Mint
As-yet-unknowns in Japan get a new platform; Rebel Familia drop a bomb

Ricky Stone

With a view to “bringing together different Japanese music communities and introducing guest DJs who are major names abroad but are overlooked by the majority of promoters in Japan,” veteran expat English DJ Mike McKenna steps into the breach with new event Mint.

Fronting the first edition of the party at Daikanyama Air is Sheffield native and current Hong Kong resident Ricky Stone. Stone is a veritable veteran of the acid house boom, DJing wherever and whenever he could through the ’90s, forging his sound behind the decks of the Ministry of Sound and The Cross, among other European clubs.

Now looking to take a break from touring, Stone accepted an offer of a four-week residency at Hong Kong’s C Club in 2001. The move was to prove fateful when his gritty, upfront sound resonated with the local punters, and Stone decided to put down roots.

Since then he has been honored by DJ Magazine, and regularly supports superstars like Sasha on their China tours. Stone is also building a respectable discography, with tracks like the widely acclaimed “Two Systems/One Country,” out under his Sinosine moniker, and reaches out through his “Sounds from the Orient” radio show, currently broadcast fortnightly in over 75 countries.

Holding true to his promise to bring together different Japanese music scenes, McKenna’s supporting roster of DJs take in everything from breaks to electro to house classics to techno, with familiar names including Womb’s Tech Riders, Duck Rock, Kaori Ishikawa, Carlos Gibbs and Will2live...
Domestic drum‘n’bass outfit Rebel Familia recently dropped their third full-length album, Guns of Riddim. A duo composed of bassist Takeshi “Heavy” Akimoto, formerly of crucial roots reggae group Dry & Heavy, and the beatmaker known as Goth-Trad, Rebel Familia scored a coup by roping reggae legend Max Romeo for the single “Babylon Fall.”

Although slightly diminished by age, Romeo still possesses one of the most unearthly voices in the history of Jamaican music. His vocals float on a bed of seismic bass lines and atmospheric dub effects on a song that’s sandwiched between other outings, which tend toward frenetic drum‘n’bass rhythms, alternative hip-hop, and eerie, nightmarish soundscapes that evoke a post-apocalyptic Tokyo.

Mint@Air, Apr 21. See club listings for details. Guns of Riddim is available on Positive Production.

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