The 5th Edition of the annual Junction Festival in Bali was the best one yet. Check out www.thejunctionbali.com for more photos.

The Junction Bali 2009!

   

   

   

A Menteng kid is President of The U.S of A…

Last week we were invited by the ICJ Indonesian Community in Japan to play at a party in Club 57 in Roppongi. This is the first time we have been invited by an Indonesian community to play abroad. It is quite an honor to be representin’.

Enjoy the photos…

Anton

(Nearly all photos were taken using a Sony A350 SLR camera, some were from a blackberry camera phone)

DAY 1

Right after this photo we went into the immigration line and were asked many questions about where we were performing etc. Our invitation letter was in Indonesian and was of no use to the officers. to make things worse Adit put purpose of visit as holiday (we had social culture performance visas) & music producer as profession. So were put in this holding room & intergated for the next 30 minutes.

While waiting for the verdict from Japanese immigrations Adit discovered that the back of the seat in the detention room had surreal pictures of squirrels, maybe to put a smile on people as they are about to be deported.

We didn’t get deported! A phone to call to the promoters confirmed that we were indeed in Tokyo in the purpose of performing in an inter cultural event.

Aditya with Ariawan from ICJ. The person responsible for bringing us to Tokyo.

The lobby of Akasaka Weekly Mansion, our home for the next 4 days

A Javanese boy turning Japanese

Fixed gear bike in the financial district. An actual bike messenger owns this bike.

Our first meal in Tokyo. Tempura!

The Shibuya crossing.

Underneath this Tumi store is the Visvim store where everything is ultra nice but ultra expensive with the current exchange rate for our rupiah earning selves.

Shibuya crossing again later at night and with more people.

Aki Tsuzuku, one of my best friends in college & our accidental guide in Tokyo. Have not seen him in about 12 years. It was a happy reunion.

We ended the day preparing for tomorrows gig…

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DAY 2

We got up early & went to the club for a sound check & to help select music for the modern batik fashion show by Poleng Boutique.

The dj set up is proper… there is already a Traktor sound card, rack for laptop… nice.

Iwet & Vina looking shocked at the Tokyo crowd…

Club 57’s resident dj, Patrick

We had a crowd going to go to an after party. Aki told us he has guestlists for the Room, a club owned by Okino of the Kyoto Jazz Massive Crew.

After getting lost, despite the help of GPS navigation in taxis and iphones, we found the club. Along the way we also found some new friends from Singapore Sharan & Tracy, who were also looking for the same club.

Aono played a set from techno to disco that we like a lot…

We left around 3:30 or 4 am and Aki took us to a ramen joint in Akasaka. We ordered the one with the most cuts of pork. It really hit the spot. There is an autograph of the ex prime minister on the wall of the restaurant, so it had to be good. Before going to bed we received an email saying that the Ambassador of Indonesia to Japan wanted to meet us for breakfast at 8am. We went straight to sleep…

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DAY 3

At exactly 7am in that cold morning, with only 2 hours of sleep, we were picked up to go to the Ambassadors house.

The Ambassador was very impressed with the event and wanted the organizers to do it again for an event for really important guests. It was a good way to show the world that Indonesia is not only about surfing & Bali, but it is also has a modern and creative society. Aditya was falling asleep, but luckily there was really good bubur menado with ikan asin & chilli that helped him stay up.

Photo with the Ambassador & wife in their lovely garden before we said our goodbyes. Next stop is a radio interview at NHK for an Indonesian radio show.

The NHK building was built during war times and have very much stayed the same other than the professional MD & DAT players.

We then walked towards Harajuku, but stopped at a temple on the way. We kept hearing Photek’s Ni Ten Ichi Ryu in our heads.

Fixies everywhere in Harajuku…

The Stussy & Undefeated shop

We went home at around 3pm to get some sleep. We were so tired, we couldn’t walk straight…

We woke up pretty late at night. Got up to get some food. It was the coldest night yet.

We went back to sleep to get ready for the next day….

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DAY 4

We checked out at 10am from our hotel and had to drop off our luggage in Awan’s house. We have to leave for Narita at 5:30 in the morning so it didn’t make sense to stay another night.

