Introduce yourself? Where do you currently reside?
Hi, I’m Yuzo Iwata. I’ve lived in Berlin for 10 years but originally from Sapporo, Japan
What is your process for getting a mix together?
First, I loosely imagine the overall temperature or mood. Then I start digging through the records I have at home. When it’s for a podcast, I don’t just line up tracks. I treat the whole mix as a single piece and try to give it its own character.
3 adjectives that start with the same letter to describe you before a gig?
Slowly / Sticky / Sleepy
Go to your collection of records, pull out the 3rd one in the lower shelf to the left… what is it and why did you buy?
It’s a field recording record of steam locomotives released in Japan in the late 1960s to the 1970s. Captures the sound of steam trains pushing at full power as they climb mountain passes, recorded at various locations. The lower-left shelf of my collection is almost entirely made up of train records. There was a period of several years when I obsessively collected steam locomotive records, and this was one of the first records I bought during that time. The insert booklet features a single enthusiast introducing each locomotive. The writing feels almost like erotic fiction and is completely unhinged. One of my favorite recordings is described as “a refined lady breathing heavily.”
Listen to the moment at 3:33 min mark in your PI mix… describe how it makes you feel?
Ketamine.
Best trip of your life so far (Psychedelic or Travel)
About twenty years ago, I traveled from Tokyo to see Goa Gil for the first time at a rave held at Mount Aso in Kumamoto, Kyushu. It was on a massive grass-covered volcano that looks like a place where UFOs might appear. I was a broke student at the time, so a friend and I took only local trains, transferring endlessly and spending more than twenty hours getting there. Along the way, we camped near Takachiho, an area considered one of the origins of Japanese shrine mythology. It was the first time I physically felt what people call a “power spot.” At that time, I was completely out of control. Later, I found out a friend had uploaded a video of me singing and dancing in the middle of the night to YouTube without telling me. The next day, Goa Gil played a 24-hour set, mainly using tape, though I don’t remember whether it was cassette or DAT. I was young and inexperienced, and the experience was overwhelming. I took a lot of LSD and felt as if my cells were breaking apart one by one. I was completely synchronized with the sound. I’ve never had an experience that surpassed that trip. At one point, my friend disappeared. While searching for him, I first found his T-shirt, then further ahead his pants, then his underwear, and finally his socks, one on the right, then one on the left. Beyond that, on the dancefloor, he was completely naked, gently embraced by a stranger who clearly knew their way around raves. In that moment, I understood how deep love in this world can be. If I were to see a young person panicking and standing naked on a dancefloor now, would I be able to quietly hold them the same way?
What is the last recipe you made?
Tarako spaghetti.
Let’s play a pi pi pi game… I give you a situation & you give me a track…
Grey sky, snow on the street in a rainbow garden
Hour 18 on a long flight across the world
Waking up from a coma in 2035
What was your first gig as a DJ and how did it go?
I played my first club set at a hip-hop party when I was 17, still in high school. It was at a club in Shibuya called Earthly Paradise, which no longer exists. For some reason, there was a ramen stall inside the underground club, and I clearly remember how incredibly good that ramen was.
I don’t remember much about the actual set because I was desperately focused, but I do remember being extremely sleepy since I wasn’t used to staying up all night. I used ramen to trick myself into staying awake.
What film would you like to score?
CON AIR.
Favorite gig in 2025?
My first time playing Panorama Bar, in March. I was opening, but even after ten minutes, then twenty minutes, no one entered the dancefloor. The week before, I had gone in as the first customer to simulate the situation, and I knew it took about ten minutes to reach Panorama Bar even if you checked your coat slowly. I had decided to introduce the first kick drum at the fifteen-minute mark. So I realized something was wrong. There was an issue with the entrance system, and the first dancer appeared in front of me only after forty-five minutes. Inside the DJ booth, however, I felt no anxiety at all. When friends who had been waiting to dance started arriving one after another, the energy on the floor rose instantly. It became an indescribably beautiful DJ experience. I will never forget that moment. It was the first time since the DJ booth at Precious Hall, my home in Japan, that I felt truly safe and comfortable playing. Being able to play slowly for the lighting and bar staff during those first forty-five minutes was also a special experience.
Best DJ experience so far?
It’s hard to choose just one, but FLOPPY, the party I’ve been organizing at Precious Hall since 2011, is my origin point. Every edition carries deep meaning for me. It’s the place I value the most.
Track to describe your humor?
DJ Travel tip?
Sleep whenever you can, even in short gaps. And when coming to Japan, make absolutely sure you’re not accidentally bringing drugs with you.
Hottest take about summer?
You’re the one who decides whether summer is over or not.
Tell me about this mix?
A languid downtempo trip. It was actually recorded in summer, but it still sounds good in winter. Maybe that’s just how the relationship between music and seasons works. Reggae sounds great in the snow too. 🛷 As always, I recorded it at home with a simple setup: two turntables and a rotary mixer.
Fav find recently at a record store?
A song you like that would surprise your friends?
But honestly, I don’t think my friends would be surprised by anything I like anymore.
What is your most rinsed album as a teen?
What would you like to see in the future musically within yourself and others?
Musically, I’m only searching for music I personally love, so I don’t really expect anything from others. But I do hope that record production costs and prices go down again, like they used to. Not only reissues or obvious sellers, but more music should be preserved on vinyl. Records are the most durable format for connecting the past and the future through music.