- Slamming house from one of our favourite new producers.
- It took one minute and two seconds for us to fall for Keita Sano. That's how long it was before a rude-as-f bassline dropped in his 2014 track "People Are Changing." It was our introduction to a producer we'd now rank among the maddest and most interesting in house and techno. Perhaps what we like best about Sano is his restlessness. "People Are Changing" was part of a wave of tracks he released through Mister Saturday Night that occupied a dank trench between house and techno. But skip forward to his excellent 2015 EP Bowl Of Water and it's a very different story—here we get lush instrumentation, broken beats and African chants. Around the same time, he released an album on 1080p, Holding New Cards, a record Jordan Rothlein affectionately described as "overstuffed, stylistically varied to the point of incongruity and often unsettlingly strange." (This is to say nothing of his striking downtempo series, Pacific Tones.) Sure, anyone can mix it up in studio, but it's rare for someone to pull it off with such style. Sano is from Okayama, Japan, and has kept a fairly low profile until now, so we're pretty pleased to have this mix from him. He clearly wasn't in the mood to mess about during its recording: RA.515 is 60 minutes of his own slamming (mostly unreleased) house tunes.
What have you been up to recently?
I've been trying to improve my music.
How and where was the mix recorded?
At home using my laptop.
Can you tell us about the idea behind the mix?
I listened to some of the DJ mixes I recorded ten years ago. After that I recorded this with my own music and edits.
There isn't too much information about you online (in English at least). Tell us a bit about yourself and your artistic development.
I started making music when I was 13 and when I was 15 I started DJing. But it wasn't for me, so I gave up DJing and now I make music all day, everyday.
You're known as someone who likes stylistic diversity. Have you always been interested in exploring lots of different sounds?
Yes, I've always been interested in lots of different sounds. I love to go to the record store in my home town, Okayama. I dig up a lot of records and CDs there.
What are you up to next?
It's a secret but please wait with patience and anticipation, thank you.
TracklistKeita Sano - The Porno King - Unreleased
Keita Sano - He Can Only Hold Her - Unreleased
Keita Sano - Work That Mutha Fucker (Keita Sano Edit) - Unreleased
Keita Sano - Ant - Mister Saturday Night
Keita Sano - DRTYSY - Unreleased
Keita Sano - My House feat Pleasure Cruiser - Unreleased
Keita Sano - Color Acid - Unreleased
Keita Sano - Boot - Unreleased
Keita Sano - Like This (Rough Mix) - Unreleased
Keita Sano - Filter Romance - Unreleased
Keita Sano - Three Days In NYC - Unreleased
Keita Sano - Time - Unreleased
Keita Sano - Nothing For Nothing - Most Excellent Unlimited
Keita Sano - Cosmic Woman - Unreleased
Keita Sano - Rocks - Unreleased
Keita Sano - Off The Party - Unreleased