Sunday, June 21, 2009

report: scion versions


while i am in tokyo for the next few months, i thought i'd do some write ups on the parties i am going to. god knows, once i return to wales there won't be much to report on... my welcome 'home' party was scion at unit, which has become tokyo's best club since the unfortunate closure of yellow. unit is a nice club - quality sound system, a well sized dancefloor, almost always a good crowd and it is nowhere near rappongi (tokyo's equivalent of hell on earth). when we got there yoshiki - one of the op.disc crew - was warming things up nicely. was very impressed with his set until he dropped the koze remix of 'mango' and then decided to mix out of it way too early. i am not sure whether he should be congratulated for playing that track out, or hated on for cutting it out early... next up was rene, making a rare performance dj'ing. i thought he had pretty much stopped dj'ing these days, and i think that may be the case because literally all the records he played were old. it was very enjoyable, but not mindblowing. what i did like was that he was a real old school mixer - lots of mixes where he let both tracks run for quite some time and make something new in the transition. he finished up with a rhythm & sound record, with pete starting off the scion live set by expertly mixing across. a nice start and a taste of what was to come. rene joined pete and scion went at it. unfortately they only played for an hour (last year at labyrinth it was 2.5 hours!), but what an hour it was. wow. very different from last time i had seen them, more 'clubby' and perhaps a bit less dubby. what i found interesting is that while their productions roughly stick within the basic channel sound, when live they really construct something wholly unique and distinctive. the set had an amazing fluidity and life to it, the sounds constantly morphing and changing, with remarkably little repitition. in this sense, it was very hard to grab hold of, but precisely also what made it so special. definitely one of the best live acts i've seen. to finish off the night, pete jumped behind the decks. while i was a bit worried - his track selection is always spot on but his mixing is sometimes a bit patchy - on friday he was in fine form. my only complaint was that he started slowing things down at 5am, and the party finished surprisingly early at 5.30am. i was wanting more...

so my trip to tokyo started excellently. the only problem was the next night i had a nap at 7pm, only to wake up at 12.30am discovering i had missed the last train, and so i would not be getting to see thomas melchoir play live and dj. disappointing, but scion was definitely worth it. also melchoir was playing at a club which supposedly has a poor sound system, and he is exactly the kind of artist you need a high end system for. annoying i over-slept but i'll deal with it. next weekend i have a double header at unit - tama sumo on friday night, then a chaos party on saturday with fumiya tanaka and audio werner live. should be fun...

*edit* found these videos from the night, care of tokyo cult club.



11 comments:

  1. I can't imagine you missed anything Saturday night. Hearing Melchior Productions play on the worst sound system of any big club in Tokyo would have been a painful experience.

    I like how Scion sound much dynamic live than their vinyl releases. I also like how Rene stands stone still while playing. It was a bit surreal at times!

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  2. I'm still pretty pissed off that Yoshiki mixed out of DJ Koze's "Pink Moon" remix of Mango Cookie *just before* the total headfuck meltdown part of the track. In my books that was a serious cocktease.

    But all in all that's a pretty minor quibble - the rest of the night was great. And Scion totally fucking rocked it. Something I really liked was how every so often they would slow things down just a little, taking things below the surface ... and then go surging forwards again, metallic waves washing across the room.

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  3. I think I might have shed a tear during Scion's set.

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  4. post updated with a few videos i found from the night...

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  5. God damn it, why did I not take video clips??? Such an idiot!!

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  6. Do you really believe Rappongi is the worst part of Tokyo? It's a bit commercial but I think other districts in Tokyo are much worse.

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  7. @ anon: yep, i hate the 'pong. some people don't mind it, but i really can't stand the place. yellow was basically the only reason i would go near there and now that's gone i basically avoid it. but that's just me...

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  8. I agree with Roppongi being hell for sure...it's much less about its commercialness and much more about the "clientele" who frequent the place.

    Scion was great, and with pre-sale tickets at 2500, well worth the price. As much as I like dubby, it was great to be kept moving all night.

    miked
    for another (more modest in size and greatness) collection of mixes:
    http://oursoundtracks.com

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  9. "what i did like was that he was a real old school mixer - lots of mixes where he let both tracks run for quite some time and make something new in the transition"

    i like different style of mixes but this one is what i dig the most! defines & points out who "has it" as a mixer and "who doesn't have it" as we say in greek slung.

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  10. doncaballero73@wp.pl

    ...as I remember the old times, maybe '96 or '97, when Pete played on the one of the first " so called " TRESOR parties in Poznan ( Poland ) - he was absofuckinglutely great, every time...it's priceless, when one can see a Dj - really enjoin what he's doing, and looking at the crowd - if the crowd likes it or not :O) and not beeing fuckin plastic and square person, like lots of the other " BIG " DJs...and what was amazing for me : Pete never payed attension, if track fits rhytmically in the first few seconds, because every time - it was a metter of one or two moves on the turntables- and it was just ACCURATE :O) sometimes a bit missedeach others' rhythm , but he was the first person I heard, who mixed Monolake together Rolando and other Detroit perls traxx...BIG BIG respect for Pete and the whole HARDWAX crew - I still got metal boxes of the CHAIN REACTION CD releases, which fucked up CDs :O) I'm goint to screw the boxes to my living room's main wall - to not to forget, where THE MUSIC comes from...and finally : RENE and his Vainqueur - mystic music and mytic man - totaly amazing, that he doesn't move any ich right or left while playing :O) I agree - it's surrealistic...:O) cheers for all music lovers, who can't live without music...Krystian/Poland/Poznan

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