Beat4Battle TV: Japan – Episode 5
August 20, 2010 by Laurent
Filed under Live Sessions, Podcasts (all), Video Podcasts
As promised the next episode of our B4B TV: Japan series is available to download and stream, a few weeks on from episode 4. This latest episode features a familiar face, that of Ken One – close friend of Turntable Radio and one of our favourite scratch guys worldwide. It’s not just that he’s dope, he’s also one of the nicest people we’ve ever had the pleasure to work with or meet.
I’ll let Yoshi do the introductions for this episode…
I first met Ken a couple of years ago, when LAN invited him to our first Scratch Day in Japan and since then he’s been involved with other stuff with B4B JP, including this shoot and our fourth Scratch Day, the video of which will be the sixth and final episode in the Japan series.
Ken has been a driving force in reviving the turntablist scene in Japan, being invited as a guest to a very famous radio show to give a talk on the art of scratching, and so on. He gives DJ lessons at his home (DJ Shintaro is Ken’s student) and is the most popular teacher for scratching in Tokyo along with Miyajima. He’s been involved with Raid System, a leading label for electronic music headed by Broken Haze (who now co-presents the RIRS show on Rhythm Incursions) and they run a UST channel called Raid System Radio which happens once a month with top guests like DUCT and Eccy. Also, if you haven’t checked out his video with Beardyman on Dommune make sure you do!
Back to the video, the first routine is completely freestyled, as I asked Ken to use that record (Kutter’s Choice from UKT, which was given to me by Mr. Brown when I shot B4B TV: UK) which he had never used before the shoot. So he composed that routine on the spot and it turned out brilliantly. As always, his drumming and scratching are world class and I’m certain every scratch head will be amazed by this video. So enjoy!
So there you have it, ten minutes of one of Japan’s finest in action, freestyling and doing what he does best. As always you can stream on youtube above and download below. Remember our iTunes and RSS feeds are the best ways to stay updated without much clicking – the casts will just go to your desktop or reader. This show is 129mb and as always in .m4a format optimised for iTunes and iPod/iPhone viewing but playable on all media players as long as you have the latest codecs.
Download Beat4BattleTV: Japan Episode 5 (right click and save as)
Ken One – Live at Skratch Evolution 2 videos
April 26, 2010 by Laurent
Filed under Tablist News, Turntable Radio News
Quick one – our roving, globe-trotting skratch reporter Yoshi from Beat4Battle TV recently finished some edits of Ken One’s set at the Skratch Evolution 2 party which was held in Tokyo last December. You can view all the edits in the youtube playlist above, or by clicking right here.
We’d originally planned to do a joint series of audio and video podcasts for Skratch Evolution 2 but unfortunately we couldn’t due to various technical issues so instead we did a joint podcast series on Turntable Radio and Rhythm Incursions – which you can catch here (TTR mixes) and here (Rhythm Inc mixes) in its full glory if you haven’t yet. The mixes feature Ken One, XLII, Ichiro_, DJ Duct and more. Think of this youtube playlist as the late cherry on the cake.
Yoshi will be returning shortly with his Beat4Battle TV series. More news when we have them.
Enjoy!
SE2 week 3 – Jam session live @ Star Pines cafe
February 7, 2010 by Laurent
Filed under Guest Mixes, Live Sessions, Podcasts (all)
Week 3 of our joint Turntable Radio and Rhythm Incursions special featuring exclusive live audio from Ken One’s ‘Skratch Evolution 2′ event. If you missed the first two weeks you can catch up here for week 1, featuring Ken One live, and here for week 2, featuring a live set from Naoki. Full details of the month-long series is at the bottom of the post.
This week we’ve got a very tasty jam session from the event on Turntable Radio featuring the combined talents of Ken One, Naoki, Ichiro_, DJ Duct, DJ Keita, Audace and XLII. Over on Rhythm Incursions we’ve got edits of the Dolbee & Sibitt and XLII, Audace and Dyna live shows.
The jam session took place at the end of the evening and features pretty much every artist who performed on the night. The line up is: Ken One, Naoki, Audace, DJ Duct and Keita on turntables, loopers and effect, XLII on the laptop and Ichiro_ on guitar. For an improvised session, the 30 minutes that came out are of an impressive quality, spanning the spectrum of influences and styles that these guys each cover – from downtempo to hip hop beats, electronic to dub vibes.
