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After Dark: If? So!! ...What?
By Don Crispy
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Little Nobody aka
Andrez Bergen
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Add Australia to the growing list of countries exporting its DJs to Japan.
Next Saturday, some of Oz's best will be behind the decks at a new event
at Blue timed to coincide with the end of the World Cup.
If? So!! ...What? is the brainchild of current Japan resident Andrez Bergen,
an electronica fanatic who also performs live under the name Little Nobody.
As Little Nobody, Melbourne-based Bergen has supported a bevy of heavyweights
in their Australian tours, including the likes of Coldcut and Jeff Mills.
He has also released three albums through If? Records in Australia, with
the latest remix outing, Reaction Hero, offering up complex sonic flavors
that might be put in the abstract/headz category.
Bergen arrived in Japan six months ago in order to set up If? Tokyo and
network with some of the artists and labels in this country. He told Metropolis
he hopes to "organize a feasible relationship between Australia
and Japan that (hopefully) will generate some interactive tours of the
more experimental electronic musos from each country."
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DJ Leko
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The "Australia vs Japan" theme will see a number of other
acts from Down Under participating, including DJ Gozaru, who has played
extensively in Australia and China alongside Ken Ishii and others, and
Indian-born vocalist Marcella. Rounding out the Australian side will be
Schlock Tactile and Curvaceous Crustacean.
Representing Japan will be Magnet Toy, signed to Germany's Trope imprint,
Funk Armor, Kowloon, Yagi Des, and Largo...
Meanwhile, the outdoor rave season has already been underway for a month,
but an upcoming party will introduce a distinctly different flavor to
the usual Japanese psy-trance offerings.
Slated for mountainous Nagano prefecture next weekend, Rave in Heaven
brings together Brazilian fashion company Territorio Nacional with a slew
of the Tokyo club circuit's finest for 24 hours of madness in the
mountains.
Aiming to create "a truly international party," Rave in
Heaven will match veteran DJ John Robinson of Velfarre fame with Protocol
DJs Taka and Roger and a posse of Brazilian DJs associated with the Area
X International monthly parties in Roppongi. Sounds will range from trance
to techno and progressive house, with further entertainment coming in
the form of drum circles, performances of spoken word, and Brazil's unique
martial arts/dance form, capoeira.
If? So!! ...What?@Blue, 6/30, 9pm, ¥2,500.
Tel: 3797-1591
Rave in Heaven@Minowa-shi, Nagano, 6/29-30, ¥4,500 (adv), ¥5,000
(door). Info: 5709-1697
credit: Courtesy of Andrez Bergen
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