Makoto - Far from Souled Out

Makoto is unquestionably one of Japan's most prominent dnb exports and has been making waves in the West for the past 13 years with the likes of Voyager and Sentimental Moods. Deeply routed in rare groove, soul and jazz, his style is a natural culmination of the music he grew up on, and has subsequently landed him a number of releases on LTJ Bukem's Good Looking Records as well as collaborations with Zinc and Dj Marky. On the verge of releasing his new LP entitled 'Souled Out', he talks to Pulse Radio's Ray Murphy about digital record labels, an earthquake relief album for Japan and a possible live-band project.

Download Pulse.047 - Makoto here

When did you first link up with LTJ Bukem and can you tell me about your subsequent relationship with Good Looking Records? My first encounters with dnb were Goldies Inner City Life and Bukem’s' Logical Progression Level 1 compilation back in 1996.  I remember sending a demo to Bukem in 1998. He replied with a handwritten letter, saying how the track needed to be changed. I subsequently sent back the track, then Good Looking sent me the contract for it: that was the start of it all. In 1999 I signed a long-term contract with them. This gave me opportunities to tour the world and release two artist albums and one mix cd with them

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Human Elements, as a club night, recently turned 5 years old and will soon be launching as a label. Can you tell me a little about the history and ideology behind the club night (at Loop,Tokyo), the newborn imprint and the hugely popular podcast? We've been doing the club night at Loop in Tokyo for 5 years. I just love the atmosphere of the place. They have a good sound system and the capacity is only around 100 people. It’s always got a good, warm vibe in there. People go there just because they love music, which is what I'm most happy with.
As for the Podcast - I didn’t update it for a while but recently I’m back on it again. I have been updating it with some of my DJ mixes and with music I love. Not only dnb but 70’s soul, rare groove and even house stuff too.  My new album Souled Out will be launch for the Human Elements label. I'd like to do physical products as much as I can until they are gone/phased out.

You and MC Deeizm have a long-standing working relationship. What do you feel she brings to your tracks and live sets? I think we have been working together for almost seven years now. I always enjoy making tracks with her and I think it works really well as I know how to treat her vocals. She brings something different to my DJ sets, for sure. We have done so many gigs together so we know each other so well now that both of us understand what the other one does. It’s just like a band or a team.

Can you tell me about your new label HE:Digital and some of the up-and-coming artists on it? I have wanted to start my own physical label for long time, but it's been difficult to set it up from Japan. I had lots of tracks to put out, so I thought I should set up a digital label for the time being as it’s easier to get going and doesn’t matter where you are (based). So that was start of HE:Digital and it worked quite well: we have eight releases so far.
I'd like to release more stuff by Japanese producers. We are set to release an EP from a Japanese producer called Velocity at the end of this year. There are also a few other good producers like Heavy 1 and Ena over here. I just want to help their career and make the scene in Japan better. It's not too risky to release just on a digital label, so we can at least give it a try .

How did you discover these new artists and have you seen a large increase in the number of Japanese beatmakers over the past few years? They just sent me their tunes over AIM, Skype and SoundCloud. The quality of Japanese producers' tracks are definitely getting better and a lot of young guys are trying to produce, which is really good. I think the scene needs more good quality producers to get bigger and better. It’s really important.

How did you come to be involved in the 'Something We Can Do' charity album for the victims of this year's earthquake and tsunami in Japan? The earthquake happened in North East Japan, but we still felt it in Tokyo. It was biggest one for over 60-70 years and the largest one during my life.
I was thinking about what I could do for this massive disaster and had been feeling frustrated, just sitting down and watching the news for few days. Then I saw a few music-people were doing charity compilations and Khal from Dogs On Acid sent me an e-mail saying I should do a charity compilation, which he would support. I realised I had lots of unreleased tracks and also figured that I could get some tunes together from other Japanese producers, to help our country.
We have just donated all profits made from Something We Can Do to Japanese Red Cross, 2 weeks ago. We’d like to thank each and every one of you who supported the compilation and all the artists who were involved. [To see all results click here] 

Can you tell us about your forthcoming album: Souled Out LP ? I’m really happy about it. I had full control to make this album and I have done what I wanted to do for long time. The idea had been in my head for 3-4 years and I have finally done it! The tracks are varied in tempo: from 85bpm through to 130bpm, 140bpm and 175bpm. I felt that I couldn’t express this through a DJ set, but I could express it as an album.

Magic Hour and Woe see you venturing into half-tempo/dubstep territory - which isn't unusual for a producer with a dnb track record - but The tower of Love ft. Paul Randolph is a fairly big move away from your traditional sound. Does this suggest a new direction for you? I've tried to make some sort of 60’s Motown influenced tracks in the past, as the tempo is not so different from dnb, but I didn’t like what I had done. Then, when I was planning the album, I thought I should give it a try again with a vocalist and it worked! Paul Randolph did a great great job on this and I’m really honoured to work with him as he has been one of my favourite vocalists for a long time. I’m not sure if this is my new direction - it even doesn’t sound like dnb - but I think it's just good music. Hope people like it!

In between is one of my personal favourites on the LP. Earlier on in the Summer you posted a mix entitled '130bpm, 4x4, Bass & Beyond', suggesting this is a sound you're currently feeling. How long have you been experimenting with producing at this tempo and can we expect more music in a similar vein from you in future? Thank you, glad you like it! I’m really feeling those new things [Jacques Greene/George Fitzgerald/ XXXY etc.] at the moment. I have done a few remixes in that style/tempo, and produced a few tunes for a French bass-music label called 7even which is probably coming out in later this year.

This is how I do is set to be a Japan-only release. Can you tell those that won't be able to get hold of a copy, what they're missing out on? It is a collection of my tracks, remixes and collaborations which already have been released on HE:Digital and other labels. I just wanted to re-present who I am to the Japanese listeners, as I have never promote myself enough in Japan.

What do the next 12 months hold in store for you? I’m planing to release a remix album [of 'Souled Out'] in the near future. There's already a few interesting remixes and remixes lined up from my favourite producers and I will be including some of my own remixes too. I might also have an opportunity to record the album tracks with a band in Japan, so I may release it as a live album afterwards.

Pulse.047 - Tracklisting
1. Makoto - Tower Of Love feat Paul Randolph (Human Elements)
2. DJ Marky & S.P.Y - Love Affair (Innerground)
3. Zero T & Seto - Refusal (Calibre Remix) (Integral)
4. Jaydan - Elemenets (Innerground)
5. DJ Marky & S.P.Y - Touch Me (Dubplate)
6. Flaco - Isla Verde (Innerground)
7. dRamatic & dbAudio - Break My Heart (Dubplate)
8. Makoto - You've Got Sumptin' feat. Paul Randolph (Human Elements)
9. DJ Marky & S.P.Y - Deja Vu (Innerground)
10. Makoto - Untold feat. Deeizm (Jabberloop Remix (Human Elements)
11. Smote - Summertime (Innerground)
12. Jaydan - Insatiable (Innerground)
13. Pennygiles - Au Revoir Blackbird (Dubplate)
14. Makoto - Room Enough feat. Cleveland Watkiss (Human Elements)

Listen to Makoto on Pulse Radio