With next month’s CODEX appearing over the horizon it’s (ahem) just about time to look back at the first edition. It turned out to be my favourite event since 10 Years of FINRG, as despite the low crowd turnout the track selection and lineup was as good as you’ll find anywhere in the freeforming world.

The sounds were pure TYFTH from start to finish, maybe best illustrated by the fact that every single DJ managed to play at least one Alek Szahala track (with no repeats!). Let’s hope that next month can match it, and that word has spread enough to entice a few more Romancer ravers out of retirement.

The night opened with a fantastic set from NONAKA+CHIN, starting with My Sickness and hammering through some Finnish classics for most of the hour. As the only DJ with some vinyl, he made use of Alek Szahala’s wonderful FINRG Hard version of Unholy Word, while still finding time for the occasional lighter touch (see the video below). This was a twisted, brilliantly-mixed start to the event that really set the tone.

Alabaster was next with his 80 minute guest set. Just before heading off to the booth he told me how surprised he was by NONAKA’s starting ferociousness – Alabaster had planned to ease things up from a relatively tame opening, and so the bpms dropped dramatically once his set began. It’s been far too long since we’ve seen Alabaster at work, and right from the start his trademark thoughtful, well constructed style kept the interest high while the set’s speed increased. As things progressed he mixed in a few of his own classics, as well as the brand new Failytale, and was hurtling along in full freeform mode by the end. A top quality comeback then, and I’m really happy to see him on the lineup for next month’s event.

What a lineup this was – next came Le Dos-on with a showcase of his newer material mixed with some FINRG anthems. His mixing is progressing very nicely, now enabling him to bring in new tracks at a fantastic pace that gives his sets a very distinctive feel. Many of his 2013 releases made it into the set, as well as the upcoming remix of Morokai (definitely my favourite Le Dos-on track this year), but he ended things with an excellent selection of Religion X. As I already had my intro planned we were able to enjoy the tune to the very end, a fitting climax to such an aggressive, melodic set.

I was next, and as the second of the night’s guests I had a whole 80 minutes to play with. Planning had given me a few troubles here and there (what else is new?), but in the end this was probably my best set since last year’s Betwixt & Between tribute – although it was my most technically challenging set to date I thoroughly enjoyed myself, which has to be a good sign. I had originally come up with some of this set during prep for London’s Munted!, but found room for some extra promos and darker moments that a slightly more Finland/Japan savvy crowd might pick up on. Here was the tracklist, then:

01. Proteus – Freedom
02. Thanatos – Rise (Render Regalia remix)
03. ikaruga_nex – Dilapidated
04. Hase – Brionac
05. Alek Szahala – Caballo 2004
06. Betwixt & Between – Tout est Bien (Sein zum Tode)
07. Nomic – Human Race part II
08. Betwixt & Between – Self Extortion
09. Pain on Creation – Lush
10. Qygen – Neon Circuit Boards
11. Betwixt & Between – Gravity’s Rainbow
12. Alek Szahala – The Railgun
13. Vangelis – Rachel’s Song (Grimsoul remix)
14. Alek Szahala – Darkstar
15. Betwixt & Between – Ultra World 6
16. Nomic – Painajaiskarkoittaja
17. Blender & Nomic – Battle of Dawn
18. Twisted Freq – Saturn Atmosfear
19. Aryx – Helix
20. Alek Szahala – Last of the Mohicans

The intro of Freedom was originally used in London as a mid-set surprise track (as in the Smiling Corpse mix), but here I decided to go for the ‘throw it in at the beginning’ option. It is one hell of a starting track though, so it’s not as if the set suffered in any way. Other than that…looking back at the tracklist I remember why I enjoyed it so much, with lots of psychedelic elements among the melancholy that managed to keep the pace up for the whole set (a crucial factor that I wasn’t getting right for a long time during practice). The Saturn Atmosfear – Helix ‘connection’ came to me after listening to some old LTJ Bukem sets for inspiration, and although I won’t be making a habit of it, here I think it really worked to freshen things up for the final 10 minutes or so.

I was obviously very happy with the set – but then you’d really hope so after working on it for the previous 6 or 7 months. As always, massive thanks to all the artists for their help, and special heartfelt shouts to Mayu, Guld, ASAHI, Mii and everyone else for their support on the night. Final, enormous thanks to Raqhow for asking me to play in the first place, as well as for his assistance before and during the event.

Hardcore stalwart Asza was up after me, and we were treated to yet another hour of aggressive Finnish/UK freeform. His experience away from the freeform scene paid off here, as his set was especially hard-hitting and very dancefloor friendly, even sneaking in some gabber towards the end. Fans of the 2005-2007 era of FINRG would also have been right at home, which proved to be the perfect counterpoint to the newer tracks served up by Raqhow.

Raqhow’s finale was a really solid set, mixing FINRG anthems with some newer material from artists like Substanced and Amini. Another hour of tracks like Dryad Machine, Reincarnation and Almegiddo flew by, finished with the wonderful Lacrima as an encore. Raq’s selection was perfect for the final set of a freeform-only event, and would have been a great one for the new freeform listeners we’re hoping to attract to CODEX.

What a perfect night for freeform fans, then – if anything is going to revive the genre in Tokyo it’s this sort of event. Congratulations to Raqhow on a superbly organised first step, and here’s hoping that 2014 will bring more of the success that CODEX deserves. For more of Mizuho’s awesome photography, check out the event’s entry on her Flickr page.