The European outdoor festival season is slowly winding down, the light starts to get a little more golden, the air a little crispier and the idea of turning a little more inward doesn’t feel too strange anymore. With summer almost over, still two events “jewels” remain for ambient and spiral electronic aficionados. Some will make the trek to the Labyrinth Festival far away in Japan, a festival that became an inspiration for so many others. Japan, though, will also be represented at Les Chaos Ambiants. It’s an intimate event with a purposeful curation, nestled in a nature reserve in France. The Japanese artist Occa will play for the first time in France and bring his unique transcendental way of DJing to Burgundy. Occa has been organizing the ARCHIV events for over 10 years at Precious Hall in Sapporo, located in the far north. Having played for Nobu’s Future Terror and the aforementioned Labyrinth Festival, he is a fixture in the Japanese scene and now gains international attention.

For "Delayed with..." Occa shares a mix recorded at the atmospheric Moment Festival, and it's warping and rumbling, twisting, and circulating there as if forest and mountain spirits congregate to show you the way. Where to? You’ll see.

"The mix I provided for Delayed uses a recording from the Japanese outdoor Festival Moment 2024. Moment Festival is held in a sacred zone in Nara Prefecture, which has significant origins in Japanese history. Since my set was on the festival's first day, I structured the two-hour set as a ceremony to mark the beginning of the three-day program, aiming to guide listeners into a sacred zone."

Read the interview by Theresa Bäumel