Photographer: George William Vicary
Styling: Jessie Silver
MUA: Ayami Okano
Words: Ana Lamond
Typically coined as a vehicle of escapism, there is a peculiar disconnect between electronic music and the theatrics of the stage. Over time, spectacle has become an afterthought to the modern-day dance act—a cautious response to avoid being mistaken for commercial stardom. Yet, amongst its free-thinking alumni rises a yearning to venture outside of reality once more, a draw towards world-building and unfamiliar landscapes. Snapping into action, BLUMITSU, the portmanteau slash brainchild of underground mainstays Bluetoof and Jossy Mitsu, launches their ascent sporting extraterrestrial shades and hazmat suits, a free-fall into the duo’s high-brow, electro-dystopian fantasy.
Entering the fray in 2022, BLUMITSU opens up a new playing field for Ben Farjani and Jocelyn, an interactive concept that transcends the parameters of techno-induced dancefloors. Rooted in 90s sci-fi flicks and LED-lit laboratories, they burst through the doors and broaden their scope for creativity: “We can make films, we can make merch. We can create immersive environments that build past just being two DJs playing back to back.”
In conversation, the British duo share a fluid, inquisitive rapport, savouring the rewards of their tour across Asia. Playing a string of dates across Seoul, Kyoto, Bangkok and Shanghai, they treat each, self-professed ‘sonic experiment’ as sacrosanct, lending pure focus and intention to the clubbing experience. “Going into rooms so far away from where you’re from, and people being so invested in you and what you’re trying to create is quite bewildering.” Taking a pause, Ben continues: “It’s a feeling that I think takes a little second to process.”
When asked how the pair first met, a skim through late-night outings concludes: “It must’ve been a South London rave somewhere,” shortly figuring the answer may have been left behind at Bermondsey’s sticky-floored Venue MOT. Arriving from different corners of nightlife, BLUMITSU negotiates between the pair’s overlapping experiences in front of and behind the decks, achieving the same sense of unity that drew them there in the first place. Born, raised and currently based in Birmingham, Jocelyn’s entry point to dance music would transpire in her father’s copy of Basement Jaxx’s “The Singles”, a gateway into later discovering specialist labels such as Hyperdub, Hessle Audio and Clek Clek Boom. Tracing her transition into late teenagehood, she recollects: “I started going to these UK garage parties, and they were all just sick. A lot of them were resident-type DJs or local people.” Admiring the spirit of her city, she describes this period as pivotal: “It was a complete change in my identity. I wanted to go out all the time, I started teaching myself to DJ and I was like, if one day I can play in a club, that would be my life complete.”
Elsewhere, in the southeastern county of Kent, Farjani would stumble across his love for high-octane blends through skateboarding. At first attuned to the school-run soundtrack, a medley of NYC house, paradise garage and R&B, the artist would soon delve into his own rave-ready discoveries, triggered by an encounter with Bukem & The Peshay’s “19.5 Reprisal”: “One of my friends had an old black Mk1 Golf that only took tapes. I remember we were driving into Milton Keynes one day, and he was playing these old jungle tape packs.” Casting his mind back to his younger self, he admits: “I’d never heard jungle, I didn’t understand it…hearing that tune was a sick moment of like, whoa…I’m actually really into this.” A university stint in Brighton would steer the Infa Red founder towards garage, juggling his studies in graphic design with setting up parties alongside DJ producer Dome Zero, before moving to London where he’d pursue a darker offshoot of the genre.
A move away to the capital would cement Bluetoof and Jossy Mitsu as tastemakers, sculpting their trajectories with weekly, Wednesday evening slots on legendary, once-pirate radio station, Rinse FM. Describing the hour as a canvas of fresh ideas, influences and future endeavours, Jocelyn expands on the impact of broadcasting: “The medium has really taught me that, especially doing live radio, it’s okay to make little mistakes.” Shifting towards her live sets, she neatly sums up her newfound approach: “You have to learn to keep going, how to just go with the flow.” Meanwhile, Ben notes his affinities to the format as a listener, pointing towards the relationship between selectors and the locked-in cognoscenti: “When you get really invested in a producer or a DJ that has a regular radio show, you can start reading their mood by how much they’re speaking, or how aggressively they’re playing.” Zoning into its effects, he muses: “You start getting these really nice insights into that person’s life, and a DJ can start to become a lot more personable.”
Back-to-back changeovers would soon flourish into a combined radio show, marking the early formations of BLUMITSU. Passing the baton from past to present inspirations, the duo made their incisions into electro with volatile transitions and macro sound design, sparking each set with flexed-out rap cuts, breaks and techno. Once establishing their niche, they’d move on to bigger stages, namely an ultra-slick appearance at Sports Banger’s Boomtown Festival takeover, before undertaking their next mission: a production debut. Load up, “Duality.”
Taking its first steps out of the laboratory, the track exerts its laser-like focus over acidic synth lines, a slew of reverberating vocal announcements that unveil the outfit’s conceptual nucleus, or “the BLUMITSU manifesto”, as Ben puts it. “We wanted to make something that was talking about this combination of us two coming together,” Jocelyn chimes in, “reinforce that it’s one thing.”
Outlining the process behind their uniform entity, the duo cherish the cumulative strengths that have arrived with collaboration, which includes embracing their contrasts. “I’m quite good at mapping out a tune, but I like to build stuff quickly” Ben explains, whilst turning to his partner, “Jossy is very intricate with her sound design and adds small nuances that turn a song from bare bones, into something very elaborate.” Calculating an airtight strategy around each release, their debut EP, The Formula, reinforces their artistic bond, generating a wealth of productivity whilst asserting that less is more. “It’s giving us the power to consider ourselves as contemporary artists,” they note of their creative kindling. “Having that duality of backing each other up and pushing each other to reach things that maybe we wouldn’t be able to do individually, has been really nice.”
An entry point to world-building, BLUMITSU births a perilous landscape in which Bluetoof and Jossy Mitsu can create, one that concocts immersion and physicality within its live format. Welcomed into the duo’s ‘sonic experiment’ via a tailor-made introduction, participants are equipped with a vial of zappy blue liquid and a mask of the duo’s front profile morphed into one. “The reason we give [the mask] out at raves is to add to that feeling of escapism we both had when we started partying.” Taking a step back, Ben broadens his perspective: “It’s building this experience that when you step in, it sounds really corny, but you forget who you are for a minute.”
BLUMITSU distinguish themselves as a moving target – a reactive agent on the brink of breakthrough. In carving out a universe of their own, the duo leap over the constraints of reality to form a project that urges them to search inwards, tapping into a true, childlike intrigue for experimentation. Drawing our conversation to a close, we come to understand what success looks like to the underground’s most sought-after duo, a steadfast union that cuts through the hype: “We’re working towards a bigger picture, building a brand, treating BLUMITSU as a business, as well as something that transcends past this UK Act, into something that’s meant to be digested on a worldwide scale.” Dealing in pure liquid adrenaline, Jossy Mitsu and Bluetoof are trialling a new formula with serious side effects. Take caution, there is only one BLUMITSU.
Listen to BLUMITSU’s ‘Metamorphic’ EP below.