THE SECOND ROOM
The Gathering 2007 preview – fourth invasion of Tsumagoi

Vision Quest Tokyo presents "The Gathering 2007," Sept. 15-17, at the Palcall Tsumagoi ski resort in Gunma Prefecture. Advance tickets (13,000 yen) available at multiple outlets throughout Japan. At the gate, it’s 15,000 yen. Parking charge is 4,000 yen per vehicle. (See driving and train info at the end of this article.)

19 live acts: Alternative Control, Astrix, Cyrus The Virus, Dali, Dino Psaras, Domestic, *Dune, * E-Fact, * Eskimo, GMS, Melicia, Pixel, * Pop Stream, Shanti, Skazi, * Switch, Talamasca, Void, and *Waio.

11 DJ sets: Ami (Vision Quest), Asher Swissa (Skazi), Bansi (GMS), *Fernando Seca (Waio), *Henrique Veiga (E-Fact), *Irad Brant (Switch), Jan-Willem Bot (Cyrus the Virus), * Lee Harony (Dune), * Sari (Vision Quest), *Wagner Sasaki (E-Fact)

(* = first Gathering appearance; Eskimo and Pop Stream booked/canceled in 2006)

---

Some people will tell you that familiarity breeds contempt and that absence makes the heart grow fonder. But in my long relationship with Vision Quest Tokyo and The Gathering, I have found something quite different to be true.

Familiarity seems better suited to breed trust, while absence would only mean that I’d be spending a long September weekend doing something severely less exciting. Not that I would.


"The Gathering 2007” is Vision Quest’s ninth rendition of their end-of-summer psychedelic trance showcase. My first was 2001, so 2007 should mean seventh time lucky, or something like that. And although nearly everybody will tell you that your first Gathering will forever be your favorite, I’ve got a feeling that 2007 will surpass all others.

This will be the fourth straight year of taking over the Palcall resort and the village of Tsumagoi. The last two Gatherings were mud-soaked stomps, each drawing about 7,000. It didn’t seem like that many because a lot of folks were holed up in their hotel rooms and tents. Let’s not discuss the possibility of a soggy three-peat; we’re just gonna assume the weather is going to be beautiful and see what happens. Got it?

The setup will be pretty much the same as last year, with the primary camping behind the main building, food stands around the archway, a supply store and lots of vendors on the way to the stage at the bottom of the ski slope. The design has been refined every year with improvements here and there, and I’m sure 2007 will bring the same. This does not mean it will be the same party.

Vision Quest approaches each Gathering with a goal of improving customer satisfaction over the previous year’s event. I know this by itself seems like a no-brainer, but this organization takes notes and applies the lessons it learns. Then they dream up happy, unexpected surprises. Last year’s biggest noteworthy innovation was printing a little square Q-code on the wristbands so customers could check the timetable and get up-to-date info on their cellphones. This is where trust meets familiarity. Each time a bit better.

About the only things Vision Quest hasn’t done yet is to construct a dome with a retractable roof over the dancefloor or charter a special train to replace the official bus tour. (Wouldn’t that be fun? Some high schools do this for their student excursions. Though I don’t know how JR would feel about an entire train full of psychedelic crazies, private or not.)

The photo galleries on the Vision Quest Web site will give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. An even more vivid picture can be found on “The Gathering 2006” DVD.

---

What really sets The Gathering apart is the music. There are two more live acts than last year, and nine of the 19 for 2007 are established “A-plus” shows on my list for their shows in Japan. Not everyone is returning from 2006, and there are a few brand-new faces.

As I’ve mentioned in year’s past, The Gathering is as much of a summer’s last-hurrah for the artists as it is for the crowd. Both sides come to give it all they’ve got. It’s no secret that this market in Japan devours CD and DVD releases.

Set on our summer’s biggest stage, with the best possible sound, lighting and visuals that can Vision Quest provide, a killer performance here has ripple benefits for music and ticket sales for at least the next 8 or 9 months. The DVD production has also reached a level of distinction, meaning the best from these shows will be on a lot of people’s shelves forever.

Live acts returning from 2006 are: Skazi (Chemical Crew, Israel); Astrix (Hommega Productions, Israel); Melicia (Phonokol Records, Israel); Dino Psaras (Vision Quest, U.K.); Shanti (Vision Quest, Ibiza); Dali (Hommega, Israel); Alternative Control (Vision Quest, Serbia); Cyrus The Virus (Vision Quest, Netherlands); Domestic (Hommega, Israel); Pixel (Hommega, Israel); Pop Stream (Vision Quest, Israel); Void (Chemical Crew, Israel); and Eskimo Phantasm Records, U.K.).

Returning to The Gathering stage is GMS (Spun Records, Netherlands), while new to the lineup are: Talamasca (Mind Control, France); Dune (Vision Quest, Israel); E-Fact (Vision Quest, Brazil); Switch (Vision Quest, Israel); and Waio (Vision Quest, Brazil).

And who’s not this year? Delirious, Psycraft, S.U.N. Project and Infected Mushroom. The first three I’m really gonna miss; the last one . . . yeah, not so much. (Between Duvdev’s off-key caterwauling vocals and that made-for-radio video, I for one am happy that the “Insane” year is over. Maybe now the nightmares will stop.)

