Courtesy of Phonika

With its goose-bump-inducing sound system and genre-defying DJ lineup, London venue Fabric must be one of the finest clubs on the planet, period. Tech-house DJ and producer Terry Francis snagged a Saturday night residency when the venue first opened in 1999, and he’s been a mainstay there ever since. He spoke to Metropolis before embarking on his maiden trip to Tokyo, where he’ll appear at the 2nd anniversary party for popular house/techno event Phonika.

What’s been the key to remaining relevant as a DJ for over a decade?
I think it’s pretty hard, especially in a world where people are unforgiving regardless of whether you go stagnant or change too much. I like to think I explore new sounds and keep crowds guessing, but still remain true to my style.

You’re synonymous with Fabric. After so many years, how do you and the club keep it fresh? Well, I think it’s hard to describe it to anyone that hasn’t been. It’s a bunch of elements such as location, sound system and collaborators, that when put together equal something truly special. We never sit back and let the reputation do the work. The policy is to always be cutting-edge, which is why it’s one of the best clubs in the world.

Do you have much creative input over the club’s musical direction? It’s a collaborative effort. It’s always good to put our heads together and suggest acts. If any of us go away and hear someone we like, then we’ll suggest that they’re worth a listen. It introduces a wider variety and mixes it up a bit.

Are there any clubs you’ve played at that have bettered Fabric’s sound system? It’s what all DJs dream of. It’s known internationally—and it would be a mission to find something superior.

You’re also one half of the notorious duo Wiggle. How does the dynamic change when you’re DJing with Nathan Coles? It’s always fun trying out new things and being a bit independent, but playing with Nathan is insane… he could have a party in a lift on his own.

What can we expect for your upcoming set, and on what format? Digital! I’ve never played Tokyo before but I’ve heard a lot of positive things. I’m looking forward to doing my thing at Unit: deep, tough and quirky.

Unit
Phonika 2nd Anniversary. Tech house: DJs Terry Francis, Xavier Morel, etc. Sep 11, from 11:30pm, ¥3,500. Daikanyama. Tel: 03-5459-8630. www.unit-tokyo.com

During his few short years in Tokyo, UK musician and producer Aroop Roy energized the jazz-funk/broken beats scene with parties like Culture and Exposure and a compilation, Absolute!!: Sounds From Tokyo, that shone a light on emerging Japanese producers.

Now, after time spent in New York and London, Roy is returning with a new album in hand. “Nomadic Soul is a collection of tunes I started a few years back whilst working as a teacher in the Japanese countryside, and continued to work on in Tokyo,” he writes from London. “I had always been more of a musician than producer, but gradually got into producing. From a fairly young age, I have listened to a really wide range of music. I got into jazz, funk and soul as a teenager in my home town, Brighton, and developed an interest in electronic music as a student in London. The album has a lot of dance elements, whilst having many song-based tracks, so hopefully it will go beyond any particular club music scene.”

Nomadic Soul launches in with the wry reflections of “Lonely Years,” featuring sultry Toronto diva Sacha Williamson. It’s a propulsive dancefloor anthem underpinned by a greasy synth bass line, but with jazz-funk orchestration that recalls the likes of The Brand New Heavies.

Elsewhere, London soul artist Lyric L brings melodies and lyrical flow to broken beats outing “Step Back,” while US rapper Replife deftly charts a course through the syncopated hip-hop of “Stand Up.” UK jazz singer Sarah Winton closes the album with a subtle performance on the contemplative “Lilly,” but before that there is time for Roy to make his own vocal and guitar contributions on numbers like the torch song “Too Long.”

Championed worldwide by the likes of Gilles Peterson, Roy will also be in good company in Japan. His monthlong Nomadic Soul tour includes pairings with Toshio Matsuura (ex-UFO) and the influential Kyoto Jazz Massive collective—the impresarios behind the Tokyo Crossover Jazz Festival—at their venerable Shibuya club, The Room.

The Room
Tokyo Jazz Meeting Special, Especial Records Session. Jazz, house: DJs Aroop Roy, Yoshihiro Okino, etc. Sep 4, from 10pm, ¥2,500 w/1d. Shibuya. Tel: 03-3461-7167. www.theroom.jp

Axxcis
Raise Up. DJ Aroop Roy and more. Sep 9, price/time TBA. Shibuya. Tel: 03-5485-4011. www.axxcis.net

Nomadic Soul is available on Freestyle/P-Vine.

Courtesy of Planet Gong

“Dance music will continue to attract larger crowds, and I believe that it is the responsibility of all organizers to ensure spacious, safe venues that have a solid emergency plan in place,” he writes from Amsterdam. “The Love Parade disaster marks a date in dance music event history that will hopefully change how events are organized.”

2000 And One’s contribution to the Wire10 Compilation CD is a spare reworking of his minimal techno outing “Peking Duck” that sounds like it could have been made by a hip 20-year-old. But the DJ is, in fact, synonymous with decades of Amsterdam electronica.

“I guess it all started in 1992 when I co-founded 100% Pure, which is now Amsterdam’s oldest tech-house label,” he recalls. “Nowadays, I’m involved with six labels which cover a spectrum of house, tech-house and techno. They offer a framework for the new generation of Dutch producers to release music on the global stage as well as international talents to be heard in the Netherlands.”

The DJ is confident the Dutch capital will continue to be a Mecca of club culture. “Amsterdam has a rich history in dance music, stemming back to the club scene in the ’90s,” he says. “Clubs like Roxy, Mazzo and the IT inspired all the current top party organizations. That musical heritage has been a springboard for the global scene now, and as long as the Dutch talents stay focused, I’m hoping we’ll continue to be influential.”

Promising a taste of the banging Amsterdam scene in his set at Wire, the DJ says he abandoned vinyl for digital two years ago. “Ableton and Traktor [software] offered me the creative freedom that I craved—hence the switch,” he says. “I haven’t looked back.”

Yokohama Arena
Wire10. Techno: DJs Alex Bau, Butch, etc. Aug 28, from 6pm, ¥11,550 (adv). Tel: 0570-069-111. www.wireweb.jp/10

Courtesy of Eleven

Nishi-Azabu club Eleven gets ready for a two-day German invasion as minimal label Ostgut-ton brings resident DJs from key Berlin venues Panorama Bar and Berghain.

