I’m hijacking this post, after spotlighting Icksun, pictured here, who I met on the backstreets of Ame-Mura in Ōsaka, nearly equidistant from my home in Tokyo, and his home in Seoul, Korea. Icksun was carrying a decent-sized stack of recently-scored 12”s down the street, while I was drinking a “0-Beer” (is what I like to call them), on the curb watching people pass by, while my son chewed on some gummies sitting next to me. The three of us had a friendly chat, Apollo dropped an “Annyeonghaseyo” and 1: 일 (il), 2: 이 (i), 3: 삼 (sam), 4: 사 (sa), 5: 오 (o), I dropped some compliments on his cool (undisclosed Korean band) hat with the letter “H” and overall summer style. Icksun was very forthcoming about his travel plans in Japan, about his appreciation for the 2020 miniseries “We Are Who We Are” about his love for House and Disco, in his recommendation of Korean DJ and producer FFAN, whose Soundcloud I fell asleep listening to last night, but he was quite secretive about the stack of records he scored. He was willing to show me two, but the rest were off-limits. I gotta say, in a way, I respected that. Hope there were some gems in there, Icksun, and you better not tell your secrets to big-mouth me.
OK, now the hijacking part. I want to send a giant shout out to the Unity Gain Crew, DJs IVY, Liondub, and Psychonaut, and to all the atmosphere and mood makers, Alala, maybe Eliza, Ananda, Sunshine, not entirely sure who was part of the cast that came to make those events (Sunset Parties too) happen in the late 90’s in early 00’s back in Boulder, but you guys deepened my love for House, Techno, Dance, and Dub. I’m not sure why a basic Rock&Roll hippypunk was ever compelled to elbow my way into that scene without really knowing a soul in it, but for whatever reason it was, it helped shape my love for music and bringing people together which has inspired so many projects I’ve created or been a part of.
Unity Gain also actually was instrumental, no pun intended, in pushing me to photography. While I loved collecting records at the time, and though I DJ’d imaginary sets alone in my house, I never had the confidence until many years later to play sets, nor did I feel confident to add to the collective art pieces that happened during Unity Gains. I wanted to contribute but I didn’t really know how, but my camera became that way, I could sorta hide behind it, and just be around, and fell like I has a purpose to be there, although I dare not share any of those photos, as it was such low light in there and I never really knew how to operate a camera in that light at the time (Sadly all those photos are mostly junk.) But so many good vibes came out of it. So not all is lost. Thank you, Unity Gain …Legendary.
And thank you Icksun for featuring some House Music on Tokyo Records Style! Welcome ANYTIME!
Stay tuned. More TRS on the way…
Idjut Boys & Laj – Whoktish EP
Label: U-Star Records – US 010
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, EP
Country: UK
Released: 1996
Genre: Electronic
Style: House
https://www.discogs.com/release/28541-Idjut-Boys-Laj-Whoktish-EP
Egyptian Nipples – Back But Half Remixes
Label: Apersonal Music – apersonal015
Format: Vinyl, 12″
Country: Spain
Released: Mar 2014
Genre: Electronic
Style: House, Deep House
https://www.discogs.com/release/5463642-Egyptian-Nipples-Back-But-Half-Remixes
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