The Second Room’s 10 Best for Gathering 2007:

Skazi -- The world’s best full-on psychedelic trance stage show. Period. And it just keeps getting better. Original members Asher Swissa and Assaf B-Bass are returning with their expanded team, which includes world-renown bass player Gilad Abro and drummer Itzhak Ben David. Skazi manages to steal the show every year, and especially the last two Gatherings, yanking people out of their soggy tents for a radical stomp in the mud. For a whole lot of people, The Gathering doesn’t begin until Skazi comes on early on the second morning. Skazi is about as full-on as it gets.

Astrix -- Avi Shmailov is the undisputed No. 1 one-man live act in psychedelic trance for several years running. In 2006, Astrix actually scored the highest in Vision Quest’s confidential points system. (I could tell you how it works, but that would spoil the fun.) His third studio album “Red Means Distortion” is on the way, as well as the singles disc “Future Music,” which contains three unreleased tracks by Astrix and two unreleased remixes, “Techno Widows (GMS remix)” and the timeless “Poison (Wrecked Machines remix).”

GMS – Growling Mad Scientists Riktam Matkin and Bansi Quinteros are back on The Gathering stage for the first time since 2003. These legendary founders of Spun Records have sold an amazing 300,000 CDs in the decade since their debut – 150-plus releases on eight albums and 10-plus compilations. The classic cover “Sweet Dreams,” originally by Eurythmics, hitting parties this summer is their work. Most tranceheads wouldn’t know where Ibiza was if it wasn’t for these guys.

Melicia – Without a doubt the best sibling act in psy-trance. Veteran producer Aviram Iluz and his lovely sister Odelya have become such a powerful force that I can barely remember when Aviram used to play his brilliant music on his own. Odelya's vocals are haunting beautiful and The Gathering crowd loves her because she’s not shy to take it to edge of the stage. When she screams, “We love you, Japan!” you know she means it.

Domestic -- Veteran artist Ido Ophir released “Art Making Machine” a year ago and it’s still getting a lot of major league play. Back in April, Domestic played an extra long (unplanned) live set for Sirius Records at Differ Ariake that my girlfriend and I are still talking about. His live last year was beyond amazing.

Talamasca – Interestingly, France’s Mind Control genius is playing for Vision Quest for the very first time in his legendary 15-year career. A co-founder of label 3D Vision, Cedric Dassulle (a.k.a. DJ Lestat) has been a consistently significant presence in the Japan scene since the early days. More recently, he was the driving force behind those packed United parties that played at Velfarre before it closed. I had the chance to hang out with him last December down in New Caledonia and found out what an awesome magician he is, both figuratively as a musician, and literally – I’m sure he’ll bend more than a few spoons at Gathering.

Shanti -- Shanti Matkin is the younger brother of GMS’ Riktam and has been making spectacular music since he was 13. He’s not the young, innocent-looking genius that he used to be, but he still makes the Japanese girls go ga-ga. He is still a genius, of course, and his live sets are mind-blowing. His released his second solo album, “Disfunction” last year on the Spun Records label.

Dino Psaras – Dino’s live show has long come into its own, providing The Gathering crowd with memorable techno-based anthems year after year. This comic giant of a man has a music career that spans nearly 20 years, dating back to the early Acid House days, when it was still underground in Brighton.

Alternative Control – I love these crazy Serbs! Not only because they speak my grandfather’s native language or their emotional, high-energy morning music, but because they have so damn much fun, even after a 30-hour trip to get here. Toprek Goran (a.k.a. Toca) and Rastko Palikuca released their debut album, “Alt+Ctrl,” a year and a half ago and should be getting close to a follow-up.

Void -- Tamir Regev and Oren Emanuel are the pioneers of Dance Floor Hardcore trance, a powerful, subversive spin that grew out of more mainstream electronic gardens like the New York club scene. Part of Chemical Crew since 2002, they’ve released three albums, “Punishment,” the double album “The Angry Brigade” and “Hero” (which is actually the B-side of the double.) Their rock roots and powerful guitar riffs make for one helluva show.

And one more! Eskimo -- Junya Mindfield is the prodigal son of John Mindfield of Phantasm Records and has been playing around the world since he was 13. Last year’s Gathering was supposed to be the release party for his second album "Balloonatic Part Two," but he didn’t make it over. Junya's live sets are a scorching head trip.

"The Gathering 2007," Sept. 15-17, at the PalCall ski resort in Tsumagoi-mura, Gunma Prefecture. Advance tickets: 13,000 yen; 15,000 yen at the gate. Parking: 4,000 yen per vehicle. Shuttle buses operate between JR Karuizawa Station and the venue. By car from Tokyo, take the Kanetsu Expressway to the Joshinetsu Expressway, exit at Uedasugadaira and follow Route 144 north for about 40 km. Check the Web site under “hotel plan” (in katakana) for information on available rooms. (Customers with official wristbands can come and go in order to use hotel accommodations and hot springs facilities in Tsumagoi Village. )

THE SECOND ROOM: UPDATE
Mother scores huge at S.O.S.

