SE2 week 1 – Ken One live @ Star Pines cafe

January 24, 2010 by Laurent
Filed under Guest Mixes, Live Sessions, Podcasts (all)

As mentioned a few weeks back on Rhythm Incursions we’re starting a series of weekly podcasts, lasting a month, featuring exclusive live audio from Ken One’s recent ‘Skratch Evolution 2‘ event. Held at Kichijoji’s Star Pines cafe, this musical evening featured a rather interesting mix of Tokyo’s underground music scenes with scratch DJs, producers and MCs coming together for a series of live showcases alongside some live painting. This was Ken’s second such event, up a notch from the first which was a more scratch-centered affair.

These podcasts also form the first joint Rhythm Incursions and Turntable Radio series, something I’ve been wanting to do for a while but hadn’t yet been able to. Every weekend for the next month we’ll be airing two exclusive live sets from the event, one on Turntable Radio and one on Rhythm Incursions showcasing the majority of the acts that appeared on the night. The schedule goes something like this:

Week 1

Rhythm Incursions – Ichiro_ live
Turntable Radio – Ken One live

Week 2

Rhythm Incursions – DJ Duct live
Turntable Radio – Naoki live

Week 3

Rhythm Incursions – XLII + Dolbee&Sibitt (志人） live edits
Turntable Radio – Skratch Evolution jam session

Week 4

Rhythm Incursions – Ken One Skratch Evolution promo mix
Turntable Radio – DJ Duct Skratch Evolution promo mix

So as you can see plenty to get stuck into, from the laid-back beats of Ichiro_ to the electronic hip hop of XLII via some of the best scratchers on the Tokyo underground.

We start the series on Turntable Radio with our old friend from Tokyo Ken One himself, who delivered a live set on the night that is true to form – plenty of quality routines, scratches and re-interpretations. Ken’s live sets keep getting better it seems, as he doesn’t rely on old tricks and always brings something new to the sets, whether it be a re-interpretation of previous productions/routines or something entirely new. Regular listeners will know that we’ve featured a fair bit of his live stuff in recent years and this is by far my favourite live set of his I think. If you’re new to his work then I suggest you hit up our archives to keep up to speed on the man and the music.

Not only was Ken’s set on the night rather good, he’s also to thank and congratulate for pulling this event together – a step up from his first attempt and definitely a nice opportunity for people to discover the variety and talent on the Tokyo underground, something that is too often difficult to discover when you’re not on the right side of the world.

For more info on Ken and his recent releases (including an excellent mix he released for free) head over to his myspace.

And if you like what you hear than be sure to check Rhythm Incursions for Ichiro_’s live set, which is also a keeper.

Massive thanks go to Ken One and all the artists for making this possible. It’s a real pleasure to be able to showcase more of the Tokyo underground to the rest of the world like this.

We’ll be back next week with part 2, featuring the rather incredible DJ Duct and Naoki. Till then crank up the volume and 聞いてください！

Download Ken One live at Star Pines cafe (right click and save as)

Tags: Guest Mixes, Japan, Ken One, Live Sessions, Skratch Evolution, Tokyo