Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on May 2011

Photos courtesy of Motion±

In the last decade, the newfound ability to mix electronic music on a compact laptop has been a godsend for thousands of bedroom producers and world-weary DJs on shoestring budgets. But as any club-goer can attest, the spectacle of them staring into a screen while operating a mouse is often less than inspiring.

Watching Hideki Matsutake work his massive Moog 3-C analog synthesizer, on the other hand, is bewitching. Thumbing his nose at the PC revolution, Matsutake aka Logic System continues to stubbornly hew to his beloved 3-C, the instrument that earned him his moniker as the “fourth member” of famed ele-pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra for the seminal work he did with them in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Through albums like Yellow Magic Orchestra and Solid State Survivor, Matsutake launched Japan’s torrid, unabated love affair with the synth, and as chairman of the Japan Synthesizer Programmers’ Association, he continues to be an ambassador for the instrument.

Matsutake recently lugged his 3-C to the Freaks Music Festival that took place in Kanagawa on May 7, sharing the stage with veteran cult UK house DJ Harvey and other dance music exponents influenced by him. Some of them, including Harvey, have also recently contributed to Rmxlogix, an EP of remixes of Logic System’s influential 1981 track “Clash” issued on his new Motion± imprint.

With re-envisionings ranging from Harvey’s swirly, squelchy house to young Japanese electro duo 80kidz’s hands-in-the-air, crescendo-filled outing, the album traces the line from early synth-pop directly to today’s dance music in a way that makes that history immediately understandable.

“It has been 30 years since I started Logic System,” says Matsutake about his new label. “There was an innovative evolution from analog to digital technology for electronic instruments, which is a part of my blood in music production. I have produced a variety of work in both analog and digital. The only universal thing during the process of progression is that electronic instruments consist of the logic of plus and minus.”

• June 24 @Unit. 5:30pm, ¥3,500 (adv)/¥4,000(door). Nearest stn: Daikanyama. Tel: 03-5459-8630.
• Rmxlogix is available on Motion±. Info: www.music-airport.com/logic-system.

[youtube]38W9Os31oMk&feature=related[/youtube]