Tokyo. January.

* Sven Väth @ Sound of the Eighth Season, Womb (26th January 2008)

Sven Väth. Feel his wrath.

It is always a great feeling to walk into a club and feel a buzz like something epic is about to kick off. Sven Väth has the global following that inspires insanity at every party he plays it seems. I've been a fan of his mixes for a while. His Sound of the Sixth Season is a favourite. The Seasons referring to the summers Cocoon (which started in 2000) has been running for in Ibiza. Touring with his Sound of the Eighth Season mix he was making his regular stop in Tokyo, where he will be opening up a new chapter of Cocoon in April. This was my first time to see him live. Slightly exciting.

By midnight he was already on the decks and easing the assembling masses into a solid groove. Patiently he built his set to fit the atmosphere. Womb had ramped up production with a huge LED light wall behind the DJ booth and strobes dotted everywhere - some hanging down off the ceiling. He rolled through waves of minimal very groovy beats in and out of well known cuts. By 1 or 2 he was getting stuck into the likes of the jangling music box lushness of Lucio Aquilina 'Magic M' - a Cocoon signing from last summer - and the Brodinski banger 'Bad Runner'. Sven played the crowd perfectly. He was attentive, as he strut his stuff around the DJ booth. Chest out taking the love from the Japanese crowd. Around 3ish he took the pace down a little, playing slightly more menacing techno, including the crowd-stirring almost-spooky glockenspiel number by Supermayer, 'Two of Us'.

Every so often Sven released a pressure valve in the club with a long sustained burst of angry loud KKKkkkssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh feedback over the beats. Whenever the energy in the club was peaking - boom- KKKkkkssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh - which was followed normally followed by as much smoke as the clubs techs could release and pandemonium from the clubbers.


Around 4, he decided enough was enough. He up'd the pace and the bass, dropped Alter Ego 'Why Not?' followed by an hour long onslaught of equally nuts, up front tech.yes. The place jumped.

He finished his encore with a remix he co-produced and with Jörn Elling Wuttke and Roman Flügel (Alter Ego) back in 2000 which has just been re-pressed and is re-released this month. Sunpeople 'Check Your Buddha [Sven Vath remix]' [buy]. It also features on Sven's Sound of the Second Season compilation [buy]. You can hear its vintage but it still sounds fresh with a spiritual spacey breakdown and gaining raw bass.

Apparently Sven went on to play the afterparty in a office block basement which Richie Hawtin turned up to play.

Lucio Aquilina Magic M zsh
Supermayer Two of Us zsh
Sunpeople Check Your Buddha (Sven Väth remix) zsh

Tokyo. November.

* Nathan Fake @ Taico Club, Womb (22nd November 2007)

Back to Womb to catch Nathan Fake. For some reason Womb were having trouble with their licensing so the gig was on early with the whole night shutting at 1. A Japanese DJ was playing some nice-enough minimal tracks before Nathan but as soon as he came on he up'd the tempo. I didn't know what to expect from him. Well actually I didn't get what I expected from him. I thought playing a live set he would be welding trippy soundscape into trippy soundscape. Like this live showcase that was recorded for the BBC. [Video with some incredible live visuals].

I actually went to see him at Bestival '06 but he was playingthe more stripped down beats in the circus big top and the sound got lost a bit. Plus I didn't have the patience to get into it. That and we found the 'Gulity Pleasures' hidden secret disco (down a tunnel from inside the Big Top) at the same time. That was a spiritual moment. So anyway, Tokyo and the bass and the beats.

He popped up pressed a key on his laptop and released an hour of relentless beats. It was all more dancable. Its hard to describe the sound he was producing and do it justice. He really is just a master of the digital live show and it was incredible to watch someone who truly exploits the potential of laptop mixing in such a banging fashion. He played for an hour and bar one massive spacey break down near the end of the set it was intensely rolling chaotic bassy beats chopping and changing, filtered and cut in and out. He could be signed to Warp. It feels like it has a strong AFX influence. It was pity the gig was early as I imagine a lot of people missed it but his live show is definitely highly recommended.

All in all it was kind of like...
Remy & Roland Klinkenberg Scrambled [Nathan Fake remix] [buy]
(Addictive 2004)
Just louder, harder and more relentless, for an hour.

If you've never heard Nathan Fake listen to the now seminal.
Nathan Fake The Sky Was Pink [James Holden remix] [buy]



* Maetrik @ Treibstoff records night, Colors / Danny Howells @ Womb. (23rd November 2007)

So went to check out Danny Howells at Womb the next night hoping the license problem was just a weekday thing. It wasn't which sucked, but when we turned up the bouncer took us to one side and told us to come back at 5 in the morning, when they would open up the main room. So we headed to check out Maetrik play at Colors which turned out to be a sick little club. 3 floors underground in what looked like a regular apartment block. Low ceilings, a typically good Japanese soundsystem and a lot of refined in-the-know Japanese clubbers. The soundtrack was deadpan techno, with Materik the showcase.

