Perc Trax vs. Blank Records

Wunderbar news, this.

Two of my favourite Japanese DJ cum producers are getting together with a certain UK industrial/techno enfant terrible named Ali Wells - better known as Perc - here in Tokyo at Module on 24 June.

Ali runs the appropriately-named Perc Trax, which has been one of my preferred labels over the past few years, and I recently interviewed him for the Techno How? site.

The two Japanese guys are Jin Hiyama and his brother Go. Jin is a good mate of mine (he played at my book launch in March), and I interviewed Go a couple of months ago here.

This should be an absolutely brilliant gig; shame is that it shapes up I may not be in town to actually appreciate it...

Address: 150-0042東京都渋谷区宇田川町34-6M&IビルB1F/B2F
Cost: ¥3,000 on the door.

Cut Bit Motorz Takes the Wheel

One of my preferred emerging Japanese artists at play here in Tokyo over the past couple of years has been the somewhat enigmatic Tsuyoshi K.

He doesn’t tell anyone what the ‘K’ stands for.

Tsuyoshi started out making fringe, left-of-centre electro-pop stuff as Gadget Cassette but last year scrapped that and changed name to Cut Bit Motorz – at the same time as he began pushing through more tech-house related sounds.

Funnily enough, even though we lived in the same city and customarily did the email thing as well as having remixed each other’s tunes, we didn’t actually meet up until last month – when yours truly was quite tanked (that’s the Christmas/bonenkai season for you in Japan) and... er... embarrassingly played a hack set at his party.

The lack of personal acquaintance before that jaunt didn’t stop me from releasing last year in August a digital slab of remixes of Tsuyoshi’s tune ‘Dry Fruit‘, albeit in a limited manner, through IF? Records. We got on board some of the man’s more experienced Japanese peers – DJ Wada (Co-Fusion), Toshiyuki Yasuda (Robo*Brazileira), Takashi Watanabe (DJ Warp) and Tomi Chair – to do the rejigs, making it an entirely Japanese putsch that crisscrosses eclectic, tech, electro, house and (dare I twist it) a marginally more progressive stance.

Even after putting a face to a name – and in spite of my sadly wayward set at that gig in December – Tsuyoshi seems to have forgiven me for the musical mayhem and is keen to do more together. This guy is an absolute gem to work with.

If your stunted attention span is still somehow focused, you can read more about Tsuyoshi - plus the interview questionnaire itself - at the new Techno How? site here.

Fountain Music and Plaza In Crowd

At the moment I'm doing this completely self-indulgent series of articles for Impact magazine over in the UK - focusing on what I've unoriginally dubbed The Greatest Anime Ever Made.

Most of it's selected by me, much of it is obvious (Ghost in the Shell, Akira), and on the feedback front I've conscripted a lot of local Japanese filmmakers, manga artists, anime crew, and - well, since they're cool and I dig their muzak - DJs and producers.

One of these helpful talking heads has been Shinji Tokida, who runs the record labels Fountain Music and Plaza In Crowd, and he cites Akira as the number one anime experience in his lifetime. "I love Akira - I even had the jacket," he recently told me. "I love the drawing touch and the characters' eyes, as well as the universal future concept which struck my mind when I was still in primary school."

Tokida also cited Mamoru Oshii's early opus Patlabor. "Oh, the Patlabor movie - I watched it when I was in elementary school; also I collected the manga and read it on my futon. I was a heavy fan and I remember that I bought the model kit, but I was too young to figure it out and put it together. Still, it was a good memory."


Then he pulled back to the here and now.

"These days I'm only into music, so I don't watch movies or TV and I don't read comics."

When I pitched the idea at Shinji this week that I'd like to extend beyond the anime references and talk to him more about his labels and himself, the man was thrilled. "One of my dreams has been to be interviewed by someone - thank you for fulfilling that!" he enthused.

Without a second to breathe, it seems, Tokida is off - the guy is a joy to quiz.

"I started DJing at 17, scratching records - I'd just changed instruments from the guitar to turntables and got right into hip hop. Then, in my Tokyo years, I came across more valuable music like house, jazz, soul and funk - and at last I arrived at techno. This was my true start to explore the business of music in my life."