Chicago house-influenced Prosumer, who has also released music on seminal experimental techno label Playhouse, takes to the decks on Friday for the Panorama Bar event, with female DJ Tama Sumo also on the bill. But the highlight looks to be the Berghain night, with Marcel Dettmann (left) leading the dance. The German has held down a residency at the hedonistic club since 1999, and his menacing, enveloping productions will dovetail well with Eleven’s thumping sound system…

If you’re after something deeper and a little less stripped-down, then get your skates on to catch Patrice Scott at Unit. The US producer is frequently mentioned in the same breath as the new school of Detroit artists (think techno wunderkind Kyle Hall) that is revitalizing the Motor City’s techno scene. But, like Omar S, he’s actually been a household name for years.

The misconception is down to Scott’s procrastinated foray into production. The DJ had been juggling residencies across the US and Canada for decades, but it wasn’t until 2006 that he released his debut, the Atmospheric Emotions EP. With its raw synths sprawling over unpolished beats, the disc has become essential material for Detroit house purists.

Recently, Scott revealed he’d actually been producing for years but delayed releasing tracks because he felt uncomfortable going public with them. He needn’t have worried—his Sistrum Recordings label is going from strength to strength. It puts an emphasis on deep grooves and has won a cult following for its quality, not quantity—only 12 releases in four years—and an only-from-Detroit sound that comes despite having an international artist roster.

Patrice Scott @Unit
Dial. Techno, deep house: DJs Patrice Scott, Okamoto, etc. From 11:30pm, ¥3,500. Daikanyama. Tel: 03-5459-8630. www.unit-tokyo.com

Ostgut-Ton presents Sound of Berghain @Eleven
Techno: DJs Marcel Dettmann, Nobu. Live: Shed. Aug 14, from 10pm, ¥3,500 w/1d. Nishi-Azabu. Tel: 03-5775-6206. www.go-to-eleven.com

Courtesy of Air

Given the lack of return on investment, DJs release fewer and fewer albums these days. CDs tend to be loss leaders for touring, where the real money is made. Yet the format retains an enduring appeal, allowing artists to stretch their skills in a long-playing medium.

Sacred Days, the first album in five years from veteran DJ Kaoru Inoue (left), shows why CDs still have legs. All the tracks could stand alone in a nightclub, but together, they tell a story in the way better albums do.

That story is of Inoue’s long career as a DJ, and his travels through the worlds of dance music since his ’90s debut. Sacred Days begins with “Musubi,” an incense-infused throwback to the ambient house heard in chillout rooms of the era. It then proceeds to capture the flavor of Inoue’s ensuing career, which he began under the spell of world music as well as house and techno. And while his DJ sets at his numerous Tokyo residencies have become more tech-house oriented over the years, there are still elements of worldbeat here, as in the almost gamelan-like flavors of the title track.

At other points, the album heads in mechanized Detroit techno directions (“Happenings”), or in soulful, New York house trajectories (“The Sun Goddess”), all the while retaining the simultaneously earthy and psychedelic atmosphere that defines Inoue’s sets…

Speaking of chillout rooms, a fresh release by some of the masters of Japanese chill is causing ears to prick up. Autora is a new unit that consists of Jun Takayama and Akio Yamamoto, both of whom are long-versed in the shifting, psychedelic sonics of chillout music.

The self-titled debut release by the Kansai duo issues forth in a swirl of ambient colors, and then takes listeners on a journey through everything from robotic vocoder voices to dark subterranean beats to warbling, almost J-pop melodies. The pair are often joined by a live rhythm section, and for their upcoming appearance at newish venue Fever, they’ll be assisted by the incomparable keyboard wizardry of fellow Kansai native Rei Harakami…

After making his Japan debut last year, the “godfather of digital cumbia” is back for a quick tour. Unlike its Latin cousin salsa, easygoing cumbia is music you can dance to without a partner, which may explain why it’s been welcomed on the sexually neutered dancefloors of Japan. The zany Dick El Demasiado has already appeared at Tokyo’s SuperDeluxe and Fuji Rock 2009, thanks to specialty label Utakata, which pioneered the release of his material here. The Dutch-born Buenos Aires resident plays at Fever this time around, where he’ll be in the company of talented oddball singer-songwriter-sampler Oorutaichi and audiovisual artist Doravideo.

Kaoru Inoue@Air, Aug 7. See club listings for details. Aotora@Fever, Aug 7. Dick El Demasiado@Fever, Aug 13. See concert listings (popular) for details. Sacred Days is available on Seeds and Ground. Autora is available on Sublime Records.

Kaoru Inoue @Air
Aug 7, From 10pm, ¥3,000. Daikanyama. Tel: 03-5784-3386. www.air-tokyo.com

Dick El Demasiado @Fever
Aug 13, midnight, ¥2,800 (adv)/¥3,300 (door). Shindaita. Tel: 03-6304-7899.

Courtesy of Eleven

Moving to England at 13, Neil Fraser acquired his nickname thanks to an early obsession with electronics. By the mid-’80s he was working with some of the UK’s top reggae artists, and in 1990 he reached the pinnacle of dub by collaborating with Lee “Scratch” Perry on Mystic Warrior.

However, Mad Professor’s real contribution comes not from his early dub work, which was faithful to the Jamaican style, but from his later recordings, in which he cross-fertilized the music with electronica by adding more synthetic and futuristic sounds to dub’s basic reggae vocabulary. The growing links between the two genres became apparent when he began touring Japan in the late ’90s with the likes of ambient house maestros The Orb.

Unlike your standard DJ show, which features normal left-right mixers, dub sets by the likes of Mad Professor see artists working with full, multichannel desks, through which they manipulate prerecorded instrumental tracks. For his gig at Eleven, Mad Professor will pit heads against a posse of local dub mixers, including Kaito (a.k.a. Hiroshi Kawanabe), to see who can come up with the most mind-blowing sonics, with live music from local outfits such as Rub-A-Dub Market…

If Mad Professor represents the history of UK dub, then dubstep duo Skream & Benga are its present. Dubstep has at its core the same thunderous drums and bass as dub, but takes these elements into more abstract territory, with layers of synths and an almost cubist reworking of reggae rhythms. Compared with dub, the audience for dubstep is also decidedly younger and whiter.

