Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2011

For jet-setting DJs, Tokyo hasn’t been a choice destination lately. But the local club scene is returning to some sort of normalcy now, signposted by the two-day Sonar Sound event last weekend. Dance music’s familiar faces are seeping back into the capital’s clubs for business as usual.

Get your skates on and get to Eleven tomorrow if you’re hungry for a slice of Detroit. The Real Grooves crew has reached Volume 48 in their series of parties, and they’ve invited Los Hermanos to join them. The collective was founded by DJ Rolando, purveyor of perhaps the greatest techno track ever, “Knights of the Jaguar,” and Gerald Mitchell, who spawned from militant techno innovators Underground Resistance. Rolando has departed the group now, but Mitchell has just released a solo album. He’ll be playing live as a DJ as well as part of Los Hermanos. Latin rhythms and straight-up techno abound…

When it came to arranging press materials for Marco Carola’s upcoming event at Womb, he was all set to play; by the time we’d obtained them, it was inconclusive whether the Naples-born DJ would be coming. Recently, he’s been busy touring his just-released album Play it Loud!.

I snagged Parts 1 and 3 of the vinyl version (from the rapidly shrinking “House/Techno” section of Disc Union) to prep for this article. Needless to say, I gave it a spin: I won’t say it’s as bad as the rant on Bleep43.com does, but I will say it’s not exactly a landmark IDM release.

The distinctly Minus groove proves Carola (pictured) knows what dancefloors like. But it also says another producer has become one of Hawtin’s puppets—sonically and visually molded to dovetail with his oh-so-trendy minimal empire. The fact that the CD version is mixed is sad, too—corner-cutting album coherence. Loopy and reduced to the bare essentials, but innovative it ain’t. And more to the point, all music sounds better played loud…

Meanwhile, new release Fabriclive 56, Pearson Sound/Ramadanman is the boomshizzle. The man behind it, North-London-born David Kennedy, has blended his mix so well it’s hard to know when and how the tracks start and end.

It meanders through broken beats, tech-house and soulful to gritty UK garage—replete with oddities and luscious dreamy bits that have no doubt been played to maximum effect on the London club’s pant-wettingly good sound system. MJ Cole & Wiley’s “From the Drop” mixed with Pinch’s “Qawwali,” and Pearson Sound’s own “Project” mixed with Joy Orbison’s “GR Etiquette,” are moments that prove the cutting-edge of musical innovation is back in the UK.

• Real Grooves Vol 48 @Eleven. Apr 9, from 10pm, ¥4,000 w/1d. Nishi-Azabu. Tel: 03-5775-6206. www.go-to-eleven.com
• Marco Carola @Womb, Apr 16, from 11pm, ¥3,500 (w/flyer)/¥4,000 (door). Shibuya. Tel: 03-5459-0039. www.womb.co.jp
• Play 
it Loud! is out now on Minus. Fabriclive 56, Pearson Sound/Ramadanman is out now on Fabric.