Veteran psychedelicist Alex Paterson, a.k.a. The Orb Photos courtesy of Creativeman

For festival-goers with the stamina, promoter Creativeman is staging Sonicmania to bridge the two days of Summer Sonic next weekend. The highlight of the all-nighter at the cavernous Makuhari Messe convention center will surely be the Japan debut of Gorillaz, the animated band created by Blur front man Damon Alburn.

Featuring the animated characters of "Tank Girl" illustrator Jamie Hewlett, Gorillaz - let' call a spade a spade is a gimmick. But a pretty damn clever gimmick at that. With Alburn represented by the character 2-D-a blank-eyed singer-the band also includes satanic bassist Murdoc, hulking drummer Russell, and kid-whiz guitarist Noodle-the character of Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori.

Alburn told Billboard that the live Gorillaz experience is "an experimental thing… there's no actual band that you see on stage-it's one big cinema screen. It's kind of taking a ride back to the silent-movie era, except it's a lot louder."

The rest of the lineup reads like a virtual who's who of '90s UK techno. Ambient house pioneers The Orb, a unit centered around Alex Paterson with a fluctuating roster of contributors, will be performing live. While perhaps not at the forefront of dance music in the way they were a decade ago, The Orb can be counted on to put on one of the most mind-bending sets around. Alex Paterson - who is already in Japan this weekend for the Hotaka rave in Gunma Prefecture - will also be DJing in the DJ room.

Blur frontman Damon Alburn's new project, the animated band Gorillaz

Less frequent visitors to Japan are System 7, the ambient unit formed by Steve Hillage of cult synth prog-rockers Gong and French former filmmaker Miquette Giraudy. Debuting in 1991 with the single "Miracle" on Ten Records, the duo became heroes of the after hours chill-out crowd. More recent albums have seen them associated with Alex Paterson and Paul Oakenfold as well as Detroit techno avatars Carl Craig and Derrick May.

Harder edged sounds will come from Eat Static, the duo of Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton, who began recording acid house tracks in the late '80s. Developing their live show at the legendary Orbital raves of the early '90s, they signed to key Planet Dog imprint for a series of sci-fi influenced, off-the-wall records including Abduction and Implant. More recently, they have given a psychedelic twist to drum'n'bass on their '97 recording Science of the Gods.

Also offering more of a four-to-the-floor vibe will be Electric Tease, the alter ego of UK artist Tim Healey. Signed to leading UK trance label Dragonfly, Electric Tease released his latest 12", "Perfect State," in May, and has also performed with DJ Tsuyoshi at the Japanese DJ's monthly Tokio Drome events.

Finally, tearing it up alongside Paterson in the DJ room will be Tristan of trance powerhouse Hallucinogen fame, and DJ Domino, known in Japan for her association with Equinox and Juno Reactor, as well as a promised "surprise DJ." Say no more…

Sonicmania@Makuhari Messe, 8/18, 10pm, JY7000 (adv), JY8000 (door). Info: Creativeman 5466-0777. www.summersonic.com