Shuya Okino Liquid Room

Since opening its doors eight years ago, one nightclub perhaps more than any other has been crucial to the soulful Shibuya-kei sound. This coming Friday, Shibuya' basement cubby hole club The Room celebrates its anniversary with a colossal event at Liquid Room in Shinjuku featuring 80 DJs, among them heavyweights Shinichi Osawa and Shuya Okino.

As a member of jazz-funk outfit Mondo Grosso, and more recently as producer of rising J-soul singer Bird, Shinichi Osawa has been just about everywhere over the past year. But for patrons of The Room, Osawa will be familiar as one of clubs mainstay DJs. Those wishing to bone up for the event should take a listen to Mondo Grosso's latest, star-studded album, MG4, which features contributions by veteran acid-jazz singers N'Dea Davenport, Tania Maria and Amel Larrieux.

Shinichi Osawa

For Shuya Okino, 2001 marks ten years of activity, who along with his brother Yoshihiro comprises the formidable DJ unit Kyoto Jazz Massive. The unit's artistic taste and fashionable sensibility has won it growing acclaim in Japan, where their Kyoto Jazz Massive nights are the stuff of legend, and more recently, overseas. In particular, Kyoto Jazz Massive has struck a chord with clubbers in Europe, where they spent three weeks atop BBC radio's club charts in 2000. Most recently, the Crossbreed compilation on Japan's independent forlife label, brings together a tasty, "Afro-Latin house" collection of international artists, as well as original Kyoto Jazz Massive tracks.

The 80 DJs participating in the event will join in an unusual (if slightly gimmicky) "DJ relay," with each DJ spinning one selection before passing the turntables onto the next DJ.

The Room 8th Anniversary: Liquid Room, 3/9, JY3500 (adv), JY4000 (door). Tel: 03-3200-6831.