Japanese DJ Yousuke Yukimatsu has started a UK tour, performing his unique mix of experimental techno, Beastie Boys, and Taylor Swift, after overcoming a brain tumor.
Ten years ago this month, Yukimatsu suffered an epileptic seizure and was diagnosed with a brain tumor after friends found him collapsed at home.
He underwent two craniotomies, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, leaving a scar from his left ear to his hairline.
The experience pushed him to pursue DJing full-time.
“If we can keep living [for] tomorrow, if I can encourage people … that’s what I’m always trying to do,” he says.
Yukimatsu believes it’s important for musicians to speak up about global issues. “The world is getting much worse than the time when techno was born.
Weapons are being developed; it’s getting easier to commit a massacre. In Japan, if a musician speaks about politics, they can be hugely criticised.
But I think it’s really important to speak up.”
His Coachella debut in April featured a rapid genre shift from Beastie Boys to experimental techno, Taylor Swift, and Aphex Twin within 10 minutes.
“Coachella was amazing. I only had an hour, so I really had to cram everything in.”
Growing up in Osaka, Yukimatsu was exposed to music through his father, who sold records from their garage.
He started DJing in the mid-2000s after discovering electronic artists like Underworld and the Prodigy.
His career took off when techno veteran DJ Nobu invited him to perform at Future Terror in Tokyo.
His cancer is now in remission.
“I went for a medical checkup at the beginning of the year, and there is no longer a tumour,” he says.
During his illness, he focused on music and rest, working at a friend's record shop to survive.
Yukimatsu tailors his setlists to each country he visits, browsing Bandcamp daily for regional releases.
He wears a “no war” pendant and praises Jamie xx’s track Treat Each Other Right.
“The title is something all the people in the world should engrave in their heart.”
His motivation is constant growth. “I want to be a better DJ and a better human being.
Every day I think that. And if I start to forget it, someone always reminds me.
It’s a constant growing process, until the day I die.”
