Satoshi Tomiie

The Ichiro of house music says his adopted hometown, New York, isn’t what it used to be

“It would be difficult for me to move back to Japan” Courtesy of Womb

Long before the current crop of Japanese baseball sluggers went West, even before pioneer Hideo Nomo signed with the LA Dodgers in 1995, producer Satoshi Tomiie was well ensconced in New York as part of the legendary Def Mix DJ collective.

Discovered in Japan when “Godfather of House” Frankie Knuckles performed at a promo party for cosmetics firm Shiseido, Tomiie—who was then a college student and asked to produce a track for the gig—relocated to New York in 1989. There he joined Knuckles and David Morales as a member of one of the pivotal DJ production/management teams of the house music explosion.
“Working for them was like going to school for me,” recalls the compact DJ over coffee during a recent swing through Tokyo to promote his new mix CD.

“I learned about engineering, production and the business side of music:
I watched and learned.”

One of the early fruits of Tomiie’s move was the Knuckles/Tomiie collaboration “Tears,” now regarded as a vocal house classic. In the ’90s, Tomiie went on to do remix and production work with the likes of Photek, David Bowie, Mariah Carey and Japanese R&B diva Misia.

Amazingly for the turbulent world of club music, Tomiie is still with Def Mix 17 years later. “It’s the only management I’ve ever worked with. I’m lucky that I didn’t have to change because most DJs struggle to find the right management.”

With the development of a global market for clubbing, Def Mix is now less focused on production work than on its role as a DJ agency. “A lot of my time is spent on the plane,” he says. “I do about 120 gigs per year.” Tomiie hits key spots like London and Ibiza on a regular basis, but reckons that the best places to DJ are far-flung locations in Eastern Europe and South America, where the clubbing experience is still fresh.

New York, he adds, isn’t as exciting as it was in the years after he moved there. “The best period of the club scene was in the late-’80s and early-’90s, especially for house music,” he reminisces. “New York was a capital of dance music at that time, and a lot of great producers were making music there. But then the excitement moved to Europe, and New York became more of an importer of dance music. There are still a lot of places to go out to, but as far as the music goes, it’s moved elsewhere.”

The tracklist of Tomiie’s new three-disc compilation tells the same story, with most of the featured producers based in Europe. The first installment of marquee clubbing brand Renaissance’s new series, Renaissance Presents 3D: Satoshi Tomiie, consists of a “Club” disc,
a “Studio” disc and a “Home” disc.

The “Club” disc provides a taste of the cutting-edge house Tomiie is currently spinning for the dancefloor; “Studio” shows what he’s up to behind the mixing desk with, among others, an update of “Tears”; and “Home” indicates Tomiie’s leanings toward chilling out at his crib to jazz with tracks by Miles Davis and Roy Ayers. The series, the latest of which is a new set by Faithless, allows DJs to show off their various roles as priests of the dancefloor, hardworking producers and cultural tastemakers.

Does Tomiie, who always gets a hero’s welcome when he returns to Tokyo, ever consider a move back home?

“It would be difficult for me to move back to Japan,” he answers. “I’ve lived my whole career in New York working with the same people, and also have a record label, so it would be quite hard.”

Renaissance Presents 3D: Satoshi Tomiie is available on Renaissance Records. www.satoshitomiie.com

Got something to say about this article? Send a letter to the editor at letters@metropolis.co.jp.

Listen to the Metropolis Podcast, the coolest guide to what goes on this week in Tokyo.

Looking for international friends? Check Japan, Inc. Friends now - it's 100% free!