Destroy all woofers

Japan’s Goth-Trad carves out his
own dubstep sound and scene

SONIC SAMURAI: Goth-Trad

by JACK OATMON

Gritty South London-style street rhythms, smashing together heavy ragga bass hooks and 2-step broken beats, might seem an odd fit for a Tokyo techno producer. The waves of Jamaican immigrant sounds and Euro techno fads that hammered the U.K. for decades to forge the dubstep movement are a long haul, physically and culturally, from the bustling streets of Tokyo. But bass-driven sound system culture has never been easily landlocked, and Japan’s Takeaki Maruyama, aka Goth-Trad, has been weaving his own hypnotic, sinister digital dub sound for a decade.

“I had been listening to many kinds of music, especially during the ’90s,” says Maruyama. “I was very much into U.K. dance music. But my music comes from my life and my experiences. I write music naturally. And I don’t know what the Japanese style is. I’ve never thought about that. I just grew up in Japan, so the situations and scenery might form my musical influences.”

An information technology graduate, Maruyama wrote his thesis on pink noise and spent time producing experimental noise music and sample-based recordings before getting into dub production. His sampling machine work early on inspired him to pursue a live style rather than DJing. He’s now made a name for himself, hitting the international circuit with his live P.A. set-up. Over the past 10 years, he’s produced three albums as Goth-Trad and another three as half of dub duo Rebel Familia. He’s currently planning a fall tour in Europe, working on a 12-inch and some remixes for release, and writing an upcoming album.

The past three years, Maruyama has also been building a local dubstep scene in Tokyo from the ground up, running a regular party called Back to Chill. “It‘s getting bigger slowly. Three years ago, there were no dubstep parties in Japan, but a lot happened last year. And some new DJs and producers are getting into it recently. The scene isn’t big yet but it’s growing. At the beginning, some experimental noise and breakcore people were interested in it. Now, some people from drum & bass, jungle, dub, techno, hip hop and electro are into it.“