Tomu DJ is one of the most enigmatic and acclaimed producers out of the Bay. Her 2022 full-length album Half Moon Bay, though mostly composed while in New York, psychically transported us into an alternate reality version of the foggy west coast city. Every time she drops a new release, it’s a pleasant surprise, coursing through ambient techno, acoustic americana, and, of course, massively addicting club tracks.
This year, Tomu DJ collaborated with NYC rapper Petty Getty on two incredibly catchy NO BIAS releases: “Bedroom DJ” and “Tortfeasor”. Both artists are playing at tonight’s NO BIAS party at Underground SF, so we interviewed Tomu DJ to learn more about her process working with Petty Getty, her connection to New York as well as the Bay, and her thoughts on the local music scene.
Tell us about your recent work with Petty Getty. What’s the creative process like?
Since we don’t live in the same place we collaborate maybe once a year at Statice’s studio when I’m in NYC and it always feels natural, fun and easy. This is largely because Petty usually comes with lyrics ready to go and they are always great. Statice typically lays down a part or two as well; he did the bass on Bedroom DJ and some of the synths and drums on Tortfeasor. I think Petty tends to come to the studio with a very strong concept of what kind of vibe the song is supposed to have even though it hasn’t materialized yet, and as the producer I try to just zero in on that as quickly and precisely as I can, recognizing that my sound will naturally become a part of the process. Sometimes we will have other friends around too and it feels like after P.G. vocalizes the song we can all kind of begin to feel the concept, which begins to take form as we continue to work on it.
As far as our major collaborations (“Bedroom DJ” and “Tortfeasor”) we made the songs to 90% completion in like, a couple hours max (finishing the mixdown is a different story and sometimes takes me a year or longer). Sometimes I have a beat laying around that’s partially finished or something that we will adapt like in Bedroom DJ. For “Tortfeasor” we recorded the vocals over a looped break, removed the break, and built the rest of the beat around the vocals. I think the tracks we make together have a unique vibe. It was also an amazing experience having something like a dozen producers remix “Bedroom DJ”; through those remixes I think more people have been able to connect to the song. I’m looking forward to working together again whenever that happens.
Do you have other musical connections to New York?
I lived there for a little over a year in 2020-21, so a lot of my released music was made there either in the apartment I was living in, Pirate Studios, or studios that a friend had rented. I collaborated with some musicians there like Via App and Darian and that’s also where I met kimdollars1 who appears on a significant portion of my records. Our collaborative EP Luv & Vibes might just be my best release ever. I think there’s definitely a vibe in the city where everyone’s trying to make dope stuff so a bunch of dope stuff gets made. I think the geography and architecture of the city also gave my music a more driving house energy while I was producing there. I’m still working on mixing down some of the tracks from that era as I know the compositions are so good that I can’t let them go to waste by releasing an unfinished mix.
On some of my old releases you’ll hear a dude YoungLove Erix (f.k.a. YoungLove) come in with some great vocals. We are childhood friends and made some music together when we both lived in the Bay Area for a little bit after college. He moved to Brooklyn recently and we’ve done some really amazing collaborations, most of which you will hear on my upcoming album. Because we’ve been sharing music with each other since we were like twelve or something, our influences are kind of similar and it’s easy to work together for that reason. Though most of our collabs have been in person, there’s two songs on the new record where I sent him these weird 12-minute deep house beats I had made on my couch and he sent me back, totally unexpectedly, two incredible 10-minute freestyles that he recorded at 3 AM. I had to spend over a year getting those ready for release because there was just so much good material and I had to make the beats better and more concise to do it justice.
Does the Bay Area influence the music you make?
For sure. I’m from here so it probably influences everything in my life. My second LP Half Moon Bay is actually mostly composed of songs that I started while in New York, but the selection process was done here. I have thousands of songs and a lot of them are not necessarily “not good” but when releasing music commercially I have to do this process of mediating between what is comforting/appealing to me and what can be packaged/sold, so creating the music is really only 50% of the process as far as how much time is spent.
We saw you at Earthling and absolutely loved it. It felt very special. How was it playing that event vs other events?
I’m glad it felt that way! Honestly, I had just gotten home from Tokyo and was deep in the bowels of jetlag and I hardly remember what I played, so it’s a relief to hear that you loved it. People often tell me my music reminds them of outside, so it felt like a perfect environment to play a lot of my own stuff. I actually intended to do a live set, but was too exhausted to prepare one. I do remember that it was amazing to play that event because it was outside and free to attend and I was still compensated well. The other performers were also really good. I hope that more events like this can happen in SF/the Bay Area.
Do you have any hopes or predictions for the local music scene?
There’s a pretty good jazz scene here that I’m privy to from my day job. I’m still discovering so much new music from the Bay all the time. I hope that the diverse array of musicians here will come together to create unique stuff that only the Bay could create.
Which up and coming local artists are you most excited about? Feel free to explain why!
40split, Raven from Vaguetracks, Zero Charisma, Musele Project, Devin SG, RITCHRD, Soulox, Ghostmilk, Ina and Zan are some people I’ve played or worked with recently that I think are really amazing and going great places. All for different reasons.
Are there any treasured Bay Area tracks you like to spin in your sets?
I don’t know if this counts but definitely “Saved” by Ty Dolla $ign featuring E-40. Bastiengoat, Bored Lord and RITCHRD are always churning out great club tracks, but I figure most people reading already know this. Also I like to spin my own tracks.
Do you have any new releases coming up?
Yes, my new album is coming this summer.
