Finding the Beauty In the Ordinary - Sound Sports
Tokyo is a breeding ground for many up-and-coming creatives whether it be fashion, music, or any other subculture for that matter. In a competitive scene where many are trying to make a name for themselves, there has been one name that keeps coming up within the realm of fashion, music, and the clubbing scene in Tokyo.
Meet Sound Sports, a creative collective based in Tokyo. The four-man collective has been making strong moves in recent years across various creative scenes. If you have been keeping an eye on fashion, music, and the clubbing culture in Tokyo, you may have come across their work whether it be one of the member’s mixes on SoundCloud, various products released by the crew, or one of their events featuring some of the hottest DJ’s in Tokyo, including themselves. No matter what type of work they part take in, they always make sure to tackle it with their signature style that lets you know that it’s done by Sound Sports.
For anyone that has been keeping up with Sound Sports’ work, it can be noticed that they have a very distinct aesthetic that is heavily inspired by gorpcore and sportswear, and a heavy theme of “blue”. Although this type of fashion and style is more commonly seen among fashion-enthusiasts in the UK, it still has yet to become vastly popular within the street scene in Japan. Sound Sports is truly a unique DJ label, finding the beauty in the ordinary and creating something completely new from it, from a new perspective we may have never seen things from before.
Sound Sports has also been making moves through collaborations with other like-minded creatives within the Tokyo creative scene. They have released the “Gymnastic“ collection last year which was a collaboration between the brand Fake Ass Flowers, ran by members of Youth Quake. The collection included a striped shirt, T-shirts, Long-sleeve tee, sweatshirt, sweatpants, tote bag, shoulder bag, and a carabiner with the majority of the pieces being sold out, further signifying their increasing recognition within the scene. Outside of fashion-related collaborations, they have also brought on various creatives like Taro Imai on their SoundCloud account to showcase their mixes.
Each of the members also take on clientele work including sound design and photography for various brands and magazines as well. Some examples include sound design for SULVAM, New Balance, United Arrows, and photography work for DJI, MEN’S NON-NO, and New Balance t_house.
ISLND
Yuhei Hosokawa
Shota Horide
Ryota Ishii
In their most recent endeavor, they held the collective’s first-ever exhibition and pop-up store titled “Iron and Water“. The exhibition showcased various artwork, and photography in collaboration with other up-and-coming creatives such as Kota Kawai, tkuc, and Taiki Cruiser. The pop store contained never-before-released items including T-shirts, a balaclava, boxers, and a water bottle.
Currently, until May 10th, Sound Sports is holding a pop-up at ISETAN Men’s, titled “Moisture Shop”. Go check it out while you can.
Now without further ado, check out our interview with Sound Sports below, and see what goes on in the minds behind one of the most unique creative labels in Tokyo today.
Can you introduce yourself to Sabu?
We are Sound Sports. Our members are Yushi Morita [ISLND], Ryota Ishii, Shota Horide, and Yuhei Hosokawa. ISLND, Horide, and Hosokawa went to school together since middle school, and have been good friends. ISLND connected with Ryota Ishii through social media, which brought us together, and we’ve been together ever since.
When did you start Sound Sports and why?
We started working as a collective around November 2018. Before Sound Sports was formed, we were already releasing mixes on SoundCloud on our own and we thought it would be interesting if we compiled it all together and worked as a group. We sort of instantly linked, and played it almost like a radio show.
How would you explain what Sound Sports does?
We’d best describe ourselves as a creative collective. We DJ, we design, we kind of do everything all.
What were some of your influences in regards to your current sound [mixing different genres into one set]?
No matter how much you like a specific song or genre, at a certain point you just get bored of it. Mixing different genres, allows everything to stay raw, and unexpected.
How would you describe the current state of the Tokyo music scene, and what makes Sound Sports stand out within my scene?
As a whole, there’s a place for any type of artist in Tokyo. Whether it be House, Techno, Hip-Hop, there’s a scene for every genre but it’s rare for different scenes to collaborate or cross paths with one another. This goes for the clubs as well, each club usually caters towards a specific audience and doesn’t really branch outside of whatever genre they usually play. So for a collective like Sound Sports, it’s difficult for us to get booked by events because of our multi-genre playing style. This is one of the key reasons why we book our own venues and throw parties on our own. If we’re the ones that are hosting the event, we can play and mix whatever type of music we want. Although our close friend and DJ, Taro Imai isn’t an official member, he’s been working with us on all of our events so far, up until he went to London to pursue new goals.
How would you define the Sound Sports sound?
I’d say our sound has its edges carved off if that makes sense. We cut off all unnecessary aspects.
How would you guys describe the connection between fashion, sports, and music?
We fuse Sound and Sports, which is literally our name. We get inspired by real sports, and the mixes, the visuals, the items we release are all inspired by sports.
Within the current scene, what are some other crews that are out there, and also is there anyone in particular that you look up to?
Speaking of people, Steve Jobs inspires us. Speaking of companies, it would be Starbucks. People who are doing things in multiple fields inspire us too, like Virgil Abloh [Rest in Peace], or Elon Musk.
Where is a must-go venue right now in Tokyo?
We’d say Music Bar Lion in Shibuya.
For your clothing line, there seems to be different types of items compared to that of many other up and coming brands, what were your influences in regards to that? [boxing shorts, gloves, custom soccer shirts etc]
We often get inspired by things we see in the ordinary. There’s so much out there that is cool. But the places we go to on a daily basis, places we go to eat, these places really inspire us right now. Honestly, everything inspires us, that is of quality. Furniture, corporations, patterns, architecture, conversations, things like that. We put them through our own filters, our own perspectives, and output.
You guys work on sound design for runway shows and ad campaigns, what are some things you find to be important when creating this type of sound?
We always try to not be influenced too much by what the client asks of us. We try to find a good balance between what the client wants and implementing our specific taste and ideas.
Sound Sports seems to have a strong focus towards gorpcore and sports wear, where did that influence come from?
We tend to find beauty within things that have movement. Sports has a lot of movement within them, so that would be the reason behind the sports wear influence.
We know you [ISLND] released your first project, what was the process like behind it?
I made the album in my room in my apartment.
Do any of the other members plan on releasing any solo projects as well? do you have any plans to release any albums or eps, as a group?
We’ll be releasing more info as we go on, so stay tuned.
Fake Ass Flowers is also a friend of ours and a brand you can’t miss in Tokyo, how did the FAF collab happen?
Ryota Ishii and Tsukasa from FAF were meeting in Akabane, and the collab happened very organically.
We know Sound Sports works with many creatives, but is there anyone you would like to or plan to collaborate with in the near future in terms of music and fashion, or anything else?
Apple, Starbucks, Dyson.
What are some of your guys favorite sports?
I really like golf.
How about your favorite brands?
We have quite a few, but Abercrombie & Fitch, Arc’teryx, Joseph Tricot, Trippen, John Lobb to name a few.
We always ask this question in our interviews, but do you guys have a go-to food spot?
How do you want the future of the Tokyo creative scene to look like?
We hope more and more of the extremely talented creatives in Tokyo get picked up, and brought to light.
What are your plans for Sound Sports in the future?
We want to become corporate. We want to keep doing things on our own too, but at the same time want to be a part of creative direction more. Once the borders are open too, we want to hold more events in Korea.
Thank you so much for your time today!
Interview & Text By: Casey Takumi Omori, Yugo Mima
Images From Sound Sports Instagram
