Richard Smart - The Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Feb 15, 2008

After winning arguably the biggest prize in dance music, any club DJ might be forgiven for going on the sort of Dionysian rampage that would leave Keith Richards begging for mercy. Not High Contrast.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Feb 1, 2008

WWE — the sweatiest ticket in town

The hard-punching, head-crunching stars of World Wrestling Entertainment are in Tokyo mid-February for the WWE Royal Rumble tour. OK, so this spectacle — currently known as "sports entertainment" and televised to millions worldwide — has its naysayers. After all, when midgets get the living daylights kicked out of them by 2-meter-tall blokes who make Arnold Schwarzenegger in his heyday look like chubby Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymor Hoffman, it's safe to say that what you are watching is not 100 percent for real.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Jan 25, 2008

No deviation for celebrated techno star

In an era of dance music that sees almost every DJ attempt to defy genre, and producers seemingly incapable of making tracks without either screaming guitars or samples of pop hits from yesteryear, Sven Vath is refreshing in his conservatism.

CULTURE / Music

Jan 18, 2008

Gan-Ban Night feat. Justice and DJ Busy P

Depending on what music mag you're reading, they're either the godfathers of new rave or the saviors of dance music. Period. But then it's not just London's snotty music press who've embraced Gaspard Auge and Xavier de Rosnay.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Dec 21, 2007

Top-rank British DJ Cox gets Womb moving

In terms of both reputation and body mass, DJs don't come much bigger than Carl Cox, who will be playing at the Tokyo club Womb on Dec. 21.

LIFE / Travel

Dec 21, 2007

Tasting the good life

Karuizawa is known as a getaway magnet for the rich, and based on a recent trip to the town in Nagano Prefecture, Japan's wealthy take their pleasures very seriously.

CULTURE / Music

Dec 14, 2007

Party planner

New Year is almost upon us again, and for those not satisfied with the TV and sake followed by a shrine, there are plenty of places about Tokyo to listen to good tunes and get monkeyed. While the city may not boast New Year mega-lineups to compete with the likes of London and New York, there are enough DJs and musical styles on offer to guarantee that if your thing is dancing, drinking champagne and kissing strangers, there will be an event for you.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Dec 7, 2007

Ex-Underworld DJ celebrates ageHa's fifth year

While Underworld has stayed in the limelight since Darren Emerson left the band in 2000, the Britain-based DJ's success has been a little more underground. Emerson spends his time running his record label, Underwater, and hosting events at "superclubs" such as Pacha in Ibiza and The End in London. On Dec. 8, Emerson will be in Tokyo to help the monster-size ageHa celebrate its fifth birthday.

CULTURE / Music

Nov 23, 2007

Daft Punk

The last time Daft Punk were in Japan, the venue was so packed that security closed the entrance. That was in 2006 at the Summer Sonic music festival, but for the Parisian dance duo's own forthcoming Gallic rave-up, "dafunkfest," anyone with a ticket will at least be guaranteed that they'll see Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo in action rather than listening through a wall.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Nov 23, 2007

Dance DJs hit the park

Stuck for something to do on the national holiday this Friday — and enjoy a bit of a boogie? If so, then you may like to head to Yoyogi Park and the Tokyo Dance Music Festival 2007 being staged there at the live space between Yoyogi Park and the NHK building.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Nov 16, 2007

Bumper weekend for Tokyo clubs

This weekend, Tokyo's clubs feature sets from some of the giants of the Japanese dance-music scene, and while it will be impossible to catch all the artists, going to Air, Ageha or Womb will offer a good idea of the nation's electronic-music offerings.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Nov 9, 2007

Acid-house pioneer shakes Tokyo

The death of music impresario Tony Wilson in August this year led to tributes from across the world, and recently the movie "Control," a biopic of late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, was released to critical acclaim. What do these two events have in common? Manchester's music scene of the late 1980s. On Nov. 9, Club Air in Tokyo will celebrate the release of New Order bassist Peter Hook's second mix for the "Haçienda" mix series, named after the legendary Manchester nightclub, with a night of acid house and a live performance by A Guy Called Gerald.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Nov 2, 2007

Soul goes Hi-Tek with Derrick May

"Basically I'm trying to save the world from bad . . . soulless music in whatever form that may be," 44-year-old DJ Derrick May says on his Web site. So its pretty safe to say there will be no remixes of Spice Girls songs in his set at the Hi-Tek Soul events to be held Nov. 3 and 11.

CULTURE / Music

Oct 19, 2007

Ricardo Villalobos "Fabric 36"
Various Artists "Soundboy Punishments"">Various Artists "The Kings of Electro"
Ricardo Villalobos "Fabric 36"
Various Artists "Soundboy Punishments"

Ricardo Villalobos "Fabric 36"
Various Artists "Soundboy Punishments"">Three reasons to buy the double CD mix album "The Kings of Electro" — Various Artists (Hostess): It is an excellent introduction to old-school electro, that synth-heavy take on hip-hop indebted to Kraftwerk and funk; it provides a timely reminder that there was computer-generated dance music before acid house arrived; it rocks. The music might sound dated (most of these tunes would have been made on Atari STs and employ a limited number of samples) but the man behind the mix, Playgroup (London-based DJ/producer Trevor Jackson), keeps things interesting by incorporating hip-hop, pop and acid elements.

LIFE / Travel

Sep 21, 2007

A slow drink coming

At Takahata Wine Harvest Festival next month the quality of booze will not be a problem — and neither will your conscience as you nurse a hangover the next day.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Sep 7, 2007

Orbital adventures

Those who watch Phil Hartnoll at Clash26 will see one of British dance music's most influential artists.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Jul 13, 2007

Step into her world

For more than a decade, DJ Mary Anne Hobbs has built a reputation at BBC Radio 1 for having musical tastes that are as cutting edge as they are eclectic.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

May 18, 2007

Viral sounds from South London

As well as the usual high-speed tempos and dark basslines you might expect, the "Drum and Bass Sessions" night on May 19 at Unit in Daikanyama, Tokyo will host dubstep practitioner Skream. The young producer will be "battling" DJ Zinc, one of the more enduring figures from the British drum and bass scene.

CULTURE / Music

May 18, 2007

Not an every day script

Enter a male student bedsit in Britain in the late 1990s and you'd likely be confronted by a copy of the Alex Garland novel "The Beach," posters of the movie "Trainspotting" on the wall and a bunch of albums from independent dance-music record labels like Skint, Wall of Sound and Ninja Tunes spread around the CD player.

Events / Events Outside Tokyo

Mar 9, 2007

Snow Groove like Yuzawa's

The inaugural Snow Groove, which takes place March 24-25 at Pine Ridge Resorts Kandatsu, Yuzawa and the main strip of Yuzawa town in Niigata Prefecture, is a weekend for those who wish to ski/snowboard all day and party all night.

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