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.
Emerson joins the dots between pop, house and techno, and his sets normally include many tracks from his label; but then, house events in the last few years have served up a dose of Underwater songs anyway, helping earn the label status as DJ Magazine's record label of 2003. Also expect to hear a few of the stompers Emerson produced with Underworld.
Artists that have been in the Underwater stable over the years include Tim Deluxe, who released two huge records while at the label, "It Just Won't Do," and "We All Love Sax"; Gus Gus, Iceland's crossover band who became the darlings of the house scene while on Underwater as their tracks received reworkings from the likes of Emerson, Josh Wink and Mutiny; and Paul Jackson, whose song "The Push" became one of the dance anthems of 2003.
Those wishing to see Emerson should get to ageHa early. There are no advance tickets for the event, and down the road at Makuhari Messe, at around 11 p.m., 9,000 clubbers will be looking for somewhere to go after Daft Punk's Dafunkfest finishes.
Darren Emerson and Shinichi Osawa play at ageHa's Fifth Anniversary Bash: Day Two on Dec. 8 from 11 p.m. Tickets are ¥4,000 (¥3,500 for ageHa members); ageHa, 2-2-10 Shin-Kiba, Edo-ku, Tokyo; www.ageha.com.