So here’s the thing, Shinichi Osawa is not a name we’ve never heard of. And it’s not like we haven’t seen him in Kuala Lumpur more than once or twice. But all of that is due to the fact that, yes, he’s pretty amazing – for an Asian DJ, especially. Over the course of his career, he has released about five solo albums, more than five remix albums, and more than ten singles, on top of all the work/collaborations that he has done with other artistes, DJs, and producers.
Phew!
And you might have already heard that he was just here yesterday for the launch of Asahi Malaysia‘s “Club Asahi“, where he took the stage right after our very own local duo, Bass Agents. How apt is it to enlist the world’s #1 Japanese DJ to take the stage at the launch though, right? Right.
Lucky us, we managed to catch him for all of five minutes right before the press conference. This went down:
Hi Shinichi-san! Welcome back to Malaysia. How long has it been since your last trip to Kuala Lumpur?
“I think it was last year at Zouk Club Kuala Lumpur!”
You haven’t released a studio album in awhile now. What have you been up to?
“I released one about one and a half years ago. Paul Chambers and I worked on a project called ‘Singapore Swing’. So yeah, that’s the last thing I did, really. But I’ve an album in the works – I’ll be doing an EP with some of my friends. I’ve also been touring. I’m always touring, haha!”
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What a jetsetter! Any memorable gigs in the time that you’ve been touring? Which one did you think was the best?
“Two weeks ago, near my hometown in Kyoto, in one of my favourite clubs. They closed for about 10 months previously and when it reopened, I played. It was amazing! It felt like a revival. And there were a lot of people so it felt great.”
Will you be working with any DJs/producers in the near future or are there any collaborations that you’re looking at?
“Definitely Boysnoize. He’s the best. Also, Soulwax. I’ve worked with some pop artistes before such as Ayumi Hamasaki and Namie Amuro, and the idea of a collaboration is okay but I can’t think of any that I want to work it right now.”
You know, while we’re on the subject of potential DJs/producers/artistes that you want to someday work with, who or what are you currently listening to on your playlist?
“Ah! I’ll show you (whips out a shiny iPhone 5). The newest addition to my playlist would be a Swedish singer-songwriter named Peter Poehl. His music is very mellow and chilled out. He sounds a lot like Simon & Garfunkel. It’s very relaxing! You should listen to him too.”
We will!
Thanks for speaking to us, Shinichi-san. We hope your trip was awesome and that we’ll see you again soon. Don’t be a stranger! For more information Shinichi Osawa, hit up his official website. He’s also on Twitter if you want to stalk him. No pressure!
