“Tokyo Balearic?” To be honest that`s cribbed from DJ Marbo. Old sparring partner of DJ Harvey, now of Star-Lowrider. I DJed with Marbo a couple of months back. He was kind enough to guest at our night. He came down and over-hauled the soundsytem. Brought down his own decks. Tone arms and 1g carts - which I thought I`d broken the first time I went to cue up a record – I blew some dust off the stylus and the front flew off. I nearly shat. Nearly. Marbo was the first person with attitude I`d met in Japan. This can be extended to his crew. They`ve all got the jacket.　 Not quite a superstar DJ cock-knocker, but he did make a point of sitting next to the decks, during my set, pulling his hat over his eyes and feigning sleep. During his set he never smiled. Maybe once. I wasn`t quite sure what to make of it. In a way it was quite refreshing, since I`d spent the last six months bowing out of (non)conversations. Meeting Marbo when he isn`t DJing is a completely different experience. He told me “I`m a party DJ”, and maybe that`s it. His audience expects a certain persona. A visit to the Lowrider site or a chat with the “Chef” will let you know there`s something on his mind.

The first night I played in Japan, Marbo came down. He`d said “Great music, but it`s old. Young people don`t want to listen to this.” He said he was looking for something new. He subsequently sold his vast collection of original disco 12s. When he played with us he dropped a lot of modern trance records, pitched down to -12%. While this might not be my thing – especially at the moment, as I am stuck at the bottom of Alfredo`s box – from conversations with him I think I understand what he is trying to do. He is not buying and playing the latest Prins Thomas/Lindstrom production, the latest Mindless Boogie/GAMM re-edit, the latest Cosmic/Harvey ID. He is not playing anything hyped. He`s not playing anything that anyone else will play. He`s truly looking for something different. And I can appreciate that. The fact that he`s had to resort to trance just goes to show how thoroughly mined “dance” music is these days. Everyone`s a F-ing DJ. When I was growing up a mis-spent youth was measured in skill at the pool table. These days its whether or not you DJ.

When I visited the Lowrider site the first thing I noticed was the Yukio Mishima imagery. Now I`ve read “The Sound Of Waves” but for me an awful lot of Japanese literature is lost in translation – when so much is dependent on the choice of character and the sequence of characters a true English language version is not possible. I know a little of Mishima`s history. A little of his politics. A little of his sexuality. I`ve heard several stories about his unfortunate end. It seems that this is what most people remember. I guess it`s true that it`s not how you fall but how you land. Politically Mishima made a very public stand (and coup in the making) against the crushing of Japanese culture by the American way. I was confused by this apparently nationalist stance. Was he trying to preserve national heritage or in favour of keeping Japan Japanese – which would seem strange as his passion for the more opulent end of Italian renaissance art is well known (he did like the odd naked youth statuette or two). I mean is it appropriate for me to wear a T-shirt with Yukio on the front? Would this be the same as sporting an Enoc Powell hoodie in Brixton? What does Mishima represent?

I first asked my mother-in-law – writer/editor in self-imposed exile/retirement. She came back in typically enigmatic fashion. “Oh Robert, this is a complicated matter. Mishima was a man full of contradictions. He himself may have not really known what he represented. He can be taken to mean many things. It is entirely dependent on the individual”. “Was he a racist?” “Some people may take him to be. How you take Mishima is up to you”. When I asked Marbo he said almost exactly the same thing. Practically word for word. Quite freaked me out. For Marbo, Mishima seems to symbolize the taking of a different – radical? – point of view. He`s not anti-american. Though, anti-corporate for sure. He might be playing “disco” records and making clothes for people to club in, but he clearly wants young Japanese people to “wake up”. To question things. To not necessarily take the easy option. To not follow the pack. To feel capable of making a stand.

So there he is, “Chef” Marbo – whacking on pitched down Trance. Ladies are dancing. Shaking it. “Rosies” so hot they are too painful to look at. Let alone touch. Confirming – yet, strangely curing - my midlife crisis. Then all of a sudden – periodically –the 4/4 would stop and this Japanese ska track would come on. The crowd would go nuts. It sounded well wonky to me – I think Asian and Western tunings are in slightly different keys. My wife certainly lives for the treble. F-ing Southern All-stars don`t know the meaning of bass. I could however appreciate the quality guitar running through it – and by the time I`d heard the tune three times I was singing along. Making up my own words.

Lifted from a 1981 LP by Japanese punk band The Roosters, this tune, for me, represents that night, Marbo and the Lowrider ethic. Rock `n` roll but something distinctly Japanese. Rather that than Sunlounger`s “Agua Blancas” at -12. Tokyo Balearic? Japanese with attitude.

The Roosters-Rosie