Be sure to check each individual artist’s myspace and website for more on each. They all have various releases out now and upcoming and I recommend that if you like what you hear you check them all out, the music is well worth your time.
And don’t forget to check Rhythm Incursions for live edits from sets by Dolbee and Sibitt and XLII, Audace and Dyna.
For now though sit back and enjoy this improvised jam session with some of Tokyo’s finest and come back next week for the final installment in our series.
Download Skratch Evolution jam session (right click and save as)
SE2 special line up:
- 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
- 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
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:
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)
Turntable Radio – October 09
October 20, 2009 by Laurent
Filed under Audio Podcasts, Podcasts (all)
Oh, hi there. Yes you’re not seeing wrong, this is indeed a new Turntable Radio podcast. It’s been 11 months since the last one and while they do say good things come to those who wait I may have just pushed it a little with this.
With other duties, projects and life getting in the way it’s fair to say this show has been a long time coming. It would also be fair to say that another reason behind the normal show’s rather slow update has also been my own unwillingness to chase up people and hunt music in the same way I used to. Coupled with a quieting down of all things turntablists and artists moving on to do their own thing, regardless of name or genre (something we’ve always been strong believers of) it all equals to less music, less often and therefore less of a need for a regular Turntable Radio show.
Still that doesn’t mean we can’t pull something out the bag once a year, especially as quite a lot of people still hit us up on the regular. And so we have what is probably the only show of 2009 with an hour of music including a fair few new and never before heard bits from artists worldwide, taking in Ireland, England, the US, Italy, Japan and Canada among others.
Our being quiet on the show front doesn’t mean there isn’t stuff to check on the site. Remember that our new B4B TV series of video podcasts will be resuming shortly with the Japan series, and I will continue to focus on having guest mixes/videos as well as special recorded live sessions on the show. To me right now it’s much more interesting to take the time to go and record people live or arrange sessions than trawling the internet and our archives for audio to string a show together.
As a last aside, for those of you looking for a more regular fix of music then let me point you in the direction of our sister show, Rhythm Incursions, where things are a lot more lively and regular at the moment.
Anyways enough of the blaberring, and on with the music. I hope you like it, as personally I’m quite proud of how it came out and shows that ‘tablist’ artists worldwide still have a lot to offer when it comes to the music.
Laurent
Download the show here! (right click and save as)
Intro
Vince Mack Mahon – Bin Grrs Feet, My Bed is the Moon – NozL recordings
Blood One – Atom – Unreleased
The Lin – Shot Design – Unreleased
Clockwork – Owl of Death – Community Skratch, download free compilation here
Teeko – Bridge To Truth – Unreleased
Tayone – Ragoo ft Carlo Atti and Bruno Briscik – Relief Records
Tayone, 2tall, Tatsuki – Ragu ft Bruno Briscik (live) – Unreleased, taken from Original Cultures live show
Lorn, Manipulate, Jimmy Penguin – Raymond Gobot’s Emotion – Community Skratch, download free compilation here
Cavern & Sebastien Casino – Cri d’un Phonomorphe a 2 tetes – Community Skratch, download free compilation here
Vangel vs Unkut – Doing Things – 5 and 1 quarter
Vangel & ProF – Blue Bunny Stampede – 5 and 1 quarter
Machinedrum – 911 ft ie.merg – Norm Rex
G.O.D – Marksmen – NozL recordings
Ken One – Beat 0909 – Unreleased
ProF – A Life Force – 5 and 1 quarter
ADS – Symmetry of Suicide (ft. Grey) – Unreleased
Turntable Radio presents Ken One, Olive Oil and Steppin’ Ahead podcast
November 10, 2008 by Laurent
Filed under Guest Mixes, Podcasts (all)
We break up our podcasts of the original 70 TTR shows with a new guest mix from Ken One. Regular listeners will already know all about Ken, especially as he was instrumental in helping me set up the live sessions we recorded last year and this spring in Tokyo. Following my move to Tokyo and our hook up, Ken has also been sending me new music on a regular basis which we’ve aired in the last few regular podcasts.
