Critically acclaimed producer Tomu DJ started on her musical path ten years ago and started getting serious about DJing before the pandemic. "In 2020 I shifted my focus to producing," she says.
Tomu DJ has that her sound describes itself. "I make a lot of different kinds of music grounded in reflecting my inner experience and my relation to the world around me through sound," she says. "It's not intended to do much more than that at this time. If you want to get an idea of my sound I'd listen to my six mainline releases in chronological order: FEMINISTA, Half Moon Bay, Crazy Trip EP, I Want to Be, MTP (collaborative album with YoungLove Erix), and antagonist."
Antagonist is her fourth album, and the most recent.
"I recorded antagonist alone in my room while working concurrently on other projects," she says. "It's a solo piano record so it's pretty different from other projects of mine. I'm not sure what else to say about it that the track titles and sound itself don't already say. Any conflicting or disparate interpretations by listeners are intentional."
As for gear: "I used a Roland FP-7F piano to record the album. A few years ago I had ordered a different piano from Guitar Center but they sent this one instead. It's a discontinued model that weighs way too much, but the keys are weighted heavier than a normal piano which gives it a different sound. Typically I am down to use basically anything to make music, and love working at other people's studios and playing on their synths and instruments. I do own a couple hardware synths and guitars, but my most used tools when I am working on music at home are typically VSTs such as Omnisphere and Pigments, because I am pretty amateur at playing instruments live so the degree of control offered by digital instruments is helpful to achieve a cleaner sound."
Looking ahead, Tomu DJ has plenty planned for 2026.
"I am working on a few new albums that push my electronic sound forward, but the concepts are more difficult to execute than my previous albums so it's taking a long time to finish," she says. "I will definitely be dropping some singles in the meantime. We also have a live performance on June 17th in Brooklyn, NY.
Photo by Nore Genesis
