May 21st is the date of the next installment of BTC, now a bi-monthly all nighter affair held on the third wednesday of the month. And it’s also my last BTC for the foreseeable future, so I’ll borrow from Skepta’s lyrics book and ask ‘Are you dumb?’ No? good cos you’d better get your ass down there, it’s a celebration bishes.

I’ll be doing a back to back set with the man like Ske for the occasion while 100 Mado rocks it back to back with ENA and Goth Trad does his usual ting of murdering the dancefloor. As for the live end of things, we’ve got Skyfish and Chinza Dopeness doing what they do best in fine combination style and Dokkebi Q dropping a live set! And seeing as these guys are living in London and not Tokyo, I’d say this makes the occasion a special one if it wasn’t already.

Full details are below. The venue is Club Asia, ladies are free till 1am, and there shall be bass and funky shit, a lot of it, truss. See you there! Peep the BTC blog for more and all that jazz. Oh yeah and there’s also a BTC Facebook group for the FB massive out there.

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written by Laurent \\ tags: back to chill, clubs, dubstep, goth trad, Japan, mad rave, Music

Last month’s edition of Back To Chill was special for a few reasons - end of year celebration, another all nighter and live sets by Japanese artists T2R and Quarta330. Quarta’s set was a particular highlight for me, as it was the first time I got the chance to see him do his thing live, which is pretty spectacular not the least because it involves him making some absolutely banging music using 2 Gameboys, some pedals and an interface. It was 30 mins of 8-bit, platform memories inducing, bass driven goodness. T2R’s live set was also nice, a lot darker than I expected it but very interesting.

And I guess even better is that we’ve managed to get audio from the whole night, thanks to man like Hyaku Mado. And so here’s a selection of sets from the night as well as the live from Quarta and T2R.

For more info on the BTC nights peep the blog. For more info on Quarta go to his myspace, and if you haven’t already go and cop his excellent Hyperdub release, which includes the devastating ‘9 Samurai’ refix.

BTC vol15 audio:

Hyaku Mado b2b Kper - 75 mins (right click and save as)
Goth Trad b2b Kper ft. Chinza Dopeness - 75 mins (right click and save as)
Onedown DJ - 75 mins (right click and save as)
Quarta 330 live set - 27 mins (right click and save as)
T2R live set - 20 mins (right click and save as)

Big up to everyone involved, check the blog for info on the next one.

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written by Laurent \\ tags: back to chill, goth trad, Japan, Music, night life, quarta 330

Birthday celebrations are behind us, so it’s time for the next instalment of Back to Chill. Lucky number 13 will take place at the usual venue, Saloon at Unit, on Thursday October 4th.

Goth Trad’ll be back in town from his extended European escapade, alongside regulars and guests Keihin from Honcho Sound and MC Mal from Rub-a-Dub market. I’ll be playing b2b with Goth once more.

If you come down, don’t be a stranger. It’ll be heavy as usual, and I’m sure Goth will be packing a heavy bag of dubs fresh from his European trip.

Full details on the flyer below. Oh yeah and this one starts at 8 not 7 as before.

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written by Laurent \\ tags: back to chill, clubs, dubstep, goth trad, Music, night life, Tokyo

Damn it’s been 8 months already since I first played at BTC. Time flies as they say. What started as a favour has turned into a monthly ritual and some of my best moments in a city that still feels alien a lot of the time. When Goth Trad came to Europe last year, I arranged a gig for him at the Dragon Bar (where I did a monthly open mic session). The night was great, Goth flipped it as expected and he invited me to play at his newly started BTC monthly session in Tokyo when I moved here. An offer I was only too happy to accept. Fast forward to February this year, and my first gig in Tokyo as the guest at the 6th edition of BTC. And I thought it’d be that, but Goth very kindly kept inviting me back, so much so that I’ve ended up playing pretty much every session bar a couple since then, something I definitely didn’t expect but which has been an amazing experience.

