Igor tripped off for some funk for the New Wave Junkies @ Ookayama Peak 1 on Saturday evening. The night produced quite an interesting show case of bands, remixers and keyboard brooders to keep you going through the evening. It took me about an hour to get to grand Ookayama, which is off towards the Kanagawa side of Tokyo.

Cruising in while sinking an extra-large chu-hi from the station, Igor caught the last few minutes of Dummy? Dummy? some serious neo-groove going on and is the kind of band that could be creating the scene for a long set in the mid-evening. I caught them the week before and they just delivered that groove like it was what they did every minute of the day.

I grabbed the night’s first official drink with my drink ticket and caught up with act two, Freak Child. Freak Child’s set was a solo this evening and quite a delicious piece of synth remix plus keyboards. The whole time I was there, I was thinking that if this guy was buried somewhere in the dens of iniquity on the Roppongi-Shibuya axis of ego, late in the evening, the mobs would drinking up the harsher sounds.

Lord aCid brooded over his iMac as he orchestrated his creation for the night, which included an OL-dressed singer with a voice that could tear your heart out and an ax-man handling two guitars (at the same time at times) during the performance. Lord aCid himself is not the star, but really the director, leading his creation through his iMac mixing and letting the players be the stars. And so they should! Not hard, not fast, but a haunting and emotional performance. Igor gives this one a w00t for matching the evening perfectly.

The night wrapped up with JLHA a remix duo with some really nice vocals. The remixing had old and new techno flavorings and the voice was very smooth. The set started a bit slow, but as it moved and the sounds got hotter and the singer took a more central role making for a very nice finish to the evening.

It was certainly a different night from other events I have been too. All the music was quite danceable to be sure, but there was more emphasis on the artistry and style than other nights. The place was quite a nice size for this kind of event, perhaps a comfortable capacity for 40 people, with enough space for a fair-sized stage and decent bar. Everybody was very friendly and it was indeed a night to kick back, take in the sounds and the alcohol and enjoy a kind of ambience not often found in Tokyo.

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