This Fishbone spinoff is special for this particular Japan visit, serving as a prelude to Fishbone’s big White Stage show Saturday evening. It features Fishbone frontman Angelo Moore and drummer Philip Fisher, a.k.a. Dr. Madd Vibe and PhD Fish, DJing from a Macbook and an iPhone, taking five or six decades of music that serves as Fishbone’s own tremendously eclectic inspiration and mixing it in with their own songs, including various side projects.

The Fishbone Sounclash also had the honor of being the first act to play the Crystal Palace this year. They had an instant audience, with fans flooding in from the moment security staff opened the gates. The first half hour was more clash than sound, the tone set with one of Fishbone’s metal-funk fusion songs, “Pressure” –– a great song, but it was just impossible to dance to. But the Fishbone fanbase was forgiving, and later Angelo and Fish slipped into the groove. Angelo emcee’d throughout, talking to the audience and enumerating “funk, soul, ska, reggae, gospel and jazz” as the genres they’d zoom through. The song list went from ‘50s R&B hits like Louis Jordan’s “Caledonia” to DJ Shadow electronic grooves and Rick James’ funk. From the Fishbone family’s own catalogue, there was the great and brand new soulful funk tune “Killa Weed” from Moore’s side project, Angelo Moore & the Brand New Step. There were also plenty of Fishbone tunes, though none of the hits they’ll probably play Saturday night. After all, this DJ set was just to get us in the mood.