And while I’ve now left Tokyo (I will be back!), Ken is well and truly a member of the extended TTR worldwide family so I’m very happy we can bring you this guest mix which showcases his own work alongside that of two Japanese producers and labels operating in different scenes, linked together by Ken’s turntable manipulations.
The podcast is actually two mixes and a short ‘megamix’ of music Ken One has produced for Taboo’s forthcoming ‘Burnout’ grafitti DVD which will be released in Japan soon. Full tracklist and download link at the bottom for those who don’t want/like to read.
The first mix is a short sampler of a full mix Ken One has done for the ‘Steppin’ Ahead’ label, and which will be distributed with the debut album from Japanese producer OQTO, to be released on Steppin Ahead shortly. The label is headed by Japanese producer KK and focuses on dubstep, which has been growing and thriving on the Tokyo underground in the last couple of years thanks to the work of Goth Trad and the BTC crew. Goth and BTC are family to me too, having had me to play at their nights on the regular during my time in Tokyo. During that time I saw the growth of the dubstep scene in Tokyo first hand, a growth that is actually linked to a variety of other scenes, as many of the producers and DJs on the Tokyo underground involved in dubstep today come from various backgrounds and are still involved with other genres and scenes. Tokyo’s underground electronic music is fragmented in one way yet also linked, a sort of microcosm of various artists and labels all operating on their own but also working together across genres and scenes. Ken One has had a link with Tokyo’s dubstep scene from early on too, mainly thanks to Ske, one of the original members of BTC and a bit of a legend in the Tokyo scratch scene, through his early work in the late 90s as part of the Dis Defence Disc crew alongside Baku, Martin and Tatsuki. Ken has provided live cuts at the BTC night on a few occasions, and has now done this mix for KK’s Steppin’ Ahead label, weaving together tracks from OQTO’s album and others forthcoming on the label with his own compositions and remixes on the turntable. This mix is especially interesting to me as quite a lot of dubstep’s darker and more ‘obvious’ elements are close to the scratch beats of the early 00s, something which has meant quite a lot of scratchers have found dubstep a very natural fit for scratching, especially when it comes to freestyles and even for compositions as Ken shows on this mix.
For more info on Steppin Ahead, peep the myspace.
Following this mix we have 3 tracks Ken One produced for Taboo’s ‘Burnout’ DVD, all brand new and never aired before (apart from one which I think I aired at the beginning of the year).
The second part of the podcast is a live recording of a session between Ken One and Olive Oil, that took place in Fukuoka earlier on this year. Ken actually sent me the audio for this when I was still in Japan but things got in the way and I never got round to podcasting it properly, so here it is. This recording is actually split into two parts. The first part, and the longest at about 20 minutes, is the original recording of the session, unedited and as such quite ‘rough’ at times as both Ken and Olive Oil improvised the whole thing on the spot. Olive Oil provided the improvised background mix, which is a mix of his own work and other records blended using turntables and effects, while Ken One improvised on top of Olive Oil’s mix, using sounds that were given to him by Olive Oil. The result is a really interesting insight into what I’ve always believed makes a lot of Japanese DJs and producers so unique, with a sound aesthetic all of their own. Olive Oil is very much a part of the post-DJ Krush school, as is exemplified in his mixing here, but as a producer he retains a unique approach with a strong downtempo feel. The second part is actually a 7 minute edit and rework of the original live session which brings the best elements and fits them together in a much more ‘coherent’ way if you will. So basically you get the original session, unedited, and then the short, edited version of it allowing you to compare both and see for yourself what Ken and Olive Oil chose as the highlights of their original work.
For more information on Olive Oil peep the myspace, as for Ken One his is here. Massive thanks go to Ken One for letting us use the mixes and to Olive Oil and KK.
I was originally supposed to air this before November 8 as a taster ahead of the ‘Scratch Evolution’ which Ken One organised in Kichi Joji and which featured DJ Duct, Shun, Memory Storm as well as Naoki and Shige from Ken’s Exsample collective. I didn’t quite get the timing right so a big ごめんなさい to Ken for that. But think of this as a post-event treat, and for those of you in the Tokyo area look out for more similar events in the near future. You can check some pics from the event on Ken’s myspace, it looked pretty dope.
