Name: Kiji Suedo
Nationality: Japanese
Occupation: Producer
Recent release: Kiji Suedo's debut album Riot is out via Hobbes.
Recommendations: First I would like to introduce you to Hobbes Music, the label that will be releasing my first album. I think all of their releases are excellent and exciting. One of my favorites is Kota Motomura, whose work I happened to find on Apple music's new releases, and I looked up Hobbes Music. I remember being very surprised when I heard back from Andrew, the owner, because I didn't expect him to like my weird demo track. But I digress a bit.
Aside from my work, I really recommend the recently released Roll On King's Cross by George T, which is also cool. I don't mind the classic Dub sound, but after listening to George T, I realized again that I love Dub with its sharp and distinctive sound. I love Dub, and I am always fascinated by Dub, especially when it inherits and evolves the classic sound.
There are many more good tracks besides these pieces, so please give them a listen.
The second is Endless Poetry at the movies.

If you enjoyed this interview with Kiji Suedo and would like to find out more, visit him on Instagram, twitter, and Soundcloud.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

When I was a teenager I played guitar in a band. I loved Sly and the family stone and other sounds from the same era, and the music I listened to back then had a big influence on me today.

At the same time, I spent my youth listening to a lot of French electro. I especially loved the sounds of Justice, Boys noize, and Gesaffelstein and was very fascinated by their style. Their aggressive sound, including industrial techno, was very much in tune with my teenage self.

Maybe I feel the same way that people of a slightly older generation became obsessed with punk rock.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

I believe that electronic music these days is not about chords and melodies, but about deep sound design, which creates the artist's character, personality, and genre. I also inherit various styles and express new styles through sound design.

The colors, shapes, and things feel the way they do because of the textures that are designed in detail.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

I love making music more than anything else, and I find the most joy in being able to complete music with my own hands that I am satisfied with. Therefore, I feel growth and challenge as an artist every time I make music.

I consider my own musical pursuit and growth to be the accumulation of more today than yesterday and more tomorrow than today.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

This is a difficult question, but my identity as a Japanese person may not be that strong. I like artists who have originality that transcends national and ethnic boundaries, and I would like to be one of those artists.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

I have never really thought of music and art separately, but it is very important for me to capture the gap between styles and create something unique. In Japanese parlance, it is called "gap industry''.

I believe that innovative ideas that are not inherited from anywhere (without influence or context) are just bizarre and boring.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

Innovation is what I mentioned earlier, but the transmission of tradition is also important to me.

I don't currently believe that my music can be passed on to the next generation, but it is great to be able to make music that can influence the next generation. I would be very happy if any artists felt that way.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

I have always had a very strong interest in sampling-based music. Perhaps this is natural since I was influenced by the French electro scene. I have a strong interest and admiration for the way music is produced, with the help of software.

I use a PC, but I have a great admiration for artists and production methods that allow them to create their work using only a sampler machine and an MTR.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

I work full time as an engineer for a Japanese company. I have been making music for 2 to 3 hours after work, drinking a lot of whiskey, sleeping for about 6 hours, and going to work for many years now.

The next day, when I have finished a good piece of music, I can wake up in the morning with a really happy feeling.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

There are two works that I am particularly attached to: Colonial Patterns by Huerco S and Replica by OPN.


Both pieces are sampling-driven but have deep details, and they became the foundation of my electro music. I listened to these two albums until my eardrums were worn out.

I always wanted to make music like theirs, and they became my bible. Now that I make music using only what I have inside me, I don't feel directly influenced by other people's work, but these two albums are a little special to me.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

First of all, with regard to listening, I feel as if I am looking into the mind of the author. Conversely, when others listen to my music, it is as if they are looking directly into my head. Both in a positive way, but for me, music is also something very personal, something that is always connected to someone else.

I don't know how it affects the creative outcome, but I think the influence of these strange sensations affects my music as an introvert.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

I believe that society is the human mind. Because that is what a riot is.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

Whether the various definitions of art and music are equal is a very difficult question for me. But music has been everywhere in my 29 years of life.

Great music has guided me through every moment, and has taken me to wonderful worlds at any given time, as long as I had earphones or headphones. I am sure all music lovers feel the same way.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?  

I am very interested in how the human brain selects music. I know there has been a lot of research on this, but I believe it is based on DNA, not on upbringing or influences from others.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I don't think it is any different in essence from making a good cup of coffee. I believe that making music is nothing special, and anyone can start right away. This is especially true of electro music, which can be easily started by anyone with a PC.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

I don't know specifically, but I think it is the synchronization between the listener and the creator.

As I mentioned in the previous question, I think it is because we are able to glimpse the personal side of the creator through the music, which conveys deep emotion and excitement.