Come 5 and Colors shutting up shop, we headed back to Womb. Ushered in quickly off the street outside Womb the place was fairly quiet, people-wise, but Danny had taken to the decks and was moving Tokyo's Friday night leftovers. It was a funny scene. Danny predictabley played electronica and progressive (sometimes techy) house. The only track I remember being played was a track I put up on this blog about two weeks before the gig. Its off a 3 year old Kompact album. Superpitcher Baby's on Fire.

At the time I thought this way incredible. The chances are fairly slim. At the time I was also standing next to the decks (trying to take press photos with a camera I had dropped and broken about 4 hour before) so thought I would have a word with Danny. I bounced up behind the decks to try and tell before he took the record off, but as I did one of the Japanese promoting staff went apeshit. I didn't understand her. She just didn't understand the importance of the situation! It was getting late in the day.

Sendai. September.

* Gagle / Cro-magnon / Kohei @ Jazzy Sports records night, Club Junk Box (15th September 2007)

Club Junk Box is the main live venue in Sendai - the city I live nearest to. Its in the second basement of a massive department store and when you go into its depths you enter the centre of the store machine. Above the ground its a big shiny shop, below its a maze of decrepit corridors lined with cheap dirty staff cafes and lockers. The venue is basically 10 minutes underground. Fairly intense.

Jazzy Sports is a record shop and label based in Shibuya, Tokyo. They push down tempo trip hop, hip hop and funk. This night was part of their 'Rebirth of Cool' Japanese tour showcasing their bright young talents. First up was Kohei who wasn't bright or young or talented! A bald-too-old-to-be-a-rapper-but-too-dumb-to-know-better style vocalist! Not very exciting. He set expectations of what was to follow pretty low.

What followed blew Kohei, me and the rest of the Japanese (mainly students) in the place completly apart. Cro-magnon [myspace]. Their live jazz/funk/house/disco/hip-hop jam band performance makes them legendary in Japan. Apparently they only play 5 or 6 times a year. And it is all about their live show. The continous 60 minute jam saw synths, drums and guitar, sampler and drum machine combine for long interludes of talented improvised funk between spiraling euphoric climaxes. In the encore they dropped the bass line from Daft Punk 'Robot Rock' and the guitar hook from 'A Bit Apachy'. No filth. Squeaky clean. Check the (old school looking) video and how much the crowd feel it.


Gagle headlined the night and were a tight jazzy hip-hop outfit. The two frontmen were brothers and they rapped in Japanese so I only really understood their when they were counting (in English). Nothing on Cro-Magnon though.

Jazzy Sports [myspace] label + record shop (Shibuya, Tokyo).

Tokyo. September.

* Cobbleston Jazz / Pier Bucci / Jeff Milligan @ Real Grooves, Spacelab Yellow (22nd September 2007)

So this time Yellow - Tokyo’s oldest underground club. A cavernous basement club in outer Roppongi. Its walls are jet black with the bottom main room a dark intimate pit. Matthew Johnson’s live techno trio Cobbleston Jazz kicked off the headline acts. One of the trio played synth and sang while Matthew Johnson and his other buddy tweaked racks of midi controllers hooked up to two synced MacBooks. Matthew actually says it better than I do. “Danuel is mainly focused around the Rhodes piano and vocoder while Tyger works mostly percussion and atmospherics, and I do mostly basslines, simple drum programming, as well as mixing most of our stuff in the studio. In our live shows, me and Tyger have similar roles while Danuel focuses on keys.” (Fact mag interview)

I am trying to remember if it was techno. The 3 jammed for possibly two hours maybe a bit less and there was definitely some deep bass getting kicked out, but the sets dropped into waves of more minimal sounds. Whatever it was, it was deep heavy free form electronica that was moving the crowd and MJ was having a great time performing.



Another Canadian, Jeff Milligan cracked on to the decks from the other end of the main room. He has a pretty unique style riding four turntables he cuts tracks in and out stupidly quickly. His finger work on the tracks levels is mad. He played a solid, measured deep house set. Bass kicking in and out, in and out. Check his style.




Up last was Cross Town Rebel, Pier Bucci. All I wanted to hear all night was the deathly vocal of Hey Consuelo, but no such luck. Pier didn’t drop a vocal until near the end of the set. He played deep house and even deeper techno through nothing but his Macbook. It looked like he was playing a typewriter. Standing in front of the crowd tapping away. He played the crowd really well, bringing a dead-pan middle hour to an intense climax.

