Posted by: Derek

Aww shiyat. This had to happen sooner or later — we come to Shibuya - the prime jewel of the young generation Tokyo experience for many. From the absolute crazyness of the infamous “scramble” street crossing, to the insane 9 floors of candyrave driven shopping at 109, to the booming beats down in Dogenzaka clubs like Womb, this place is alive.

So for this month’s Sake Flight - a tasting of the whomp - got a selection of stompy, stabby, trance picks culminating in Gareth Emery’s recent hit Tokyo. Let it roll!

Derek Ryan - Sake Flight 8 - Shibuya (right click and save-as to download)

Tracklist will be added tomorrow when I wake my sorry ass up!

Posted by: Derek

Speaking of blurring genre lines - trance is also learning from other genres and morphing accordingly.
Sure you still have alot of big melodics, but those are beginning to be paired with slower tempos and chunky, ass-kicking beats and some searing grungy synth work.

Like this prime cut from Norin & Rad vs. Recurve, for instance. This track was huge this year, and for good reason - it’s at the bleeding edge of the new curve, and slams it home with some of the most squirmy, redonculous bass sounds that the trance world has seen. If you think it sounds cool at first, just wait till the second drop after the break (3:33). wtf! ftw!

Enjoy it in the vid above, and careful to clean those scorch marks off your speakers afterwards.

Posted by: Derek

Contrary to what the usual suits and commutes image brings to mind for Japan, there’s a thriving club culture in the land of the rising tempo.

King of this has got to be Ageha - the largest club in Japan - out in the boonies of Tokyo in a place called Shin-Kiba (in fact, it has it’s own bus to get there).

Ageha is four rooms of madness - the pristine white house room, the dingy warehouse room, a Distrikt-esque pool area, and the massive main room. Huge, and the sound is solid everywhere, the crowd is ready to go, and the drinks are stiff.
Everything is top notch, and full of impact.

In hommage to that great space, this month’s flight features bold, driving, mainroom flavors that tend towards the techy side of trance, with some progressive hints as well. One of the the cuts is a great blogsphere remake of a timeless classic, and two of tunes are from a collaborative project of mine, Aureal, so keep an ear out.

Let’s go:

Derek Ryan - Sake Flight 8 - Ageha
(right click and save-as to download)

Tracklist after the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by: Derek

So, I’ve had a melody in my head forever. It’s super simple, but by virtue of that it’s been stuck with me for months now without me having any clue what it was. Now that’s got some hookiness.

The melody, it turns out, is from a song by the venerable 4 Strings (known for “Take Me Away”), and it’s the one in the video up top. Thanks to local DJ and friend Ryan Russell for helping me locate it!

I love the sound of this tune - it’s super effective, emotional, and hooky, yet not cheesy. And once again, simple. Good lord. Way to go 4 Strings for doing it again.

Bonus:

Above&Beyond played a special super secret mashup of this tune with Morgan Page’s “The Longest Road” at Trance Around The World 350 in LA . Apparently you can’t find it anywhere, but thanks to the magic of the internets, you can enjoy it on the tube:

Posted by: Derek

I just came back from Okinawa, a striking island in south of Japan with an amalgam of Japanese and Polynesian culture. It’s totally like the Hawai’i of Japan, complete with it’s own local language (though Japanese works too), customs, lush tropical environment, and miles and miles of brilliant crystalline oceanfront.

Not only that, but I got to experience it with just a touch of typhoon on the horizon - alot of rain while we were there, which to some might ruin the island experience, but to me it ended up being all the more mysterious and magical.

But for sure, howling winds and torrential rain don’t call for the calm side of the spectrum alone, so this month the fresh tunes I have to present here range from sunny to stormy, but all with solid drive behind them. Strangely for me, my latest single release starts us off on the sunny side - I’m usually more moody, but Azure is definitely uplifting…

So break out both your umbrella AND your swimsuit, and come take a swim…

Derek Ryan - Sake Flight 6 - Ginoza (right-click and save as to download)

tracklist after the jump!
Read the rest of this entry »