Skream (Oliver Jones) and Benga (Beni Uthman), both in their mid-20s, are based in Croydon in South London. While Skream is considered one of dubstep’s founders, Benga is known for blending the music with the sounds of East London grime. Presented by the long-running Drum and Bass Sessions, the night is another indication of the increasing popularity of dubstep on these shores, with drum’n’bass itself taking a back seat…

Finally, for those who like their dub in more rootsy flavors, UK bassist and bandleader Dennis Bovell will be at Eleven in early August. A formidable onstage presence, Bovell had perhaps his finest moments backing dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. But he’s also worked in Japan with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, and for the upcoming night (to celebrate the 13th anniversary of Shinjuku reggae club Open) he’ll be performing with talented singer and drummer PJ, among other members of the pick-up “Open Band.”

July 31 @Eleven
A Night Called Strictly Dub Mood. Dub, reggae: DJs Mad Professor, Kawanabe, etc. From 9pm, ¥3,500 w/1d. Nishi-Azabu. Tel: 03-5775-6206. www.go-to-eleven.com

July 31 @Unit
Dubstep Warz. DJs Skream, Benga, etc. July 31, from 11:30pm, ¥4,000. Daikanyama. Tel: 03-5459-8630. www.unit-tokyo.com

Goodman can be forgiven for his unorthodox tastes. When he isn’t DJing and producing under the Kode9 moniker or doing the paperwork for his label Hyperdub, he runs an MA program in Sonic Culture at the University of East London. He’s also got a PhD in philosophy, and last year released a book with the formidable title Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear. Not your run-of-the-mill bass worshipper, in other words.

“It doesn’t have to be overly loud, but physical,” he says. “That’s what I suppose everyone who was involved with dubstep early on has in common—a concern for the physicality and warmth of the bass.”

Born in Glasgow, Goodman relocated to London in the late-’90s and was at ground zero when the UK’s grime and two-step scenes began to morph into what we now know as dubstep. In 2002 he co-produced “Fat Larry’s Skank,” one of the earliest examples of the genre, before striking up a fruitful relationship with poet-MC The Spaceape. “Sign of the Dub,” the duo’s stark reworking of Prince’s “Sign o’ the Times,” would become Hyperdub’s debut release. The label has since put out records by key producers including Burial, Ikonika and Zomby.

It’s also introduced the wider world to Quarta330, a Japanese chiptune savant who summons bona fide club anthems from a pair of GameBoys. “I think he is amazing, the way he gets such intricate melodies out of those machines,” says Goodman. “He’s a genius, though. We could all learn from him.”

Quarta330 will be appearing alongside Kode9 and Dutch wunderkind Martyn at Air later this month, in what promises to be an absolute stonker of a night. Goodman’s not the most predictable of DJs, but chances are you’ll hear some of the cuts featured on his recent DJ Kicks mix, which veers from grime and dubstep to UK Funky, broken beat, and other dancefloor mutations that haven’t even got a name yet.

“I decided to just go for what was in my record bag at that moment, as opposed to some of my influences, or favorite tracks over the years,” he says. “The mix is just a snapshot of a certain moment in my DJ life.

“I don’t see it as educating when I DJ, but I like to play what I like to hear, regardless of what genre people have come to expect from me over the years. One issue is that styles shift so quickly in London that people’s expectations can sometimes lag behind… I’m lucky that these days, people seem to come with me more instead of just staring at me blankly.”

They might draw a line at the vuvuzelas, though.

July 23@Air
Martyn vs. Kode9. Dubstep, techno: DJs Martyn, Kode9, etc. Live: Quarta330. July 23, from 10pm, ¥3,500 (adv)/¥4,000 (door). Daikanyama. Tel: 03-5784-3386. www.air-tokyo.com. An exclusive Hyperdub vs 3024 mix CD will be available on the night.

Courtesy of Es.U.Es

If you point your browser to the homepage of Detroit techno label Motech, you’ll find a map—not of Detroit, but of the Adriatic Sea and Turkey, accompanied by the motto, “We speak your language.”

They serve as a good indicator of Franki Juncaj’s different take on Detroit techno. The head of Motech, better known by the moniker DJ 3000, grew up in Detroit as the son of Albanian immigrants, and his productions blend the essentials of techno with the music of the Adriatic.

“Motech Records was started in 2002 as an effort to allow myself, and other producers, an outlet for combining both the influences we drew from Detroit music as well as the influences of our ancestral cultures,” he tells Metropolis via Blackberry from Detroit. “Motech provided a way for me and the producers I enjoyed to release music that might not have otherwise been released as traditional Detroit techno.”

Raised in the immigrant enclave of Hamtramck, DJ 3000 celebrates his heritage by blending samples of traditional instruments like the two-stringed çiftelia with the machine funk for which his native city is better known. He was baptized into the techno brotherhood through the influential Underground Resistance label’s Somewhere in Detroit series, and debuted with the full-length Migration, which weaved ethnic Albanian sounds with rhythms ranging from hammering techno to broken beats and downtempo.

With Motech, the DJ is pushing the careers of a global coterie of producers.

“We are always trying to move forward by releasing music from new artists and allowing them the exposure they might not get elsewhere,” he says, mentioning fellow Detroit producer Shawn Snell, Chicago’s ID and Japan’s DJ Compufunk. “These guys might not be well known across the world, but they are making progressive, boundary-pushing music, and I think it my duty to let the world know about them.”

Of course, the younger generation of Detroit techno producers is faced with a tricky balancing act: how do you retain the fundamentals of the music without letting it ossify? “The blueprints for dance music were laid so long ago that a lot of what we are seeing now are just rehashes,” he says. “It’s almost as if dance music has remixed itself over and over, and it’s arrived as a watered-down version of the original.

“Being from Detroit, we are taught to respect those who have come before us, and know where we are from. We always shout out to the ‘D,’ and it comes through in our music. However, being the owner of a label and a producer myself, I’m obligated to keep moving forward and forging a place for Motech on the world stage.”

It will be strictly vinyl for DJ 3000 in Tokyo (“some DJs have setups that look like the flight deck on the space shuttle, but a guy with a pair of turntables can rock just as hard”), and he looks forward to being among friends. “I plan to just spend time with them and enjoy the event,” he says. “DJ Krush is a great artist and DJ, and I am a huge fan… I plan to watch his set, as he performs after [me], so I am definitely excited about that.”

Audio Tokyo Electronic Music Festival@Harumi Seaside Terminal, July 17. See concert listings for details.

Courtesy of f.e.u. Inc.

His remix portfolio reads like a who’s who of modern music, and he’s even been nominated for a Grammy. But there’s life outside the studio for Diplo, a.k.a. Thomas Wesley Pentz. The Philly native is an inveterate wanderer, and has helped popularize dance music from around the globe—most famously funk carioca, the party music of choice in Rio de Janeiro’s favela.

