Event Reviews
Roving Report: February/March 1998
This was my last attempt at a report for Dream Creation, just prior to the “we don’t have any copies of what you wrote for us for free” scenario… a piece that, as far as I know, went unpublished. It chronicles my departure from London in February 1998 through Vancouver on to Tokyo. I was full of enthusiasm, despite my not being able to fulfill my goals in London…although both Matsuri and Twisted wanted me to work for them, the offers came too late and I was unable to undig myself from the financial hole that I was in…so I decided to go off to Japan.
Greetings once again from the land of the Rising Sun. It's been an adventure and a half since I left London in February, and being able to observe the trance scene outside of the context of its supposed capital has proven to be a great learning experience.
Vancouver
My first destination was Vancouver in Western Canada, where I was to spend three weeks before coming to Japan. I had heard from Tsuyoshi that there were some small private trance parties that were happening over there, and Mick from Chaos Unlimited was scheduled to play during my visit, too. When I had been there in the summer of 1996, there were plenty of dance parties, but nothing psychedelic. One DJ I met had convulsions (the good kind) upon hearing some of the stuff I played him (“Angelic Particles” among them), so I knew it would go off eventually.
I was happy to see that things had indeed developed. Two days after arriving, I went off to Vancouver's only regular trance event, a Thursday night party at a club called Madison's (398 Richards Street, for anyone visiting). A Vancouver-based Japanese DJ called Masa - not to be confused with the Masa who used to be with Tokyo Techno Tribe - was the guest DJ. I was sure he would be competent, but wasn't sure how the Canadian approach to trance would be.
A night on the town
To say I was delighted beyond belief would be a good preliminary description of how I felt. The club, more of a bar (complete with pool tables), had been beautifully decorated with batiks, fluoro string and balls, and string mandalas. Wow. I missed the first DJ's set - Chris, one of the organizers - but heard his partner, Angel. Little did I expect to hear a particular kind of trance which has eluded me since the first parties I went to, a more structured, digital, deep yet funky kind...but that's what I was treated to (at last). Angel delivered a heavenly set that went straight back to the German/Belgian roots of trance, still explicitly psychedelic, yet not big label psy-trance. Fantastic.
The dance floor was slowly filling up with a lovely young group of people, all dancing in totally different ways, not many feet leaving the floor in artificial highs, but a more laid-back, heart-felt approach. A group of drummers who were genuinely enjoying what they were doing and playing IN RHYTHM did their thing while people sat around and talked, and others danced. The whole vibe was totally organic (this bud's for you) - a collection of different people who really seemed united - and magic developed. The small group on the dance floor naturally evolved into a circle, without any apparent intention as everyone seemed in their own dance, and one by one, people started going in and out of the center. In New York, circles were MADE so that people someone could go in and do their thing to get the approval of those outside - here, no-one seemed to realize that the circle was there, but it was. This is what happens when you don't force a vibe by being stuck with your old perceptions, or choke yourself of Class A's or booze and tobacco.
Masa came on at midnight (the witching hour), and played a better two-hour set than I think I have ever heard in London. He went through all the changes, shifting directions brilliantly, and all the while mellowly dancing behind the controls. This is a guy to watch for - he has the technique AND feeling that a real trance DJ needs, and no ego that visibly needs satisfying (nor, having met him, one that privately needs it either). He's back in Japan now - we came over the same weekend - and will be doing some small parties using a different name. Stay tuned.
The next week was Mick's performance at Madison's. I got to hear Chris' set this time, and I was not disappointed. Somehow he managed to make new tracks sound just that - new. Although he played plenty of new tracks, hot off the press, never did they sound like the commodities that some DJs treat them like - each one was a gem. Mick delivered a blinding set, throwing in a few old ones that really got them screaming (they probably never got heard in that neck of the woods, but even so, there still IS something in the vibe of some oldies). Wicked.
Reunited
During my stay, I met up again with another Chris, formally Chris-P (get it?), now Chris-B (the one who convulsed to Angelic). While he does not play psychedelic trance, opting instead for a variety of styles, his approach is so spiritual that tranceheads can indeed get off their high-horse about this being the only music to move the spirit. It's all in the approach, and if good music is played with focused intent, it can be better than all the hottest tunes played indifferently or egotistically.
The build-up to my last weekend in Vancouver was fairly intense...the pressure of getting sorted out going to Japan was increasing, and musically things followed suit. This Thursday at Madison's was not quite up to scratch I thought...but better than most at Tyssen Street. London's Dervish was the guest this time, and played a great set, though of a palpably different vibe from what locals were used to, at times a bit too hard.
