Official Progressive House/Trance Thread!

Guys, Styxs is the father of techno and you guys know it. Dont deny your true feelings. There is a kilroy in all of us.

"Thank you very much-o, Mr. Robot-o"
"For doing a job, nobody wants to"
"And thank you very much-o, Mr. Robot-o"
"For helping me escape, When I needed you"
"Thank you, Thank, you"
"I wanna thank you, thank you"


Come on, that song rules.

 

Hey karl, I just listened to the entire airdrawndagger cd. It's really impressive. I am so impressed by his ambient but trancy style. So don't worry, you don't need to burn me a copy anymore. So Dude, are you ready for Nick Warren? If you can, the last two saturdays off of the month of august. Way out West featuring Jody will be there the 24th and Saeed & Palash will be there the 31st. Both are only 10 dollars. Well, for you, I think they will charge you 12. lol.

 

All Dude activities are postponed until I find out what the fuck is wrong with my car, and get it off the damn road before the cops tow it to the middle of fucking nowhere.

 

You know that all dude activities can continue. But I don't want you to miss saturday. I will pick you up if needed. Just let me know. Don't worry about the drive.

 

Yeah -- I don't particularly care for his music... which would be putting it lightly. I've only heard him a few times, but there are much better DJs out there... and much better Japanese DJs, they just couldn't self-promote to save their lives, and are thus unknown outside of Japan.

Ken Ishii is another that comes to mind in this genre. Not particularly bad production, just kind of blah. DJing I've heard is attrocious. I did finally get to see Takkyu Ishino last weekend.

 

Hey Gaijin punch, it's all good about dj's. Some spin good and some don't. Some have great nights and some have lousy nights. It's just that way. As far as self promoting is concerned, that's the way of the business. That's why it's always nice to hear local dj's spin. When I go to japan, take me out to some clubs, ok?

 

heh, gaijinn, then youve probably heard of yoji biomehkanika (sp).....?

 

Sure thing Stomp, although I must say, the scene is pretty lame these days. I went to three clubs on the weekend, and even though they were crowded, it wasn't too fun. Lots of kids. I miss the old days, when I new everyone. Unfortunately, the only 'good' parties where the crowd is good is where the music is kinda iffy, which is generally the gay clubs.

I know some Dj's have good and bad nights. Shinkawa, my personal favorite, has played the best set I've ever heard - period, and I've heard loads of DJ's from all over (one of my best friends is an international booker for Japan). But w/ Satoshi Tomie - it's the tunes I don't care for, and being that DJing is a two part job (you pick the tunes, then you play them). If you play shit tunes, you're a shit DJ - plain and simple. My decks unfortunately are collecting dust. I've tried to seperate myself from the scene, as it's quite dangerous here these days.

Yoji Biomehanika:
Yes, I've heard him many times. Besides being slightly egotistaical... well, very... he's gives a pretty good show if he stays away from the cheese.

 

Hey GP, yeah, some of the scene in florida is like that. Lots of kids, or adults that don't belong there. When I say don't belong there, I mean the people who always cause trouble, get wasted and start fights, ect. Also, I hate it when I see couples that go there and the guy (9 times out of ten) doesn't want to be there or hates to dance and then gets up into people's faces when some guy wants to dance with the girl. If you dance with her, most people will leave you alone. Otherwise, take her somewhere else. lol. Anyways, enough of that rant. I don't know, if you pick iffy tunes but mix them well according to your crowd, you can become a successful dj imo. If you pick good tunes but don't mix them well and climax the crowd too soon, they might leave because they are bored. So it works both ways.

 

Good point, but I'm not referring to the crowd -- I'm referring to me (and other people that know what DJing is). There are some technically good DJ's in Tokyo, but the music they play is awful. Hence -- I classify them as lame DJs, as I'll never go and hear them, nor do most people that are into MUSIC (not clubbing). With very few exceptions, the hard techno / slightly-minimal DJs are the best. Wada is amazing. If you can ever find a Co-Fusion record outside of Japan, pick it up. Quite hard, no melody, anything but trance or house, but nice to listen to. Good production & mix-ability.
The popular DJ's that you've likely heard of - Emma House, Ko Kimura, Nao Nakamura, Gomi, Satoshi Tomie, etc, are in a league all of their own. They play right in the middle, and basically lay one shit house tune over the other. IMHO, if you're average mix time is 20 seconds per mix, it's time to go home and practice. That's why I like Shinkawa so much. On his worst night, he does that, but on his best night, he does a lot of 2-minute mixes of shit that doesn't go together, but sounds good, if you know what I mean.

I took my fiance out to the club with me. Quite funny, as this is our first outting since we've been engaged, and the first time we've been out together at a club in probably a year. This guy was hitting on her with me not too far away. She looked at me and said something, and I just said, "Show him the ring!". Forgetting, that most Japanese people (especially young horny guys) wouldn't figure out that it means she's engaged. When that fails, you just point to the 6"3' whiteboy. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

 

hey GP,

any chance of hooking me up with that international promoter/booker?? /versus/images/icons/wink.gif whys the scene 'dangerous'???