Last year, Diplo changed direction by making a foray into dancehall and ragga-infused electro with UK producer (and fellow M.I.A. collaborator) Switch. Their guise? Major Lazer, a vivid, Marvel Comic-esque militant with lasers for arms and a killer Twitter bio: “Once he was a man, now he is a soldier of good, seeker of justice, enforcer of pain. He is half man, half lazer, and all warrior.”

“I’ve just got lots of ideas. Some of it came from ’80s dancehall artwork on Scientist and King Jimmy sleeves,” Diplo tells Metropolis over the phone from London. “We wanted to make a proper record, and that’s the way to do it as producers, to get people down with an entire concept—involvement times ten… You can get the T-shirt and action figure right now!”

You could say that the Major Lazer character works better as the face of a dancehall unit than two white dudes, but Diplo’s globetrotting musical endeavors have left him well attuned to any perceived racial stigma. He recalls experiencing some initial negativity during a trip to Jamaica last year. “But anytime you leave your own area you’re going to get that a bit—even with Japanese,” he says, adding that by the end they had Jamaican dancehall star Elephant Man offering support.

The fact that Major Lazer’s debut album, Guns Don’t Kill People—Lazers Do features a different Jamaican artist on every track further dispels the “white guys doing black music” thing as a non-issue. Musically, the record is an extremely well produced, bounce-that-ass collection of party music that, if the riotous scenes from last year’s Notting Hill Carnival in London are anything to go by, transforms nicely into a live show.

Diplo ditched the rest of our interview to dash off to the Apple Store—“Can these be the last two questions? I got to get a new computer”—and left the onus on the locals for the upcoming Major Lazer show at Unit.

“That depends on Tokyo. We put on the best show around right now,” he replies when asked about what we can expect. “Nobody else is really going out and doing something this serious, and if you guys in Japan are as crazy as you say you are, it should be a lot of fun.”

Those who can’t make it to the show can check out the much-hyped free mix Major Lazer & La Roux present Lazerproof. As it says on the tin, the effort is a collaboration between Major Lazer and UK synth-pop diva La Roux, and it caused Diplo’s label website to crash when over 200,000 hipsters tried to get their mitts on it on the day of its release. The mix is not really dancehall, but it’s worth checking for a totally belting Pon De Skream version of La Roux’s commercial smash “In for the Kill.”

July 2 @Unit
Major Lazer Soundsystem. Electro, dancehall. From 11:30pm, ¥4,500. Daikanyama. Tel: 03-5459-8630. www.unit-tokyo.com

Courtesy of Fiercesounds

You’d be hard-pressed to tell from today’s Teutonically precise minimal beats, but techno originated when black producers in Detroit mated the funk of American acts like Parliament with the synth-pop of European groups like Kraftwerk.

Thanks in large part to ever more automated music software programs, much of the funk has been bled out of techno. But a small number of producers continue to keep elements of black music central to their productions. English DJ Jerome Hill—due in town for next week’s Fiercesounds event—is one of them.

“I’ve always been into scratching and hip-hop,” Hill says by email. “When I began DJing in 1990, lots of styles of dance music existed alongside each other, and there wasn’t the ‘strict’ genre division that you get now.”

Hill references hip-hop bands like De La Soul as much as dance music innovators like Renegade Soundwave, and says the UK hardcore hip-hop scene—sometimes called “Britcore”—also exerted a strong influence.

Launching his DJ career in the early ’90s as a mainstay at illegal warehouse parties across the UK, Hill has a reputation as a DJ’s DJ, and he continues to bring his manic mash-ups to marquee clubs worldwide. He’s also known as a tastemaker, serving as a buyer for London record stores and as a resident at key underground events UglyFunk and Bloc Weekend.

Currently running Swerved in London, Hill says he’ll be bringing to Tokyo “a load of different dancefloor styles—techno, broken beat, hard garage and old skool hardcore—plus some surprises from before I was born.” Among them will be tracks from his new label Fat Hop, which finally realizes his dream to release funk and hip-hop productions on 7-inch vinyl records.

Hill’s eclectic style should make for an intriguing contrast with that of DJ Mayuri, the famed founder of Metamorphose festival who has a penchant for hard techno. The pair will be partnering at the latest installment of Fiercesounds, an event that alternates between London and Tokyo.

In parting, Hill doesn’t mince his words on today’s techno producers. “Everyone is jumping ship, abandoning their roots and originality, and adopting styles of music that sound like a secondhand style copied from somebody who copied somebody else,” he laments. “It’s gradually getting watered down and there’s little rawness left: everyone’s playing it safe and is scared to rock the boat for fear they’ll be cut loose.”

June 19@Amrax
Fiercesounds. Underground techno: DJs Jerome Hill, Mayuri, etc. From 10pm, ¥3,000 w/1d. Shibuya. Tel: 03-3486-6861. www.amrax.jp

Courtesy of Avex Entertainment

Living in Tokyo, you become attuned to the differences between gyaru and ganguro gyaru, or haafu and nyu haafu. But overseas, such distinctions tend to get lost in translation.

When I catch up with Aural Vampire in Aoyama, the Tokyo duo’s better-looking half, singer Exo-Chika, is just back from a goth fashion show at an anime festival in the States. “The theme was J gothic, and I went there with Laforet brand Atelier Pierrot,” she explains. “It was a blast—surprisingly, that sort of fashion show doesn’t really happen here.”

But wait a second: aren’t the anime and goth scenes entirely separate? “In Japan, yes,” she answers, “but over there they view them as part of the whole Japanese pop culture package.”

Exo-Chika met producer Raveman in high school a decade ago, and founded Aural Vampire on a shared love of gore and horror B-movies. The duo went viral worldwide thanks to the phenomenal growth of MySpace, hitting a sweet spot at the confluence of the twin booms of social networking and “Japanese cool.” The pair now boasts some 50,000 “friends” on their page.

In person, Exo-Chika comes off as a kind of sweet, Elvira-style vampire, while Raveman—who wears his mask throughout the interview—is your archetypal faceless music otaku. “I thought he was kind of weird, but when we had the chance to actually speak I learned that he was a producer,” recalls Exo-Chika about their first meeting. “I asked him to make a song for me, and that’s how we formed. At first Raveman didn’t wear a costume, but it seemed too conventional, so I told him to wear a mask. He said, ‘Sure, why not?’”

