Welcome To The Machine: Muto Masashi Introduces His Industrial Debut EP “Ishi”

After years of DJ-ing, Muto finally releases his first official EP with a brilliantly industrial aesthetic (Credit: The Council)

Just visualise a metropolis blanketed in austere ruin, coloured by an ominous soundtrack with a heart of iron and stone. Such is the harsh dimension introduced by Muto Masashi, a name that’s bobbed along the surface of the Singaporean electronic scene for some time now. After years of cutting his teeth in the local DJ circuit, the Japanese selector has finally released Ishi, his debut EP that translates his imagination and influences into these dystopian musical fantasies.

A narrative conveyed in three tracks, Ishi is an experimental voyage that opens its windows into the industrial-inclined terrain of EBM, brandishing mechanised elements and a more sullen temperament. The EP simulates a factory line of steely beats, artificially transposed toms, stray blips and sampled vocal injections, plodding hard in groove with this trio of offerings. “K.O Dance” opens with a sinister march headed by a low, looping blare. The title track, “Ishi”, follows up with a brooding, piledriving thumper hooked to a bass-rooted pulse. And marking the exit of the EP is “Assass”, a resuscitating jolt charged by a swaggering, minimalist synth hook. These expeditions go beyond a display of Muto’s impressive progress as a producer, but also reveal an unexpected layer of his musicality that many might not be acquainted with.

Muto with his Ice Cream Sundays crew (Credit: Meltem Acik / Ice Cream Sundays)

Since moving to Singapore a decade ago, Muto has worked his way up the ranks and solidified a reputation as a treasure of the local DJ scene. His immeasurable selection is prominently an upbeat one – worlds apart from his direction in Ishi – taking cues from disco, house, Italo, world music and the like. It’s a stylistic appeal that’s won him admiration amongst clubs and collectives all over the island, although today, folks would best know him as one of the core residents of Ice Cream Sundays which he joined in 2019. Considering his habitual tendencies for genre diversity, Muto’s path in Ishi is both surprising yet consistent, not unlike a detour that branches from the same point of origin. This is a Muto who wants to introduce you to new music; the same Muto whom the scene’s come to adore.

In this interview, Muto shares more about the conceptualisation of his long-awaited debut EP, how he finally ventured into production, and what he feels about being a staple of the Singaporean music scene. 

On the decks, Muto puts out a sound guaranteed to put a spring in your step (Credit: Meltem Acik / Ice Cream Sundays)

Hello Muto! Congratulations on your debut EP. The release of the record comes many years after being a DJ. What finally made you decide to put out an album after so long?

Thank you! I was always thinking about working on productions to discover a different side of my musical life. I had been growing my vision and passion to create my own music through many unforgettable parties I joined as a member of Ice Cream Sundays, and also many events and nights with The Council. At that time, I was already editing tracks but those were only for my own set, not for releasing outside as they were merely simple edits.

When COVID started changing the world, I thought, “This is not great at all, but I have to make something out of this situation”. Then I started productions proactively, pouring my own tastes into the work.

Another thing is that Jonathan Kusuma came back from touring and is based in Singapore under this situation, so I was able to have his advice on the productions. I got a huge support from him to make this release.

Ishi was released on Dekadenz Records, a label co-run by Jonathan Kusuma who’s based in Singapore. What does it mean for you to have this record released on this label? 

Jonathan Kusuma and I go way back to 2018, when Zig Zach from Blackout invited me to play at Kilo Lounge as the three of us. I already knew Jonathan through his productions and gigs and we started talking from there. We later played at Headquarters several times together and all sessions were super inspiring to me.

I also met the Dekadenz crew from Jakarta (again, thanks to Zig Zach) and we hung together at Bintan Island. Through time, I got to know that there is so much going on in the Jakarta scene that never fails to stimulate me. I always like their DIY ways of curating great artistes for their events, pitching cool visuals as well as making amazing releases. Their compilation series, THEMES FOR DIVIDED TRIBES, is always my favourite. And then fortunately, I got chances to collaborate with the crew several times by contributing DJ mixes. With all these great memories and backgrounds, I set a goal to make my first release with this label once I started making music. Now, I am very happy with what we made. I can’t thank the Dekadenz crew enough for the support and inspirations.

