SonarSound Tokyo: The Japanese acts

Broken Haze: a typically Tokyo kind of mash-up

Broken Haze

A prolific figure on the Tokyo underground club scene, Keisuke Ito shares the same taste for mutant genre-mashing shown by Hudson Mohawke, Rustie, et al. He's also big on collaborations, including scene-straddling collective Raid System (with expat DJ/producer XLII) and Nerdz Era, his deliriously dumb tag-team with Black Sebbath.

We've been seeing your name around a lot recently. Do you feel like more people are paying attention to you than in the past?
I've been getting a lot of positive feedback from people recently, not just from Japan but also from Europe and the US. I guess it's because I'm doing radio and podcasts that you can listen to anywhere in the world.

What's your background in music? Did you play any traditional instruments before you started producing?
I can't play any instruments. I used to be really into DJ Krush, and I started off as a DJ, playing things like hip hop, abstract beats and electronica. I really liked a lot of band music, too – grunge, post rock, fusion and so on – and I think that had an influence on me.

How do you feel your music has developed since you started making tracks?
I was on a real experimental tip when I started out. It was more like I was making sounds than making music, I guess: just experimenting to create something new. Over the course of a few years, I naturally started to put more emphasis on melodies and composing actual songs. I think making music has become more important than making sounds. I've been influenced by a variety of genres of music, but also things like photography and graphic design, and I've created a mishmash of everything. Throwing loads of different things together like that is typically Tokyo, isn't it?

If you were only allowed to play someone one of your tracks, which one would you pick and why?
I'm planning a new release this year, so I'd rather they listened to that, but I'd also play them my track from the Nihon Kizuna charity compilation, 'Move Forward'. I think the vibe, melody and use of sound are typical of my work.

Which was the bigger influence on your sound: hip hop or video games?
I think hip hop had a bigger influence. I didn't play many video games besides RPGs, and I haven't been playing anything recently. Anime's probably had a bigger effect on me than video games: things like Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Darker Than Black, Ergo Proxy… I guess I'm a sucker for cyberpunk-style stuff. Musically, rock and grunge were probably a major influence.

You've got a distinctive set-up when you play live. When did you start using an iPad, and what are the main advantages?
I've been using an iPad since it first went on sale: I ordered one from the States because they were taking so long to release it in Japan. More than the iPod itself, the real advantage is the apps that let you customise your own controllers. It looks futuristic, too, which is cool. (Laughs) Hardly anyone was performing with iPads at first, but they've been on the increase recently.

What's been the highlight of the past year for you?
I guess it was releasing the Broken Haze vs. B.Bravo EP. We'd been doing remixes together for a few years, without thinking about releasing them, but we came up with some interesting stuff so we decided to put it out in the end. Thanks to the internet, you can release music from Japan overseas – there's a whole scene that isn't dependent on geography – which I think is fascinating. If it's an instrumental then language isn't a problem. I think I want to do more things like that in the future.

What's good about the Tokyo scene at the moment?
The way you get lots of things mixed together. I think there's a historical background for it too, but the way Japan takes homegrown music and culture, combines it with an interest in foreign culture and mixes everything up to create a big blend is really cool.

What's bad about the Tokyo scene at the moment?
Musically speaking, I think there's a lot of music in Japan that's only interested in Japan. It's important to look beyond one country and make music for an international audience – the fashion world's managed to do it, so I don't see why the music world can't. I think it'd be particularly easy for electronic music producers, seeing as how lots of their tracks don't have lyrics in them.

Who would you recommend watching at SonarSound Tokyo?
There are too many – I can't decide! It's like they made the event just for me. I'd really recommend checking out Rustie, who's playing here for the first time. Squarepusher's audio-visual performance with LEDs sounds amazing, and Clark, Hudson Mohawke and Africa Hitech never get old. Oh, and you've gotta check Dorian Concept, who I played with the last time he came here. It's like his fingers are breakdancing over the keyboard when he plays. I'd also recommend Nightwave, who's playing on the same stage as me.

What are you most looking forward to this year?
My next release, I guess! It's pretty much finished now. I've rounded up a load of remixes from some of my favourite artists, including Machinedrum, S-type, Bobby Tank, Freddy Todd and +verb. I've also done remixes of XLII from Raid System and an Italian band called Aucan, which are going to be out soon, so I'm looking forward to that.

You've been getting a lot of club bookings for Nerdz Era, your duo with Black Sebbath. Are you the new Dexpistols?
No! Dexpistols is Dexpistols and Nerdz Era is Nerdz Era.

Broken Haze plays at SonarSound Tokyo 2012, Studio Coast, April 22

www.brokenhaze.net | soundcloud.com/brokenhaze
Twitter: @BROKENHAZE

Sauce81