ATHEDCelebrating the Roland sound from the Underground

The night of love, the one year anniversary, a special guest from Tokyo, tons of promotion… it was set to be a big night
and what a night it was!
You may have already viewed the visual evidence via our Flickr [see previous post below or slideshow above] and it is now our pleasure to provide you with audio recordings of all the sets played down in the main room on the night enabling you to relive the night aurally. Plus we present our Captain’s log of what went down at Air over the course of a very long, very fun and very loud night of ATHED celebratory mayhem…

Koh DJ set
http://athed.org/7/ATHED7-Koh-DJ.mp3
{Das} After all the chaos that proceeds a night such as this: decor, equipment set up, sound checks etc, things finally got under way a little later than planned with Koh opening the main room with a nicely thought out set putting the speakers through their paces early on as our first guests arrived eager to check out our first party in the larger venue Air which sits above our usual home.
[Dr] Kohs first outing with traktor at ATHED saw him join the digital side of the DJ force, a hot set of creamy tech-house got it pumping right from the start.

Akko DJ set
http://athed.org/7/ATHED7-AKKO-DJ.mp3
{Das} With the place filling up nicely and anticpation steadily rising for the night ahead ATHED’s first lady took the baton from Koh and continued to build on his good work slowly tempting new arrivals down from the bar into the growing mass of dancers in the main room. Being busy on the meeting and greeting front I missed a fair bit of both Koh and Akko’s sets on the actual night but have since had the opportunity to listen to them again thanks to Dr Rek’s diligence in continually recording the action from the parties. It’s great to hear how all the team have grown and developed in the relatively short time that we’ve been playing together and I think a special mention should go out to Akko who is fast becoming one the best female players on the local circuit. So a heads up to the other promoters out there, book this girl now!
[Dr] AKKO is THE female minimal DJ in Fukuoka. She took to DJing with a superb running start in late 2007 and just gets better and better. As always, an excellent set of minimal techno with an acid twinge.

Ken Inaoka Live set
http://athed.org/7/ATHED7-KenInaoka-Live.mp3
{Das} As our first guest at the debut ATHED it was a great pleasure to see Ken perform for us a year on. Always popular with the crowd his set was much more intense than on previous occasions with pounding basslines and tough electro rhythms which cascaded along until finishing with one massive euphoric melody filled ‘moment.’ Check the mix for sure! Chatting later during the aftermath I was again stunned to learn all the music he performed had been written in the previous 4 days leading up to the party. What a legend.
[Dr] Ken’s pro-skills were on display again with another delightful set of freshly baked underground dance music.

OMB DJ set
http://athed.org/7/ATHED7-OMB-DJ.mp3
{Das} 1:30am arrived and it was time for our first major non-Kyushu based guest to take to the decks. Everyone was in, drinks had been enjoyed and with the main room nicely crowded all was in place for the main event. OMB took the first hour down the house and progressive route getting everyone rocking away and then switched it up with some more powerful techy rollers and ‘hands in the air’ rushy numbers for the second half of his set. He received a mid set hand shake from myself for dropping Layo & Bushwacka’s ‘Love Story’ which is one of my all time favourite tunes of yesteryear and inspired me to pull out one of their other classics later on during my own set.  The Thom Yorke vocal track at the last 15min mark was also a highlight. Whether you were present or not please enjoy the mix and let us know your comments.
[Dr] OMB’s set was indeed all we had hoped for and more, we are proud to present this mix. AKKO mentioned how he was really good at “putting out sound”, which I think translates to being very good at his control of the sound as a DJ. Making excellent use of the EQs, EFXs and mixing tracks at seasoned veterans pace, traveling through the genres that he knew would please the dance floor.

