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DJ JIN Special Interview vol.2 (English version)

Thanks to our special guest DJ JIN, "Soul Matters Vol.9" was a great success. We are proud to present the second half of our two-part interview with DJ JIN. (Click here for part 1) Mr. JIN shared with us about his collaboration project with cro-magnon, Cro-Magnon-Jin and their 7-inch record box album "The New Discovery" (Jazzy Sport) released last year, and also released for digital and CD on March 5. We hope this interview will provide a deep understanding of "The New Discovery" as a modern-day funk in today’s age. Interviewer: Shima, Editor:Yuta Nakamura, translated by Izumi Sakamoto

ーI listened to your new release, Cro-Magnon-Jin’s 7-inch box, “The New Discovery”. Honestly, I’m afraid to say that I’m not good at using the songs in my DJ mixes yet……

DJ JIN (J): I bet you thought “What the hell is this song!?” or like “Damn, really!?”, right? [laughing]

ー Your 7-inch single released in 2014, “QP Funk” (Jazzy Sport), was easier to understand I’m not sure if this is the best way to describe it, but the song was still inside the boundaries of what I think is today’s funk. The intro has a long drum break, and it’s great for beat juggling. But that wasn’t what I felt with "The New Discovery”.

J: Well, that was intentional because “QP Funk" was Cro-Magnon-Jin’s first song, so we wanted to make it a song that would be what people would expect and a song to introduce who we were are. That’s why we put a drum break in the intro, and another one in the middle of the song, and after the climax we ended it with a cutout of us jamming. There’s a part where the song goes into a half-time feel, that’s when you play a fast song at half speed, but basically we tried to keep it within the good-sounding “rules” of funk.

So we released that song to introduce ourselves, but what we really wanted to do was future funk. We decided that in “The New Discovery”, we won’t do stuff that are the good-sounding “rules” of funk, like starting the song with a drum break, or play a drum break in the middle of the song.

Well, when I was making RHYMESTER’s “Ningen-Kosaten”, Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro played the track for us, and not only that but in recent hip-hop and future beats, and club music in general, nowadays there’s a lot of projects where they make music with guys of musicianship. The way I see it, Kamasi Washington is club music, and Thundercat is also making music with Kendrick Lamar. Now the line between live music and programming is blurring, and there’s a movement where live music sounds like programmed music.

So we put ourselves in this movement and wanted to make funk that would lead to the future. I thought we shouldn’t do stuff that we used to. Let go of those good-sounding “rules”, and make something that would inspire and influence our listeners, something that just feels good to hear. The three guys from cro-magnon also love that kind of ideas and I can share my thoughts with them, and their skills and sound are perfect, so we were all in line from the beginning. So your reaction of being surprised is the correct response from my point of view.

ー You mentioned Kamasi Washington, and that really connected the dots. It’s not exactly in the boundaries of something that’s made from purely deep funk. There’s something outside of the boundaries, and makes us wonder how to handle those parts. I don’t mean to be rude, but I think “Ningen-Kosaten” is still in the boundaries. There’s an original sampled song, the beat’s pretty straightforward, and it’s not too hard to use. But Cro-Magnon-Jin’s title track “The New Discovery”, well the tempo really drops during the song, and feels like there’s two endings in the song. I was shocked.

J: Let me ask you a question then, Shima. Have you ever played “The New Discovery” at a gig?

ー I bring the song to every show, but the intro doesn’t have a fill-in that’s easy to start with, so I must say I haven’t mastered using it yet. I really think “The New Discovery” is a “crossroad song” like you mentioned in our previous interview…… but I’m not skilled enough yet to use it the way I want to.

J: I see…… Well for the intro, you should start at the third beat. If you think in two bars or eight beats, start at the seventh beat.

While we were making the title track of “The New Discovery”, we had a plan to make the intro fill more generic, but in the end we made it a little unusual. We decided to put in more fun surprises. As a DJ myself, and I also write songs, I was really confident that if this kind of music with fun surprises was released now, it would definitely reach the audience. I want to make songs that I can and want to play as a DJ.

