Courtesy of Patagonica

“Since Patagonica was founded in 2008, we have adapted to new challenges,” she tells Metropolis. “Our first year, we fundraised to support the international campaign by Peace Boat and the National Committee to protect the flora and fauna of Chile. During our second tour, we found ourselves in the country during one of the largest earthquakes in Chile’s history, and quickly refocused to support the affected people.”

McGlone recently formed the Patagonica Collective, which brings artists and activists together to campaign for the UNESCO listing of Patagonia. “In Chile, our Patagonica DJ Contest has spread to various regions,” she explains, “holding local DJ contests in three major cities before deciding the final artist at the National Contest held in the capital, Santiago.”

Contacted in Chile before he heads to Japan to help choose the local champion, the winner of last year’s contest Marcos Latrach says it’s natural for him to combine music and environmental work.

“Between 1990 and 1994 I had a radio program called Mundo Ecológico,” he relates. “We promoted environmental awareness, accompanied by literature and good music. Patagonica in a way continues the work we did, because we can reach more people to say, ‘Hey, listen, this is our world and we have to take care of it.’”

Latrach was exposed to music at a very early age by his cousin—who sang with some of Latin America’s top bands. Electronic sounds came later in the ’90s, but Latrach has been DJing since his teens. “My first parties were at friends’ houses in the small city where I lived in the sixth region of Chile,” he recalls, “and at one disco where they let me play until midnight. I was only 14 years old and didn’t have permission to be out late.”

A course in DJing introduced Latrach to the technical side of the craft, and by 17 he had his first residency at a club called Ad-hoc. Moving to Santiago to study production, he turned on to techno at the capital’s clubs and hasn’t looked back.

“The common denominator is the music and a natural inspiration—I wonder if it’s a product of the political processes we lived through in Chile,” he says about the Santiago’s experience of repression. “A great amount of artistic expressions were generated, and by necessity the expressions were slanted. I also believe that our music is enriched by our origins in the native cultures that once lived here and unfortunately were devastated.”

In Tokyo, where Latrach will guest DJ at the event to decide the Japanese Patagonica contest winner, punters can look forward to a hypnotic blend of minimal and tech-house, juiced with Latin percussion and melodies.

“This opportunity touches me in a special way, because music has given me this experience,” Latrach concludes. “I hope to be with special people and a culture unknown to me—to show what I do and feel. I want to share magical days filled with dancing, positive energy and musical journeys.”

M Event Space, Jun 8 (listing). www.parties4peace.com

Courtesy of Get In! PR

Tell us about when you realized your life’s work would be DJing.

I always loved music from an early age. Around 11 or 12 I knew that I wanted to be a DJ. So I guess that having a passion for something when I was so young made it easier for me to figure out what I needed to do and spend hours and hours practicing and learning and listening how to be a great DJ.

What was your first impression of Sasha, and what is the most important legacy of the Sasha & Digweed partnership?

Sasha has always been a great ambassador for the scene and I think some of our compilation CDs such as The Mix collection and Northern Exposure raised the bar in terms of how a mix album could be presented.

Tell us how you created the Bedrock parties and why you decided to relaunch them this year.

Bedrock means a strong foundation so it was always a great name to build parties and a record label on. We have been doing Bedrock parties all over the world—we just felt it was time to start doing a few regular parties in London again. XOYO is a great venue and the parties have all been amazing so far.

Tell us how your sound has evolved over a decade of Bedrock releases.

I think it’s important not only as a DJ but as a record label to move with the times and push new and exciting music forward. As a label I think Bedrock has managed to keep moving forward as a label as well as keeping a great musical identity.

What is right and what is wrong with electronic music today?

I always try to look at the positives with what I do and I think that some of the best electronic music is being made in this period of time. The only negative is there is never enough time to play it all.

Tell us about your connection with Japan.

I love Japan. The people are amazing and they have great taste in quality sound and lighting systems along with fantastic nightclubs. I am always very excited to come to japan and the food is also the best in the world.

Describe a new remix or production.

