City Nomads Radio: Dodgy Yamamoto

PUBLISHED May 5th, 2017 06:00 am | UPDATED May 18th, 2020 04:58 pm

Dodgy Yamamoto’s profound passion for the lustful and filthy, together with his keen ear for all things deep, dark & dirty, dives into the transcendent all depths of underground house. A true purveyor of house music, he has shared the stage with industry heavyweights such as Massive Attack, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Blond:ish, Francois Kevorkian, The Martinez Brothers, and Gilles Peterson over the years.

In this edition of City Nomads Radio, we managed to get Dodgy Yamamoto (also known as Vinnie) to share with us his favourite record stores in Singapore and around the world, the elements of a good party and one unusual record that always seem to work on the dance floor.

We’re intrigued, why do you call yourself Dodgy Yamamoto?

My sound used to be more soulful and house-y. When I started a darker, dubby sounding movement (DARKROOMBOOGIE), I wanted an alter ego to represent that, Dodgy Yamamoto was perfect. This parody name came about when I was playing at a party in Zurich, and got invited to an after-party where everyone thought I was Japanese. A mate was messing about and introduced me as a relative of (Yohji) Yamamoto (a Japanese designer who focuses on avant-garde  tailoring featuring Japanese design aesthetics) to impress the ladies.

What are the elements of a good party?

An excellent sound-system, great music line-up, an up-for-it crowd/audience and great promotions to get the word out – if you have all of the first 3 but no one knows about the party, and you’ve got an empty dance floor, the whole thing still falls apart.

If your music was an animal, what would it be?

It would be a massive Black Bear: big, dark, chunky, tough and loves the darkness.

What is your favourite record store in Singapore?

Choice Cuts Records – hands down the best hip-hop, funk, soul, boogie and rare groove collection. To top it off, they serve great coffee, too.

What is your favourite record store outside of Singapore?

I’ve got a couple of favourites as they each serve a different genre. In Tokyo, it would be Dubstore Records for Reggae, Dub and Soul Jazz, and Manhattan Records for House & Hip-hop and Rare Groove. London’s Juno Records is great for Minimal and Techno.

Can you name an unusual record that always seems to work on the dancefloor?

Stereo MC’s – Connected (white label bootleg pressing) – one of those transitional genres -changers that you throw on to change the direction of the sound, or even the entire night. It fits any genre with a 4 x 4 beat. It’s a classic old-school with a big beat (but not cheesy) and will always get the dance-floor going.

[mixcloud https://www.mixcloud.com/citynomadsradio/city-nomads-radio-36-dodgy-yamamoto/ width=100% height=120 hide_cover=1 light=1]

Tell us more about this curated mixtape you’ve put together.

Thank you for the awesome opportunity to be on City Nomads Radio; it’s a set specially put together for your listeners and includes some of my favourites from my record box – from older to current gems. All of them resonate to the Dodgy Yamamoto sound, all things Deep, Dark & Dirty, and are cherry picked from a spectrum of Techno, Minimal, Tech House and House. The journey is replete with plenty of low-end, dark raw grooves and seismic, filthy baselines that shake the foundations… the blow-your-speakers type. Turn it up LOUD and enjoy the ride…

Any shouts?

Remember, it needs to get DARK before light. Big love to all my family & friends near, far and wide.

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To stay updated of Dodgy Yamamoto’s upcoming gigs and latest news, follow him here:
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