“When COVID started changing the world, I thought, ‘This is not great at all, but I have to make something out of this situation’.” (Credit: The Council)

Was music production something you've been learning for a while, or did you only pick it up recently?

I was only able to edit waveforms (like cutting and copy-pasting) until 2019. I started picking up other knowledge and technics thereafter and I am still on my way.

What is the story behind Ishi as a concept? Does it have a significant meaning to you?

When I was working on this EP, I started off sampling my favourite tracks. I picked three tracks – all of which have different vibes – and then I added my sounds there. I thought it would be a smooth approach for the listeners to understand my tastes as well as my musical background as a selector.

“Ishi” is the title of the second track of this EP. The track name itself doesn’t mean a lot to be honest, but I took it as the title of the EP because it has the samples from a Japanese artiste’s track.

The first single of the EP is “Assass”, which has a very industrial but groovy energy to it. What was your motivation behind this track?

I was digging materials to work on and this easily became one when I found the original, which has a killer dark-disco and EBM (electric body music) vibe. The original was made by an industrial rock band and I tried to make it heavier and more dancefloor-friendly by adding more sounds.

Muto has been spinning at various venues for several years now (Credit: Lucha Loco)

For our readers who don’t know about your history, can you share more about your DJ career and how it’s evolved from your time in Japan to your time in Singapore?

I actually started my selector life after moving to Singapore in 2011. Soon after the move, I made friends with a Singapore-based Japanese DJ called DJ ToMu, and then I started having classes at his DJ school called ShowNing DJ Lab. Amongst the events the school hosted and I played for, a couple of them were held at a bar called Koi, that was run by Clement Chin back in 2013. After a while, Clement opened Headquarters as well as Tuff Club, where he let me play many times.

I also got to know Zig Zach from Blackout in 2016, who also gave me many chances to play at different venues like Camp Kilo, Kilo Lounge, Lucha Loco and others. Other memorable events I joined were organised by Orio from Fat Fish Familia, who curated many legendary artistes such as Dimitri From Paris, Soul Clap, Louie Vega and so on.

“I had so many spectacular moments by playing with local selectors, such as my Ice Cream Sundays’ crew of Toppings and Bongomann.” (Credit: Fat Fish Familia)

In 2019, I joined my current home-base, Ice Cream Sundays, that has hosted a number of cracking local and foreign acts to date like Mugic Soundsystem, Darker Than Wax, Revision Music, Roam Selectors and more. This enrolment indeed gave me a different level of experiences as I am able to not only participate as a selector, but also share amazing moments with my team, Daniel, Meltem, Bongomann and Toppings.

And to end off, Singapore has been your home for several years now. How does it feel to be part of this scene?

First of all, I am very honoured and grateful to be part of this music scene. While I mentioned great things around the Jakarta scene earlier, I do feel that Singapore’s scene is also very inspiring and colourful. Artistes, collectives and organisers are all very independent and distinctive here, and yet super friendly. Before the nightlife shut down, I used to check plenty of parties with different good vibes in a single night. Every weekend, I was excited to check venues (I especially liked the ones in shophouses), visuals, decorations, music, drinks and the people. These adventures definitely gave positive feedback to my sets and furthermore, I learnt so many things and made many friends in this city.

Muto believes in a positive future ahead where we can return to dancefloors again (Credit: The Council)

With respect to my style of music – house and disco – there are so many amazing Singapore-based selectors in the scene. I had so many spectacular moments by playing with local selectors, such as my Ice Cream Sundays’ crew of Toppings and Bongomann, Daryl Knows, Ulysses, Kentaro, Rah, Jonathan Kusuma, Kevin Sy and so on. There are still so many other artistes I wish to party together with in the future.

Although we are in a quite tough situation now, especially in terms of throwing parties and enjoying music together, I still feel I am very lucky to have these people around me to survive with, and strongly believe that we all can dance together once again in the foreseeable future.

(Credit: Meltem Acik / Ice Cream Sundays)

You can now listen to Ishi by Muto on Bandcamp and his mixes on SoundCloud. Follow his Facebook and Instagram pages to stay updated with his activities.