But you know, I really think it was something we had to do. Making something that’s straightforward is another option, but as Cro-Magnon-Jin, the people who check our songs are probably enthusiasts, or will listen to us critically, so we had to be intense. Be totally focused, something like shouting “Booyah!”, and send out something with full commitment, telling them “We did our part!”. So that’s why we decided to release the 7-inch vinyl box first.

ー When I first heard that the release was going to be a 7-inch vinyl box, I thought that this was really meant for the floors, for DJs.

J: Well, we could have released whenever we wanted to if it was digital or CDs, but that's a different story, and we thought about what kind of sound we wanted to deliver. So I talked to Okuda, who’s a top sound engineer I trust, and he said “Why don’t you set your goal for vinyl release and be dedicated all the way?” and we decided to go with Okuda’s suggestion.

We chose a recording studio that has a whole lot of vintage equipment, but also had everything for digital recording. We wanted to have the best of both worlds of analog and digital, and make the sound completely today's funk, future funk. For example, people say that the recording of D’Angelo’s “Black Messiah” was dedicated for analog, but there are some digital processes. When it came to mastering, the final process of finishing the sound, we went even further and - well, from here we just followed Okuda’s suggestion - but we asked a German craftsman who only mastered for vinyl records to do the finishing touch. Anyways, the 7-inch box set was the initial release, so it was mastered 100% for vinyl. When the craftsman sent us the final tracks there was a note with a warning that said “These tracks were mastered exclusively for vinyl only, so do not use this for digital or CD.”[laughing]

Of course, that was the plan so we had to think about how to finish the tracks for digital and CD. We dicideed to use the 7-inch test press record as the master tape, and finish it for digital and CD. Well, it’ old-school remastering from records. Only a handful of people do this kind of stuff nowadays, but we decided to dedicate into every detail. The songs, recording, mastering, packaging, all of it wasn't easy at all. So the way we recorded, the “What the hell!?” kind of style, we did it all so the listeners could feel some kind of fun surprises, and it would be really worth it if they felt something like that in our music.

And above all, we really want to thank everyone at Jazzy Sport who let us do all these things we wanted to and made it possible. Nowadays there’s always a budget and sometimes there’s a restriction on how to make the music.

Photo Credit: Takatomo Teranishi

ー In this progressive approach that’s a step or two ahead, was there an influence from “Breakthrough”?

J: Of course, definitely. Breakthrough is a experimental playground of sound. I feel the acoustics and the songs with my body when I play, and the other DJs also play great selections so I feed back what I experience there.

ー So do you feed back the house and techno music that DJs play at “Breakthrough”?

J: Well, sort of at the core of the sound, at the roots. The groovy feeling or exciting stuff, the “Damn, that’s good” or “For Real!?” feel. There's something like that in every genre, and that’s what I implement.

ー So, that sound you made was born from your experimental playground. I think a lot of rare groove DJs are really twisting their minds on how to use “The New Discovery” in their own way.

J: Well, we released it as future funk rather than rare groove. This piece might be a little progressive if you look at it from a rare groove point of view, but it would be worth all our effort if you feel something from our songs.

By the way, I think it was the middle of 2014 when I started to do the kinds of stuff I was thinking to do with “QP Funk” and Cro-Magnon-Jin. When I was starting these things, well, I mentioned Kamasi Washington, but when I listen to that last year, it really felt like we were living the same era, or like I knew somebody was going to release something like that.[laughing] 100% live bands playing club music. Well, they’re jazz and we’re funk so it might feel a little different.　

When I released an album with the guys at “Breakthrough” there were similar stuff like Sa-Ra Creative Partners or Detroit’s WAJEED, or the broken beat movement in West London. We didn’t talk to anyone or have any meetings, but a lot of people around the world had the same kind of ideas. Well, at least that’s what I believe.

Oh, and of course, there was Tommy (←Note: YOSUKE TOMINAGA, organizer of “CHAMP”). There’s no doubt that Tommy’s aggressive style influenced Cro-Magnon-Jin. Tommy’s Amazing!Write that in bold.[laughing] I’m really inspired by Tommy’s pieces and work. There’s no doubt about that.

