MURO
"Super Animated Breaks & SFX〜30 Years and still counting〜"
Interview & Text by: Yu Onoda
KING OF DIGGIN' introduces you to the deep world of anime/SFX rare grooves
MURO, the internationally well-known [KING OF DIGGIN'] has continued digging into the never-ending deep vinyl world with his hands all dark and dusty. “Super Animated Breaks & SFX ~30 Years and still counting~,” is a mix CD mainly consisting of Japanese anime/SFX music from the ’70s to ’80s, that will be released to celebrate his 30th anniversary of his music activities. As a DJ mix disk of Japanese music, it’s his first work in five years since his release of “KING OF DIGGIN' ～DIGGIN' OST~ Yasagure Funk Bangaichi Hen” in 2010 which focused on film music from the ’70s, and also a piece that makes his long-planned concept finally come true.
“When I was a child, my best hero was Kamen Rider (legendary SFX hero in Japan) so whenever the show was played the music was being heard naturally, even though not consciously, and my mother used to buy me illustrated books with Sonosheets (flexi discs) which I guess was my first step to go into records. To me, anime/SFX music was the primal experience of music, but the fact that such music is recently gaining worldwide recognition significantly gave impetus to my music-digging.”
Back then, top-notch jazz musicians and film musicians who had their enthusiasm evoked by internationally evolving genres such as funk or fusion, showed their abilities in writing or playing music in the anime/SFX music world in the ’70-80s. From the viewpoint of rare groove or breakbeats, the numerous tracks too deep and experimental considering them being for kids, is a great unknown gold mine, including thrilling jazz funk with horns and strings, spacy fusion with floating analog synthesizer, and psychedelic rock with roaring electric guitars and organs.
“On anime/SFX soundtracks, a number of various types of short-length tracks are packed on one disc, and in the sense that the tracks were all written and played for particular scenes or themes, I feel like they are something like European library music. This time, I compiled such tracks with my long-planned breakbeat perspective, so that international listeners would also be able to enjoy the music. Also, because it is all the more hard to try mixing these tracks, that last only a few dozens of seconds, at their workfield of anime/SFX production, it is so meaningful to put them into a proper mix CD.”
Out of the total of 37 tracks, 7 sophisticated tracks are by Yuji Ohno, the established jazz pianist well known for his soundtracks of [Lupin The Third] which MURO often gives to foreign DJs as gifts. Added to those are tracks such as composer Shunsuke Kikuchi’s “Kamen Rider,” a tune characterized by its funky 16 beats. All the selected songs are deeply associated with MURO’s memories and pasts.
“Our family ran a gas station and there was a movie theater two doors from our place. Because my parents were too busy to take care of me, I had to watch movies from morning to night. And there were several films whose music was by Yuji Ohno among the films I watched. Later, I met DJ KRUSH, who recommended me Bob James at a record store and I felt (the mood of) his sound resembled Ohno’s music very much, so I’ve been feeling a bit of a hip hop taste in Ohno’s music. The same goes for “Kamen Rider.” As the most of the tracks we recorded this time had been written for heels, the connection with hip hop is probably the [evil] atmosphere in the sound (laughs).”
Rare groove has fascinated MURO for 30 years throughout his career. The ideas not only give us new values to music and connect the past with the present, but also reflect the future of music.
“I’d be happy if this piece would become an opportunity for people to be exposed to unknown music, and would love to make sequels as I always have music that I want to introduce to people. Also, I want to try re-creating the world of this mix CD, performed in a band format. I think nothing would be cooler to perform Kamen Rider music live (smiles).
