Kings of Bass 012 feat. Makoto (Hospital Records)

Makoto Shimizu, more widely known simply as “Makoto”, is a testament to the international scope and power of electronic music. Born, raised and still based in Tokyo, Makoto was influenced at a young age by a wide variety of music ranging from classical to soul and funk. Upon hearing the soundtrack to The Last Emperor by the academy award winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, Makoto was so inspired that he made a life changing decision – to pursue a career in music. He went on to complete an Acoustic Engineering major at Nippon University, and having been introduced to drum and bass through listening to the radio shows of Giles Peterson on Kiss FM and BBC Radio 1, Makoto began experimenting with the genre through his own compositions. To him the appeal of this relatively new form of music was simple – drum and bass was just “very futuristic and cool”. His productions were of such quality that they caught the attention of none other than the legendary LTJ Bukem, who went on to sign Makoto to his seminal Good Looking Records imprint in 1999.