ー Was making music as a band also influenced from Mr. TOMINAGA?

J: Actually, in my case playing with bands goes back a lot earlier. For example when I released “LES CACTUS” as DJ JIN in 2005, SOIL&”PIMP”SESSIONS played that funk song, and I also produced and directed Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro, and produced the Japanese hip-hop band Shima San Kyodai. As RHYMSTER, the guys from Crazy Ken Band played “WELCOME2MYROOM” which we released in 2004. I’ve been doing live-band funk music as a hip-hop DJ from a while ago.

But then I saw Tommy’s great works in theses past few years. I also play his pieces in my DJ mixes really frequently so I wanted to show my response to his work as a way to show my appreciation, of course.

ー I guess that’s his first 7-inch, “Daytona” (CHAMP RECORDS)?

J: That too, but all his songs. Tommy also has a hip-hop mind so I really relate to his soundmaking, and he inspired me. Then, the project of Cro-Magnon-Jin first started with my joke (Note: Cro-Magnon-Jin literally means the Cro-Magnon Humans in Japanese), but when we decided to do funk, Tommy was doing so much, so I personally wanted to do something intense too and answer to his work.

OK, so let’s get back to the recording of Cro-Magnon-Jin. There’s a thing called click, it’s a guide sound to follow the BPM, but when you play along with the click the rhythm’s tight so it’s easier to mix as a DJ, but it didn’t feel right for this funk we were going to do. We didn’t want to stick to the BPM, but wanted to do something with explosion, just go with our instincts, so even if the song was off-tempo we wanted to take something that sounded perfect at that moment. cro-magnon are gurus and no doubt they could have played with perfect precision, but we intentionally wanted to do something different. That’s why we tried to play with our instinct and passion always in our minds. All the songs beside “Far Distance” are free-tempo. For contrast, we wanted that song to have a tight rhythm.

ー How did you produce the songs? Was it like making the concepts?

J: Well, ideas, concepts, and conducting. I was in the control room and shouted "play this for these bars!", and then "do that after these bars!", like James Brown.[laughing] Oh, and of course there were songs that were made from cro-magnon’s jams. For example, “First Landing” was born from a jam cro-magnon was playing during a break. I wasn’t in the studio, but I heard the sound an ran back and said ”Wait, that’s the shit! Keep playing!” [laughing]

ー The the tempo in the title track “The New Discovery” suddenly drops and then speeds up again, could you tell us about that song?

J: For that song, I asked “can you drop the BPM and speed it up again?” and cro-magnon was like “Really?” for a second. [laughing] But right after they said “Sounds fun, we'll give it a try!” And when they actually did it, cro-magnon’s groove was just overwhelming and it was a lot more effective than I imagined. Besides that song, throughout the recording I was crushed with cro-magnon’s powerful sound, and thought to myself “I can’t believe there are bands like this”. By the way, when you play “The New Discovery” at a club the crowd goes wild when the BPM drops. Even though the tempo drops they really heat up.

ー I really know what you mean. When I caught a glimpse of the record you put on the turntable, I was like “It’s the song with the BPM drop!” and got really excited.[laughing]

Sorry for going back again, but I think that “The New Discovery” is organ funk, but there are songs that aren’t, and have to think about how to match the feeling with the songs I play before and after.

J: Well, the sound stage is totally wide-ranged and surrounding compared to old funk. Maybe you’ll have trouble with adjusting the tone or acoustics when you play them with older songs, but that’s what the sound of this day means. Doing funk today is about making today’s sound.

ー As you mentioned before, and also Ryhei The Man talked about it in his interview with Soul Matters, but the best DJs choose amazing songs when they change the tempo, and I think those songs makes their own flow. And even better, they don’t use songs that fade out. Going back to the same subject again, Cro-Magnon-Jin’s songs all have a tight ending, especially since I think fast funk song’s shouldn’t end with fade-outs.

