Tokyo Twitter Techno

August 11, 2010 9:36 AM

Dommune is a fairly new nightclub in Tokyo. It's only open Sunday through Thursday night and they close at midnight. The room only holds 50 people. Nevertheless, the place attracts top-flight talent; Jeff Mills, Derrick May, Claude Young, Prosumer, and Shed have all performed. What's the gimmick? Every party is streamed live. (from mnml ssgs)

From the source:

the result is a rather interesting dynamic: both people at the club and those watching at the home are using twitter throughout the party. being at the club this made for a weird situation where probably half the people on the dancefloor had an iphone in their hands the whole night. so more interaction with people on the interwebs, less with those around you - real virtual partying (or something like that). the other consequence of the live streaming is there is some serious attention whore action going on, as partygoers do their best to get on camera.

posted by mkb (20 comments total)

Wow. Thanks for this. This is absolutely awesome. Tokyo has been a center for great music for a long time - no surprise that they're on the forefront here. And Derrick May in particular has been doing some killer stuff lately, in addition to supporting some awesome new talent on Transmat. I will be very excited to check this out.
posted by koeselitz at 9:59 AM on August 11, 2010

Saw this article on mnml ssgs back when it was originally posted. I completely forgot about the place when I was in Tokyo, I would have loved to go. I also missed Maurice Fulton, who is the DJ of what I think is one of the best livesets ever. (Megaupload link)
posted by azarbayejani at 10:04 AM on August 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

See, I should posted this BEFORE the Shed/Prosumer thing this morning, but I just barely tuned in in time myself!
posted by mkb at 10:09 AM on August 11, 2010

I'd thought about posting this a couple times because it's a really neat idea for a club on all sorts of levels, not just the streaming thing. The extremely small room, the fact that it's only open on weekdays and doesn't stay open very late, etc.

The last one I caught before today was Derrick May a couple months ago. The time difference makes it a little awkward, I'm either still asleep or commuting to work when it starts, and end up missing either the first hour or the first half.

Shed/Prosumer today was fantastic (especially Prosumer's set).
posted by sparkletone at 10:13 AM on August 11, 2010

Tokyo's HOTTEST NEW CLUB is DOMMUNE.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 10:56 AM on August 11, 2010

What's the gimmick? Every party is streamed live.

That's not really much of a gimmick. Also I'd never heard of any of those people. Shed? Who could miss a Shed Concert. The opening act was Utility Closet
posted by delmoi at 11:22 AM on August 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Going to Tokyo for a honeymoon later this year (with Mefi's own). Hopefully we'll be able to check this out!
posted by Uncle Ira at 12:58 PM on August 11, 2010

Not that it's of any relevance to anything but you've never even heard of Jeff Mills or Derrick May?

The Great Delmoi, for shame.
posted by R.Stornoway at 12:53 AM on August 12, 2010

Yeah, no idea who any of those people are.
posted by nightchrome at 1:05 AM on August 12, 2010

I don't understand. Why are you guys bragging about being totally out of touch?
posted by mkb at 5:47 AM on August 12, 2010

I don't understand. Why are you guys bragging about being totally out of touch?

I love being totally out of touch. Not having much time to devote to music these days makes me sad, but the reason for that lack of time (my 15 month old) makes me happy, so it balances out.

Oh, actually - I just Googled a couple of these guys (I couldn't tell about Shed or Prosumer, those names are too generic to Google)... It appears that they're all DJ's/electronic music artists, which is a genre that I've never particularly enjoyed. So even if I WAS in touch with the music these days, I wouldn't have any idea who these guys were any way. This is a cool concept, and I guess that in some circles, these artists would be considered "top-flight talent"... But being baffled that people haven't heard of them is, I think, kinda silly.
posted by antifuse at 11:52 AM on August 12, 2010

delmoi: “Also I'd never heard of any of those people. Shed? Who could miss a Shed Concert. The opening act was Utility Closet”

I feel your pain. I grew up a punker; six months ago, I had no idea either. But seriously, you should check this stuff out, as it's the source of most of the really neat things happening in music nowadays.

You have heard Derrick May before. You might not know it, but you have. He's the guy who recorded what is probably the most famous (and awesome) house/techno track of all time, "Strings of Life" back in 1988. He was around shaping house and techno in Detroit from those early days on, and steadily since then he's been a fantastic DJ and musician; even right now, his sets are renowned for being awesome. I think if you asked people in the know who the most important and influential house or techno DJ of all time is, they'd almost certainly say Derrick May.

