Words: Rajan Nausa
Photo: Youtube/Taka Perry

Expanding genres to mixing languages, this Japan-based producer thinks there’s no such thing as boundaries when it comes to creating music. This is evidently mirrored by his cultural background being both from the Land of the Rising Sun and Down Under. 

Taking samples sounds from the Japanese railroad system, served with German expressionist films-inspired visuals for the release of “EXPRESS,” Taka Perry is set to drop his upcoming collaborative album with the Japanese-Greek-Korean hip-hop artist Leon titled “THE GRIFFIN TAPES,” featuring artists from across the world, including Indonesia’s rapper RAMENGVRL, Sokodomo from South Korea, and many more. 

On this occasion, we talked about his inspirations and more about his pursuit of merging countries and cultures through music.

Before anything, I want to say something. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu (I hope I said that correctly). So, as we know, you have a unique cultural background being both Japanese and Australian. That’s like both ends of the spectrum in terms of culture, so how has this blend influenced you as an artist?

Like you said, I grew up speaking both languages and being around both cultures. So been something that I’ve consciously thought about what or how it influences me. It’s just everything I like—within the music or just on a personal level, I have a lot of influence from both sides and the way I think and the things I do. And also, obviously, the music I make is very heavily influenced.

Oh, great. So can you tell us about the moment that you realized that music production was the path you wanted to pursue professionally? Was there any specific turning point of inspiration?

Yeah, um… I’ve always been making music since maybe I was 11 or 12 and I started producing music maybe when I was about 13. So, it was always something that I wanted to do as a career, but it wasn’t until kind of the end of high school that I sort of knew maybe how to actually do it as a career. I did a songwriting workshop at my high school when I was in my last year, and so we had like mentors—like professional producers—come to our school. And one of the guys that came to my school was an engineer. He engineered for people like Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey, and…  basically, he kind of became like a mentor for me in my early stages of a career and sort of helped me see that music is definitely something I can do as a career, and after I finished high school, I just thought I’d try and started working with different artists and collaborating… and I guess that sort of has never stopped since then, that was 2016.

I see… so you’ve been doing it a long time.

A long time now, yeah. 

Your collaborations span different genres and artists. How do you approach creating music that resonates with diverse audiences while still maintaining your unique sound?

Yeah, it’s interesting. I do make a lot of music in different genres, but also different languages. I think it’s mainly because I listen to a lot of different music. You know, in high school, I was mainly into heavy metal and rock and then went through pop jazz, and hip-hop, and R&B. I think the main thing is my kind of sense of what I think sounds good, like what I want to hear in a song, regardless of the genre. So every time I’m in the studio, it’s mainly like tapping into my own taste and making decisions of like, “I like this sound,” “I like this chord,” or “I don’t like these lyrics,” and it’s a balancing of that, and then also it depends on the artist that I’m working with and what sort of music they make, and trying to like bring the best version of every artist that I work with out of them. I think that’s kind of my main goal as a producer.

Okay, so you’re a bunglon, as we say in Indonesia. That means you’re a chameleon. You’re very diverse in that sense.

I like that, yeah. Chameleon… bunglon.

Next, in an era where music is consumed rapidly, how do you ensure that your tracks stand out and leave a lasting impact on your listeners?

I think to a certain extent, it’s a bit out of your control of what songs you make are going to have a lasting impact, and I also think in an era when people are consuming music so quickly, it’s also on the other side, like I want to be making a lot of music and putting a lot of music out. But I think at the end of the day, it’s all about following your own gut instincts and making things that you feel are timeless and not necessarily chasing trends that are popping up at the moment, and just, you know, making things that you want to hear, not putting the audience first, but the audience will come if you make what feels good to you.

Photo: Taka Perry

You started collaborating with Leonine 2021 with the song “1234”. What makes you feel creatively compatible with him? Any unique traits of each other’s craft that pushed you both into working together often?

Yeah, well… I guess by the time we kind of decided to put out an album, we’d already been working together for a year and a half or so. I don’t know, it was always just a very natural workflow and sort of the ideas on the production that I thought were cool he was also into and the type of vocals and and flows that he would put on the beats like I thought was really cool so there was always like this natural collaborative process, like, there was never much friction and I think there’s certain collaborations, I think as a producer, when you work with different people, certain people that you really sort of find a good chemistry and a creative workflow that comes naturally, and it just makes sense with those types of people to really double down and work on you know projects together or multiple songs.

Fast forward to 2024; we got “BELIEVE” and “EXPRESS”, and from what I’ve heard, every one of those songs feels very dynamic, blending different textures and moods, even languages. Can you walk us through the creative process behind crafting its unique sound?

Well, I guess, you know, obviously the album is not out yet, but every song is, you know, maybe it’s always just in the moment—whatever feels good. I never really think about it too much in advance or plan things out. I think spontaneity plays a big role in, you know, making interesting music. Once again, it’s just about whatever I’m listening to at that point or feeling inspired by and just following that idea, and, you know, it’s not like every single time the results are great, but if you make 20 songs and maybe 10 of them end up being on the album, then that’s a good result.

