“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 DJâ€, 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 individualâ€. “Was he a racist?†“Some people may take him to be. How you take Mishima is up to youâ€. 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 upâ€. 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