I work in the studio with Nick Muir. The last remix we did was for the Slam Classic “Eterna” which features on my new Live in Cordoba CD, just out on my label. We have also done a remix of “Electric Rescue—Dope” which is also due out soon.

How do you approach DJing a large outdoor event like Big Beach?

I am lucky that I get to play not only club shows but large events and outdoor shows. Each gig is different in its own way. Usually with the big outdoor shows you have to play slightly “bigger” records.

Vinyl, CDs or laptop. Which and why?

At the moment I use 3 x CDJ 2000s and an Allen and Heath DB4 mixer. I love the CDJ’s and the new DB4 mixer has some amazing EFX on it.

How does Digweed wind down?

In Japan I usually have bad jetlag so I’ll try and go for something to eat and drink some sake.

Big Beach Festival ’12@Makuhari Seaside Park, Jun 2 (listing).

Courtesy of Eleven

Dubstep has blown up in North America. What are the pluses and minuses?

I don’t actually have any connection with that scene. I’ve never played in North America. I got asked to play there a couple of years ago but it was a corporate gig so I turned it down. There is a lot of talk in the mainstream media about dubstep now but when I listen to the music, I don’t recognize it as anything that I am involved in. What I do is completely different. I don’t really use that word anymore because it is misleading.

Tell us about a formative musical experience.

Hearing roots music on a sound system at St Paul’s Carnival in Bristol. Understanding the space and the bass and the treble.

What were the first events you spun at like?

I started out playing at house parties and little clubs and then moved on to second rooms at bigger clubs. When I started to take it more seriously I was playing as resident at club nights Context and Dubloaded and Subloaded in Bristol in 2004 and 2005. Always small events with mostly heads there to check out new music rather than parties if you know what I mean? Good sound systems and playing a lot of new music.

Tell us about the creation of Punch Drunk Records.

I started the label [Punch Drunk] in 2006. The roots of a dubstep scene in Bristol were planted by Pinch’s Context dances and they stimulated the imagination of a group of producers who were interested in doing something different and pursuing their own musical destiny, which was what we all saw dubstep as—not a sound, but an opportunity to do your own thing and be accepted for it. I started the label as a platform for those producers to promote their music to the wider world. It’s always been a grassroots thing. A Bristol thing. I have a new label now called Livity Sound, which is more focused on productions of myself, Kowton and Asusu.

What are the highs and lows of the current Bristol scene?

Highs: Idle Hands Records, lots of new vinyl only labels, Teachings in Dub (music in a club), Boundary Object (Music in a pub), Young Echo Radio, Livity Sound. Lows: The success of big events with bad music.

Tell us about a fresh production.

I am working on a remix of a producer called Alex Coulton who recently had a release on Idle Hands. It’s trippy, tribal, dark bass music I think?!?

What can punters expect at Eleven?

Listening to some quality underground UK music, new and old, doing a little dance and getting drunk.

Vinyl, CDs or laptop. Which and why?

Why would you play music off a laptop?! Madness. I play records because I always have and they sound good and I have thousands of them.

How will Peverelist be chilling in Tokyo?

I am coming to eat all the food and hang out with my Tokyo crew. I might get a chance to check some record shops, especially my friends Disc Shop Zero. Maybe I’ll stare at some synths too.

Eleven, May 25 (listing).

Courtesy of Womb

Womb, May 12 (listing).

Music Airport

“I was born in California and moved around a lot, including Okinawa and Tokyo,” the 28-year-old tells Metropolis over coffee in Shibuya. “I came back because I love Tokyo. Going out to clubs here and seeing people vibing to a 4/4 beat, and being exposed to events like Electraglide and Metamorphose, opened me up to dance music.”

A decade of soaking up beats and four years ramping up his laptop production skills at CalArts has now led to his debut album. Parallel dropped last month and has already garnered Walks a sought-after spot on the Fuji Rock bill.

