The Tokyo Concert Experience

  This year’s Mode Festival ran for about a week at the end of May and the beginning of June. The first edition was held in London in 2018, curated by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who also performed. This year the festival is dedicated to his memory and gathered some big names from the electronic underground scene.  I went to two shows. The first one was at a venue I was not familiar with, Wall & Wall in Omotesando, an upscale area of Tokyo. Once inside my suspicions were confirmed, this place didn’t feel like the kind of joint you’ll see some music experimenting going down. The vibe felt more like a kind of a fancy club. I thought it was weird. Feeling already out of place as the only ojisan with cool-biz clothes in the building, I decided to go right to the front and focus on the performers on stage. The first one of the evening was Lucy Railton . She started her fifty-minute set creating percussive sounds with small mallets lying on her table next to her electronic rig. The whole...