Archive for the ‘DMC’ Category
DJ Kentaro – Club World, Kyoto, Japan (20/04/07)
Dj Kentaro is fond of scratching. Like a chicken pox sufferer with an incurable itch or an angry cat, he seems hell bent on clawing his way to some other place, and taking his audience along for the ride.
Having won the DMC World Championships in 2002 (the premier competition for DJs, like a competitive Oscars), Kentaro’s pedigree as a pound-for-pound scratching, cutting, mixing, matching, juggling turntablist of the highest calibre is undisputed.
He was the first Japanese to win the Techincs sponsored DMC’s – a big thing for DJ competition sponsoring music hardware companies from Japan, like Technics. This meant little to any of tonight’s crowd though save the nerdy looking guys, even by
Japanese standards, standing train spotter style in front of the turntables.
Club World was plunged into silent darkness. Hearing and anticipation suitably heightened, sounds emerged from the deep. DJ Kentaro had entered the building. His opening was a reworking of “Sakura” a traditional nursery rhyme replete with the unmistakable wail of the Japanese flute. To juxtapose for a second this was like the Scratch Perverts beginning a set with a troop of bagpipe playing morris dancers belting out three blind mice. While that might sound weird-funny, this worked. Maybe the Japanese are not familiar with the concept of laugh at your own culture humour like the British.
Kentaro is noted for is his cross genre record collection and outside the box thinking. Over the course of the night the crowd were treated to a river of sounds that flowed from nursery rhyme, through drum and bass and hip hop, to electro, breakbeat and house, returning via the nth dimension.
This potent brew was mixed and chopped expertly, and sprinkled liberally with trademark scratches and beat juggles that left the crowd on the outskirts of delirium.
As Kentaro used his skillful manipulation of breaks and buildups to toy with his audience the nature of Japanese club crowd dynamics began to emerge. The boisterous hedonism of all enraptured music crowds was present, thankfully missing the boring aggression that can blight some UK clubs. “Brraps” and other gunshot imitating signs of appreciation replaced with more innocent “Heys.”
Any foot stepping was apologized for without retribution being sought. Unwanted physical contact, often the unsolicited seeking of international love, was about as threatening as a butterfly flapping its wings and killed with smiles.
“The main” event doesn’t hit the decks until 1am at the earliest in Japan, and sets of more than two hours are not uncommon. Kentaro held Club World enthralled for more than 120 minutes. Implored by shouts of “Encore” (pronounced “on-core-ay” in Japan) he duly obliged, treating the masses to one more fix.
Eardrums suitably scored by aural consumption, appetites satiated, the crowd began to disperse. They had been scratched to within an inch of insanity and they had enjoyed it. Parting like lovers in the early morning light we were left with a warm glow and the tingling scratch marks of an amorous night.
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If Club World were in London . . . it would be a cross between Fabric and Plastic People. An asymmetrical, open-minded music policy holding, good time place, popular with Japanese people but with more expensive drinks, longer queues and more drug dealers than its current incarnation . . . probably.
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‘Enter’ – by DJ Kentaro is out now, available from all good record stores. It is good but the BBC don’t like it.