ya0ya Live set
http://athed.org/7/ATHED7-yaOya-live.mp3
{Das} Now of course it wouldn’t be a true ATHED without a trip into the world of TB-303/TR-808 & 909 analogue hardware acid nastiness. Our own Dr Rek alongside his acid manzai partner hard off brought ya0ya back out to play and gave the audience a reason to really let go as they built up their squelchy basslines, sliced in vocal snippets and activated acid rhythms to much effect. Sadly hard off was feeling less than 100% health wise and this limited his previously enjoyed craziness and mic toasting, however with no detrimental effect on the sounds unleashed this just gave the set more drive and flow proving a nasty cold is no match for this unique duo’s deadly acid assault.
[Dr] Me having just finished a cold and hard off still dealing with one, neither of us had as much of the manzai attitude we had advertised. Having not had a chance to practice since hard off acquired his 909, we encountered a few technical hurdles in the evening as well. But none the less we overcame these troubles and the set came out quite well indeed. Compliments were received a plenty. Expect a bit more of a report on Absurdity.Biz soon.

Das Funkt DJ set
http://athed.org/7/ATHED7-DasFunkt-DJ.mp3
{Das} After all the talent that had already gifted their musical skills it was with no small amount of trepidation I climbed up to the booth for my set. Reassured by the number of friends, co-workers and even a student’s Mum who had stuck around in varying states of intoxication to see me play I kicked off with a special intro mix I’d put together especially the party. I then set about trying to incorporate tracks from all the genres which make up the concept of ATHED. Kicking off with disco at 4:30am was always going to be a bold move but I felt the celebratory mood of this party would allow me an amount of unorthodoxy! I’ll let you be the judge if you get a chance to give the recording a listen but please forgive the few questionable blends… too busy throwing smiley bouncy balls out and eating the strawberries Tam was handing out…oops!
Also I want to give Dr. Rek a mention for gracefully forfeiting his planned set of acid house due to the late running of the night and allowing me an extended set and the privilege of closing the party. Here’s hoping we get to hear what he had in store for us in the near future!
[Dr.] lost ATHED 7 set coming soon After an intense yaOya live set, numerous schedule delays and various organizational madness I didn’t have it left in me. Fortunately Das came to the rescue and closed it out in true A.T.H.E.D. style.

Tracklists and Comments feature after the break, just click ‘Read more’ below
Das Funkt tracklist
01. Special ATHED intro
02. Vangelis – Pulsar [Original & Soulwax Edit) - [CDR]
03. In Flagranti – Brash & Vulgar – [Codek]
04. Florian Meindl – Flashmob – [FLASH]
05. Iz & Diz – Magnificent (Justin Martin’s No Heart & Soul Mix) – [OM Records]
06. AC Slater – Jack Got Jacked (Jack Beats remix) – [Palms Out Sounds]
07. Fake Blood – Mars (Style of Eye’s Tool for School remix) – [Cheap Thrills]
08. Claude Vonstroke – Vocal Chords – [Dirtybird]
09. M.A.N.D.Y. vs Booka Shade – Donut (Boy 8 Bit remix) – [Living The Dream]
10. Rocha & Lewinger – Shiitas – [Leftroom]
11. Radioclit – Secousse (Riva Starr remix) – [Mental Groove]
12. Paco Osuna – Party In Chicago – [Plus 8]
13. Shlomi Aber & Kenny Larkin – Sketches (Shlomi Aber version) – [Be As One]
14. Reboot – El Loco – [Cecille]
15. Riva Starr – Vauxhall (Tim Green remix) – [Southern Fried]
16. Gavin Herlihy – Machine Ate My Homework – [Mood Music]
17. Agoria – Les Violons Ivres (Super remix) – [Different]
18. Vitalic – Bluesy Tuesday – [Different]
19. Layo & Bushwacka feat. Green Velvet – Life 2 Live (Layo & Bushwacka! mix) – [Olmeto]
20. Boy 8-Bit – Baltic Pine – [This Is Music]
[Not on the recording but just for the record the honour of the being the last tune of the night was bestowed upon the Chemical Brothers with Midnight Madness... love it!]

