Mars89 with Prettybwoy [Pt.1]

Prettybwoyは東京を拠点にGarage/Grimeを軸に独特な視点を持ってプレイするDJとしてスタート。2013年、〈Big Dada〉からリリースされたコンピレーション「Grime 2.0」に唯一の日本人として参加。その後自身の作る音楽とグライム・ガラージという固定ジャンルとの折り合いに悩む。その試行錯誤の産物として2016年立て続けにフランス〈POLAAR〉から「Overflow EP」上海〈SVBKVLT〉から「Solstice」2枚のEPをリリース。

その独特なサウンドとミックスを武器に初の北京～上海ツアーを敢行。2017年はCM音楽の提供など幅を拡げ、12月に〈SVBKVLT〉よりEP「Genetics」を発表、上海、深圳、重慶3都市で4公演2度のツアーを行い、中国との交流をより深めていく。

2018年にはフランスの〈POLAAR〉よりEP「Parallel Lives」を発表。2019年年明けにはNintendo Switchソフト「Travis Strikes Again」への楽曲提供で国内でも活動。そして〈SVBKVLT〉より4月に発売されたコンピレーション「Cache 01」に参加。収録曲「Second Highball」はAphex TwinにCoachella2019でプレイされる快挙。

2020年以降、ウイルス後の世界、BoilerRoomのStreaming From Isolation with SVBKVLTやFACT Mix822、VRChatやオンライン、ラジオなどコンスタントに活動。2021年9月人生初のフルアルバム「Tayutau」を〈SVBKVLT〉から発表。Remix EPにはDJ Q,Cooly G,Mr,Mitch,Pinchが参加。Wang Jingxinによる初のMusic Video作品も発表。

また現在は趣味の発表の場となっているbandcampでは様々なboot音源を公開、ガラージ愛は現在ここに集約している。

Mars89 is a musician whose uncompromising electronic compositions have cemented him as one of the most unique and exciting prospects within Tokyo’s underground club circuit, but his contribution to the city’s culture extends far beyond the dancefloor.

Since moving to Tokyo in his late teens in 2008, Mars89 has established himself as someone whose creative output — in all its shapes and forms — provides a vital perspective on the vicissitudes of living in one of the most populous urban metropolises in the world.

His discography to-date is a bricolage of styles, channeling the guttural, sub-bass-infused body music from UK dubstep’s heyday and the mutant rhythms of Bristol’s signature bass music scene — some of Mars89’s foundational musical influences — as well as the auteurs of cinema, from Kubrick to Lynch, and, specifically, their unparalleled flair for all things eerie, abject and uncanny. In his arsenal, he possesses tracks that can immediately ignite the latent energy of a heaving club crowd, as well as ambient compositions that transport listeners into unsettling alien landscapes evocative of sci-fi dystopias and biotechnological collapse. It’s his ability to weave seamlessly between the two that sets him apart as an artist who ultimately uses his sensibilities to design entire worlds, and this is also reflected in his boundary-pushing VR explorations with label Bokeh Versions and collaborations with designers like Patrick Savile.

Outside of music, Mars89 has collaborated with fashion brand Undercover’s Jun Takahashi, on a collection that deconstructed military garments, making them into a powerful anti-war statement in true punk spirit, as well as releasing a record through the brand. The latter referenced the show soundtrack he had created for Undercover’s AW19 collection, and featured remixes by Thom Yorke, Zomby and Low Jack, who he had played alongside at the Takahashi-curated instalment of Virgil Abloh’s club night, Sound Design. All three of the artists signed up for remix duty immediately upon request, demonstrating how highly regarded Mars89 is by his global contemporaries.

Mars89 is also a key figure within Tokyo’s activist community, spearheading an anti-establishment ‘Protest Rave’ that has seen sound trucks drive through some of the city’s most iconic vistas while blasting out hard techno, galvanising Tokyo’s youth into new, emergent strands of political engagement.