[Kagami] I don’t recall exactly when I first heard a track by Japan’s house maestro Kagami, aka Takashi Yasumi. I do remember that it was right around the time I was discovering my love for Japanese house through the recordings of the Denki Groove supergroup and alumnus Takkyu Ishino, which would have made it right around the year 2000. My music production partner Ryan Harkness and I scoured the Internet searching for other sounds that were anything like the disco-infused filtered frequencies push on us by Ishino and crew. One night we stumbled upon a wild robot dance track called ‘Tokyo Disco Music All Night Long’ that shook everything we had taken for granted in house music and opened up our eyes to the possibility that Japanese producers may have been in possession of an entirely different perspective regarding what it took to make funk come alive on wax.

‘Tokyo Disco Music All Night Long’ was released by Kagami in 2001, and if Denki Groove had initiated me into the world of Japanese electronic dance music, it was Kagami who cemented what would become one of my biggest passions. It was through the exploration of Kagami’s catalog, that included such fascinating works as ‘The Repaired Sequencer,’ ‘Romantic Time Slip,’ and his absolutely amazing live performances at the Wire gigs that I would discover other artists such as DJ Tasaka, DJ Sharpnel and Yoji Biomehanika.