After a few train stops we got to Awan’s house, emptied out our cameras memory cards and was off again.

Next stop, Disk Union record shop in Shibuya

Meanwhile, while Adit spent his life savings on records I had coffee with Dj Kaori & Keito at a nearby cafe. It was nice to see her and the baby as I haven’t seen her since a few Junction Festivals ago.

After looking around we finally found the Nike Sportswear Boutique. It was impressive. We wanted to buy everything in there. Aditya bought a Tokyo only sneaker…

Aki met up with us and we demanded to go to Maisen, a black pig tonkatsu restaurant that was suggested by a friend, Christian. Never had anything better. Aki used to come to this place to get tonkatsu sandwiches after skating around the area when he was a kid. This means that the restaurant has been there for a long time… Just kidding Aki…

After the black pig tonkatsu we said our farewell to Aki. We went to get some rest for tomorrow’s trek to Narita and ultimately back to lovely Jakarta.

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DAY 5

6am and on the way to the airport….

Our last meal before we got on the plane.

By the way make sure you try a Japanese toilet, with heated seats & spray. Narita will be the last chance.

We slept most of the way and was woken up by the pilot announcing his descent to Bali.

Our time in Tokyo was too short. We didn’t see Aoyama or the museum in Roppongi Hills or check out other clubs. So we hope to come back. Being stuck in Jakarta traffic while writing this, I wish I was still in Tokyo, slurping noodles in a ramen shop somewhere in Shibuya, while it is 10 degrees celcius outside.

Blowfish Warehouse Project Friday 14th Nov 2008

Segarra Anniversary Saturday 15th Nov 2008

These are the headphones Anton Wirjono is currently using, Sony MDR V900HD, and they’re probably the best looking headphones we have ever seen so far. That gloss black cup & the maroon paddings…

Anton claims that the sound is extremely flat & accurate, which is good for dj & studio use.

We spotted Naro using these as well…

Enjoy the unboxing photos…

It was wild! A crazy opening sunset party at Anantara with Dj Pippi & a massive closing party at an over capacity Huu Bar with an opening set by Danny Marquez, then Karizma taking over the decks, sending the crowd into a frenzy. A big surprise when Barbara Tucker, who performed at a Sundaze party in Uluwatu earlier, got in the dj booth & started singing, while dj Pippi shines his flashlight on her. Insane. We are sun burnt, had 3 days of no sleep, but happy as hell… Can’t wait for next year! Here are some photos…

Anton Wirjono’s Sony TG-1 arrived. This camera is the smallest 1920×1080 full HD video camera on the market and it also takes 4 megapixel stills. Full HD in a small good looking machined titanium finished body. It is small enough to take with you everywhere yet has a nice firm grip to it. This would be the ideal camera to take to the Junction Festival this summer in Bali.

A 4 Gb Memory Stick is found inside the ultra cool packaging. So it’s ready to roll out of the box. Slow motion, 5.1 surround zoom mics, hdmi….

Enjoy the photos for now, we will get reactions soon, once the batteries are charged up & ready to go.

Our very own Anton Wirjono was a spokesperson for a Macbook Air media event at the Emax Store in Kemang today. After a small interview & a Q & A session, he showed his current dj set up. It is a Macbook Air running Traktor Scratch. Though still a vinyl collector he showed how he progressed from 12inch vinyl to cds to this. The computer is perched on a Griffin Elevator to get it to the right height & to keep the computer safe from a vodka tonic spilling into the keyboards. An Ipod or a 250GB external drive is used to keep all of his music collection.

He claims that the Traktor Scratch set up is a fine balance between digital technology and that warm fuzzy analog feel of vinyl on a turntable. The Macbook Air is a good choice for it’s portability, it’s good looks & it has more than enough power to do anything thrown at it. Anton says he doesn’t really have a need for a cd/dvd drive & that he doesn’t burn cds to play his music anymore with this set up. Most of the music is bought online on sites like beatport.com or junodownload.com, downloaded to the computer & is ready to be played. He usually disposes of about 50 recordable cds a month & now he doesn’t need to burn any. If anything this is good for the environment.

The event had more people than expected which resulted in us not getting the official Apple water bottles that was shipped in just for this event. Bummer…

Here are some photos…