We have a regular podcast coming up next, which should be live in a few days to give you time to enjoy this one, and then we resume the podcast of the original shows until December time when we’ll have another guest mix and/or live session.
Download the podcast here! (right click and save as)
Ken One ‘Steppin Ahead’ mix + Ken One & Olive Oil live in Fukuoka tracklist
DJ Baku – TTR Intro
Ken One – Steppin Ahead mix ‘sampler’ (forthcoming)
Ken One – Music from Taboo’s “Burnout” DVD (forthcoming)
Ken One & Olive Oil – Freestyle session “Live in Fukuoka” (unedited)
Ken One & Olive Oil – “Live in Fukuoka” edit
5th anniversary podcasts – Shibuya Sessions videos pt 3.2
July 19, 2008 by Laurent
Filed under Fifth Anniversary Podcasts, Live Sessions, Podcasts (all), Video Podcasts
We’ve had yet more delays, compounded in no small parts by my holiday-ing activities (it’s not how it sounds though, but I am making my way around the world slowly and surely, while making a massive hole in my bank account).
Finally though the last two videos from our Shibuya Session, part of our fifth anniversary podcast series, are ready for your digital consumption. These round off a series of 6 videos that go hand in hand with the audio podcast we aired back in April. Both that podcast and this series of videos are taken from the same session which featured Baku, Ken One, Naoki and Shige getting down and freestyling for about 3 hours. Check the original podcast post for more info on how it all went down.
For now though enjoy the last two videos. The second video is a freestyle between Baku, Ken-One and Naoki. Some upbeat simple shit that hits hard. And of course a little visual rework courtesy of our very own video wiz Ed.
This is the last of our Shibuya Sessions video. Remember if you like what you saw and heard then check out Baku’s website, as well as Ken-One’s myspace and the POPGROUP website. If you’re after some of the releases, you can buy them on the POPGROUP site which has some English navigation and you can also check the brand new Hear Japan site, which sells digital versions of many Japanese only releases, including Baku’s new album.
This time both the videos are in .mp4 format, optimised for iPod and iTunes viewing but fully playable on any players and platforms, as long as you have the right codecs. So if you get an error, just check your updates.
The file is 69mb in size.
Subscribers should already have the files on their computer or on their way shortly. If you aren’t subscribed to our podcast yet than what are you waiting for? You can subscribe via iTunes (find us in the podcast directory), by adding http://feeds.feedburner.com/turntableradio to your podcatcher, by clicking any of the podcatching buttons on the top left hand side of the site, or by visiting the feedburner page itself too (where you can also download the last 15 podcasts on the feed directly).
Lastly direct download link is below for the more lazy amongst us.
The last part of our fifth anniversary series will be yet more videos, this time a video interview with D-Styles and Shortkut as well as some footage from their showcase at the Vestax battle held in Shibuya in December 07. These videos will be online sometime in August, towards the end of our anniversary. In the meantime though don’t forget to check the new regular podcasts of the 70 original Turntable Radio shows presented by Mr Trick. And look out for a more normal podcast from myself sometime in the coming month or two as well.
Baku, Naoki, Ken One freestyle – Direct Download (right click and save as)
5th anniversary podcasts – Shibuya Sessions videos pt 3.1
July 19, 2008 by Laurent
Filed under Fifth Anniversary Podcasts, Live Sessions, Podcasts (all), Video Podcasts
We’ve had yet more delays, compounded in no small parts by my holiday-ing activities (it’s not how it sounds though, but I am making my way around the world slowly and surely, while making a massive hole in my bank account).
Finally though the last two videos from our Shibuya Session, part of our fifth anniversary podcast series, are ready for your digital consumption. These round off a series of 6 videos that go hand in hand with the audio podcast we aired back in April. Both that podcast and this series of videos are taken from the same session which featured Baku, Ken One, Naoki and Shige getting down and freestyling for about 3 hours. Check the original podcast post for more info on how it all went down.
For now though enjoy the last two videos. First up is a live remix of ‘I Ain’t Gangsta’ a track released on a 12″ single earlier this year featuring DJ Baku on production and Hokkaido rap crew Mic Jack Production on the mic. For this one though, Baku and Exsample basically took the accapella and parts of the original’s instrumental and flip it all around, adding melodies and a new bassline on top as well as freaking the vocals. It’s by far one of my favourite moments from the session and as has been the case throughout this series the footage is given a nice little work out by Ed.
