Saturday, April 16, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
3/11 Earthquake in Japan
Monday, July 19, 2010
Final Dub Blood @ One Blood and Tokyo scene update
Roots, Dub, Dubstep, Steppers Music All Night!
22:00~05:30
Men ¥1500 Women ¥1000 w/ 1D
Ital Food available
One Blood
Ikebukuro 2-12-11
03-3590-7827
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Dub Blood @ One Blood February 13
Skatalites to play in Japan
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Dub Blood Final dance for 2009 Saturday 12/12
- Sister Korin plays early and closeout roots
- One Blood Tom brings you the latest dubstep and dubplates
- Israel B from Downpressor Records with a full range of roots, dubs, steppers & new sounds, heavy on the FX
- Itak Shaggy Tojo of Black Redemption Records dropping heavyweight JA/UK sounds with lyrical stylings
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Killa Sister update
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Dub Blood @ One Blood this Saturday 11/14
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Analog devices & signaling
Friday, October 09, 2009
Dub Blood @ One Blood this Saturday 10/10
Ladies & Gentlemen, Friends & Lovers, Bredren & Sistren!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Google Maps politricks or just an error?
Here's the story, on September 22 I'm talking to a friend and he is trying to tell me where a city in Israel is located. I take out my iPod Touch and do a Google Maps search for Israel. The entire country is blank except for areas marked Gaza and West Bank. I try zooming in to see if thats the problem but no, all the surrounding areas have city names clearly marked, but nothing in Israel. When I got home I tried the same thing and got the same results but this time I took pictures with my camera. See for yourself:
Labels: fail, google maps, Israel
Friday, September 18, 2009
5770 starts this friday night
Here's wishing you a year full of livity and blessings!
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Next dance 8/8 @ 池袋 One Blood
Men男性 ¥1500 women女性 ¥1000 w/1 drink
Selectors:
Sister Korin - roots rockers
Tom - dubstep steppers
Israel B/Downpressor - new roots steppers dubwise
Itak Shaggy Tojo - roots hard steppers pon de mic sound system styles
One Blood is at Ikebukuro 2-12-11 close to the west exit of Ikebukuro station.
03-3598-7827
Monday, July 13, 2009
Killa Sista debut CD is out
Amazon Japan order page for the CD is here and they will ship outside of Japan.
See also http://www.killasista.com/ (all in Japanese though)
Check "Legal Pirates" on Shibuya FM July 13
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Downpressor picked for Japanzine Top 10 Foreign artists
See you saturday night for Dub Blood @ One Blood in Ikebukuro
Monday, May 11, 2009
New Civilization Dub Blood @ One Blood now monthly!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
If not now when?
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
long overdue
- Shaggy Itak Tojo put out three records on the Pirka Atuy label. Good luck finding them.
- Jacques Golub of Kingston Connexion started up a new venture Tokyo Connexion and release a fine 7" by Riddim Conference. Well worth you money. Nuff respect to Jaques and all the European bredren and sistren keeping the true fires burning!
Whether in the studio or in the booth, the Kaoss tools from Korg are a blessing! Love my Kaoss Pad 3, mini KP and Kaossilator. Wish I had more of em and more hands to tweak the sounds.
More tool talk: when I was a youth my drum machine was a Roland TR-707 bought from a pawn shop for whatever money I had. Large LCD for step programming, individual outs for each sound, built in mixer and many options for time control. Back in those days, many things still didnt have MIDI so the 707 offered control voltage out synced to the rims shot. As a youth I used this to drive the built in 16 step sequencer of my Pro One synth.
Over the years and before I moved to Japan I sold off all my gear. Good bye to all the old mixers, effects, synths and riddim boxes. Fast forward to the 21st century and I got a big bag of regret for doing that. So a few years ago I picked up a 707 on auction. Now thats my master clock for other drum boxes and once again the analog features come to the rescue. I got lucky enough to find an old Boss PC-2 and once again having Control Voltage clocking comes in Handy!
One of these days I'll figure out a way to diagram my rig of hardware and post it up here.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Tagged: Seven Songs
Monday, April 21, 2008
Mute Beat One Night Live
The first time I heard Mute Beat was in 1990. I was in Tower Records at 4th & Broadway and saw a cassette with a trumpet over a red circle called "Mute Beat in Dub". The sign said something about that this was a Japanese dub reggae band. I couldnt believe the idea. All we knew about Japanese music was YMO. I still remember walking up Broadway with that tape in my Walkman and being blown away by the sounds I heard.
Who were these guys? I didnt know how to say the names except for Dub Master X (what a cool name that was) and I couldnt find any information about the band except what was written in the tape insert. I wore out three copies of that cassette listening to it over the years. The year before I came to Japan the album was released on CD. Of course since I came here I've found all their releases but I still listen to "Mute Beat in Dub" regularly.
Of course I dreamed of seeing this band, but by the time I moved to Japan they had broken up. Tonight one of my dreams became reality (big up to the man who made that happen, you know who you are). The band was in great form! Matsunaga-san's bass shook the ground, Gota-san's drumming was tight, Kodama-san & Masui-san's horns blew down the walls of Jericho, Asamoto-san's keyboards kept the skank and DMX's mix glued it all together.
I waited 18 years for this show. It was worth the wait. Thank you Mute Beat!