The pair toured overseas for the first time in 2007, playing Europe and gracing the cover of German goth magazine Astan. They’ve since done dates for anime festivals in the US and Mexico, on top of touring Australia and Europe with fetish party Tokyo Decadance.

With Aural Vampire’s long-awaited major debut, Zoltank, record company Avex is clearly hoping to kick-start a worldwide phenomenon. The album is built on twin strains of electro and J-pop, and reflects the duo’s schlocky, campy approach to the goth/horror esthetic.

“We’re not as violent as we seem,” Raveman explains. “We’re not really a heavy band and our lyrics are often pretty pop.” Despite song titles like “Border of the Dead,” he notes that the content is mostly tame: “Economical Animal,” for instance, is apparently a fight song for Japanese salarymen.

“I’m into cute, sexy vampires,” Exo-Chika says, baring a fang or two. “Rather than typical goth vampires, I like contemporary vampires that you might find in jeans. Just because you’re a vampire doesn’t mean you have to wear goth clothes and play goth music—the possibilities are infinite.”

That said, she’s not averse to the occasional bucket of blood, and admits to a fondness for fresh kill. “I like raw meat, and pig brains—it’s delicious!” she enthuses. “We like to try all different kinds of meat when we go overseas: kangaroo in Australia, baby goat in Mexico…whatever we can.”

Aural Vampire
Darkwave electronic duo with Urban Garde and others. June 12, 7pm, ¥2,500 (adv)/¥3,000 (door). Club Asia, Shibuya. Tel: 03-5458-2551.

Courtesy of Air

A perfect example of the worldwide spread of house music can be found in the duo of Satoshi Tomiie and Hector Romero. The pair, who celebrate the tenth anniversary of their label SAW Recordings at Air on June 12, came together from disparate corners of the globe in the ’90s to join house legends Frankie Knuckles and David Morales as junior members of New York’s Def Mix agency.

The archetypal Asian classical music prodigy, Tomiie was delivered to Def Mix through a fateful meeting with Knuckles in Tokyo. Romero, meanwhile, was a teenager spinning house, hip-hop and Latin for street parties in the Bronx when he was recruited by Def Mix impresario Judy Weinstein. Together, they tied up with Knuckles and Morales to form a collective that essentially defined the sound of New York house in the ’90s.

At the turn of the decade, Tomiie and Romero launched SAW as an outlet for productions that didn’t quite fit the New York template.

“It seems like just a few years, but looking back at all the catalogs and the artists we have been working with, there is something Hector and I can be proud of,” Tomiie tells Metropolis by email. “We started the label with this policy: introducing quality electronic music regardless of style. It’s still the same, and we looking forward to more to come.”

If New York house often features strings and soulful vocals, SAW’s sound is more techy, taking in the arc from progressive to minimal house that defined the last decade. Tomiie is the honcho, while Romero’s role, he writes, is to provide “young, forward-thinking advice. I lend my ear as an A&R man to Morales, Frankie and Satoshi, which I love to do—I’m there to support them and Judy Weinstein in many ways.”

While Def Mix’s two-plus decades in business qualifies it as an éminence grise of house music, the group is not standing still, reshaping itself for the new web 2.0 ecosystem. “For a company that’s been around for over 25 years, you can imagine how difficult it might be, but it has to be done,” says Romero. “You must embrace these sites and reach out to the fans and interact. Satoshi has really gone full-steam ahead with Facebook, MySpace and Twitter on his own, and now Def Mix as a company is coming around to taking part as well.”

“At the moment, I honestly feel house music is in a good place,” Romero says. “There is a lot of quality music out there and of course a lot of garbage, but the fun part is to find the gems and feature them in your sets—I think house music has a great future ahead.”

At Air, the contrast between Tomiie’s no-nonsense seriousness and Romero’s irrepressible sense of fun should make for an entertaining evening. Says Romero: “The fact that Satoshi and I are playing together makes it all the better—as everyone knows, I come to party and lift spirits up. I love to have fun, and fun we will have!”

“I love the energy of the crowd,” Tomiie says. “People are musically educated and well aware of what’s going on in the world of electronic music. I simply love playing in my own country.”

June 12@Air
Saw: Saw Recordings 10th Anniversary. Techno, house: DJs Satoshi Tomiie, Hector Romero, etc. June 12, from 10pm, ¥3,500. Daikanyama. Tel: 03-5784-3386. www.air-tokyo.com

Photo courtesy of Planet Gong

Surely a night out in the Netherlands’ capital of hedonism begins with a visit to one of the city’s legendary cafes?

“Not anymore for me, but it’s a good option,” says Dutch DJ/producer Anton Pieete by email. “There are a lot of clubs and good parties in Amsterdam at the moment, so you never have to be bored. The only problem is that clubs are only open till 5am. But you can always find something to do after then.”

Pieete first became interested in electronic music after receiving a vintage synthesizer from his grandfather, and began producing tracks in the late ’90s. It took a while for his career to gather steam and break beyond his home city, but the DJ is currently one of the most referenced names in techno—thanks partly to the worldwide influence of dance-music download site Beatport.

Pieete’s first worldwide hit came in the form of “Players” on Intacto, which reached number one on Beatport and became one of the defining tracks of 2008. He followed that up last year with another Beatport chart-topper, “Siberian,” and put the icing on the cake when industry bible Mixmag tapped him as a “DJ to keep your eye on.”

The secret to Pieete’s success is that there is no secret. After years of ever more reductionist house and techno, he delivers straightforward dancefloor tracks rooted in fat, pulsing basslines and fusillades of percussion.

“My biggest inspiration for dance music was in the late ’90s,” he explains. “I was a big fan of the Swedish and the Birmingham sound, because the music was heavy but still very funky—something I always try to achieve with my music. At the moment in Amsterdam, the scene is also very good: many of my friends make good music, so of course they give me a lot of inspiration.”

Currently working on an EP for respected imprint Drumcode, Pieete is upbeat about the dance-music scene. But he does have a criticism—one shared by many now that producers have all started using software to create tracks.

“The one thing I think is a bit wrong is that a lot of producers go in the same direction,” he says. “I like it when people do their own thing.”

Still, the set that Pieete is bringing to techno veteran Takkyu Ishino’s long-running Sterne event will be software-based.

