Hello, dear readers of Good Error Mag, here's J.Lamotta Suzume writing to you from my apartment in Tel Aviv. This time I would love to introduce a new project which is very close to my heart. The name of this project is Searching Skies, and it's a collaboration album with the Tokyo-based producer Budamunk. Budamunk and I met in the summer of 2018 in Tokyo and made music together ever since, exchanging ideas between Tokyo, Berlin, and Tel-Aviv. So I want to share with you some stories about this friendship and journey.
I started listening to Budamunk somewhere around 2014 when I moved to Berlin. My friend said, "I think you'll like this guy", and played me his album, "Boom Bap Theory". It was so wavy, and I was hooked. It was one of those albums that you keep going back to. I practiced the percussion and sang along to his instrumental beats as I did with Dilla's beats. Then, a few years later, in 2018, when I was visiting J-WAVE Studios in Tokyo for an interview with Sascha Boeckle to promote my show in Japan, Sascha asked me if there was a Japanese artist that I wished to collaborate with. My answer was obvious - Budamunk!
Later on, I got a phone call from one of the managers at Blue Note Tokyo saying that he heard the interview and invited Budamunk to my show (Such a lovely gesture). I didn't have high hopes, but he came down to the gig like a true legend, and we managed to meet and exchange contacts. Searching Skies was mainly written from far away, but we met again a year later and already had a clear vision about the release. The first song we wrote together was "Eyes to the Skies", which is now released as the first single. The music video was filmed in Oct 2019 in Shinjuku by Toru Kosemura and Tomohito Morita (Damn Good Production).
その後、その番組を聞いていたBLUE NOTE TOKYOのマネージャーから電話があって、私の公演にBudaMunkを招待した、と聞かされたの。まさか本当に来てくれると思わなかったけど、実際に彼はやって来て、そこで連絡先を交換できた。
それから『Searching Skies』の収録曲を主にリモートで一緒に制作してきて、2019年に再会した際には既にアルバムとしてリリースするビジョンがはっきりしてた。
二人で最初に作った曲は、先行シングルとしてリリースされた「Eyes to the Skies」。MVも公開されていて、2019年の10月に新宿にてDAMNGOOD PRODUCTIONによって撮影されたの。
I can't wait to share the entire album, which will be fully released on 5.11.21 with Jakarta Records and Jazzy Sport.
『Searching Skies』は、2021年11月5日にJAKARTA RECORDSとJAZZY SPORTからリリース予定。みんなにこのアルバムを聞いてもらうのが本当に楽しみ!
Otherwise, let's try something! Feel free to ask anything you wanna know. You can msg me on IG (j.lamotta.suzume) and I'll share your questions and respond here.
何か知りたいことがあったら、私のインスタ(@j.lamotta.suzume)にDMしてね。今後、このコラムで質問に答えたりするのも楽しいかもね。
Music recommendation -
“ Boom Bap Theory”, a beautiful instrumental album by Budamunk.
おすすめ音楽
今回のコラムでも話題に上った、BudaMunkの『Boom Bap Theory』。本当に美しいアルバムなので是非聴いてみて。