By Hunter Craighill

The first episode of Red Bull Music’s new show “Check Your DMs” was released last Friday, May 22, and it was both inspiring and relatable in the way the three artists were all able to collaborate from a distance. Without ever meeting in person, DJ Q from the UK, tofubeats from Japan, and Gaidaa from the Netherlands traded around sound clips, editing each other’s work and adding their own spin until they had completed a unique new track. Despite their vastly different musical backgrounds, the song still came across as cohesive, smooth, and honestly quite groovy.

DJ Q took the lead on the project, starting with a basic UK garage beat with some ambient synth and a subtle bassline laid on top, which he then sent to tofubeats. The Japanese beatmaker was tentative at first, unsure of how he could advance the track, but after fiddling around in his home studio for a while, he found creative ways to add keyboard fills and some Japanese rap lines into the mix. After arranging the additions, Q sent the file to Gaidaa, who he thought would give smooth, soulful vocals to the fast-paced garage beat. Gaidaa experienced the same hesitation as tofubeats at first as the track was much faster than what she was used to, but was eventually able to overlay some melodies and floating harmonies over the top that shaped the track into its final form. 

The final result was a very will mixed fusion of UK Garage, Japanese Rap, and Dutch R and B Soul. While tofubeats noted that “Japanese musicians… would often prefer to work remotely, even if they live in Tokyo,” Gaidaa described how she “noticed that [she] had to rely on [her]self” more than if she were in the studio with the creator. Ultimately, the three were able to achieve the vision of “different perceptions and different perspectives” with “the illusion that they were all in the same room.”