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Japanese Mixologist Ain’t Kidding With Kidda

Ko Matsushima Mixes Up Electronic Pop Anthems

There’s a lot of mystique surrounding a lot of DJing, but a few talented mixologists are happy to put their skillz on display for many to learn from and watch. One of these is Japanese whizzkid Ko Matsushima, one of the most tech-savvy and talented new DJ/producers of the new Japanese generation. He’s equipment gods Pioneer’s official tech demonstrator for Japan, and has some serious skillz.

Ko has played at most of the major clubs in Japan – as well as at Ministry Of Sound in the UK – and has released tracks with production partner Erich Logan. He’s also remixed people like Tiger Stripes and UK electronic pop don Kidda.

The latter remix came about after Kidda’s label Skint, the home of Fatboy Slim, saw a YouTube clip of Ko DJing the Hervé remix of Kidda’s summery hit ‘Under The Sun’ (the track that was used by Bacardi in their major TV and cinema campaign a couple of years ago). To a packed crowd in Japan, Ko was doing crazy stuff with Ableton and CDJs.

Now Skint have got Ko to do a minimix of tracks from Kidda’s new electronic-pop album ‘Hotel Radio’. Using Ableton Live with iPad, Pioneer CDJ-2000, DJM-900 mixer and EFX-1000, a bird’s eye view of the DJ’s hands in action captures some dextrous techniques in full effect. See the international co-production exclusively here:

Kidda is currently putting together a live show, with a live band and animation in full effect. His latest single ‘The Whistler’, with remixes by Subskrpt, Stupid Fresh and the Living Graham Bond, has been played all over and is out now on Skint.