Yamagucci is the Israeli-Japanese DJ and producer who’s fast-becoming a foremost talent in contemporary dance music. His discography speaks for itself, having made his name on Solomun’s Diynamic, Moscoman’s Disco Halal and Adam Ten’s Maccabi House. Two of his tracks have reached the number one spot on Beatport – ‘Grab A Room’ and ‘In The Air’ – whilst performances across some of Israel’s leading venues, including The Block, Forum and O4, have established him as one of the country’s standout exponents in recent times.
Adding to his momentum, the rising artist has just delivered a debut album in the form of ‘Baba Yoga’, released on Adam Ten’s imprint, Maccabi House. Following the album’s release, we invited Yamagucci for a chat to find out more about Baba Yoga, enjoy!
Hello Yamagucci, it is a pleasure to have you with us today. How are you and whereabouts are you speaking to us from right now?
Hi guys, thanks for having me. I’m all good, just relaxing in my home at Ein Hod Israel after playing & raving all weekend and truly happy after the album ‘Baba Yoga’ released on ‘Maccabi House’ last Friday.
We’re pleased to be speaking with you around the release of your debut album, ‘Baba Yoga’, arriving on Adam Ten’s Maccabi House. How does it feel to see your debut album releasing?
For me it is still hard to digest. After 2 years working on this album. I’m excited and happy with all the good feedback for ‘Baba Yoga’. For me it was a magical chapter in my life that taught me a lot and now we have started a new one!
‘Baba Yoga’ marks the first album to be released on Maccabi House. The label feels to be a perfect fit for the album; can you tell us how ‘Baba Yoga’ found its home on Maccabi House?
To be honest right from the start when Adam founded ‘Maccabi House’ in 2020 we spoke about releasing an album. The great support that I’ve received from Adam along with the many hours I’ve spent in the studio made it happen in the end.
Can you tell us what inspired you to create Baba Yoga?
My inspiration for creating Baba Yoga actually came from an injury from a bike accident back in 2020. I had to recover at my home for 6 months. All that I could do during that time was make music. I produced all day long and never stopped, music and yoga practice was my daily routine. On Baba Yoga, every track began as a journey to the unknown. I was just trusting the creative process and staying open to any source of inspiration. This helped me to give each track its own personality. ‘Baba Yoga’ was a recovery process for my body.
Where did you create the album and can you talk us through any of the main pieces of equipment/software used in the process?
Most of the track’s in ‘Baba Yoga’ I produced at my studio in ‘Ein Hod’. A few of them were created at Adam, Dor Danilo and Millero’s studios. Currently at the moment I’m using Ableton for making music. I love to record live percussions, vocals and strings with my Rode nt1, most of ‘Omer Relex’ was made from just recordings; to make it sound live and warm in the mix. For lead/bass/pad’s I use 2 amazing synth’s; a Nord lead stage 4 and a Roland SE 02. Each of them has a unique sound signature and endless creative possibilities.
The album features collaborations with label founder Adam Ten, Millero and Dor Danino. How did these collaborations arise and what was it like working together with these artists?
The last two years were crazy! I met so many talented producers here in Israel and have created music with lots of them. But with Adam, Dor Danino and Millero it was as I called “higher connection”, every time we met a new track was born and the workflow was always flowing and spontaneous. Besides that, we have a good friendship together too. For me it’s really important for making music together.
Is there a particular track on the album that is most special to you?
‘Omer Relex’ leads the charge. A melodically-driven cut, soothing vocals soon give way to the upbeat, dancefloor tinged sound. Always gives unique vibes to the dance floor.
We’d love to hear a bit more about what led you to music, how did your musical journey begin?
I was born to a musical family. My grandfather was the conductor of the philharmonic orchestra in Israel and my father builds and plays drums. So from a young age I started to play on drums and the love for groove & funky music was there from the start. At age 23 I spent 2 years travelling and raving at trance and techno & house parties in Australia and India, after I came back home and decided to start producing electronic music. I went to study producing and sound engineering for 3 years. And from the start I just fell in love with it.
Still a relatively new artist to the scene, you have made quite an impact already with releases on the likes of Solomun’s Diynamic, Moscoman’s Disco Halal and of course Maccabi House. What piece of advice would you offer to aspiring artists looking to pursue music?
The first thing is to stick with what you are doing and believe it. From when I started 7 years ago until now, I have produced for 8 hours a day. After one year you will see results. Work hard on your social media page. It’s so important in our days to get progress in the industry and gigs. And last thing, don’t be afraid to send your music to labels; you don’t know if you are good until someone listens to your music.
Thank you Yamagucci, it was great to chat with you today. Congratulations on the album and we wish you all the best for the future. To finish off, is there anything else upcoming from yourself that you can share with us?
Thank you guys for having me. I had a great time chatting with you. It was my pleasure. Looking forward, I have a very busy year ahead with lots of fresh music to come out soon. For now go check my new album and stay tuned!
