5th anniversary podcasts – Turntable Radio live from Shibuya

As announced earlier, we continue our 5th anniversary celebrations with another very special podcast, our second Japan live session.

This time we headed out to Shibuya, for the POPGROUP offices where DJ Baku, Exsample (Ken-One, Naoki and Shige) and Miyajima came together for the occasion. As with the first session, back in September, the idea was simple – ask the guys to come together, put them in a room with lots of gear and just record the outcome. With less space this time round, but still bags of enthusiasm, we took over one of the rooms in the POPGROUP offices and got down to business.

Unfortunately, Miyajima had to leave early as we had some delays in setting up (as always) and so he only appears on one of the tracks. For the rest, what basically happened was that Baku and Exsample jammed together for the best part of 3/4 hours and what you’ll hear on this podcast are edited takes from the jam session. Pretty much everything you’ll hear was done unrehearsed and off the cuff, with the guys chatting in between takes, bouncing ideas and just discussing a rough direction for what they would do.

The session also coincided with the release of Baku’s second album, Dharma Dance (check the recent news item below for more on that), and so Baku, who was using Serato and a Pioneer 909 mixer, primarily used sounds he had made and produced for his album, including drums, guitar melodies and synth lines. For the majority of the tracks you’ll hear in the podcast, Baku provided the backbone for the track with the Exsample guys adding on top, with melodies and vocal cuts. On a couple of tracks the roles were reserved with Naoki and Ken-One taking the lead on drums, and everyone else filling in. So for those who haven’t yet heard the album, this session should give you a pretty good idea of some of the tracks’ moods and influences.

In addition to all this, Ken-One also premiered a new loop routine for us and there is, as I said, a 3 way session between Baku, Ken One and Miyajima, as well as an Exsample freestyle.
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Turntable Radio – ‘Live from Kami-Kitazawa’ podcast

Following from our summer extravaganza of podcasts (check the archives if you missed any of it) we’re very proud to bring you another first for Turntable Radio – a live session recorded last month in Kami-Kitazawa, Tokyo. For the first time we’re broadcasting an hour and a half of audio performed live and recorded exclusively for Turntable Radio.

The long and short of it: a few months ago I hooked up with Ken-One and Naoki, two of the finest and nicest tablists in Tokyo. The plan was to arrange for a session with some of Tokyo’s upcoming talents, record it and broadcast it for everyone to check out. The first time such a session would be arranged with Japanese turntablists to be heard outside of Japan. The session was arranged and happened last month, at the studio of the Human Rhythm crew in Kami-Kitazawa. Massive, massive thanks go to Ken-One and all the guys for making this possible. I wouldn’t have been possible to get much done with my still pretty basic Japanese.

The session lasted well over 6 hours, testament to these guys’ stamina and love for what they do. Basically the format was simple: get them all in one room with a bunch of equipment, let them jam and record it all. The result is an hour and a half of edits from the session. Everything you hear on this podcast is performed live, with little or no rehearsal, totally off the cuff for the most part. The only exception is a Ken-One track at the beginning.

As I mentioned the aim of this session is to showcase some of the talent in Tokyo which is rarely heard outside of Japan (though more and more seen thanks to the likes of youtube). Present on the day were: the Exsample crew (Ken-One, Naoki, Shige), Human Rhythm crew (ru, Satoshi, Tsuyoshi and ???) and Miyajima (current DMC Japan champion, and one of Japan’s best scratcher by a long mile). Together these guys represent some of the freshest talent in Japan right now – taking in influences and ideas from Japan and elsewhere and bringing their own elements to it.

Exsample is probably the most established lot, with Ken-One having been a part of the Tokyo scratch scene for many years. Ken-One has produced for the likes of Kan (MSC), and showcased alongside the likes of Kentaro, D-Styles, Qbert and more. Naoki was the finalist in the 2005 Vestax freestyle final against Enfoe, and will be releasing his debut break record soon. As for Human Rhythm, these guys have been working together for a while using a simple formula of 3 turntables and one MPC. They’re one of the most interesting crews to come out of the new generation of Japanese tablists. Having taken the concept of the turntable band pioneered by US and European artists, these guys have been doing their own thing, bringing in new ideas and sounds. As for Miyajima, he’s also been a fixture of the Japanese tablist scene for a while and he’s widely recognised as one of the country’s finest scratchers. This is a man who’s known for refusing to do anything but cut – focusing solely on scratching in its rawest form. He’s developed his own cuts over the years, documented in the excellent ‘Kaikoo’ DVD and soon to be featured in Q-Bert’s forthcoming scratch encyclopedia DVD as well. Miyajima has also battled in the past (he returned to battles this year and won DMC Japan) and for a while set up his own turntable band too (the name of which escapes me now). Amongst all the scratchers in Japan right now, Miyajima is definitely one of the most interesting, with a unique style as you’ll hear.

Alongside guys like Baku, Kentaro, Hifana, Kireek and others, these guys represent one of the facets of the tablist artform in Japan today – with its own unique and distinct sound and aesthetic. We hope you enjoy what you hear as much as we did putting it together. As I said everything on this podcast is live and wouldn’t have been possible without the kindness of the Human Rhythm crew who were the hosts for the day. Included in this podcast are edits from the many, many freestyles as well as some tracks performed by each crew. These tracks were all performed live, with little rehearsal.

There’s a tracklist below as well as a list of links for you to check if you want to find out more about the artists featured on this session. Look out for their forthcoming releases and if you like what you hear than please support. Also look out for a video of Ken-One live in Tokyo earlier on this year which will be podcast in the coming week to accompany this session.

There were more artists we wanted to feature on this special, including DJ Baku, unfortunately it wasn’t possible. But we’ll be working on doing some more live sessions in the coming months so watch this space for more info soon.

Enjoy!

DJ Ken-One – http://www.myspace.com/djken1
Human Rhythm – http://www.humanrhythm.jp

Turntable Radio – ‘Live from Kami-Kitazawa’ tracklist

Dj Baku – Turntable Radio intro
Exsample – Intro freestyle
Dj Ken-One – In-To-Yo (taken from Kan’s debut album)
Exsample & Human Rhythm – String freestyle
Exsample & Human Rhythm – Drums and cuts freestyle
Exsample, Human Rhythm and Miyajima – Freestyle
Human Rhythm – Intro
Human Rhythm – Track 1
Human Rhythm – Track 2
Human Rhythm – Track 3
Miyajima & Tsuyoshi – Freestyle
Exsample – Track 1
Exsample – Jam session
Exsample & Human Rhythm – Jam session
Tsuyoshi & Naoki – Electro freestyle
Exsample, Human Rhythm & Miyajima – Final freestyle pt 1
Exsample, Human Rhythm & Miyajima – Final freestyle pt 2
Dj Ken-One – Solo freestyle

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