Makoto was born in Tokyo in 1977. His musical interests began in kindergarten with Beethoven. “Although my father wasn’t a musician, he loved music, and there was a lot of it at home. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was the first thing that hooked me when I went through the entire collection.” Classical music absorbed him completely until primary school, when he heard Ryuichi Sakamoto’s soundtracks for “The Last Emperor” and “The Sheltering Sky”.
“Listening to Sakamoto prompted me to start experimenting with sampling and synthesizers.” He was also impressed by the works of Ravel.
Later, he moved on to jazz, rare groove (a term coined by Kiss FM DJ Norman Jay in the mid-1980s for obscure funk and soul records, mostly from the ’70s — translator’s note) and soul. Makoto has a large repertoire of music that influenced him. He has cited Leroy Hutson, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield and Lonnie Liston Smith, all important figures of the ’70s, as well as Blue Note producer Larry Mizell. Makoto then enrolled at Nihon University, where his relationship with sound became academic: there he studied acoustics, computer simulation of sounds, and the reverberations produced by acoustic instruments.
Makoto’s first encounter with drum and bass took place around this time. During this period of his life, he organized events and DJed in Tokyo clubs. This was when he first came across Bukem’s “Logical Progression” album and Goldie’s “Inner City Life”. Hooked on the drum and bass sound, he began experimenting with an Akai sequencer and sampler. “I spent about two years trying to recreate the UK drum and bass sound.”
Endless hours of research and some additions to his equipment led to several recordings; Makoto’s approach to sound was soon noticed and resulted in releases in his home country.
Encouraged by such a positive response, around this time Makoto decided to send a demo track to several British labels, including Good Looking Records, to find out how far he had progressed in his research. According to Makoto’s recollection, “Bukem replied with a letter explaining to me how to make the beats less crazy and how to change the arrangement.” Taking these comments on board, Makoto went on to create the distinctive 12” “Wave”.
“Perhaps older drum and bass tracks focused primarily on the beat, as far as the overall mood was concerned. Each track is made to be listened to as a piece of music.” “Wave” was released on Nexus, a Good Looking sublabel, in 1998. In 1999, Makoto’s track “Butterfly” was selected for one of Bukem’s compilations, “Progression Sessions 4”, proving that Makoto had understood the Good Looking sound. Later that year, Makoto signed a long-term contract with the label and has stayed ever since, becoming one of Good Looking’s most prolific artists.
At present, Makoto is deservedly one of the most diverse and promising elements in Good Looking’s musical repertoire. Two funk-infused tracks appeared on the “Earth 4” compilation in the form of “Extensions of Life” and “Peace of Mind”; “You’re Divine” appears on “Earth 5” and receives an exclusive release in Japan. On the drum and bass front, the “Progression Sessions” series continues to release many of his tracks. And it probably doesn’t matter what kind of set Bukem is playing — whether drum and bass, downtempo or house — rest assured, you will find a dubplate bearing Makoto’s name in it.
Makoto creates music “with a feeling of soul and jazz in mind”. He believes music needs real human feeling.
Text: official Good Looking Records biography (goodlooking.org). Russian translation: redee. This English version was translated from the Russian text.
