Red Bull Music Academy has officially kicked off for another year, and oh how it kicked off. If you attended and were looking to leave inspired, mission accomplished.
With a jam packed day with lectures from key artists including Floating Points & Jah Shaka, to just getting our groove on with the likes of Wife & Goth-Trad. Here’s how day one rolled out in a little town we like to call Tokyo.
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Get your diary planners out.
Everything seems to be in order here.
Beats meet oh natur-al. It was so very tempting to bang away, but I knew they were watching. They are always watching…
A common area that’s far from common. Anyone want to go work for Red Bull? Get in line.
Mic check.
Jumping straight into lecture one, with Floating Points. Musically, he’s a DJ, producer and co-founder of UK label Eglo Records. He’s also Dr. Sam Shepherd: a neuroscientist who was writing music while studying for his PhD. This bloke has got some strong life skills and will probably make you feel useless.
Tell us Doc, how do you live two lives, but also showcase how a studious mind and a talent for experimental composition can intertwine? Ah, life’s lessons.
Here’s a collabo with a 16-piece orchestra as the Floating Points Ensemble, which won the 2010 Worldwide Award for the Best BBC Radio 1 Maida Vale session. No biggie.
To finish on a bang, here’s a DJ mixer with Isonoe he designed. No biggie.
Next up: Yuko Mohri.
They are watching… Never forget.
One can never be too careful in a town filled with 13.35 million people.
It’s the hall of fame. I think.
State of the art technology – Nothing but the best for the best.
See above caption.
A spacious and inspiring space is a must for any artist.
Lot’s of lovely ladies around these parts.
Bigger is always better.
“The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.” – Marcel Duchamp. I love getting cultural.
Love.
Woah! Get your tech savvy on.
Recess over, onto lecture two with Jah Shaka. It’s more than likely you’ve never seen a man control a crowd with just one turntable and a microphone like him. So we listen.
FYI Jah Shaka is a soundsystem legend, and we’re very excited to have him talk about his career. Jah was born in Jamaica, but migrated to England as a youth during the mid-’50s. He settled in southeast London, began playing music in a school band in the early ’60s, and was soon associated with Freddie Cloudburst.
Shaka eventually formed his own sound system during the ’70s, and has been preaching ever since. What a man & what a hat.
Play time begins.
Encore, encore!
Who’s that moving so fast! None other than Black metal bandleader turned Tri Angle solo recording artist WIFE.
With Brooding washes of sound to Galaxy – Gingakei, alongside LA-based multi-instrumentalist and gifted vocalist Kadhja Bonet, and Argentinian ambient expert Plasma Rüby. Given this broad range of transcendent transmissions, it’s quite possible that we found a new (musical) love.
The man we were waiting for. GOTH-TRAD, Japan’s pre-eminent champion of forward-thinking bass-led sounds.
Great to see Back To Chill at its home in Shibuya, Clubasia. There’s no place like home.
