Meet Naoki Matthew Sekiya | Record Buyer, DJ & Music Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Naoki Matthew Sekiya and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Naoki Matthew, why did you pursue a creative career?
Growing up in a home where my mom would start the morning by playing Native American flute music and eventually progress into radio pop hits. While in another room my dad will be listening to jazz or R&B on his CD player. It was a no brainer that I’d be into music the way that I am, which is just absolutely obsessed.

That diversity of sounds being imprinted onto me really pushed me to be open and explore music at a young age. Going through all the different phases from the Beatles to metal, emo, hip hop, jazz you name it. This led me down the rabbit hole of collecting records which also landed me a now 10 year long career in the record retail business. Starting off as bratty record store clerk to being a slightly jaded but hopeful music buyer now.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Growing up in a home with such a diverse palette gave me the drive to discover unheard and obscure music which led me into working at record stores but also DJing and music production. Wherein during the pandemic I founded my own independent electronic music label, Yen Disco Soundsystem and a Japanese Jazz music blog called, ZUJAGO.

With the music label, our focus is to put out music that is very much focused on our own Japanese and Southeast Asian heritage channeled through electronic music. In the hopes it would reach like minded people who share similar experiences and feel the same need to rediscover their own roots. Creating a platform that felt open to these ideas was essential and that’s what we hope to achieve through our music.

While on ZUJAGO, it’s a project archiving long forgotten and sometimes unheard Jazz music made by Japanese artists from the past all the way up to the present. With the rise in interest in Citypop and Asian rap music from Western audiences and music labels attempting to reissue classic albums. Japanese Jazz music was definitely next up in line for a similar revival, and it felt important to me to in a way to represent by writing and creating a record of these albums so that they won’t be forgotten or lost to time. With the hopes that they will reach newer audiences who will appreciate them and help to keep the music alive.

I’ve been really fortunate to have been able to do all of these projects and to call music my career. It’s something I’ll never take for granted and hope that I can continue for as long as I can live and most importantly hear.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Definitely would be all the different record stores in the city from places like the Southeast Asian record mecca itself, Red Point Record Warehouse to stores in the city centre like Mosta Records, For The Record.

For an afternoon coffee and a quick bite there’s Choice Cuts Goods + Coffee which is a unique cafe/record store space out in the East. In the evening is when the real party starts, most definitely gotta hit Offtrack which is a music focused bar that serves up some great vegan offerings with most nights having DJs playing out too. If we’re really going for it there’s a house/techno club called Headquarters where we can end the night and just get lost in music till the wee hours of the morning.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to my folks Julie and James Sekiya for never stopping me from doing what I want even though it looked like an unstable career path and for always supporting me through the toughest times. Also to my fantastic wife, Jillian for pushing me to keep going and always believing that I can be something more than I already am. Love all of you very much!

Website: https://ydss.bandcamp.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/magnetic.mza/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@zujagojazz

Other: https://zujago.com/

Image Credits
Jillian Rachel Sekiya Richard Sta Ana