“I have been well. I’m still doing gigs around here in Europe and mainly in Spain where I’m based now,” explains the affable Kazu. “Actually, I haven’t slept for a little while so I’m really tired, so I hope my brain works during this interview,” he says in jest, dropping a giggle for effect.
And other than the typically gruelling DJ schedule he keeps, he has been working on a few remixes in his Madrid studio – and is concentrating on getting them done. “It has been pretty busy with the summer over here; I’m working on a track for a friend of mine from Brisbane who is living in London now and he is starting up his own label – these are my old friends so I’m really happy to be doing that.”
Yet despite all of his worldliness, he remains as humble and polite as ever, potentially a result of his Japanese heritage, but probably just because he’s simply a forthright and bona-fide bloke. “I hadn’t been back to Japan for a little while so I didn’t mind going back there recently,” he chimes. “It was about eight months ago and it was a small club in Tokyo; we don’t have a lot of space and we do have a lot of earthquakes and it was great to go back to one of the places I used to play at years ago.”
Indeed, not having been back to his native homeland since the 1990s he knew it would still be home, but the scene has come a long way since then, no doubt. “I was really excited because the scene in Tokyo in techno has always been there, but it was always a little underground. Around the turn of the millennium things were huge there but now house is coming back in a big way and of course hip hop is still very popular.”
Regardless, his most recent travels have seen him maintain a hectic booking schedule during the European summer. “I’ve been playing a lot of outdoor festivals in Spain and Europe. There have also been some indoor festivals and I’ve got one of my recent sets from a gig in Spain on my Soundcloud. I’ve also moved away from playing vinyl in the last couple of years much the same as everyone; so I’ve been playing on Traktor and Maschine. I’m also using the iPad as a controller and another new effects unit called the Pioneer RMX1000. It’s a new thing that came out in early June this year and I am loving it. The music I play needs to extend the sound sometimes, so I play loops and edit them with effects which makes things more interesting, I don’t just want to play a track from beginning to end and then press next – it’s more interesting for me to create my own unique sound from the track.”
And another thing we can genuinely credit Kazu with is his exceptional taste as the finest purveyor of quality techno – he is the selector’s selector. “I don’t know much about what is happening musically in Australia these days but I know techno is still pretty big over there in the same way it is over here in Germany and Spain; it’s also catching up in Italy and Eastern European countries.
“My sound has always been about funk – it’s dark but at the same time has rhythm and makes a groove. Actually I call it techno but with funk, you know?” He delivers the sentence with aplomb, and continues, “I don’t really play that white noise sort of sound; I do like it dark but it needs to have funk, humans need funk!”
Otherwise, his label and sound remains influenced by the dons of techno – he is still loving Hawtin’s Plus 8 and Beyer’s Drumcode. “It’s somewhere between minimal and techno and for me, that is a really good sound, it is what I’ve been playing and I like to put my own twist on it. One of my tracks made it into the Beatport Top 100 at #20. That was pretty exciting!”
Finally, he adds a few words on his return to Australia, his second home. “The people in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney love their music. I always get a really warm welcome when I get back down under. I’m always happy to come back there and it’s always good to come home! I heard the gig in Melbourne is actually at a special venue so I’m extra excited about that. I’ll be bringing a lot of my new toys – I just hope I can carry everything with me!”
BY RK
