Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2010

We’ve got some massive news to report from Tokyo clubland, but before we get to that, let’s celebrate the return of a legendary dancefloor figure.

Lil Louis, the New York house producer behind the 1989 hit “French Kiss,” is back on the decks after several years of book writing. With its orgasmic female vocals and grind-to-a-stop breakdown, “French Kiss” helped define the sound of house music, becoming the most popular dance track of all time, with more than 6 million copies sold.

But in 2004, Louis (né Louis Burns) went on indefinite hiatus. He writes by email from New York that he needed “to allow myself the space to become an author, then subsequently focus all of my talent on the book and CD.”

Released in 2008, A Man’s Diary is Louis’ controversial true love story about his lifelong attempt to find a “good woman,” written in the wake of a particularly hard breakup. The subsequent CD, Two Sides to Every Story, came about when a spurned woman interrupted a book reading, prompting him to write a kind of musical riposte to the book from his ex’s point of view.
The album enlists the likes of veteran rapper Queen Latifah to tell the tale of being with Louis. According to the producer/author, the lesson he learned in the project is, “without woman, a diamond is just a piece of coal.”

When listeners soon began illegally downloading the album, the DJ also learned the hard way that things had changed in the music business. “Music has lost its soul,” Louis says. “The love is now digitized.”

In the same vein, Louis won’t be spinning any MP3s at Air. “I need to feel it in my fingers and let my soul respond in real time,” he writes. “Look forward to being as surprised as I am—I never plan how I make love…”

Meanwhile, the love is back in Nishi-Azabu. Yellow, the temple to dance music that closed two years ago with a mad three-day, end-of-the-world party, is reopening next weekend under the name Eleven.

The Yellow production crew had spent the intervening time in a fruitless search for a new space. But Eleven director and former Yellow stalwart Yuko Ichikawa reports that plans to redevelop the building that housed the club fell victim to the economic crisis, ironically allowing Yellow to return to its old haunts.
With some changes in ownership and management, Eleven looks to build on over a decade of clubbing history with what promises to be a kickoff party for the ages this Thursday. Stalwart DJ Francois K, whose own career spans from disco to minimal techno, will be behind the decks.

Air
World Connection. House: DJ Lil Louis. Saturday Feb 13, from 10pm, ¥3,500. Daikanyama. Tel: 03-5784-3386. www.air-tokyo.com

Eleven
Rhythm of Life. House, techno: DJ Francois K. Thursday Feb 18, from 10pm, ¥4,000. Nishiazabu. Tel: 03-5775-6206 www.go-to-eleven.com