- Sunday October 9th saw Tokyo and London based promoter Third Ear (responsible for Sonar Tokyo 2004) host German Sounds presents Oceanclub - a night showcasing both live and DJ techno performances - at Unit in the Daikanyama district.
Early on in the evening, the night saw, amongst others, really good indie-tronic-pop sets from Barbara Morgenstern and Robert Lippok resulting in a heaving dance floor and a really warm and friendly atmosphere buzzing around the club.
London based Alex Patterson and Berlin based Thomas Fehlmann AKA Le Petit Orb, who have been producing under that guise for around 8 years, were greeted with a nice cheer by the crowd who’d come to see them. They wasted no time in laying down groovy techno beats with dirty bass lines and refreshing synths and riffs looped over the top.
With Thomas Felhmann doing the live stuff on the Apple Mac and Alex Patterson 'playing' on the decks (read: occasionally fading in a record over the top of the live stuff), the crowd responded enthusiastically to the pair's build ups that culminated in jacking bass lines and beats ripping through the great Unit sound system. Likewise the pair seemed to be clearly enjoying themselves, creating a lighthearted and fun mood which rubbed off on the crowd; perhaps a result of the gig coinciding with Alex's birthday.
Tonight was the first time I had seen Fehlmann and Patterson perform as Le Petit Orb and as a result of their performance, I will definitely be checking out their forthcoming album release "Okie Dokie it’s The Orb" on Kompakt Disco.
Next up was a DJ set by Alex Patterson, who I assumed would continue on where Le Petit Orb had left off and give the crowd what they wanted. Instead, he brought things back down with a dubby, ambient start to his set resulting in much of the audience, including myself, quickly losing interest.
The sudden loss of momentum was a real shame considering the hard work both of them had put into working up the crowd. So at that point, myself and many others, decided to head downstairs to check out the sounds in the bar, where a DJ was playing a fun mix of '80s pop, old school house and hip hop.
After sticking around for a drink and a boogie I headed back up for the last 30 minutes of Alex Patterson's DJ set and although it had become more uplifting, he was still breaking up the flow with the use of ambient sounds. Perhaps this is his DJ style but the effect was more akin to a comedown rather than pitched at the dancefloor.
Next up was Tokyo-based Oceanclub and Kompakt artist Kaito, who closed out the night by DJing for the last couple of hours. The early part of his set was full of nice beats and bass lines and aside from a few too many long breaks I enjoyed his set immensely. Building up a juicy and rocking set full of European sounds he kept me going till 6am and wound up the night nicely with the crowd showing their full appreciation by demanding "One more!" several times at the conclusion of his set.
Following Kaito's set I headed downstairs for a few drinks to help Alex Patterson celebrate his birthday. A really nice guy, Patterson revealed he has a soft spot for playing in Tokyo since the crowd give a lot back. The fun and funky tunes downstairs continued into the late morning with the remaining crowd having a lot of mad fun and rounding the night off in a great way.
Special thanks to Ikuko Maeda at Unit, Koichiro Hashimura at Third Ear and a big shout out to Alex Patterson and his little fluffy kittens!