J: That’s a thing that we also intended. I always kept in mind that when you use the song as a DJ, you could mix it to whatever kind of song. There are some weird transitions in the middle of the songs, but actually they can be mixed with any song so they’re meant for DJing. ー The songs have a cross-over taste in them, and they sound like they can be played before deep funk, but at the same time they sound good for playing before disco boogie, and it’s just amazing. Once I master playing the songs from “The New Discovery”, I’m imagining that I’ll really enjoy thinking about how to use them in my DJ mixes and how to make the flow. They’re a challenge definitely worth it for a DJ. It’s just amazing.

（Photo credit: Tsuyoshi Sato. From Cro-Magnon-Jin's live performance at "Breakthrough"＠Shibuya The Room, March 4th.） Cro-Magnon-Jin's "The New Discovery" On Sale March 5th for CD & Digital!

Buy it on iTunes↓ （ https://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/the-new-discovery/id1087809394 ）

Cro-Magnon-Jin「The New Discovery」Official MV （ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyVQf2skapk ）

Listen to the album on SoundCloud↓ （ https://soundcloud.com/jazzysport/cro-magnon-jin-the-new-discovery-7-boxset-teaser )

#dj jin #DJ event #RHYMESTER #interview #music #raregroove #Soul #hiphop #Funk #clubmusic #japan

Cro-Magnon-Jin「The New Discovery」Official MV

日本を代表するヒップホップ・グループRHYMESTERのDJ JIN。そして日本が世界に誇るダンスミュージック・スリーピース・バンドCro-Magnon。長年に渡り交流を育んで来た両者が、共にスタジオに入り、コラボレーション・プロジェクトCro-Magnon-Jinとしてのアルバム作品『The New Discovery』を完成。

#Cro-Magnon-Jin #cro-magnon #DJ JIN #RHYMESTER

DJ JIN’s Selection For Soul Matters (Feb.21)

Merv Murphy／It's Growing (Simmons) 「シカゴ・ブルースの巨匠によるレーベルから、おそらく1970年代にリリースされたであろうクロス・オーヴァー・ソウル傑作。「ジェントルとは何か」を教えてくれるヴォーカル・ワークと、それをさらに際立たせ呼応する女性コーラス。ホーンやストリングスも交えた豊潤なアレンジも相まって優勝。」

DJ Spinna／Domecrackers EP (Jazzy Sport) 「先日、ジャジースポートよりいただいたテスト盤。お馴染みスピナ先生によるコズミック・サウンドなアプローチのEP。歌ありラップありで、全曲グッジョブ。プレイするたびに必ず「これ、誰ですか？」と訊かれるもうじき正規リリースな一枚。」

Philip Cohran And The Artistic Heritage Ensemble／Loud Mouth (Zulu) 「1960年代の貴重ジャズ・ファンクな一枚。サン・ラの楽団で活動していたフィリップ・コーラン率いるアンサンブル。後のアース・ウィンド&ファイアのホーン・セクションも在籍。フィリップ師が操るエレクトリック・カリンバは、もちろんモーリス・ホワイトに直接的影響を与えたわけで。重要。」 All Comments by DJ JIN

#dj #dj selection #dj jin #vinyl #record #rhymester #soul #crossover #jazzfunk

Cro-Magnon-Jin "The New Discovery" 7" boxset teaser

#SoundCloud #jazzysport #Cro-Magnon-Jin #cro-magnon #DJ JIN #RHYMESTER

The New Discovery by Cro-Magnon 7″ boxset coming next month on @jazzysporttaro

#SoundCloud #jazzysport #Cro-Magnon-Jin #cro-magnon #DJ JIN #RHYMESTER

Visit Original Link

Rhymester | 20 Centuries [Beatnuts Remix] | 1995

Hip hop trio Rhymester was formed by Mummy-D, Utamaru, and DJ Jin in 1989, becoming one of the oldest hip hop acts in the japanese music scene. The group was originally backlashed by critics with their debut album ''Ore ni Iwaserya' from 1993, but they later became more popular as they gain fans not only from the hip hop scene but also from different music spheres like pop and rock. Heavily influenced by the american urban culture, the group made a curious adaptation of the american rap slang within japanese standards, which almost became like a new urban dialect.

#Rhymester #Mummy-D #Utamaru #DJ Jin #Beatnuts