in its entirety, which means DJs might have trouble with a couple of the tracks (the excellent Dopamin, especially). Saying that, they’re in a pretty consistent key and it wouldn’t be difficult to mix a few of them back to back – the beautiful Endorphine and Melatonin are two of the most emotional, psychedelic tracks and would be an especially nice combo, I suspect.
What a unique, enjoyable album this is, then. Fitting some of these into a set could be perfect way to introduce some new atmospheres – I’ll be having a practice with them very soon.