The reports have been streaming in about Mother Record's annual "Space Of Sound" (S.O.S.) party, Aug. 12-15, in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture.

While the rest of us were baking in Japan's worst heat wave in years, Mother sold 4,800 wristbands for their biggest draw ever. And even after four days, people did not want to go home. I have to make better plans for the O-Bon holidays next year.

The weekday gambit worked, and for now Mother holds the banner for Biggest Party Yet This Summer with this impressive showing. Another Mother open-air this season will lay to rest all claims as to who is No. 1 behind Vision Quest in Japan.

THE SECOND ROOM
Summer 2007 – hot and full-on enough for you?; TPE/Noga breakthrough

TATEHARA KOUGEN, Nagano Pref. – Here we are more two weeks later and I can still feel the electric tingle of every hair on my arms going fully erect.

It’s a familiar sensation, one I’ve enjoyed many times before. The brain, knowing what’s coming, starts telegraphing advanced warning signals to every extremity. The muscles contract in a progressive wave that crests up onto your shoulders and foams around your throat before dripping down your spine and splashing out at your ankles.

This is what I love about psychedelic trance -- these physical manifestations of clarity so profound that for a few brief seconds you can sense some part of your own existence in the near-future, impatiently waiting for the rest of you to catch up.

Standing less than 2 meters from the source of this euphoria with a lifesaving grip on a professional video camera – knowing you can’t move when your body will demand it -- only intensifies the effect.

This particular hair-raising track is one I’ve heard nearly a dozen times at parties this year and even played in my own DJ set. But this time was definitely different. It was live, and it was Sesto Sento playing it. Plus there were a few thousand people behind me screaming their heads off. If you haven’t heard Sesto Sento’s cover of the Moby “Lift Me Up” track yet, then you haven’t lived in 2007.

What a fantastic Sunday morning -- the finest yet in 2007. With its 21 live acts and around 4,000 through the gate under a brilliant mountain sun at Tatehara Kougen, the “Open Air Summer Festival 2007” (July 27-30) firmly moved the TPE Records/ Noga Records partnership up a step.

Based on its number of parties, total attendance, CDs released and artists since last year, it’s fair to say that TPE/Noga has advanced to the No. 2 spot among Tokyo area organizers, although it still has a long way to go to catch up to Vision Quest. The criterion is not exact. But without a solid mid-summer festival from Solstice Music this year, there was a vacuum near the top and the TPE/Noga team has filled it, for now. More on that in a moment.

The funniest part is that TPE could have easily been a disaster. Some sort of transport strike in Israel was apparently lifted for the very day that TPE had advanced booked most of their artists to fly to Tokyo. The campground at Tatehara was also spared rain for just long enough to complete the second afternoon.

It turned out to be the year’s best big party so far and kicked off the beginning of a blitz of big summer open airs that we all thought would finish with “The Gathering 2007” (Vision Quest, Sept. 15-17). More on this in an upcoming blog.

An e-mail sent out last Friday by Solstice announces “smf 2007 – Returns” in Yokohama for Sept. 29 and 30, plus a 6-hour beach party this Friday (Aug. 17) at KULA Resort near Enoshima. This shows that Solstice is getting back onto its game and should make things interesting heading into the winter season.

As I write this, Mother Records’ annual “S.O.S.” blowout is going on up in Hakuba, getting into the heart of the second night’s music right about now. With no official holidays during this O-Bon season, it was impossible for me to get away. A whole lot of people do have time off this week, and I’ll know soon how this one turned out. Mother’s profile has also been on a steady rise in the past year, boosting their draw with splashes of house and electro.

Beach parties are especially tricky things to pull off perfectly in Japan for one simple reason: illegal parking. If you guessed “noise complaints” you were close; usually that merely results in cutting the volume, not shutting down the party. This is not new. It has been going on for years. Since the summer of 2002, I have only been to one beach doof where the music was not stopped by an illegal parking complaint.

Considering all that goes into setting one of these things up – and yes, I have lent a hand in this process – lugging tents, generators, sound systems, lights and the lot out next to the ocean and making it work, the organizer is up against certain limits to keep the cost for the customer as close to free as possible. These are usually on public beaches where parking notices are already posted.

So when the cops come around and stop the music because of where thoughtless idiots parked their rides, whose fault is it?

I launched this little rant because just such a thing happened at the peak of a killer beach party on the east coast of Chiba last weekend. Dears Music International and 122mg threw down one impressive soiree at Hitomatsu Beach, drawing around 300 with word out on their Web site and Mixi.

The weather was perfect, the most incredible sunrise was coming on, the DJs were playing precisely what I wanted to hear, when the inevitable happened. Eventually the music got going again and we pushed it as far as we could, but it was an unfortunate buzzkill for a while. OK, rant over.

DMI’s R and M DJ Ryosay is the source of that killer Linkin Park cover “Numb” you’ve hopefully been hearing at parties this summer. They are also in on the upcoming compilation “Olympic Sound,” compiled by Holymen and DJ Yagi.

(TPE photos by Hanako; DMI photos by DMI)