“I started playing digital two years ago, and it was the best decision I’ve ever made,” he enthuses. “It gives me so much freedom in the way I want to DJ. Now I can finally do the things I always wanted to do when I play. For example, you can play as many tracks as you like at the same time, or use certain elements from tracks—it was an eye-opener for me.”

Womb
Sterne. Techno: DJs Anton Pieete, Takkyu Ishino, Ten, etc. June 4, from 11pm, ¥4,000. Shibuya. Tel: 03-5459-0039. www.womb.co.jp

Japan doesn’t see many African musicians—and, like many of those that do somehow find their way here, Boddhi Satva is based in Europe. Nevertheless, the DJ/producer was born and raised in the Central African Republic, and his roots are as much in the rhythms of soukous, makossa and ndombolo as in hip-hop or house.

“He is [part of] the new wave of young artists from Africa that will take the reins when the greats such as Louie Vega and Danny Krivit retire,” says promoter Mitch Norris of Boddhi Satva’s upcoming Japan debut.

Contacted by email, “Boddhi”—real name Armani Kombot-Naguemon—proves voluble, quoting a friend as describing his style of “African Music” as based “upon a certain repetitiveness that has a hypnotic influence and can provoke the spirit in your body to make you wanna dance.”

The DJ says house music still has minimal impact in central Africa, but notes “there is room for us because of two styles of music that have been big all over Africa for the past six years: coupé décalé (created in Ivory Coast) and kuduro (Angola). Both mix electronic elements with organic and vocal ones. They have even crossed the limits of Africa and are a big phenomenon in Europe and the US.”

Sharing a home with house producer Alton Miller in Brussels for the last few years, as well as his close relationship with Louie Vega, have allowed Boddhi to fertilize his African roots with contemporary dance music production values and the spirituality of house music. The results can be heard on his forthcoming debut long player.

“Invocation is my first album,” he says. “It took me ten years to do it, and because of the amount of music I produced, we decided to make this debut a special one: special, because it’ll be a double album of 25 original productions done by myself featuring Vikter Duplaix, C. Robert Walker, Fredy Massamba, Rachel Claudio, Yuba, Yacoub and many more.”

Boddhi says he’s doubly honored to be invited to Japan.

“First, because my father used to live in Japan when he was a boy and always told me amazing stories of his childhood in Tokyo. Second is the fact that Japanese people are very selective when it comes to quality.”

“I will provide my Ancestral Soul sounds,” he promises. “I’ll connect my soul and spirit to the listeners and dancers that will be there that night, and with humility do my very best to give them the most positive and uplifting night.”

May 15 @Amrax
Boddhi Satva. House: DJs Boddhi Satva, Aron T, Bbc, etc. From 11pm, ¥3,500. Shibuya. Tel: 03-3486-6861. www.4thelove.net / info@4thelove.net

Invocation is due out this fall.

Courtesy of Womb

Layo Paskin and Matthew Bushwacka are firmly ingrained in British nightlife lore. The DJ and production duo, whose sound sits somewhere between tech-house and breaks, made a name for themselves playing epic DJ sets for their All Night Long parties at legendary London club The End.

In the early ’90s, Paskin was introduced to Matthew “B,” then a percussionist in the London School Symphony Orchestra, by the pied piper of the UK rave scene, Mr. C. (If the name’s not familiar, you might remember Mr. C as the cheeky rapper in UK rave group The Shamen, who caused a national uproar with their perceived endorsement of ecstasy in the 1992 chart hit “Ebeneezer Goode.”) In 1995, Paskin and Mr. C opened The End in a converted 19th-century horse stable, and soon after, Layo & Bushwacka! were born.

The duo’s debut album, Low Life, was released at the cusp of the millennium, but it was their sophomore outing, Night Works—a seamlessly sequenced journey through exotic, bass-heavy house—that put them in high demand. Gigs in some of the biggest European clubs followed, propelled by the massive popularity of the anthem “Love Story,” with its unforgettable chiming hook and soulful vocals.

Feels Closer, their third album, marked the beginning of the duo’s Olmeto label, as they branched out into live instrumental and percussive territories. From running a world-famous club to successful productions, and with a globetrotting DJ career and a label thrown into the mix, Layo & Bushwacka! have covered all the corners of the nightlife scene, and will be well-placed to put on a stomper at Womb…

DJs reading this: check Tokyoite DJ/producer Andrez Bergen’s new wax Metropolis How? Remixes, which has already won the support of folks like Luke Slater. The original track is stripped-down mechanical hypnotism, while James Ruskin, DJ Hi-Shock and Justin Berkovi provide the remixes.

Ruskin delivers a sinister version, with a thumping, four-to-the-floor beat overlaid with tense synths, while Hi-Shock’s effort is a rattling slow-builder that emphasizes the subtle acid of the original. But the standout is Berkovi’s low-slung minimal tech-house groover, replete with seductive, serpent-like hisses.

When asked about the current format dilemma, the Aussie Bergen is quick to champion vinyl.

“Honestly? Digital is glutted out,” he tells Metropolis. “It’s a great medium to exercise lack of restraint and release experimental stuff since there are no overheads, but sales and attention are minimal. Digital is physically intangible, and CDs have gone the way of the dinosaur. DJing vinyl is something I can show my daughter when she grows up, and the analog sound is just a wee bit richer.”

Womb
W feat. Layo & Bushwacka! House, techno: DJs Layo & Bushwacka!, Takuya, Raymond, etc. May 15, from 11pm, ¥4,000. Shibuya. Tel: 03-5459-0039. www.womb.co.jp

Metropolis How? Remixes is available now on Gynoid:Audio. See www.androidmuziq.com for more info.

Some DJs acquire a mythical status as much for their elusiveness as their music. The first visit in eight years by DJ Harvey will provide Tokyo turntable-spotters with a chance to see if the man lives up to his billing.

Hailing from Cambridge, Harvey Bassett acquired his cult-like following by being one of the first British DJs to bring house music to the UK. His name calls to mind formative late-’80s parties in Cambridge and Brighton, where he would blend disco, hip-hop, house and rock in epic sonic journeys.

After holding down the after-hours residency at London’s Ministry of Sound in the ’90s, Harvey eventually washed up on the US west coast. In recent years, the craggy-looking DJ has been holding occasional Harvey Sarcastic Disco warehouse parties and running the associated Sarcastic Clothing, as well as producing and remixing for the likes of Ian Brown. Judging by his live band Map of Africa and his latest mix for online dance music store Beatport, Harvey remains well on top of the latest styles in electro, minimal and disco punk.