And if you like what you hear than I suggest you check the video for the original, available here on Daily Motion and go get the 12″ which is available on POPGROUP.
This time both the videos are in .mp4 format, optimised for iPod and iTunes viewing but fully playable on any players and platforms, as long as you have the right codecs. So if you get an error, just check your updates.
The file is 55mb in size.
Subscribers should already have the files on their computer or on their way shortly. If you aren’t subscribed to our podcast yet than what are you waiting for? You can subscribe via iTunes (find us in the podcast directory), by adding http://feeds.feedburner.com/turntableradio to your podcatcher, by clicking any of the podcatching buttons on the top left hand side of the site, or by visiting the feedburner page itself too (where you can also download the last 15 podcasts on the feed directly).
Lastly direct download link is below for the more lazy amongst us.
The last part of our fifth anniversary series will be yet more videos, this time a video interview with D-Styles and Shortkut as well as some footage from their showcase at the Vestax battle held in Shibuya in December 07. These videos will be online sometime in August, towards the end of our anniversary. In the meantime though don’t forget to check the new regular podcasts of the 70 original Turntable Radio shows presented by Mr Trick. And look out for a more normal podcast from myself sometime in the coming month or two as well.
I Ain’t Gangsta live remix – Direct Download (right click and save as)
5th anniversary podcasts – Shibuya Sessions videos pt 2.2
June 26, 2008 by Laurent
Filed under Fifth Anniversary Podcasts, Live Sessions, Podcasts (all), Video Podcasts
Here is part 2 of the second round of videos from Shibuya Session. For full details and info check the post for part 1.
This video, featuring Ken One on drums, is 123mb in size.
As usual both vids are in .m4v format, optimised for iPod, iTunes and Quicktime viewing but they will also work with any standard video player and the latest codecs on any platform.
Subscribers should already have the files on their computer or on their way shortly. If you aren’t subscribed to our podcast yet than what are you waiting for? You can subscribe via iTunes (find us in the podcast directory), by adding http://feeds.feedburner.com/turntableradio to your podcatcher, by clicking any of the podcatching buttons on the top left hand side of the site, or by visiting the feedburner page itself too (where you can also download the last 15 podcasts on the feed directly).
Baku and Exsample freestyle 2 (Ken One drums) – Direct Download (right click and save as)
5th anniversary podcasts – Shibuya Sessions videos pt 2.1
June 26, 2008 by Laurent
Filed under Fifth Anniversary Podcasts, Live Sessions, Podcasts (all), Video Podcasts
We’ve had some delays, between Ed who does the editing for our vids falling sick and myself having left for a little world tour, but the second part of our Shibuya Sessions videos is now ready for your enjoyment.
This time round both videos feature DJ Baku and Exsample, aka Ken One, Naoki and Shige, freestyling together. In the first video, Naoki is on the drums, while in the second one it’s Ken One on the drums. Both vids have once more received a fine visual treatment from Ed, so I hope you’ll enjoy watching them as much as we have putting it all together.
As usual both vids are in .m4v format, optimised for iPod, iTunes and Quicktime viewing but they will also work with any standard video player and the latest codecs on any platform.
The first video with Naoki on the drums is 39mb in size.
Subscribers should already have the files on their computer or on their way shortly. If you aren’t subscribed to our podcast yet than what are you waiting for? You can subscribe via iTunes (find us in the podcast directory), by adding http://feeds.feedburner.com/turntableradio to your podcatcher, by clicking any of the podcatching buttons on the top left hand side of the site, or by visiting the feedburner page itself too (where you can also download the last 15 podcasts on the feed directly).
The last 2 videos in the series will be online by early next week, and then we will start podcasting the original TTR shows, presented by Mr Trick, as announced recently. So stay tuned as usual and expect a change to how things look round here as well in the coming weeks (if I can drag myself away from the beaches of South East Asia, which let’s face it is a damn sight more tempting than tinkering with php files and templates!).
Baku and Exsample freestyle 1 (Naoki drums) – Direct Download (right click and save as)
