This is pretty old news now for anyone in Tokyo, but Studio Cube closed down a few months ago. The venue for NRGetic Romancer, Tokyo Hardcore Construction, and a variety of harder events, the loss of Cube is a massive blow to Tokyo’s underground club scene. Anyone who played/visited there will agree that the main floor PA was absolutely top drawer (better than any harder event I’ve attended here or outside Japan), while the layout was perfectly set up for the kind of serious dancing that went on at Romancer.

Coupled to that was Cube’s location – a winding 15-20 minute walk through the waterside hotels and side streets of Tamachi (an ‘armpit of Tokyo’ as a friend once described it) meant that anyone heading along to an event very likely knew what they were getting into. Unlike clubs in the standard entertainment districts, this meant that random Shibuya bimbos or Roppongi ‘clubbers’ were a mercifully rare sight, and instead it was always about the club’s wonderful community of dedicated, knowledgeable ravers. One of the very few places in Tokyo I’ve genuinely felt at home, finding a replacement is probably going to be impossible.

Anyway, RIP Studio Cube. I have plenty of awesome memories, but the video up above might be one of the best – Miran’s double mask dancing while I played Voices of Babylon, back in 2009.