With his old-school ability not only to select tracks but to host a party, the charismatic Harvey should make Rainbow Disco Club—held on a two-level ferry terminal overlooking Rainbow Bridge—a day to remember. And if you’re not able to make it, there’s another chance to catch Harvey at Eleven next weekend.

Rainbow Disco Club features several other heavyweight guests in the form of New York DJ Darshan Jesrani, who, as part of the Metro Area collective, has been influential in the nu disco movement; DJ Nick The Record, who’s been bringing soulful grooves from the UK to Japan for more than a decade; and techno stalwart Matt Edwards, a.k.a. Radio Slave. A slew of other imported and domestic DJs and a Funktion One sound system are only added bonuses. Bring your own deck chair…

For those looking to squeeze the last drops out of their Golden Week, Module in Shibuya will be banging into the wee hours of Wednesday with a mysterious German DJ making his first Japan visit.

Little is known about the actual identity of Redshape beyond the fact that he’s based in Berlin. Concealing himself behind a red mask, the DJ has found tracks from his recent album The Dance Paradox on playlists of the likes of Laurent Garnier. With a sound steeped in the minimalist atmospheres of Detroit techno, this should come as no surprise.

Redshift will be welcoming the sunrise with a live set at Module alongside domestic DJ Keihin, who is known for mixing house, techno and industrial in releases for the Almadella label.

Harumi Boat Terminal
Rainbow Disco Club. DJs Harvey, Metro Area, etc. May 2, 10am-9pm, ¥6,000. Harumi. www.rainbowdiscoclub.com

Eleven
DJ Harvey 2010 Tour of Japan. House, disco: DJs Harvey, Garth, etc. May 8, from 10pm, ¥4,000 w/1d. Nishi-Azabu. Tel: 03-5775-6206. www.go-to-eleven.com

Module
Redshape Japan Tour. Techno, house: DJs Redshape, Keihin, Gonno, etc. May 4, from 10pm, ¥3,500 w/1d, ¥2,500 with flyer. Shibuya. Tel: 03-3464-8432. www.module-tokyo.com

Courtesy of Unit

With spring in full swing and Golden Week just around the corner, Tokyo’s clubs are giving the locals plenty of reasons to keep partying long after the sun goes down. The Daikanyama area looks like a good bet, with some of dance music’s pioneers rocking up in town.

At the Cabaret party at Unit, nomadic producer Daniel Bell—a veteran of Toronto, Detroit and Berlin—will revive the DBX moniker that he brandished back in the mid-’90s. DBX earned worldwide respect for some seminal minimal techno releases, including 1993’s super-sparse “Bleep” and the 1994 paranoia-inducing trip-fest “Losing Control.”

Interestingly, acid techno artist Josh Wink’s 2002 hit “Superfreak” created a stir thanks to its eyebrow-raising similarity to Bell’s “Phreak,” released ten years prior. That someone like Wink would so closely copy Bell is testament to the influence of the DJ’s early material; original 12” pressings of Bell’s tracks on his first label, Accelerate, now sell for hundreds of dollars online.

Since the turn of the millennium, Bell had opted for decks rather than a live setup. But that changed two years ago, when he was asked by the Detroit Electronic Music Festival to reacquaint himself with DBX. He obviously enjoyed digging out the old analog gear, because two years later the ensuing live tour has taken him around the world, including Nagano’s Taico Club festival in 2008.

The gig at Unit signals the tour’s swan song, so a visit is highly recommended if you’d like to hear some of Bell’s definitive tracks played in their rawest form—and maybe for the last time. If you can’t make it, then be sure to check the re-release of acclaimed mix The Button Down Mind of Daniel Bell on German label Tresor, originally out a decade ago.

Meanwhile, just around the corner, Air will be hosting frequent visitor Francois K, who is celebrating the release of compilation disc Francois K. x Air. The 21-track effort offers a progressive, full-body workout, with spaced-out epic techno such as Borut Margon’s “Fortnight” alongside thumpers like Roberto Bpsco’s “Space Drone.” By releasing mix CDs, Air is following in the footsteps of some of Europe’s biggest clubs—think London’s Fabric and Berlin’s Watergate. But with the emphasis thus far on oldies (albeit goodies)—the previous compilation was by Derrick May—it remains to be seen if they’ll be able to set a similar standard for cutting-edge music.

May 1 @Unit Cabaret. DJs Daniel Bell, Yone-Ko, etc. Live: DBX. May 1, from 11:30pm, ¥3,500. Daikanyama. Tel: 03-5459-8630. www.unit-tokyo.com

May 1 @Air World Connection. House: DJs Francois K, Calm, etc. May 1, from 10pm, ¥3,500. Daikanyama. Tel: 03-5784-3386. www.air-tokyo.com

Francois K. x Air is available on Heartbeat Japan. The Button Down Mind of Daniel Bell is available on Tresor.

Courtesy of Real Grooves

After almost two years in the Daikanyama wilderness, minimal techno long-player Real Grooves returns to Nishi-Azabu’s Eleven (the moniker of reborn superclub Yellow) with a posse of German laptop and turntable wizards.

Arne Schaffhausen and Wayan Raabe both grew up in the Hamburg countryside, but were soon lured to the bright lights and pulsing beats of the big city, where they became vinyl hounds and DJs at the dawn of the ’90s. Numerous gigs later, they began to issue highly rated tech-trance outings under the name Midi Miliz, debuting in Tokyo before 12,000 crazed ravers at Big Sight in 1999.

Now performing as Extrawelt, the duo return to Tokyo with a new full-length, Schone Neue Extrawelt, from vaunted German label Cocoon. The disc shows that the pair have put trance firmly behind them, stripping away the psychedelic nonsense to reveal the minimal synth superstructures and pounding bass substrata that define their sound.

Backstopping them in the DJ booth will be German DJ Marc Schneider along with local deck hounds Conoley Ospovat, Yoshitaca, Ozmzo and many more…

On the new release front, drum ’n’ bass, dubstep and electro aficionados should pick up the new mix-compilation album from French artist F. Energy Distortion is out on 7EVEN Recordings, presently run from Japan by French DJ/impresario Greg G.