As we know, “EXPRESS” takes the sound from Tokyo’s railroad system, right? Do you have any special memories of trains in Tokyo, or how the idea came about?

Yeah, firstly, I think that sound of the train crossings, especially if you grew up or spent time outside of Tokyo, is a very familiar sound that anyone in Japan would recognize. So that’s that. And then, but the day that we made “EXPRESS,” I didn’t really go into the session, you know, thinking I’m going to make a song and sample the train crossing. It was sort of something that just while we were making songs and playing different samples, it came up. And, you know, obviously it had that like factor of nostalgia for me, but I just decided it’d be cool to make a beat and sample that. And then, from there, we sort of ended up being very train themed, and even the hook “EXPRESS” is all about like fast trains, and then we took that concept and put it into the music video. So it all started with that moment in the studio where I just, for whatever reason, decided to sample the train crossing. 

The music video is amazing. Very dark and spooky. What was the visual inspiration behind the video, and were there any challenges during the filming process in Tokyo?

I think my original sort of inspiration was a lot of like German Expressionist films from, like, the early 1990s lots of like dark angles and jagged edges and just something that felt very gritty, and then taking that into the context of, you know, Shibuya and Shinjuku and these kinds of Japanese train settings. And we shot the video in February. I had just spent a week in L.A. making music, and I came back to Tokyo and then got off the plane and went straight to the video shoot. And we did about 3 days of shooting, maybe 14 hours a day. So very long, intensive days of shooting music videos. But the results came out great. And yeah, probably my favorite video I’ve made.

You’ve also collaborated with Ramengvrl on “Want Me Back” and “BELIEVE”.  How did this partnership come about, and what was the creative process like working with her?

Yeah, so Ramengvrl and I connected online maybe at the start of this year. I’ve, you know, been across and heard her music for a while and so I just thought I would send her a message and say what’s up and maybe try and work on some music. So the first song that we worked on together was want me back And then from there, you know, we were working on a bunch of stuff together, and at that point, I had the song “BELIEVE” in it. I already got in YNG Martyr and Sokodomo and Leon’s verse, but I just thought Ramengvrl would be like a really interesting addition to the song. So I hit her up, and I got this song. Would you be keen on jumping on it? And then pretty quickly she ended up sending over her verse. And then that was kind of when I knew the song was ready; it was ready to come out. 

THE GRIFFIN TAPES is scheduled for release in October. What are your hopes for the album’s influence on the growing Japanese/Asian hip-hop scene?

I think the main thing, and this is already kind of apparent with “BELIEVE” is that a lot of the features on the album are kind of all over the world. Obviously, you know, South Korea, Australia, Japan, and Indonesia, but we’ve also got other countries as features from the United States. I think the real goal of this is that music is becoming more and more global, and I think, at least having spent time in Australia, you know, we don’t get to hear a lot of the cool hip-hop that comes out of Asia. Now being here in Japan, like, we don’t get to hear the cool hip-hop that’s coming out of Australia or other Asian countries, so I think the idea is to, like, make a first and foremost a Japanese hip-hop record, but you know, really be global with the way we get features so that hopefully you know listeners in Japan can hear music from other countries and people from other countries can also hear the cool stuff that’s happening in Japan.

Now for some lighthearted questions: Indonesian fans are always curious about how artists spend their free time. When you’re not in the studio, how do you relax or get inspired? Any favorite hobbies or places? 

Well, most recently, I actually moved to Japan maybe three or four weeks ago and moved into an apartment. So I’ve been really enjoying just like walking around the neighborhood, listening to songs that I’m working on, and, you know, being very meditative. I can think about things and explore new different places that I haven’t been to. So that’s been a lot of fun recently. It’s probably my main hobby when I’m not making music, and I’m generally always making music.

We’ve seen you working with some of the biggest names in the industry. What’s one collaboration that really challenged or inspired you the most?

Honestly, the most inspiring was this year. I got to co-produce and co-write a song called “Touch” by Cat’s Eye, which is completely different in genre from the hip-hop record that I’m working on. So that came out a couple months ago and has really like become one of the biggest songs I’ve worked on, you know, in billboard charts around the world and top charts of Spotify Global, and I think just like seeing a song that I created, you know, do the things that it’s doing and seeing all these dance challenges around the world has been like really inspiring to you know, know that there’s still plenty more work to do and songs to work on and inspires me and gives you know everything that I’ve been doing up until now, like a real purpose and like a reason to want to keep doing it.

What advice would you give to young, aspiring music producers, especially those from multicultural backgrounds who want to break into the global music scene?

I think the main thing is to just collaborate with people. You know, I know a lot of producers that are great at making beats, but maybe they’re not confident yet to take that first step and, you know, start working with singers and rappers, but that’s where the magic happens. I’m sure wherever you are in the world there’s you know amazing people that live nearby or in the same city, so my advice would be to find those people and get in a room together and make some music. You do that over and over every day, and you get better a lot quicker than working on your own.