Pier Bucci - Hey Consuelo (Original edit)

Real Grooves is a very apt name for the night. The whole night flew by in one very real and deep groove. The programming was tight but maybe a little too tight. All exceptional deep house and techno but after 6 hours I was a bit bored. Massive night though, Yellow has an incredible atmosphere, and the promoters and DJs were very cool.

* Lupe Fiasco / DJ Krush / Tucker / Dex Pistols / Nameless Tribal House DJ @ G-Shock, agEha (23rd September 2007)

Deepest darkest industrial south-east Tokyo. Well not that dark, but a trek from the centre. agEha is massive with a capacity of well over 3000. It’s a pretty slick club. Big rooms, big production, shiny. Think trance club! The first bar has huge video screens with mug shots and set times of the featured artists rotating on them. You need it as well as there must have been 30 artists performing all over the complex. There is a swimming pool outside, coupled with funk DJ and cocktail bar. Everyone congregates round the pool hopeful that sooner or later someone will fall in. This terrace looks out over a massive dockland waterway with the skyscrapers of downtown Tokyo in the distance. The main arena is vast and regularly plays host to big name concert performers as well as DJs.

Lupe Fiasco was definitely the main attraction that night. I never really heard about Lupe until a few bloghouse remixes started coming through on blogs last year. Not being a massive commercial US hip-hop fan, he does stand out as a refreshing artist. From Chicago, not the East or West coast he has a unique style and when he bounced on to the stage in Tokyo his energy was properly big. The Japanese girls loved him. He made some funny references to British electronic music as well, playing an interlude rapping over Gorrillaz – Dare and also the track on his album that covers Daydream by I –monster. Remember that track! He put on a fun show.

Lupe Fiasco - Kick Push (Estew remix)

The main artist I was pysched to see was Tucker. Tucker is probably the most crazily talented artist I have ever seen. He's a musical prodigy. I saw he completely by chance at Sonar 06. He woke me up on the third day in front of on the Sonar Day main stage. Knackered from whole Sonar carry-on the standard Spanish experimental fare that was going on stage had put me to sleep. Tucker came on and everyone lounging round on the fake grass were quickly up on their feet and piling to the front. He’s a maniac, totally hyperactive running around playing a full on band ensemble and more. Using a pedal, he was looping a guitar, drum kit, bass, his accordion and then scratching up the product. Every time he jammed out a climax on his accordion he flipped into a headstand on top of it. He's a nutter.



He was in a marquee outside at agEha. Unfortunately he wasn't up on a stage so only the people at the front could really see how sick he actually was. This time he used 3 different guitars and a bass to loop different rifts, as well as his drum kit and the ridiculous accordion melodies to jam out dance-able rock rhythms. Oh and he also set his accordion on fire. He actually deserves a full post of videos. OK i'm going to put a full post of videos of him up! If Tucker ever comes anywhere near you, check him out!

So after that I got lost in the club for a whlie and next thing I remember is the Dex Pistols. These guys are Tokyo's answer to Soulwax and it seems also honorary Ed Bangers. The party boy DJ duo played across the board from Beastie Boys to Franz Ferdinand, The Beatles to Prodigy. It was good clean/filthy synth metal fun right at the end of the night and by the finale of their set they were standing on top of the decks mashing it up. It kept me dancing half dead on my feet at what was quickly becoming the wrong side of a two day Japanese bender. I can't remember whether I'd caught DJ Krush and even if I had I don't even think I would have know what he looked/sounded like. Anyway by this point there were two hours left before I could leave for the first bullet train back to Sendai and some fairly shocking tribal house DJ played the last of the straglers out until 6am.

All in all funny shit! Tokyo is sick.

Tokyo. August.

Guns n Bombs (Kitsune) @ Womb (27^th August 2007).

Womb is a hidden cathedral, barely visible from the street. Its Tokyo’s most well known club and what everyone talks about it who’s been to Tokyo.

Dork fact - The installation of the Phazon sound system was infamously overseen by the sound designer from New York institution Twilo. He did a good job.

Going up the stairs and into the main room is sick. There is a super high ceiling and super massive disco ball. The night I was there Kitsune’s Guns n Bombs were tearing up the best new wave and the crowd were going ape shit. It wasn’t just every well known track every half an hour people would get up a little, it was every single break down of every single track the crowd were loosing it. Loosing the plot and screaming! Giving credit GnB were relentless, quickly welding track into track into track layering vocals, basslines and synths beautifully! It didn’t wear out the crowd. Check the video. Big soundsystem, big sound, stupid energy. The crowd were cool as well, really friendly and surprisingly well dressed for the way they were going for it.

Who knows what happened towards the end. In an attempt to keep up I had drunk myself silly. By the time we left at 5 there were still hundreds of people queuing to get in. Ears bleeding, eyes blinded by the sun, trying to communicate with my buddies I was screaming as I left the front door. A bouncer quickly pounced.

“Vhisper, people sleeping”.

Jokes!