Setlist:
(intro) DMX BEAT〜DAY SHOULD TURN TO NIGHT
01. AFTER THE RAIN
02. METRO
03. LANDSCAPE
04. ORGAN'S MELODY
05. TAKE 5 (DUB NO.5)
06. BUTTERFLY〜MIXED UP
07. WHISKY BAR
08. SUNNY SIDE WALK
09. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
10. COFFIA
ENCORE 1
11. STILL ECHO
12. BEAT AWAY
ENCORE 2
13. JENKA
14. SUMMERTIME〜FROZEN SUN
ENCORE 3
15. WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD
intro and part of Metro
Monday, March 03, 2008
On-U Sound in Japanese magazine 1992
Two things about these scans, the magazine is read right to left, I've scanned the pages individually but for Western readers the alighment and page numbers may look off. Also most Japanese magazines are not printed full color. Most inside pages are black and white. Only 7 of 128 pages are printed in color in this issue. Unfortunately they chose to make one of those a picture of Courtney Love rather than any of the On-U pages. Oh well.
P25-29 (click for larger view)
Back Cover
Notes on the back cover: Three of the four albums shown here were Japan only releases with the exception of Stoned Immaculate, but as was common at the time the Japanese release of that got a bonus track. "Pay It All Back Live" (top left) is the live recordings from Town & Country in the UK. Acording to skysaw.org this really was a Japan only release. "Snakeman Show in the 90's" was Adrian Sherwood mixing 3 tracks for a Japanese radio show. "S.E.T. in the 90s" is more Sherwood remixology.
The door prices for the tour were 5,500 advance, 6,000 at door. Oddly enough thats about what it costs to see any one of these acts now when they come here 16 years later. Shibuya On Air is still around, dont know about W'ohol in Osaka.
Sorry but I just dont have the energy to translate the 5 page article.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Club Yellow of Tokyo is closing
For the most part, I only go to smaller bars and clubs because entry prices for events at Yellow or Liquid Room tend to be over 4,000 Yen. Double that so I can take the wife, add in some drinks and transportation and a night out to see a band becomes an expense item. Only went to Yellow once to see Adrian Sherwood, planning to go once more to see Zion Train in April. Not really fond of the place because they oversell tickets and it gets too crowded to dance or have fun. Liquid Room is a better space and Unit is more fun anyways. For a good local night theres Open or Garam or One Blood. Even with plenty of choices left, its too bad when one is removed.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
new record "Jah Fire" Trinity & Downpressor
Hot biscuits from the oven, fresh from the presses, "Jah Fire" voiced by the one and only Trinity AKA Junior Brammer, dub by Tokyo's own Downpressor!
Its a bass heavy outing in a Satta style, Trinity puts in a sing-jay performance on the A side, the B side is a smooth echotronic voyage.
Now available in Japan, soon in UK and US, worldwide when they get there.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Populous Cast
Have a taste of Step By Steppers, my dub mix of Tear Drop and an unreleased track The Call on the ever popular Stalag riddim.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Next record coming soon
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Downpressor "Sevens Dub Four" & "Step By Steppers" now on iTunes worldwide, vinyl still avilable
Sevens Dub Four on iTunes
Step By Steppers on iTunes
Vinyl still available at
Tanty Dub Shop
Jah Warrior
Ernie B's Reggae
as well as other fine stores
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Big up Shaggy Tojo
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Dubsensemania -> Dubsentimental?
Nothing exciting there. Theres a bit more to it though. The CDs released by Dubsensemania while signed to Sony were all Copy Control CDs, meaning they wouldnt play in anyone's computer and possibly their car stereo, etc. I dont have numbers to back it up, but no one I know bought those CDs, even fans of the band. The other thing about those CDs is the music did not sound like what the band sounded like live or like their previous studio work. DSM was a very fun live band, but these CDs were .... popish? mainstream j-rock sounding? boring? Talk is also that Sony wanted them to cover some old popular j-pop songs "inna reggae style".
The other bit that may come as a surprise is that being signed to a Japanese major label means the band goes on salary. Contracts here are not built around "X albums in Y" years, but "Band members recieve a monthly salary of Z Yen per month and will damn well do as they are told." Knowing what I know about Sony Music, the company probably owned the band name, merchandising rights and promotional rights as well. As weird as this may sound, for some musicians this can be a good deal. I know a few studio musicians who work for Sony Music as musical salarymen. Everyday they go in and play what they are told to and get enough of a paycheck to feed their families. Lots of studio guys I knew back home would have given their eye teeth for a reliable job like that and for most factory style cookie cutter j-pop the system works. Sell just enough CDs, do the promotional events, commercials and promotion events you are told to and you get a salary.
Evidently this wasnt quite the case with DSM. Some band members supposedly didnt want to keep on without Sony's monthly check, possibly the band no longer owned its name, so as I understand things, most members are working on solo careers or playing together sometimes as Dubsentimental. Have not seen them play lately, cant say how they sound now.
Somewhere I have some video of DSM recording at Ariwa Studio with the Mad Professor himself.
Anyways, wherever the band members are now, I wish them the best. Japan needs live reggae not more children screaming on a mic over backing tapes and calling themselves a soundsystem.
FWIW, all of the above is based on hearsay, take it all with a grain of salt, it might all be wrong.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Updates
Someone asked me to contribute to a compilation CD sponsored by a hamburger place down Yokohama way. The theme is "hamburgers and dub". Never heard of such a thing, but I'm all for promoting the local scene so I'll do that. With any luck it will be available outside Japan as well.
Have not mentioned it yet, but Ras Itak AKA Shaggy Tojo has produced an outernational CD collection "Sudden Destruction" with contributions from Japan's own Mighty Massa and vocalists from UK & JA and work from NYC also.
See list of artists etc here Page in Japanese, but artist list in english. There are a couple of 7"s to go with it, but they are VERY limited.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
some japanese music
One mand act recording some nice demos. Not much information to say other than I got the demo CD at Drum Song in Shimokitazawa.
Check the sounds at http://elriddimconference.hp.infoseek.co.jp
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
bumbaclaaaat
Saturday, May 19, 2007
big up Revolution Reggae Podcast
http://reggaerevolution.podomatic.com/entry/2007-05-07T18_38_58-07_00