Japanese LoFi's First Lady: interview with Yotsugi.
Before starting, just click here, follow Yotsugi and listen to her music while reading ;-)
[intro].
As I said also to Thirsty Girl -founder of Japanolofi Records [read the previous interview HERE ]-, I’ve been a big fan of Japan since I was a kid in the early 80s... So my curiosity about Japanese culture is HUGE!
Let’s meet Yotsugi, Japanolofi Records’ First Lady!!!
Who is Yotsugi (and Hamu&Lily’s before)? Why this name? Where are you from and how old are you?
Yotsugi is a female beatmaker living in Japan. As for my own age, I would say, Yotsugi was already there since the Edo period, when the Samurai X existed. (Well, I love joking,you see! People should watch out when they talk to me, haha!)
At first, I started my music activity as a singer! I wanted to be like Billie Eilish, so with my own brother, I started a singing duo.That’s why I once named myself as Hamu & Lily’s before. (Well Lily was my nickname which is my cat’s name in my hometown in Kansai district, however the cat often bites me. My cat is not as smart as Thirsty’s cat, who can watch over his loudness meter when mastering and gets angry if he exceeds -14 LUFS. Hahahaha! xD).
Well, I changed my name to Yotsugi after I met Thirsty and decided to become a beatmaker and contribute to his label, that is, Japanolofi Records of today. You know,I had to change my name as well as music career path drastically, but I love how it turned out now today.
photo: IT BOZU - Tokyo Night Vibes.
You’re the first female beat maker of Japanolofi Records. How long have you been producing for? What do you use to make beats? Do you play any instrument? What are your main inspirations? Is there any artist that influenced you particularly? Or any female producer in Japan that you’d like to recommend?
I started composing music two years ago from July 2021. That means I am two years old as a composer! I use Ableton Live as a Daw. I often use a small keyboard from Arturia. I play the piano just a little, but recently I started practicing playing the guitar, so I hope I can soon sample my guitar into my beat.
My main inspiration is my friend’s beats! Well I have lots of awesome beatmaker friends whose works I really love. You can make me talk whole day talking about my friend’s wonderful works,not gonna lie! They are just amazing and most of all my inspirations come from them. Well, if I had to name some artists, I would mention my label members, that is, Thirsty Girl, KOHEI YOSHII, TAKESY, and streethider, and also our Japanolofi Records Label artits! Well I have lots of other beatmaker friends too though, and I am a huge fan of them. Wish I could mention all of them here. Oh yes, in Japanolofi Records we have a few female label artists just like me, Watase Halu and miwalizm. They are pretty cool and amazing, you should check out their works proudly released from Japanolofi Records:
Watase Halu - lab8
What is your role inside of “Japanolofi Records”? What could you tell us about this label? What are your favorite top 3 productions of your label-mates, Thirsty, Kohei Yoshii & Takesy?
I am a spokesperson and a PR for our label. So you would see me a lot on SNS like Twitter, Discord or sometimes Instagram stories (Well I love putting Sakura all over the place in stories, when you see a bunch of sakura petals flying over your music stories, yeah that’s me lurking!If not, that’s probably Thirsty. Yeah).
Okay our label Japanolofi Records is the first ever label in Japan which contracted with Dashgo (Now known as Downtown Artist & Label Services) as a distributor. We have a good partnership with Tsunami Sounds in the USA, and as you may have seen, we have created some awesome compilation albums together. We are challenging, creative, and bold. We strive to be the future of Lofi genre in Japan together with YOU, amazing artists.
Tokyo Chill Girl (Collaboration with Tsunami Sounds).
Here are some of my favorite songs from Tokyo Chill Girl:
Yasuragi by Dpsht , tenkousei.
The Spring Knows by Watasino,Konb
Satsuma Peeling icey wavs, Yotsugi
Chrysanthemum by Taki Brano, Eric Silva
…and many many more…!!!
So we as a label have amazing label members who are also artists themselves! I would mention my favorite works of theirs one by one.
Thirsty Girl - “Shibuya Scramble”. He is the founder of Japanolofi Records and the beginning of everything! He helped me and taught me everything greatly, before and after my first debut as a beatmaker, releasing from Tsunami Sounds. Also this one landed on Spotify’s editorial playlist: Lofi cafe.Well, I am very overwhelmed and feel great respect for his amazing talent and skill as a beatmaker and a composer!
KOHEI YOSHII - “Let It Love”. KOHEI YOSHII is an amazing artist who continues to inspire us all and who always teaches me how to compose music day by day.Well this track well describes the journey we walked together, since the start of the label and to this day. KOHEI is an amazing artist with great skill and talent however, his heart is also amazing and he has this kindness that touches people around us, which I love very much. This song really describes his kindness all well. Also this one landed on Spotify's editorial playlist, Focus Flow.
TAKESY - “Drunken Jazz”. TAKESY is a fun and talented artist whose music style is Jazzy and with a taste of Boombap. He also often teaches me how to compose music, and this is the song we created together (Trust me he helped me a LOT with this one lol!) and this was just released on July 5th! This one describes the fun night when we went to KOHEI YOSHII’s live show together as label members, and also this one landed on Dashgo’s playlist “Lofi Lounge Beats / Late NIght Jazzhop Cocktail Vibes.
“The Unknown Kyoto Vol.1” is the new compilation of Japanolofi Records that just came out. What do you think about that? What are your favorite tracks and why? Have you ever been to Kyoto btw? If so, could you give us some suggestions about that?