BTC has grown a lot since it started last year. With Goth Trad at the helm, who himself has had a pretty incredible year with his popularity and interest in his music blowing up worldwide, alongside Hyaku Mado, Ske, Kaji Peace and Diagram, BTC has become an amazing little night, showcasing the dubstep and grime sounds that have come (and keep coming) out of London (and in the last year or so the rest of the world) to a growing audience of fans. The parties are held at Saloon, which is basically the downstairs bar/room of Unit nightclub, one of Tokyo’s best clubs. And this venue has also been key to the success of the night, as is always the case, giving it an intimate atmosphere which is definitely reminiscent of FWD>> at Plastic People or the early DMZ parties at Third Base. The vibe and people are what makes the night and while these can be quite different from what I’ve experienced in London or Europe, the audience has started to change over the months I’ve been here and witnessed it, gradually becoming more open and a lot more vocal.

I remember when I played in February and both Ella and I remarked that the crowd reactions were totally different to what you’d expect back home. People seemed a little subdued, and their wasn’t a lot of the usual reactions you’d expect at parties like this. Not that it felt like people weren’t enjoying the music, just that maybe they weren’t showing their enjoyment in the same way as people in Europe would. The only people who reacted as you might have expected were the few foreigners who came down ceremoniously every month (Dan I’m looking at you mate! :smile: ). 6 months later when Kode 9 and The Bug toured and played 2 special parties in Tokyo, the crowd went absolutely bonkers and the vibes were most definitely on par with the best parties I’ve been to in London.

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written by Laurent \\ tags: back to chill, clubs, dubstep, goth trad, Music, night life, Tokyo

Oh yeah! Back To Chill first anniversary on the 30th of August at Saloon at Unit. This time it’s an all night extravaganza of beats and bass, with more guests than you can shake a stick at it.

Props to the BTC boys for pulling this one off it should be off the Richter scale :wink: Lots of MCs as well as live shows from Skyfish and Sak Dub I as well as guest appearances from Quarta 330, Mixmas and yours truly.

If you ain’t been before you can check some previous posts in the music section with some reviews and audio from previous nights. If you like your bass though this is an unmissable event!

You don’t wanna miss trust me, and at 2000 yen in it’s a bargain for Tokyo really. More info and details on the BTC blog and brand spanking new BTC site.

Right I best get practicing really :oops: See you there!

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written by Laurent \\ tags: back to chill, clubs, dubstep, goth trad, Music, night life, Tokyo

It’s been a hectic ten days, but damn has it been enjoyable. Kode 9 landed in Japan on the 12th, and what followed were ten days of non stop sightseeing, shopping, eating, fooling about and music. I also somehow managed to go to work during that time even with lack of sleep and a cold holding me down, I’m still not quite sure how.

It was all worth it though - everyone had an amazing time. Ms Haptic aka Jess aka my ex-tutor at uni came with him, and it was great finally catching up with her after a few years of not seeing each other. Same with mr 9 - we’ve known each other for a long time, but we haven’t had the chance to chill in a few years and so it was nice spending time showing them around Tokyo, doing stupid shit and also practicing my Japanese in restaurants and shops.

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written by Laurent \\ tags: back to chill, dubstep, goth trad, kode 9, mad rave

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.

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

Last month was the 8th installment of Back To Chill, Tokyo’s only dubstep event fronted by the one and only Goth Trad and held at Unit in Daikanyama. Residents Ske, Hyaku Mado, Skinny K aka Kaji Peace and VJ Diagram were joined by MC Cardz and D2 for the occasion, as well as my good self.

It was a fun night once more, with a lot of drinking, laughing and people enjoying themselves. Though it was a little quieter than the last few events, it was still a success.

Hyaku Mado recorded all the sets on the night and I thought I’d spread a little love: so here are all 5 sets for you to grab in mp3 format. Click on the link below and you’ll be taken to a folder where you can download each set separately. Alternatively you can also stream them below to check before downloading.

Big ups to Hyaku Mado for the recording and to all the BTC crew for having me down once more. Next one is a special all nighter at Club Asia next week, 3rd of May. Bang in the middle of the Golden Week Holidays too, nice :mrgreen:

BTC vol 8 sets - Goth Trad, Hyaku Mado, Ske, Kaji Peace, Kper

And if you like what you hear don’t forget to check out Goth-Trad’s first releases on two UK labels out this month. The first one is the long awaited release of ‘Back To Chill’, as an EP and out now on Skud Beats. The second one is his Deep Medi Musik debut, Cut End b/w Flags, out in May. Go to Goth Trad’s Blog for direct links and audio.

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