01Profile
A Yoshihiro Murakami Photo
Yoshihiro Murakami
Tokyo — Hotel Manager
03Interview
Name, where are you from?
Yoshihiro Murakami, born in Hyogo, currently based in Tokyo.
What do you do?
BnA_WALL GM.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Andrew Weatherall at Makuhari Messe, I’m not too sure if it was the DIESEL:U:MUSIC or Electraglide. I've seen him play in the past when he did five different sets - each in different times with different genres including techno, house, dub, and reggae, so on. I think he’s delivered an LP for the Ministry Of Sound label called the 'Masterpiece' which included three sets aimed at different times. They are all great so I highly recommend it.
Which subcultures have influenced you?
Dance music. I was in the UK for a year in my early twenties and was hitting the clubs in each area almost every night. Fabric was at its peak, and I recall having a hard time deciding where to go each night because of the terrific listings for techno, drum'n'bass and dub nights.
Of all the venues you’ve been, which is your favourite?
Panorama Bar of the Berghain in Berlin. The astonishing sensation that you feel when you stand in middle of the sound that bursts out from the huge Function-one speakers, with the ultra-high and ultra-low frequency sounds on the main floor made me feel one with the music. It was unfortunate that the open-air area had been closed when I was there, though. The clubs had no mirrors, and it's completely dark so that you are completely cut off from the real world until the blinds open and the sunrise flashes in at dawn. It was such a powerful experience that I sort of stopped going to clubs after I returned to Japan when I found myself in the middle of the floor with my hands folded.
Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
I think it is Andrew Weatherall. He's had such an influence on music culture, yet he's hardly known by the masses. I believe it’s a common path to be born in the underground and to get somewhat arranged in the major scene to become popular, but I admire Weatherall's hard-headed and intrinsic aspect which made him a really cool DJ.
02Playlist
04Playlist Notes
The first track you played on repeat?
One of the things that got me into dance music was definitely Fatboy Slim. I watched the DVD called the 'Live on Brighton Beach' for the first time and I remember being shocked to see the footage of a woman being taken to the emergency room for being too hyped up. We wanted to recreate the experience somehow, so we made a room pitch black and played with a very intense flashing light, something that you would find in the construction site that had been brought in. As if it was almost like a club, because the flashes flickered in the dark and it felt like all my friends were dancing in slow motion in the room. We were playing with the flashes every night at a friend's house and his mother came into the room to see what was going on, but I wonder what it must have felt like to have her son dancing hyperactively in the dark with the flashing lights.
A song that defines the teenage you?
'One Step Beyond' by Madness. I was into Ska and Oi punk, so I had opted skinhead or mods, a rock steady kind of fashion back then.
One record you would keep forever?
'Choice' by Danny Howells. It's a great selection of Balearic tracks that sound fresh whenever you hear them.
A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
Sevdaliza, an Iranian artist. I saw her live and she was amazing at it. Her music videos seems quite meaningful with a high degree of perfection.
New bands you are listening to now?
'Blinding Lights' by The Weeknd. I recognise it as a viral TikTok song, though, I thought it was quite interesting to find out about the multiple versions of its music videos.
03Interview
Name, where are you from?
Yoshihiro Murakami, born in Hyogo, currently based in Tokyo.
What do you do?
BnA_WALL GM.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Andrew Weatherall at Makuhari Messe, I’m not too sure if it was the DIESEL:U:MUSIC or Electraglide. I've seen him play in the past when he did five different sets - each in different times with different genres including techno, house, dub, and reggae, so on. I think he’s delivered an LP for the Ministry Of Sound label called the 'Masterpiece' which included three sets aimed at different times. They are all great so I highly recommend it.
Which subcultures have influenced you?
Dance music. I was in the UK for a year in my early twenties and was hitting the clubs in each area almost every night. Fabric was at its peak, and I recall having a hard time deciding where to go each night because of the terrific listings for techno, drum'n'bass and dub nights.
Of all the venues you’ve been, which is your favourite?
Panorama Bar of the Berghain in Berlin. The astonishing sensation that you feel when you stand in middle of the sound that bursts out from the huge Function-one speakers, with the ultra-high and ultra-low frequency sounds on the main floor made me feel one with the music. It was unfortunate that the open-air area had been closed when I was there, though. The clubs had no mirrors, and it's completely dark so that you are completely cut off from the real world until the blinds open and the sunrise flashes in at dawn. It was such a powerful experience that I sort of stopped going to clubs after I returned to Japan when I found myself in the middle of the floor with my hands folded.
Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
I think it is Andrew Weatherall. He's had such an influence on music culture, yet he's hardly known by the masses. I believe it’s a common path to be born in the underground and to get somewhat arranged in the major scene to become popular, but I admire Weatherall's hard-headed and intrinsic aspect which made him a really cool DJ.
04Playlist Notes
The first track you played on repeat?
One of the things that got me into dance music was definitely Fatboy Slim. I watched the DVD called the 'Live on Brighton Beach' for the first time and I remember being shocked to see the footage of a woman being taken to the emergency room for being too hyped up. We wanted to recreate the experience somehow, so we made a room pitch black and played with a very intense flashing light, something that you would find in the construction site that had been brought in. As if it was almost like a club, because the flashes flickered in the dark and it felt like all my friends were dancing in slow motion in the room. We were playing with the flashes every night at a friend's house and his mother came into the room to see what was going on, but I wonder what it must have felt like to have her son dancing hyperactively in the dark with the flashing lights.
A song that defines the teenage you?
'One Step Beyond' by Madness. I was into Ska and Oi punk, so I had opted skinhead or mods, a rock steady kind of fashion back then.
One record you would keep forever?
'Choice' by Danny Howells. It's a great selection of Balearic tracks that sound fresh whenever you hear them.
A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
Sevdaliza, an Iranian artist. I saw her live and she was amazing at it. Her music videos seems quite meaningful with a high degree of perfection.
New bands you are listening to now?
'Blinding Lights' by The Weeknd. I recognise it as a viral TikTok song, though, I thought it was quite interesting to find out about the multiple versions of its music videos.