Rooted in Walks’ experience of the Tokyo electronic music scene and Los Angeles’s influential Low End Theory party, the album sits somewhere on the musical spectrum in between the abstract techno of British outfits like Autechre and the glitch-hop of Low End Theory’s Flying Lotus.
“Honestly I think I’m just having fun playing around,” Walks says, when pressed about his musical direction. “The key for me is heavy beats and nice melodies. I like to go to have a steady beat, to bring two worlds together, the IDM stuff and the danceable pop.”

Experimental electronica along the lines of Autechre or Flying Lotus can prove a challenging listen to all but the committed. But Walks brings an emotionally accessible, melodic thread to songs like “Moving” and “Freefall,” and says he isn’t averse to commercial music. This may be the result of high school years spent playing in a rock band with his vocalist sister.

Fully bilingual and comfortable on both sides of the Pacific, Walks is noncommittal about which he prefers. “I’m totally fine with both,” he offers. “The Japanese are very concentrated and like to sit still and listen, but in America they are very aggressive with the moves and want to grind to the music.”
Rather than how punters respond to his music, however, Walks’ main preoccupation is whether they can actually afford to come out to his concerts.

“I want to play a ton of shows, but a lot of people don’t have money,” he laments. “A lot of my friends are broke. They want to go to the shows but they can’t afford it. I’ve been to shows recently where I thought there would be more fans. The economy is pinching people.”

Republic @Womb and WWW, May 19 (listing).

Courtesy of Global Hearts

Sound Museum Vision, May 2 (listing).

Air, Apr 27 (listing).

Ageha, Apr 14 (listing).

Courtesy of Phonica

Techno long-runner Phonica has taken steps to branch out with its new event, Rhythm Basics—designed to introduce emerging and lesser-known producers to Tokyo audiences. The first installment is scheduled to take place this Friday, with two overseas DJs slated to mix their magic on Air’s decks. While already boasting a varied career, UK producer Shifted is turning heads with the sturdy yet understated techno tracks that comprise his brand-new album Crossed Paths. Singapore’s Xhin, on the other hand, laces his beats with dark, experimental elements that recently found a space for expression on his 2011 album Sword, from Berlin label Stroboscopic Artefacts.

Air, Apr 6 (listing).

Tell us some tales from your early dance music years.

I was lucky enough to fall slap bang on the ’88 acid house explosion, through the summer of love in ’89 and into the early ’90s rave years. At 16 I went to my first real warehouse party in Glasgow which was a Happy Mondays gig. Heady times for sure, but I was still at school so it wasn’t till after 1992 that I started going proper raving. I’m from Edinburgh and we enjoyed one of the best educations in quality rave music with the Pure and Wave weekly club nights run by Twitch, Brainstorm and The Dribbler. They brought acts to Edinburgh like Aphex Twin, LFO, Orbital and Jeff Mills before they made it big. Very forward thinking for the time.

Describe the Scandinavian scene out of which you emerged, and how your later experiences in New York and Scotland shaped your sound.

I’m Scottish born and bread and never actually lived in Scandinavia. I have Viking blood though! It’s just the name of my company and the artist tag I place on every music or graphics project I work on. I’ve been to all of the Scandinavian countries and just love the idea and look of the place. Quality design. I spent five years living in New York from 1997-2002, a city which I have a special place in my heart for. It never disappoints. I try to use the mood of a city to shape my sound and work it in somehow. Environment affecting creative output for sure.

What is right and what is wrong with clubbing today?

Right: More music freely available than ever before so nights can be rich experiences. The fact that people can still afford to go to gigs and clubs during this austerity age!
Wrong: Too much safe and bland music going on. Wake up everyone, you don’t HAVE to like what everyone else tells you to like or you think you should like. Be brave. Go on.

Tell us about some ups and downs.

The worst gigs are when you just get in a bad frame of mind and it’s all going wrong inside your head. Big gigs don’t always mean good gigs. I’ve had amazing but very small gigs also. It’s an internal thing. I love Japan though. I’ve had a few cracking gigs there. Ireland and Scotland are always good. It’s the Celtic party mentality. The best gigs recently have been Rotterdam, Berlin, Dublin and London.

Tell us about a new track and how it is an evolution in your sound.

