Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2009

!!! - Photo by Masanori Naruse

Beatink’s Electraglide all-nighter wasn’t supposed to return from the dead until next year, but the Warp Records 20th anniversary celebrations managed to scupper that plan. After events in Sheffield, Paris and New York, Tokyo was treated to the biggest of the label’s birthday bashes, with a range of acts from its roster doing their best to fill the concrete void of Makuhari Messe.

Flying Lotus - Photo by Junko Yoda

Mathematically enhanced rockers Battles were on impressive form and debuted a lot of new material, ending with a track that started off like Animal Collective then got very weird indeed. Their new songs feature more of Tyondai Braxton’s trademark digitally scrambled vocals—honestly, they’re almost starting to resemble a normal band, albeit one beamed in from a parallel dimension where you can actually dance to songs in 13/8. !!! also played lots of new songs, most of which only got interesting in the final couple of minutes, when the humdrum melodies took a backseat to the rhythm section. They’ve got a new album out in the spring, though on this evidence it might not be much to get excited about.

Hudson Mohawke - Photo by Yosuke Torii

The other marquee name on the bill was director Chris Cunningham, who this year has been touring a stage show that draws heavily on his music videos. As a live experience, it’s still got a way to go: each track drew on a limited palette of sounds and visuals, the impact of which was dulled as the songs went on, and on, and on. Even the corrosively explicit full-length version of Aphex Twin’s “Flex” video—in which a naked couple batter the crap out of each other—lost its frisson after a few too many repetitions.

Elsewhere on the line-up, Clark and Hudson Mohawke were both OK—the former even playing what sounded like Motorhead at one point—though neither completely held my attention. Andrew Weatherall’s 2 1/2 hour acid-heavy DJ set was, sadly, ignored by almost everyone, as was Warp founder Steve Beckett’s turn behind the decks. Still, all in all it was a ripe old party.