Well I can show you how the actual Kyoto sounds like through my favorite tracks of The Unknown Kyoto… OH MY GOSH I want to name them all, but if I had to choose, if you are looking for the street-style of Kyoto, go for:
If you are interested in the night side of Kyoto, go for:
Konnichiwa by pumpkin seeds, Ben Jammin’ Beats
photo: IT BOZU - Tokyo Night Vibes.
If you like to feel the beautiful, soothing or oriental sides of Kyoto, go for:
If you feel like discovering the fresh morning cafe time in Kyoto, go for
Japanolofi Records is partnered with Chill Space and sometimes we help each other as doing a project. This time I am helping them with this playlist editing. This is so fun! I included lots of my friends' beats. Please check it our if there is yours!
What is “LoFi” for you? What does it mean? And what is “hip hop” for you? Have you ever been listening to Rap music? If so, what are your favorite artists and why?
LoFi feels like a community to me, as well as a home to rest and relax myself. Since I used to belong to a street-dance club when I was a student, hip hop was always there with me, so I also love listening to Rap music since I love street music, I used to listen to Eminem, Rihanna, Jay Z and so on. So yeah, no wonder why I love LoFi, relaxation with HIPHOP! Yeah!
“LoFi feels like a community to me, as well as a home to rest and relax myself”.
photo: IT BOZU - Tokyo Night Vibes.
Some of your songs have more than 20 thousand plays on Spotify and you have more than 7 thousand monthly listeners apparently. How do you explain this huge success? Do you have any suggestion you can share with new aspiring beat makers / musicians / producers? How much is Spotify important for you? Do you use any other platform?
Oh well I am still such a small artist and there are much greater artists around me lol!!I still need lots of practice before going forward!! However what I love about being among those amazing beatmaker friends is that they always teach me beautiful stuff like: keep on practicing, practicing and practicing with patience, it might take time, however, if you try hard enough, someday you will achieve that. / Critique or even brutal advice is good for growth! You are sad today but after a few years later, you’ll never know what’s going to happen!
Well I love these words that some of my beatmaker friends who I respect the most gave me. Oh how I love them lol.
Let’s talk about Japan, please!!! What are the 2 things you love the most about your country? And what are the 2 things you hate the most and why?
Well two things I love the most about my country are my mother and father lol! I really thank my parents for raising me up as who I am today. Without them, I wouldn’t be here talking about Lofi with you, or meeting with the Japanolofi Records team at all.
Two things I hate the most about our country is peer pressure and the lack of communication. I love to see people expressing their will freely without prejudices of others. I love seeing when people are being honest and being real.
Also Japan’s city life is sometimes full of loneliness, Tokyo? well it’s a city of loneliness sometimes! Wow! Can you believe that! But it’s okay now, I have this huge Lofi community and I am completely feeling okay now with lots of friends and lots of cool Lofi tracks to be with me when I’m lonely. YES play that “Lofi to Listen to When you are Sad” playlist lol!
Well actually this KOHEI YOSHII’s playlist is awesome whatever mood you are in though:
I love Japanese food and I can’t wait to try the REAL one in person when I’ll be there XD What is your favorite local food? And what is your favorite restaurant (link, please! Lol)? Do you have any suggestions for a hungry tourist coming to your beautiful country not just to try the legendary sushi and ramen?
My favorite Japanese foods are…well you know it already…SUSHI!!!!!
Well I like even the cheapest Sushi at supermarkets and that’s my recommendation, haha! Well, anyone owning a Sushi restaurant? You are allowed to put an advertisement right here! (Joking!)
At least I would mention this awesome Lofi Sushi playlist, hehe!
Oh well I hear that Sushi which isn’t “sushi-go-round” tastes good. But I’ve never been there before lol! (Legit Sushi) Someday, someone let’s go there with me!
I bet that many fans of Japanolofi Records are also Hayao Miyazaki movie fans most probably. What about you? What do you think about Studio Ghibli? And what’s your favorite anime in general?
Yes I love Studio Ghibli and my favorites are Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castles! Well I can even sing just like how the “Princess Mononoke theme song” sounds like, because I love the tune! (Well you want to hear what my voice sounds like? Hahaha! Maybe I might release a couple of vocal songs in the future, so yeah, if you are interested, STAY TUNED on my socials! Links are below!)
I heard about this new project, Tokyo Night Vibes... What is it exactly? Is it going to bring also special live events in Japan?
Yes, the new project is starting!
Tokyo Night Vibes is a new project powered by Japanolofi Records, which is a media that promotes Lofi Hiphop x Japan's Night View contents, organizes events and live beats, etc!
The planner is IT BOZU, he is a Japanese beat maker, a real monk, and a photographer and videographer for this project! Here are some pictures of cool Tokyo Night Vibes photos taken by him!
You can enjoy those beautiful night views of Japan as well as Lofi hiphop with our contents.
Please follow us and subscribe to our channel and SNS! Also, if you want your beat to be featured, please consider releasing with us, Japanolofi Records, and the chance to be featured in Tokyo Night Vibes might be yours! Also feel free to talk to me or IT BOZU for your suggestions or recommendations, if there’s any!
What are your plans for the future? Do you have any upcoming live-set? Or any collaboration with other artists or labels?
Well I want to be a better beatmaker who can make Japanolofi Records greater!
I will have a few upcoming collaborations with my awesome beatmaker friends, who I cannot name them yet but you have surely seen them already. AGAIN, STAY TUNED ON MY SOCIALS BELOW!! Hahahaha!