 

Good point GP, I too love to hear long mixes. If that dj you were mentioning does two minute mixes, he is good. Yeah, laying out tunes after tunes and doing streaming in music sucks ass in my opinion. I had the opportunity to hear Sander Klienenberg live in England and he did some fantastic mixes that made me dance so much, my legs started shaking. But I go for the music as much as the crowd. It should all be in one sync imo. Well, once they saw the 6'3" white boy, I bet the horny kids ran away. lol.

 

dont they play a lot of euro trance/ NRG........? upbeat 'epic' crap?? in japan that is......in orlando , fl, they 'tend' to play a lot of shite breakbeat........i'm going to look into wada though.....

 

Japan, unfortunately, does tend to play a lot of uplifting crap. Very little of it's good, and very little of that is played. That's why I went the harder, more 'machine' route.

The booking friend of mine does so few shows, he only does people that draw massive crowds. If you want a gig in Japan, you kind of need to be here and be friends w/ a dj or someone that owns a bar.... it takes a while. I DJ'ed a few small places - a friends bar a few times, but nothing huge.

Co-Fusion (Wada) stuff I've found.
http://www.musiclove.co.jp/qtnf/cofusion.html
http://www7.plala.or.jp/tomikyu/cofusion/cofu2.html - about them making a track w/ some old video game samples
http://www.ganban.net/djwada.html - a picture. Talk about how he's the legend of Maniac Love. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif
http://www.metropolis.co.jp/tokyoclubsbars/382/tokyoclubsbarsinc.htm - information on a gig he did w/ Plastikman (in English)
http://www.evolution.org.uk/SpecialGuests/dj_wada_page.htm - more in English.
http://www.baseentertainment.com/heigo.html - more English.
www.maniaclove.com - a bit of info

Again, he's not house or trance -- very techno, and pretty hard, but when you see him live, you just can't diss him... even if you don't like the genre. I didn't care for the genre for years, and still loved hearing him play. Especially in a tight ass spot like Maniac Love.

IF you like trancey techno, then Shinkawa is more up your alley.
www.djshinkawa.com
He is the most popular of the 4-5 rotating Maniac Love after hour DJs. He plays once a month from 7AM to 10:30AM on Sunday mornings. He definitely draws the biggest crowd. Very good, and mixes EXTREMELY well. But again -- sometimes you can tell when he's not into it. Other times, he's made me see the matrix.

IF you scroll on his cd/records page, and look at remixes. The first one (Make a Miracle / Kiss-o-matic / SHinkawa'sss Mix) you're looking at what was once the most sought-after record in Japan. Only 500 copies made for some stupid reason, and is probably the best London Hard House song around. If you like Tidy Trax and the lot from 3-4 years ago, then you'll love this. It was recently reprinted (on the hybrid hard trance CD, which is not bad, but not his best). He ran out of his own copies of the original vinyl, and was offering to buy them from his friends. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif I luckily nabbed one by a fluke a year or so before the reprint, so I felt special for a while.

The Afterworld has two fantastic tracks on it, but the quality of the recording is AWFUL! NObody has ever disagreed or tried to prove me wrong. Circuit on the Moon is a bit poppy, but is sort of a Tokyo classic.
'
Cross & Over are two CDs (named after his residency at CrossOver), one published by Sony, the other by a smaller Japan only label (Paratone I think). They're basically both EP's, which different mixes on each. The best one is the one that has Critical Mass & A-10 on them. A-10 is amazing.

 

Oh, yeah -- the scene is dangerous now b/c of all the narcs. Japan is on a major kick to rid the city of drugs, and clubs are the main place they're looking. Even if you're clean (which I am) it can be generally upleasant, as you know they're out there watching, they can check you anytime when you're out of the club (especially if you're a bastard gaijin like me) and it makes the scene very tense in general.

 

Hey gp, that happend to me in taiwan as well. Similar that is. (not sure, but just know that the club scene in taiwan is not safe as well) They checked me a million times because I go to clubs and started dancing. But I am taiwanese and they were still checking me. lol. those damn thugs. lol. Oh well. Hey Gaishou, are you going to hear nick warren spin? It's today. (saturday evening) Perhaps you are not into that type.


Err...never mind. Just got back and he postponed his date here at icon. Sucks, I was bummed. Oh well. Ignore my question to you.

 

thats a bummer stomp. you should check out dj three on sat. night at social (formerly saphire). he plays some deep house/progressive/trance stuff. usually very good...

 

It's ok. He is coming on wednesday. Yeah, I would have checked out the social. Haven't been there since the old days of it being called the sapphire supper club. Is it still small as heck? Or did they gut it out to make more room?

 

actually its this sat. coming up. i dont think theve changed it though...

 

If he is spinning earlier I might check it out before way out west starts performing at midnight at icon.