I’m always evolving. I’ve been in the game since 1994 and have travelled right through techno, acid, hip-hop and UK bass styles. You do lose fans but when you get to that next level and bring new fans to the table it’s very satisfying. The “Doubleheart” project with J D Twich I released recently on the UK’s Nonplus records was a pleasing 12″ called Salsa Apocalypso. A real mixture of salsa beats, bass textures and sirens. I’ve always tried to be different than the herd. I still use old Japanese hardware mainly from the ’80s. Classic Roland Jupiter 8 and 6′s, Tr-808 and Sequential Circuits Pro One but mixed with the UK OSCar synth and modern Elektron pieces. It’s an analogue graveyard married to a 2012 Apple Mac system.

Tell us about your upcoming Japan tour. How did you hook up with DJ Mayuri and what do you have planned?

I met Mayuri a few years ago in Tokyo, and her friend Tomoka from Fiercesounds hooked up the gig after meeting in London. It was Phil Wells from Subheads’ memorial event. RIP Phil. I’m play Fiercesounds in Tokyo on Saturday, Dommune Thursday and Osaka with De De Mouse on Friday. Other than the gigs just eating loads of amazing sushi and hanging out.

Vinyl, CDs or laptop: Which and why?

I’m a live artist only so I just use hardware: Elektron Machinedrum and Monomachine, an old Korg ESX-1 sampler of the analog kit at home, a Yamaha DX-200, Space Echo and a 12″ Powerbook. I just love the sound and impact of the machines. It’s straight to the PA live and direct.

Amrax, Apr 7 (listing). www.scandinavianyc.com

Right: Daddy Kev, left: Nocando; courtesy of Music Airport

Unit, Mar 19 (listing).

Courtesy of Sublime

What experiences provided the backdrop for Music for Daydreams?

I’ve been doing in-house music programs for Tokyo Midtown Galleria since 2010. They’re designed for day people and mixed generations. It’s fun to do something for a different audience from my usual one of young night people. This experience inspired me to make a full album for the daytime. Plus, it’s been a couple years since I released my last original album Sunriser and I wanted to challenge myself. I did some collaborations with artists from other styles. This is why the album sounds different and why I gave this project the new name, “Metropolitan Harmonic Formulas.”

Tell us about the creation of one song.

For the last track, “After The Rainstorm,” I worked with Ryota Nozaki aka Jazztronik. He’s a great jazz/dance producer as well as an excellent pianist. I initially asked him to write piano lines, giving him a few keywords and images. He got back to me with amazingly emotional phrases. Then I added rhythms, bassline and strings to construct a whole track. It was the first track I produced after the 3/11 disaster. I was deeply shocked and didn’t feel like making music for a month or two, but this experience saved me.

You worked with many “live” musicians on the album. How is it different from working alone?

The first difference is that I communicate with other people and enjoy swapping ideas. Then I get “randomness” from what the musicians play or sing. You don’t get it so often when you work alone with machines. For instance, doing a session with Naruyoshi Kikuchi, the sax player for “Can You Feel It” and “Light in The Solitude,” was just a few hours of fun in the studio. But afterwards it took me loads of time to choose parts and tweak hundreds of bits on EQ etc. It’s a completely different technique from controlling pure electronic sounds.

Two decades since your debut, how has dance music changed?

Dance music has become for everybody. At first, it was truly underground and not many countries had proper scenes. Now it’s everywhere—the [former] Eastern Bloc, South America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East—and every kid wants to be a DJ. At the same time, we now have too much commercial stuff.

Recently there has been a big police crackdown on clubs, particularly in Kansai. What is your view of the Japanese club scene?

This isn’t the case in the Tokyo area yet, but I’m sure it would seriously damage the scene. The general turnout in clubs went down after last year’s disaster, and I hope this won’t go further.

What’s your take on the big new club Vision?

Really cool. It’s huge even though it’s right in the center of Shibuya. I didn’t know there was so much space left there! Also the club has the similar atmosphere to what underground clubs in NYC or London used to have in the late ’80s/early ’90s, which is good.

