It’s been a while since I went out all night and raved till the early hours of the morning. But last week was a special occasion - it was golden week, my first holiday in four months, it was Ella’s birthday and I’d been invited to play at Back To Chill once more, and this time it was a special all night affair with the Japanese mad rave family taking over the second room at Club Asia, one of Shibuya’s main night clubs.

And it was a wicked night, as expected. The BTC crew squared off against the Zion Rise crew, with two rooms of electronic mayhem going on all night. It was a pretty weird mix on paper - breakcore, junglism, dubstep and more spread over 6 hours with DJs and live acts. The main room, hosted by Zion Rise, was host to Rotator from France, a pretty big breakcore artist (I wouldn’t know as it ain’t really my thing to be honest) on the Tokyo leg of his Japanese tour, Com.A, Melt Banana and Rebel Familia all playing live. While the second room was hosted by the Back To Chill crew, with Ske, Hyaku Mado, Goth Trad and Kaji Peace in full effect alongside guests Skyfish and myself.

I was pretty happy to finally get to see Rebel Familia live, Goth Trad’s other live project alongside Heavy Akimoto, a legendary Japanese dub and reggae bassist. They killed it, with a 40 mins set that left the place upside down. Following on from the high bpm and hectic antics of Rotator (I really can’t get with breakcore, I’ve tried it’s just too hectic for me), Rebel Familia brought some serious vibes. With Goth Trad delivering heavy beats, from glitched out dub to jungle and even a couple of bits bordering on gabba/breakcore and Heavy Akimoto playing his bass like a man possessed. They’re a seriously great combination live, with Goth Trad playing the beats live and adding doses of dub effecting while Akimoto serves up the bass, and the way in which they take you on a little musical trip is a real pleasure to witness live. And the people were loving it. I didn’t see much of the other live acts, apart from Rotator, 2 minutes of which was enough to last me for the next year!

In the other room, Skyfish brought some niceness too - with a laptop set incorporating dub, reggae, dubstep, electronica and more, alongside MC Dopeness who was chatting, resampling and adding various rhythms and effects to the beats using an MPC and Kaos Pad. An interesting live set up, and one which works really well and got people going nicely. It’s nice to see someone do something a little different, check out for the man’s beats as they are heavy too. Ske, Kaji Peace and Hyaku Mado maintained things for the rest of the night, playing not only dubstep but also quite a bit of mentalist jungle and hardcore beats - at times walking in the room was like a flashback in time :lol: .

Goth Trad and myself played b2b for the last two hours, and it was by far the most enjoyable set I’ve done ever. It’s a pleasure to watch the man do his thing and even more to play alongside him, gives you that extra motivation.

Unfortunately we didn’t record any of the sets, and to be honest the sound quality wasn’t all that, as the system in the second room really pales in comparison to Unit, where BTC is normally held every month. Still it was a wicked night, and I can’t remember the last time I stayed up till 9am with just alcohol to fuel me all night. Can’t say I felt so good the next day, but it was well worth it. I definitely would take Unit over Club Asia any day though, I don’t think I’ll be going back there anytime soon.

Rebel Familia have a new album out now, you can check more details and order it over at their site. And Goth Trad also has two new releases on UK labels this month, both well worth checking.

Next night is back at Unit, which got a renovation this last few weeks, with Zinc and Skream at Drum N Bass Sessions. Should be another good one!

Zion Rise x Back To Chill - Flickr Set

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written by Laurent \\ tags: back to chill, clubs, dubstep, mad rave, raving, Tokyo