Know Your MAG: DJ Yuzo Koshiro

We all know Yuzo Koshiro as the composer: PC-8801 wizard who gave us The Scheme and Misty Blue, early Falcom icon who contributed to Ys and Sorcerian, Sega legend who put Streets of Rage and Shinobi music on the map, the man who composed Enix’s Actraiser, Super Adventure Island, and more recently Etrian Odyssey, 7th Dragon, and Wangan Midnight. Everyone is excited about the appearance of game music legend Yuzo Koshiro at MAGFest this January. But what will Mr. Koshiro actually bring to the DJ table? Since his DJ debut at LEGEND Game Music Club Event in Tokyo of 2002, where he ripped a very lengthy, badass Streets of Rage arranged set (featured in full-length on the recently published Bare Knuckle Original Soundtrack WM-0691~4), he has made several appearances at game music DJ events in Tokyo, namely Linear. Some may be surprised, however, at his past set lists, which have been known to include extensive amounts of Wangan Midnight, sparing amounts of Streets of Rage, free trance, even 90’s pop and house music that inspired him in his early career (ie. C&C Music Factory’s “Everybody Dance Now”). In his most recent DJ appearance, held at Area PicoPico 88: 5th Anniversary Festival in Tokyo last August, he spun 50 straight minutes of Wangan Midnight, a move that is technically safe from a DJ perspective, considering most of Wangan‘s music hovers around 140 BPMs and lends itself well to one another. However I think attendees at MAGFest will want to hear not only Wangan, but all of his famous works, including Etrian Odyssey, 7th Dragon, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Super Adventure Island, and Actraiser — preferably arranged in awesome fashion. I had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Koshiro at Pico 88 last August, however he offered no information on his upcoming set at MAGFest. Will he resort to “Wangan only” again? Veteran composer-DJs Shinj Hosoe, Ayako Saso, Akitaka Tohyama, and k.h.d.n. all have a knack for bringing a good amount of variety to the table. Let’s hope Yuzo does the same for his Western fans. (Personally, I think he should play some Vatvla.) What would you like to hear from DJ Yuzo Koshiro? Post your comments below.