{Das} Of course the music is of the utmost importance at ATHED and we hope you have/are/will enjoy the mixes posted above. Sadly we didn’t have the facilites to record the sets from the bar room upstairs where a wide and varied mix of music was played by armmy, Egg, GA-KO, KAKKY, KT and SOUTA. Well done guys and thanks for keeping the bar jumping along and providing a nice alternative to the main room. Hope to have you all back to play with us at some point over the coming year.
A whole other side of the night that is often not given the credit it derserves for making the experience complete is the visual element. We were lucky enough to have not one but two VJs help us at this party with Jenga painting the first room with surreal spaced out colours, rolling images along with the music and some nice warp holes to get firmly lost in. Plus esdrm was back with his innotive TVJing upstairs in the bar which caught the attention of many a guest as they enjoyed their drinks.
Due to a great deal of help from faithful members of the ATHED family Kelly and Tam under the direction of Dr Rek the main room, bar and connecting stairway were filled with cheeky smiley balloons and the vast dark cavern that is Air took on a new life as a fun, happy monument to rave. Arriving at the venue at 6pm to help set up and then partying the whole night meant that with the exception of a short break to grab dinner they spent 12 hours in the club… well done guys!
We also need to thank Unity for keeping everyone’s stamina up with mid-party food rations, the pick up was needed if for no other reason than to soak up the celebratory alcohol… hee hee hic-cup!
We are also grateful for the help we received with promotion in the lead up to the party from chief lady of the scene Junko who’s efforts on the flyer and promotion front helped bring in those extra numbers required for the bigger venue and hopefully spread our name to ears not previously reached. Big ups also to O’Real and Fukuoka Now for the event listings as well as to Tenjin FM for the interview with our man Dr. Rek which no doubt also helped the cause. We should also mention the Air staff who did their best to ensure the night ran smoothly and have been a big supporter of what we’re trying to achieve since the beginning.
In conclusion a great night and a good point to celebrate and reflect on the first year of ATHED. For me particularly it was quite a proud moment to be at the 1st Year Anniversary as a resident having played as a guest at the début party back in January last year. Having seen the party grow from a few friends and curious party heads to now being a well known name on the street that is Oyafuko. Big shouts to all the guests from not only this party but all the previous events and to all the other members of the ATHED family who have helped make the party was it is. And finally special props go to the ATHED team Koh, Akko and of course the mad acid proscriber himself Dr Rek.
Last mention goes to Miyu who humbly presented us with a handmade custom birthday/valentines cake that you can see in the photos. A lovely thoughtful touch and at 8am in the morning a rather yummy one too! Thanks x

[Dr] One year went quite fast indeed. Being my first event in Japan to survive thus long was an excellent achievement. Having thrown and organized various events in LA (the longest of which ran four years) before coming to Japan in 2006; it’s nice to finally the return to possibilities that having an established event and scene provides. None of which could have happened without the help of Montea, Masa, Tomi, Shuhei, Ippei, Koga and all the other people who have staffed at Tsuti and AIR. I am very grateful for their kind support. I also have to thank Nobu at Decadent Deluxe for his promotional support and future support of ATHED related events at Decadent (announcement coming asap ). I would also like to thank a whole lot of other people, but Das did cover pretty much all of them in the above post. For the moment I’m gonna say ditto to all of the above statements by Das . You all know I love you.
Having a two room party was also a great throwback to the some of the party situations I had in LA, where having parties with two up to five rooms happened a lot. It was really nice to have a room of totally different music provided by such a lovely lineup of local underground talent. It definitely made it easier to hang out for longer at our event. I do love this style, but it also reminded me of how much more taxing it becomes as an organizer. My calf muscles were quite sore until Monday from over 12 hours of star-climbing .
I was quite pleased with team athed deco came out. The plastic stick re-usable balloon solution instead of a one-time use much more expensive helium solution to make the balloons stand up worked most well indeed. Also continuing the beatable smiley beachball deco concept that we have done with glowsticks previously was a blast. Look for both of their continual return.
Jenga’s guest VJing in the main room was a nice mix of fractal and symmetric imagery. Great fit for the ATHED style. Esdrm’s high concept TVJ performance upstairs was beautiful as always, bending the perceptions of more than a few of the uninitiated.
Personally the event was a bit too stressful for me with a whole cornucopia of behind the scenes problems. But very few of these problems spilt over into the customer experience. So for the customers and us as well, an amazing success and I can’t wait for the next one. Tanno-san!!!

(AKKO) Coming soon