And Jeff Mills might be a close second. He's another Detroit native, but came into his prime a bit later; his primary claim to fame is this absolutely insane set he DJed 15 years ago at the Liquid Room in Tokyo which was recorded and later released; it's routinely quoted as the greatest live house/techno set of all time. He's doing all kinds of insane stuff, dropping the needle and cutting back and forth across records and working with his drum machine to build from one thing to the next, and cutting the songs together so quickly that they barely last a minute each; that recording had a tremendous impact on the art. (And, er, midway through the second set, he plays "Strings of Life.")

Shed is a much newer cat, but he's also very much worth checking out, I think. He's a German guy who's a very insistent purist – he released a disk two years ago called Shedding The Past that's gotten a lot of acclaim. It's very charismatic stuff, dedicated to "where we all were coming from: true techno music." Awesome record, well worth listening to.

I don't know Claude Young or Prosumer yet, although I probably should. But these people really ought to be checked out, if you can get into it. Good stuff.

posted by koeselitz at 12:03 PM on August 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

antifuse: “But being baffled that people haven't heard of them is, I think, kinda silly.”

Telling someone who likes house or techno music that you don't know who Derrick May or Jeff Mills are is like telling a punk you've never heard of the Sex Pistols or the Ramones. Yeah, sure, people really might never have heard of those groups – but there's a reason for the flabbergasted response: those two guys are really important to this music, and have been for more than two decades. So, er – yeah, it doesn't mean an insult necessarily; people might just be surprised.

But, yeah: I hadn't heard of them either until recently, as I said above. So I understand.
posted by koeselitz at 12:08 PM on August 12, 2010

like telling a punk you've never heard of the Sex Pistols or the Ramones

Except the Sex Pistols or the Ramones get played on mainstream radio occasionally. But I hear what you're saying.
posted by antifuse at 12:44 PM on August 12, 2010

azarbayejani: “Saw this article on mnml ssgs back when it was originally posted. I completely forgot about the place when I was in Tokyo, I would have loved to go. I also missed Maurice Fulton, who is the DJ of what I think is one of the best livesets ever. (Megaupload link)”

Holy fuck, but that mix is awesome. "This is not Gloria Estefan... this is Stevie Wonder." Ha! Seriously, I usually have to be in a certain mood for two-hour mixes, but this one – I just can't stop listening. Thanks for this.
posted by koeselitz at 2:55 PM on August 12, 2010

Telling someone who likes house or techno music that you don't know who Derrick May or Jeff Mills are is like telling a punk you've never heard of the Sex Pistols or the Ramones.

I witnessed the exact opposite of that a few months ago. I with a group in Detroit for DEMF, and we were at a screening of Metropolis accompanied by Jeff Mill's alternate score for the film. After the film, we went to the bar that was set up in the theater, where one of the other theatergoers commented on my friend's Joy Division shirt thusly:

Random dude: "Hey man- that's a cool shirt."
Friend: "Thanks!"
Random: "So is that for, like, a band or something?"
Friend: .... (double take) ... "Yeah- they were a pretty big deal. Have you heard of New Order?"

A brief explanation of the history of Joy Division and New Order followed. So I can see how someone could be pretty knowledgeable about guitar music and not know who Derrick May or Jeff Mills is.
posted by Uncle Ira at 12:43 PM on August 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Apparently the next Dommune is on Wednesday, and it's going to be Cio D'or! For those of you who are unfamiliar with her style, I can think of absolutely no better place to start than this slightly extended version of her recent RA podcast mix.

If her Dommune set is anywhere near as good, it will be quite awesome!
posted by sparkletone at 7:21 AM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Next on Wednesday?? DJ Godfather is live now!
posted by mkb at 8:19 AM on August 23, 2010

Gasp! I missed it. I didn't look at the schedule, someone mentioned that Cio D'or was doing one. I should start paying more attention.
posted by sparkletone at 11:41 AM on August 23, 2010

Ah, I misread where I saw that Cio D'or was playing. She's playing on Sept. 1. I think Ellen Allien is tomorrow though. I'm no longer certain of my ability to read.
posted by sparkletone at 8:05 AM on August 25, 2010