Photo gallery: Freaks Music Festival '11

Okay, it would have been nice if the glorious sunshine that drenched Tokyo on Sunday had come a day earlier. But if Freaks Music Festival '11 had to settle for weather that went from lousy to merely tolerable over the course of the day, this wasn't enough to spoil the party. Held at a mountain location not far from Mt. Takao, the inaugural event bore more than a passing resemblance to Nagano's Taico Club fest, both in its compact size and electronica-friendly lineup.

Things got off to an early start – so early, in fact, that Time Out missed DJ Mayuri and OOIOO altogether. We arrived in time to catch synth pioneer Logic System, looking puny alongside the hulking Moog he'd brought on stage with him. Given the means used in creating it, his music proved to be rather ordinary, sticking largely to a brand of psychedelic electronica that went out of style in about 1995. Daniel Bell's set of easygoing Detroit techno was more appealing, while DJ Krush managed some nice illbient moments before getting lost in a drum'n'bass cul de sac.

Subsequent sets by Eye, Radio Slave and DJ Nobu all hit the mark, but Washed Out's Japan debut proved to be a soggy affair. Ernest Greene's attempts to transfer his gauzy headphone pop into a live band setting are still evidently a work in progress; not so much gauzy as gooey, it came out resembling a more leaden Talk Talk. Fortunately, DJ Harvey was on hand to steer things back on course with a three-hour set of house and disco that could probably have rolled on all night long. Function's immersive, dub-strafed techno over on the second stage sounded amazing, but we couldn't resist heading back to watch the scraggly old LA resident do his thing.