Where will Ken Ishii be in another 20 years?

Oh, that’s a hard question! I have never thought of my future, actually. Maybe doing the same things I love, music and watching MMA.

www.kenishii.com

Shed; photo courtesy of Eleven

The first, “Eleven 2nd Anniversary party with Sound of Berghain,” looks at the hard-hitting, post-Detroit minimal techno to emerge out of notorious Berlin club Berghain, with sets slated from live unit Shed and DJ Pete, an alumnus of Berlin’s Hard Wax record
store.

The second night, “Eleven 2nd Anniversary party with impro7,” relives the glory of Tokyo club jazz unit U.F.O.’s Jazzin’ nights, with DJs Toshio Matsuura and longtime British friend and tastemaker Gilles Peterson hosting a live set from jazz
unit Impro7.

“Eleven 2nd Anniversary party with Sound of Berghain,” Feb 17. “Eleven 2nd Anniversary party with impro7,” Feb 18 (listings).

Courtesy of Creativeman

Before Harris’s 2007 hit debut album I Created Disco, things were not looking so bright for the skinny Scot. The unemployed 23-year-old was posting tracks from his bedroom studio at his parents’ house in rural Scotland to MySpace. But it didn’t take long for Harris’s natural gift of composing dancefloor fillers to shine. Picked up by Sony in 2006, I Created Disco was soon tearing up the charts on the strengths, among others, of the lovingly snide 80s tribute, “Acceptable in the 80s.”

With his knack for pacing tracks with perfectly timed climaxes and breakdowns, Harris was soon sought by Minogue and Dizzy Rascal et al to pen songs for them. Among such hits are two number ones singles: Rascal’s “Dance wiv Me” and Rihanna’s “We Found Love,” while his own follow-up album Ready for the Weekend topped the charts in the UK.

Harris follows up a rapturously received 2010 Summer Sonic debut with an unusual back-to-back booking at Shibuya superclubs Womb and Vision. Clubs typically protect their ability to draw an audience with exclusive bookings—the fact that Womb and Vision agreed to host Harris on successive nights is indicative of their belief in his appeal to the Japanese audience.

Womb, Feb 24 and Vision, Feb 25 (listing).

Courtesy of Womb

Womb, Feb 4.

Courtesy of Melissa—the Maouris Company

With an opulent sonic vocabulary spanning classic to minimal and tech-house on their new album EFUNK, Elyte and Cnyce’s upcoming set at Eleven promises to get the Year of the Dragon off to a flaming start.

What was your first impression of each other?

We were 16 when we met and were psyched because at that time there weren’t many DJs our age and the only way to learn was from other DJs.

How did you decide to become a team?

We didn’t really decide. We got thrown together opening for Joey Beltram in Washington DC and it just clicked. After that Soul Clap was born and soon we combined our record collection.

Who does what in Soul Clap?

Charlie writes the songs, Eli plays the drums. Charlie is the lead singer, Eli runs the internet. Bam.

Boston is not a big dance music town. Tell us what it’s like to base your careers there.

Believe it or not, Boston was a hotbed for disco in the ’70s and ’80s. Even in the ’90s when we were growing up, Boston had a thriving rave scene. After that the city cracked down and made it impossible to party all night, which basically killed dance music. We had a tight crew of DJs and friends and we’d just party at each others’ houses and spin and make music together so we really developed our own sound. We definitely wouldn’t be who we are without Boston so we have a lot of love and pride for our city!

Give us a taste of the upcoming album—how is it an evolution from past work?

We really haven’t released that much original music up till now so the album is our first real statement about what Soul Clap really is. It’s an exploration of our many influences and runs through different genres and tempos. In the end we really wanted to make a timeless album, not a compilation of dance songs for DJs.

In your college course on dance music, what was the most important wisdom you imparted to students?

The most important wisdom we’ve learned is that house wears many hats.

What’s right and wrong with dance music today?

