yess

Progressive psy-breaks? You've just thrown a hand grenade amongst the pigeons there.

Anyway, will listen. I always enjoy your psy-breaks mixes. And I really need to get down to some of this shit in real life again.

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Mixes:
> Back To Deep [Deep Trippy House]
> Terra Nova [Modern Progressive Trance]
> Rough & Ready [Modern Trance]
>A Different Energy [Good Modern Trance]
> The Edale Mix [Panoramic Beats]

Progressive Nick? I think I see where you're coming from, but its still pretty darn crunchy and in your face.

Still, I'm not going to argue of semantics, this was a damn fine collection of awesome music. Mixing was all on point and not a bum tune.

I already know, and own, a lot of the records and yet somehow it still sounded fresh to my ears which is no mean feat. Those tracks I dont have are all now in my cart as well haha, yoink!

Top stuff mate

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Dave King - Tales Of The Future [Trance]
Dave King - Personal Classics
MIX ARCHIVE!!!

Yeah, I figured the "progressive" tag might be stretching it. The second half is definitely the tear out sound, but I labeled it as progressive because the first 5-ish tracks are a bit slower to come up, and because it's all 128 BPM. Thanks for listening, Dave!

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Set Archive | TA DJ Challenge

Sweet pic, and some pumping beats to follow. Yes please.

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My Soundcloud profile

060 Windmill Sessions Redux
(lush beats)

Genre semantics aside, this mix has Nick written all over it.

Intense robot carnage sounds with a few (dare I say?!) melodic elements mixed into your track selections. I like how a few of the tracks you chose had the psy-beatdown we've all come to love from you but also some melodic elements akin to regular trance (I am referencing the tracks Debeli Gmaz, Into Oblivion (Affective Remix) in particular).

The pic is awesome btw.

Top tunes for me in the mix were We Are Distrikt and We Want To Dance. Great soundtrack to the pretty nasty clouds I'm looking at overhead here

Yep, you pretty much nailed what I was trying to do. I feel that this mix is a contrast from Battle Machine for a few reasons. Firstly, Battle Machine is completely tear out, from start to finish. It's significantly faster at 135-136 BPM. There are nearly zero melodic parts with the exception of the last song.

So here, I've rectified those differences with a slower, more progressive (in my opinion) start, with quite a few melodic parts in this mix, MartOpetEr - Homegrown Disaster (Roboteknic Remix) being a good example of this as well.

It's quite difficult for me to choose a favorite here. I like them all. But if I had to pick, tracks 4-7 are probably the ones. I was rocking out to Too Dusty - Stardust when I dropped it.

Thanks for listening, and for your review as always! Gonna jump on your latest mix probably tomorrow.

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Set Archive | TA DJ Challenge

Definitely gonna have to check this out, Nick! I like the artwork and the theme, though my knowledge of psybreaks is sorely lacking (though I do love me traditional progressive breaks!)

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9-9-99 Never Forget

Quarantine Music Festival 2020

All My Mixes!

I really liked this mix thanks for sharing.

The first thirty minutes of this were absolutely killer, Nick. I found my body dancing around the room to it without bothering to ask for permission from my mind first. This first section reminds me of what Hedflux laid down when I saw him. It's psybreaks and it's hard, crunchy and energetic but it's got a deeper edge to it as well, and it manages to contain all the absorbing sci-fi vibes I love in music whilst still being devilishly funky, which is a very rare and beautiful combination. I expect this is the "progressive" you're referring to.

After 30 minutes it was still enjoyable, but the mood got a bit more party-time and there were a few overwrought breakdowns that started to border on silly and certainly took the sting out of what had been an immaculate flow. Nothing I wouldn't enjoy dancing to, but these tracks couldn't help but feel a bit light compared to the dark and scary first half.

On a technical level everything was fine. As I said before these convoluted breakdowns tend to murder the flow. I enjoyed this mix a lot and I'll listen to it again, but I would like to see you try and build a serious vibe for a whole mix. Often I really enjoy your sets but you seem to cave in to the temptation to play something "fun" and that one track can mar an otherwise excellent mix.

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Mixes:
> Back To Deep [Deep Trippy House]
> Terra Nova [Modern Progressive Trance]
> Rough & Ready [Modern Trance]
>A Different Energy [Good Modern Trance]
> The Edale Mix [Panoramic Beats]

Definitely a fair and accurate assessment, Jack, and I appreciate the review.

What you illustrated is the overall problem with the modern breaks scene: if you try to ramp up the energy, it is inevitably going to venture into the tear-out sound. I feel like rather few artists are doing the "dark, scary, crunchy, melodic, energetic" vibe like Retroid and Hedflux are doing. They can only reach a certain level before the sound starts devolving into the sillier tear-out region and the mood is killed completely. Perhaps those tracks do exist, and I just didn't dig deep enough, but that is my viewpoint. Maybe Dave can shed some light on this issue.

Either way, I tend to agree with you because when I replay this set in the car or in the gym I only listen to the first half anyway. Thanks for the listen!

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Set Archive | TA DJ Challenge