Full moon on Friday the 13th
The next night, a Friday the 13th full moon, Masa played with a couple of other Japanese DJs - Chika and Taka - at an underground party which was quite amazing. Solstice, as their group is called, have been doing irregularly regular parties over the past couple of years. The opening was a touch dark for me, but the pace picked up, and by the time Masa got on (at midnight again, whaddya know) things were rocking. One fella got so into it he took off all his clothes. Masa's all-too-brief set was followed by a scorching one by Chika. The sound dropped for a period after a cop scare (reminiscent of my Tokyo gig in November) - turns out the problem was next door. Things started getting weird as a very different, altogether rougher crowd started heading in. The Solstice boys were supposed to have the place 'til three am (things wrap up early in Canada), but the after-hours crowd arrived early. Chika ended with that scorching Delta track (not the Johann one, the better one), borrowed from yours truly, and brought things to a great, but somewhat different-than-expected close.
Party for Peace
For the previous couple of weeks, Chris-B had managed to land a space on a terrace underground outside the art gallery in downtown Vancouver on Sunday afternoons, and had organized small parties as a protest against Canadian involvement in the Gulf. The war didn't escalate, but the parties did, and on March 15th, the venue was switched to the other side of the building - with fountains, cherry blossom trees, and all. I had kindly been asked to close the afternoon. Typically, a cop showed up 5 minutes before I was scheduled to come on, but the permit was shown (yes, they had FULL permission from the gallery to use the space) and I went on. The afternoon had seen a variety of DJs elicit a variety of reactions from the crowd. Suffice it to say that those who hadn't heard psychedelic trance were in for a shock, a good one by the looks of it. I opened up with an as-yet-unreleased white-label of FAT’s “Itchy and Scratchy” from Twisted Records (to satisfy the breakbeat lovers), moving on to “Mandala” from Dragonfly Classix and Semsis’ scorcher “Planet.” As closing time approached, I put on the Delta [Traveling at the Speed of Thought – I still didn’t know the name of the track at that point] - incidentally, the last track I got before I left London (at 11 PM the night before I left!) - and all of a sudden it started POURING...cats, dogs, sheep, you name it. It didn't stop this crowd, but wound them up even more (actually, I had choreographed the whole thing). An hour after the party ended, a huge rainbow (which made the cover of the paper the next day, with mention of a "freak" unexpected storm) appeared. (Julius Caesar said "Beware the Ides of March.") Wicked.
Off to Tokyo
A few days later, I hopped on the plane to Tokyo. The day after I arrived, Rainbow 2000 (aka Raincoat 2000, due to their unfortunate luck with Mother Nature) held a big wingding called Aurora Psychedelika Experience Version (as opposed to the kind you don't experience, perhaps). Hundreds of people stood outside (in the rain, you guessed it) for the gig to start. About 1000 people who paid 25 quid each were boxed into much too small a space, but most people didn't seem to mind and the party was wicked (stellar sound). I was less enthused by Ree-K's opening set, but Stef from Total Eclipse sure got them going...like the last time I heard him, he played one killer tune after another. I had forgotten what it was like to see 1000 people raise their hands and cheer with the music.
The surprise of the night for me was Yayo from France's Trance Body Express. He's been playing trance for just about as long as anyone (it seems he introduced it to Space Tribe's Olli around '89). Having met him in Paris last year, I wasn't sure how this charming, comic man would play. Suffice it to say that he managed to play really full-on, hard trance and not make it sound dark. He was dancing up a storm, really enjoying himself as opposed to pretending to, and the crowd's reaction was phenomenal. He also proved that DAT mixing can be more musical and seamless than vinyl mixing (notice the word "can" - his was, not everyone's is.)
Tsuyoshi closed the night with a set that went on and on...not that it was monotonous, it's just that the 8 hour party became 9! He went through plenty of styles, but was generally trancier than I've heard him recently. Amazing crowd reaction, of course.
Now, it's going to get way long if I go into everything that's going on here, so let me summarize. Five countryside parties the last weekend of March, the one I went to being a DEEP ambient party held in a pyramid built to scale to the ones in Egypt. Tsuyoshi did an 8-hour set at Yellow (where he used to play years ago), but sound was crap and he wasn't up to scratch. Two days later, Rainbow did a beautiful outdoor Sunday party near Yoyogi Park (where they did one that I reported on last November). The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and it didn't rain (although sun did turn to cloud, and it tipped down the next day). Keisuke (Matsuri) deserves special mention for giving an incredible vibe to his set. I can't recall seeing so many people outside dancing before - it was an amazing sight.
©1998 Mark Ainley