Underpinned by F’s spacey futuristic dub, the album includes tracks by the likes of Hologram and Funk Injection, with textures ranging from mellow, contemplative house to earthshaking dubstep…

Finally, he of the many DJ tags, Mark O’Sullivan, is back with a worthy listen himself. Best known as the force behind electro dub unit The Mighty Quark, O’Sullivan also goes by the monikers Bacuzzi and Boolaboss, among others. In Japan, he’s remembered for a number of Mighty Quark releases on the now defunct Play Label, but for his new Fragments from a Long Country (Nice & Nasty), he returns under his own name.

Leaving dub’s syncopations behind him, O’Sullivan opts for more straight-ahead, four-to-the-floor beats. Fragments ropes pulsating industrial noises and Kraftwerk-like melodies to insistent hi-hat cymbals and minimal bass lines for an effect that is at once tuneful and menacingly dystopian.

April 17 @ Eleven

Real Grooves Volume 40, Special Event – The Return. DJs Marc Schneider, Ryuji Suganuma x Mitchelrock, etc. Live: Extrawelt, Conoley Ospovat. From 10pm, ¥4,500 w/1d. Nishi-Azabu. Tel: 03-5775-6206. www.go-to-eleven.com

Courtesy of Drum & Bass Sessions

At a time when many drum’n’bass producers are heading toward the more rhythmically complex and abstract style known as “dubstep,” battle-hardened DnB pioneer DJ Zinc launches out in a different direction. His latest effort, Crack House EP, ties the sonic vocabulary of drum’n’bass—earthshaking bass lines, MC-style vocals, menacing synths—to a 4/4 house beat.

“In 2006 I started to get bored of DnB, so I began listening to other styles of dance music,” Zinc emails from the UK in advance of his appearance at long-running jungle showcase Drum & Bass Sessions. “In 2007, I stopped playing DnB and took 2008 off. I heard some types of house that I found interesting, and also felt that I could make a sound that didn’t already exist.”

Crack House EP (Zinc reports he came across the term “crack house” at a bar in Nagoya) does, in fact, pop. Yet the album is not only for dance music heads—the ebullient, ragga-infused single “Wile Out,” featuring MC Ms Dynamite, cracked the UK Top 40, one of the best showings for a drum’n’bass producer since Roni Size claimed the Mercury Music Prize back in 1997.

When asked about why DnB’s brief foray into the mainstream soon fizzled, Zinc seems a bit taken aback.

“Wrong? I disagree that it went wrong. I think the mainstream found the sound of drum’n’bass interesting for a while but then lost interest. But the DnB crew kept moving forward, not really worrying about the mainstream.”

Citing the basslines and an “anything-goes attitude” as jungle’s chief legacies, Zinc (né Benjamin Petit) boasts real cred when it comes to drum’n’bass. He grew up in the DnB ground zero of London’s east end and, like many others, first became involved in dance music through pirate radio, meeting like-minded DJs and producers at the genesis of jungle.

Through anthems like “Super Sharp Shooter” and a slew of dancefloor killers on his imprint Bingo Beats, Zinc established himself as one of the genre’s premier DJs—until suddenly, without public explanation, he stopped taking bookings and releasing music throughout 2008.

Next weekend’s return for Drum & Bass Sessions thus provides the first close-up look at DJ Zinc’s new sound, and in the company of Dynamite MC (not to be confused with Ms Dynamite)—and, unusually, DJ Taku Takahashi from Japanese hip-hop unit m-flo—he’s promising a high-tech approach to some down-and-dirty dance music.

Zinc says that we can expect “crack house and some jungle/DnB—party vibes! [I’ll play] Serato Scratch Live with properly mastered WAVs—not perfect, but the best solution currently. I don’t really like CDJs, and vinyl is too bulky—it jumps and you get feedback from the turntables.”

Drum & Bass Sessions@Unit.
Jungle, drum’n’bass: DJs Zinc, Taku Takahashi, etc. MC: Dynamite. Apr 17, from 11:30pm, ¥4,000. Daikanyama. Tel: 03-5459-8630. www.unit-tokyo.com

Courtesy of Womb

As Womb prepares to celebrate ten years as the anchor of Shibuya’s nightlife district, director Sabi Takahashi and manager Naohiro Momoi jointly reflect on their first decade.

Womb’s opening ten years ago was delayed. Exactly what happened?

We had to reconstruct the building to improve “the environment” before the opening.

The club is reportedly owned by an adult video production company. Who actually owns Womb and why did they start it?

It was started to create a new culture. Following NYC, London, Berlin and Barcelona, Tokyo has grown into one of the top cities for dance music. We have tried to help the Tokyo scene flourish.

What are the challenges of running a big club in Tokyo?

Creating a Womb community and leading the scene. Creating a new culture and showing the direction that we are heading in clearly. Ensuring strict quality control.

The opening party featured Junior Vasquez for a cover charge of ¥10,000. Is it still possible to charge ¥10,000 for a club event?

At that time, it was rare to see a big name from abroad such as Junior Vasquez in Japan, which made it worth ¥10,000. Recently, events are being held in Tokyo every weekend with top artists from abroad. And actually, it is Womb that has built up this environment. We have been trying to produce events with attractive lineups, high-quality sound and a great atmosphere, and to make it less expensive so clubbers can come more often. So we don’t [charge ¥10,000].

How have the economics of the clubbing business changed?

Actually, it has gotten better. Many parties are held in a variety of venues on the same night, which means there has been an explosive increase in demand. Also, much to our joy, we have many customers from abroad—both people who live in Japan and tourists—and they don’t just go out on weekends but also on weekdays. We appreciate foreigners’ support and have tried to create an international playground that anyone can come to and enjoy.

Is the Japanese club scene healthy?

It’s healthy. In comparison with other Asian countries, Japanese crowds have a pure sense and attitude toward music.

What are your most memorable events over ten years, both good and bad?

Womb Adventure. We brought the atmosphere of Womb parties to Makuhari Messe and held large-scale events that attracted nearly 10,000 people. There were no bad ones.

What can clubbers look forward to in Womb’s tenth year?

Our resident events held this year will represent the best parties of the past ten years. Under the concept “Restart & Continue,” we continue to attempt new things and are reflecting this in each event.

Is Womb profitable? How much money did it make or lose in 2009?

We direct our whole energy to each and every event. We spend money on booking, PR, production, and improving the environment of Womb to make it more enjoyable and comfortable. This means we don’t make much money running the club.

Womb
Womb 10th Anniversary. DJs Aki, Dexpistols, Ken Ishii, etc. Apr 10, from 11pm, ¥4,000. Shibuya. Tel: 03-5459-0039. www.womb.co.jp