The rest of this interview is now online @ Fun in the Murky.

IF100: 15 Years of IF?

This baby's been a long time coming.

Celebrating the 100th IF? Records release and exactly 15 years of the label on the job, with some of the original Melbourne (Australia) artists plus brand new ones from the same city – and a wealth of internationals remixing their tunes.

With IF100, think new material by ZEN PARADOX and TR-STORM, who appeared on the first ever IF? release, the Zeitgeist compilation in 1995. Then add G3, aka GUYVER 3, who had the first solo artist release (Perception Camera) through IF? in 1996. Sprinkle in some LITTLE NOBODY (first appearance on Zeitgeist 2 in 1996), ISNOD (who designed the Zeitgeist 3 cover in 1997 and featured on Reaction Hero in 2001), plus SCHLOCK TACTILE (Reaction Hero), SON OF ZEV (one of the IF? live stars in the ‘90s and ‘00s) and DJ FODDER – responsible for the 'Cocaine Speaking' phenomenon conjured up in 1999 and since remixed over 30 times by Mijk van Dijk, Dave Tarrida, DJ Hi-Shock, Pocket, Captain Funk, Jason Leach, etc, etc.

Then fold in brand new stuff by the storming, reasonably more recent Melbourne posse that includes excellent artists like BEN MILL, ENCLAVE, ALKAN, CRAIG McWHINNEY, KODA, ELEKTRONAUTS, VERONICA du LAC, CONVERSATIONAL DENTURES, DICK DRONE, RYSH PAPROTA and KULTRUN.

As icing on the proverbial cake we’ve added in some rather juicy remixes from PATRICK PULSINGER, BILL YOUNGMAN, SHIN NISHIMURA, SECRET SURFER, DSICO, SETTEE OF INDUSTRY, LEON NAGANT M1895 and DJ WARP, plus a Little Nobody remix of E383 and a Chairman of the Board mix of TALL TREES.

TRACK-LIST:

1. Isnod ‘Pripyat’
2. DJ Fodder ‘Cocaine Speaking’ (Dsico remix)
3. Craig McWhinney ‘Confined Spaces’
4. Andrez Bergen ‘Merian Cooper’
5. Funk Gadget ‘Blah Blah’ (Patrick Pulsinger remix)
6. Little Nobody ‘Get Away From It All’ (AB- Mix)
7. Ben Mill ‘Dance Floor Confessions Of A Stalker’
8. TR-Storm ‘Cylitic’
9. Koda ‘Snipper’
10. Little Nobody ‘Poiseworks’ (Shin Nishimura remix)
11. Kultrun ‘Underground’
12. Tall Trees ‘Broken Friend (Hurting Youself)’ (Chairman of the Board remix)
13. Alkan ‘In Your Skin’
14. Son Of Zev ‘Swelter’
15. Enclave ‘Pulse Overture’
16. Zen Paradox ‘Mindmelt’
17. Rysh Paprota ‘Her Flew’
18. G3 ‘Onigoroshi’
19. Little Nobody feat. Robo*Brazileira ‘Robota’ (Elektronauts remix)
20. Veronica du Lac ‘Because It Pays So Thin’ (Bill Youngman remix)
21. Jungle Taitei ‘Taitei Drums’ (Secret Surfer remix)
22. Little Nobody vs. Magnet Toy ‘Depth Charge’ (DJ Warp remix)
23. Koda ‘Tilb’
24. E383 ‘Radion 2’ (Little Nobody remix)
25. Kultrun ‘Drift Away’ (Andrez Bergen remix)
26. Schlock Tactile ‘Kouture Krash’
27. Little Nobody ‘Metropolis How?’ (Settee Of Industry remix)
28. Dick Drone ‘Wash’ (Mix 2)
29. Conversational Dentures ‘Suicidio’ (Leon Nagant M1895 Remix)
30. Curvaceous Crustacean ‘An Electric Blanket & Minimum Chips’

Look out for this baby exclusive to Juno Download on December 15, 2009.