Thanks to Cogi, Eirik and Soham, we’ve got plenty of photos and video to show what happened at last week’s NRGetic Romancer, even if my audio recording didn’t come out too well at all (I’ll know better next time, at least). The numbers were pretty respectable given what’s happened in the last month, so we should have raised a decent amount for people affected by the earthquake/tsunami.

There was plenty of variety too, with NRG, gabber, dark psy, drum and bass and hardcore all making an appearance this time around. The video at the top of the post shows Yumi and Soham glowing their way through TETRA’s (or maybe Cogi’s) set, but first up was Siki, also playing dark psy…

Siki and I swapped around this time, so she opened the event with a brilliant set that turned into a perfect intro to my freeform. She started off with dark psy, gradually easing up the bpm and switching into schranz. By the end it was well into the 160s and had warmed the (still pretty sparse) crowd up nicely. It’s unusual these days that I have a DJ playing before me, but very rarely do they keep in mind what kind of stuff I’ll be playing – it made a big difference here.

My set went pretty well, and I managed to fit a lot of new stuff into the 40 minute set time. I’ve been practicing some quick connections between tracks, but it’s been so long since I heard the tunes through a big PA that I had some early nerves as I readjusted to the massive sound. Anyway, special thanks to Eirik, Akibakei and AT for making it along in time, while set-related thanks go to Substanced, Alchemiist, Nomic and Horzi.

The tracklist, then:

01. Epyx & Cyrez meets Heathen – All of Us
02. Proteus & DJ X – Full Metal Jacket
03. Horzi – The Elegy (Cyrez remix)
04. Epyx & Cyrez – Risk Addiction (Substanced remix)
05. Alek Szahala – Voices of Babylon
06. Alchemiist – Parasite
07. Betwixt & Between – Tankobu Hesotarou no Hourou (Proteus remix)
08. Marilyn Manson – This is the New Shit (Nomic remix)
09. Re-form – My Sickness
10. Horzi – Human Hater

Here’s a video from Eirik, taken near the end of the set – This is the New Shit still has a bit of an unmastered feel to it, with some weird things going on with the bass/kick, but it sounds like I could have EQed it a bit better when mixing it with My Sickness (that is my job, after all). Listen out for the vocal coming back in after the MS breakdown though, I was quite happy with that, at least..

The idea for this set was to be aggressive, heavy on the filters, and not have too many long breaks. That side of things worked well, and tunes like Proteus’ Hesotarou and Risk Addiction really did the business. Parasite and Human Hater are awesome tracks too, it was nice to put together a set of almost entirely new material after moaning about the state of the scene for the last couple of months.

Kaz-B’s set was his typical anthem frenzy, which is what the crowd seemed to be waiting for, as a lot of THC regulars arrived pretty early. It might be subtle, but when you’re playing gabber that’s not really the point, is it? Despite not having played an event for a while, Kaz kept the mixing standard very high and the atmosphere lively for the whole 30 minutes. Interestingly he played the opening track from his iPod, don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen before…

Next was the hour of dark psy from TETRA and Cogi. It lived up to expectations, and got the crowd going in proper style. As usual I’m not too familiar with the tunes, but Cogi’s flatmate came to the rescue with some really nice video of the sets. As long as it doesn’t kill the blog, let’s have a look at each one…

First we have Cogi playing Kasatka’s Dark Technologies.

Next is Gimme More, also from Kasatka.

This one is Kerberos – Travel to Hell

Finally here’s Cogi taking over from TETRA’s set (while Soham dances up front).

Inugami’s set was higher bpm than I remember him playing at THC, and sounded more like hardcore than industrial. The crowd obviously enjoyed the heavier drums after an hour of dark psy, and of course it set up Full Circle DJs very well.

Full Circle DJs played an excellent set of hardcore/drum and bass, the style that seems to be their usual thing these days. I love hearing some breakbeats in amongst the UK hardcore, and maybe the Romancer crowd is finally getting used to dancing to drum and bass. As usual, the set was technically amazing, and thanks to the quality timetabling it matched well with Kanon’s gabber.

Kanon’s set was one of the most popular of the night, with a few less familiar tunes getting an airing in amongst all the classics. She was having a bit of an off-day with her mixing, but the selection was top quality – you’re pretty much guaranteed some great tunes whenever she plays, the set fitted perfectly between Full Circle DJs and Betwixt & Between.

Next was Betwixt & Between, with a nice mix of old and brand new. Some of the mixes were a bit too ambitious this time, and maybe too heavy on the mixer-fiddling, but his tracks are just devastating no matter what’s happening before/after each one. When the set got it right (see Soham’s video up above) there was pandemonium on the floor, and the Airwave/Zusammengehorigkeit combo always does the business. He finished off with Niji (the tune recently played by Kutski on Radio 1), which actually did some real damage and was a big contrast to the rest of the set.

 

Guld finished the night off with a set full of promos, including the Shriekerz remix of Sagiterius (which you can hear in Soham’s awesome video up above) and Epyx & Cyrez’s new tune Don’t Take My Soul. Effects and filters all over the place, it was classic Guld. The second half of the set might even have sounded a bit like one of mine, with plenty of Alek Szahala and Aryx’s Aurora, but the encore of Guld’s Concept of Love remix was only to be heard here. Overall the set kept up Guld’s recent incredibly high standard and finished the event in fine style.

The next Romancer will probably be just before summer, and after the success of the last couple it may well be another collab with ever free.