Beyond dance music there is so much creative genre-bending music out there, it’s a really exciting time for music in general. The problem is that in dance music most DJs limit themselves to one genre and just play the new popular tracks. To quote Bob Marley “if you don’t know your history then you don’t know where you’re coming from.”

Tell us about your relationship with Japan thus far.

We spent a week in Tokyo last summer and fell in love. The food and music and shopping are so unique. Plus you have the best record stores and of course we love the Japanese aesthetic.

What can we look forward to at Eleven?

A journey through time and space. Guided by bass that will move your ass.

What’s the perfect night out for Soul Clap?

Sushi + ramen + sake. Arigato!

Dommune, Jan 26 and Eleven, Jan 27 (listing). Soul Clap’s debut album EFUNK is out on Wolf + Lamb at the end of March.

Courtesy of Unit

Unit, Jan 27 (listing).

Courtesy of Womb

Womb, Jan 14 (listing).

Courtesy of iFlyer

Legato, Dec 31 (listing).

Yes, he’s become a grandfather, but onetime yakuza member Hideaki Ishi continues to record and tour tirelessly—he’s even got 7,500 “likes” for his Facebook page (a fan page has 40,000), and millions of YouTube views with comments in a Babel of languages.

“iTunes didn’t exist, and music technology was mostly analog,” Krush recalls as he marks 20 years since his major label debut. “We learned how to play turntables like you would a guitar—now we use turntable-based systems like Serato to retain an analog touch. For scratch artists it’s key.”

Beginning with his self-titled debut and running from his 1994 landmark Strictly Turntablized through to his recent digital singles, Krush’s career has been one continuous quest—perhaps partly an attempt to distance himself from an ugly past. Parting ways with Sony, he’s now on his own, navigating the waters of a music business turned upside down by the internet.

“The net makes music convenient, but it’s turned it into a disposable commodity,” he observes over coffee in Shibuya. “For artists who make our living selling songs, we’re forced to reconsider the way we package and sell our creations.

“Even if we put a lot of thought into creating an album that’s a coherent artwork, people will just listen to songs separately, which is a bit sad,” the soft-spoken scratch artist continues. “At the same time, I’ve started releasing individual songs, and when I think of fans sitting in front of their computers waiting for a new track, I want to meet their expectations.”

Krush launches his third decade in music with a series of digital releases and a world tour that takes him from Australia to China. “I’m planning an album for next year, so we’re experimenting with these downloads to see what form it should take,” he explains. “With Sony I had to use their download site instead of iTunes, so we didn’t really have any data on my releases. There’s a lot we have to do ourselves now, but on the other hand there’s also more freedom.”

Has the debasement of recorded music by the internet led to a rise in value of the performance itself? “Playing for people is even more important in the digital era,” Krush affirms. “There are things you just can’t get across except for in the live venue.”
Krush’s early, moody releases in some ways set the template for the past decade’s glitch—and other associated hyphenated hip-hop movements. It’s hard not to think that, without him, there wouldn’t have been a DJ Shadow or Flying Lotus.
“I hear things that sound familiar, but at the same time I don’t compete with them,” Krush muses. “It’s a complicated relationship with people who come after you but pursue a similar musical style.”

Twenty-eight years since he came across the pioneering hip-hop film Wild Style and gave up delinquent ways for a career in music, Krush is still searching. “The more I do it, the more I get drawn into it,” he says. “I feel like my career has been about always reaching for something. It may never be in my grasp, but what’s important is to continue to reach. Music is so deep and broad that I never lose interest. If you do find what you’re looking for, then maybe it’s your time to die. If I go to heaven, there will be many artists there, and I can have a session with them.”

A decade since Metropolis first spoke to Krush, his determination remains undimmed. “A lot has happened in Japan this year, but as always, I’ll internalize my experiences and then express them through my music,” he says. “Making music is really important to me, and my music never lies. So I’ll continue to paint honest paintings, as it were. The kids—my grandchildren even—are watching me.”

Club Asia, Dec 22; Unit, Dec 31 (listing). “Shuya no Chiheisen” (Sleepless Horizon) is available on iTunes. Info: www.sus81.jp/djkrush