- The hype that surrounds the yearly Womb Adventure suggests that it is among the highlights of the Japanese clubbing calendar. Organized by the team at Tokyo's Womb (Japan's answer to London's fabric or Berlin's Berghain), the club has recently played host to inspired sets by Marco Carola, Sasha, Ivan Smagghe and Nic Fanciulli. Put simply, Womb is the club that DJs want to play at when coming to Tokyo. And play for as well: Last year, Richie Hawtin headlined a Contakt showcase at the immense Makuhari Messe last year for Womb's annual Adventure event.
This year, while being short of the other members on his Minus label, Hawtin more than made up for their absence by rolling into Tokyo with SCI + TEC Digital Audio head Dubfire. Hawtin and Dubfire's double-pronged minimal attack had already struck earlier this year at Serbia's Exit Festival, and had been one of the event's best dance music pairings. Having seen Hawtin and Dubfire separately on more than one occasion in this time span myself, though, I had witnessed moments of musical brilliance, as well as times when the music had fallen a bit short. Needless to say, I was intrigued to see what the duo would come up with.
Upon entering the Makuhari Messe, it's hard to overstate how vast a venue it is. I was skeptical that any of the space could feel filled, let alone the whole conference centre. Descending in an elevator to the dance floor with an Asahi beer in one hand, and camera in the other, the spectacle that greeted me was incredible. The visuals were unlike any I had seen before, even surpassing those I had deemed unsurpassable at the recent Brixton Contakt show. Although perhaps less subtle in their style, the crowd were more than ready for such an assault to the eyes. Complementing the sights were the sounds of Josh Wink. By this stage in the evening, Wink had spent the past four hours indulging the predominantly Japanese crowd with his blend of techno, musically weaving his path to provide a respectable starting block for the night's main draw.
By the time Hawtin and Dubfire took to the stage at a little after 2 AM, the room heaved with excitement. The venue was at capacity, and it felt like Hawtin and Dubfire could have played anything and still wowed the audience. Luckily, the Messe stage proved to be the catalyst for the duo to combine their musical might, using their extensive knowledge to take the audience through a minimal techno journey that they've been calling "Click2Click" showcases when they perform together. If there was one complaint, it was the sound, which at times was slightly muddy. This has been a long term issue associated with the venue, though, and somewhat unavoidable in such a space. Having said this, it was a rare occasion where the quality of the event in general far surpassed any such negative, even one as fundamental as sound. And when we left the venue sometime after 6 AM, it was clear that the sound quality was the last thing on the happy, albeit slightly fuzzy minds of the 8,000 people who had attended after Hawtin and Dubfire's masterful tag-team performance.