- Born in Amsterdam and loved by clubbers around the world, Dekmantel has become an important player in electronic music these past few years. Music enthusiasts often venture into hosting events and releasing records, but rarely do they do it with the sharpness and ambition shown by Dekmantel. Off the back of the success of their label and flagship festival, the outfit has taken the Dekmantel brand to a number of cities around the world. They returned to Tokyo last week for the first time since April, hosting a two-day party at Contact featuring the likes of Matias Aguayo, Peter Van Hoesen, Palms Trax and Randomer.
Both events struck a nice balance between serious and more breezy sounds. Day one started with Palms Trax warming up the main Studio floor with deep, percussion-heavy tracks. Blending Awesome Tapes From Africa cuts with hits like Montego Bay's "Everything," the UK DJ kept the crowd on their feet for the full three hours. By the end of the set, there was no chin-stroking or arm-crossing in sight—only dancing.
Cómeme boss Aguayo went next, starting his live set by layering and looping his voice to create a beatless, hypnotizing intro. Melodic chants and vocal percussion then partnered with drums from Aguayo's sampler, transforming the ambient tracks into a steady 4/4 groove. Being the entertainer that he is, Aguayo signed off with a surprise choreographed rendition of a bubblegum J-Pop track by local artist Ryota Miyake, AKA Sparrows. Could there be more collaborations to come from Aguayo and Miyake? One can only hope.
Over in the smaller Contact room, up-and-coming Japanese DJ and producer Yoshinori Hayashi kept the party going with his dark, leftfield techno. Counterbalancing the cheery vibe in Studio, Hayashi's set was brooding, atmospheric and no less danceable.
Day two had more of a techno and experimental lean, and a large crowd gathered early to make the most of the lineup. Van Hoesen, who followed Dekmantel Soundsystem (Thomas Martojo and Casper Tielrooij) on the main stage with his first live set since Dekmantel Festival earlier this summer, has a particularly strong following in Japan. The floor filled up as soon as he started tinkering with his drum machine, combining it with his characteristic synth pads to build strong minimal grooves. Van Hoesen then began upping the BPM, driving the beats harder while introducing strong acid textures.
Randomer, who followed the Belgian, had the audience hooked from the start, opening with breakbeat-heavy tracks that hinted at his drum & bass roots. Later, he shifted towards a harder techno sound. For me, his style of mixing felt monotonous and began to grow a bit stale after a while, though that didn't seem to put people off—a large crowd stayed well past 6 AM. Van Hoesen returned to the decks for the finale, treating the remaining throng to a rare house and disco set. It was an enjoyable end to an excellent two days of partying.
Photo credit /
Yu Takahashi
Daisuke Ito contributed to this piece