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by Don Crispy
DJ Aki
Womb's resident drum'n'bass head celebrates
three years of his 06S events with his first mix CD
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The dance music press has been declaring drum'n'bass
dead for years now, but the animal refuses to roll over and
die. Granted, the bright commercial future promised when Roni
Size won the Mercury Prize back in '97 never materialized,
but the sound of breakbeats, the sampled, chopped and spliced
beats at the heart of drum'n'bass, remains essential
to dance music and has even crossed over to the mainstream
through the work of artists like Bjork.
In Japan, drum'n'bass has been represented since
the mid-'90s by the long-running Drum and Bass Sessions
parties-formerly at Liquid Room and now at Unit-and
more recently by Womb's 06S. The corn-rowed, ever-active
DJ Aki is the force behind 06S, and the main reason why it's
become one of Tokyo's marquee events.
To celebrate three years of 06S and give listeners a sample
of the diversity of his taste, Aki has just released New Type
Drum+Bass 06S Mixed by DJ Aki, and will be backing it up with
a tour that kicks off at Womb next Saturday. Spanning 27 tracks
by artists from six countries as well as three original cuts,
the disc was recorded not on Pro Tools in a studio, but in
a live take at Womb's DJ booth. It takes in approaches
from LTJ Bukem's jazz flavors to harder-edged cyber
styles, offering a good snapshot of the current state of drum'n'bass.
"I believe that people who say drum'n'bass
is dead don't listen to the music properly. These types
of people are just controlled by the media," Aki told
Metropolis. "Especially in Tokyo, when LTJ Bukem
or Roni Size became big in the late '90s, drum'n'bass
was recognized by a lot of people. But after a while major
labels stopped distributing drum'n'bass, which
influenced the market and made a negative impression."
The main DJ for Dublab Productions, which also produces Womb
in Shibuya, Aki cut his teeth working in New York at drum'n'bass
record shop Breakbeat Science in 1996. He then became resident
DJ for the Science Lab events at legendary superclub Twilo
in 1998, shortly before it was closed down by Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Aki returned to Japan in 2001 and soon launched 06S, winning
notice for his tuff sound and also releasing tracks on vinyl,
most recently with his newly established unit S9. He has also
recently been touring abroad as the face of Japanese drum'n'bass
in the UK and, this month, Brazil, where he spun for thousands
at the Brasilia Music Festival.
Helping Aki to celebrate at Womb will be two UK drum'n'bass
tastemakers. Fabio has been one of the mainstays of drum'n'bass
since its inception in the early '90s, while D-Bridge
is one of the second-generation artists currently revitalizing
the scene and also a contributor to New Type Drum+Bass.
Womb, October 30. See club listings
for details.
credit: Courtesy of Dublab
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