"Shiosai RADIO" is a playlist curated by musicians and DJs, featuring songs inspired by the ocean.

For Vol. 5, we feature DJ and trackmaker okadada. He is one of the top DJs who has performed at clubs of all sizes throughout Japan and has appeared at numerous outdoor festivals, including FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL (Yuzawa Town, Niigata) and "Mori, Michi, Ichiba" at Laguna Beach & Laguna시아 (Gamagori, Aichi). This time, under the concept of "Into the Sea," he has selected songs that evoke the feeling of the ocean itself.

A collection of songs that give you the feeling of being in the ocean.

Where are you from, Okadada-san?

My family home is in the mountainous area of Shiga Prefecture, so I always thought, "The sea is so far away." And even within Shiga Prefecture, it's quite far from Lake Biwa.

—This playlist is titled "Into the Sea," and the songs were carefully selected.

The offer email said, "If the theme is the ocean, you can come up with the concept yourself," so I thought, "Why not put together a collection of songs that give you the feeling of being in the ocean?" However, I wanted to do it differently from ambient or new age music that you might hear as background music in an aquarium. I like those kinds of songs, and I listen to them often at home, but I thought it would be easier to listen to if it included hip-hop and jazz. The first track is from a Jaco Pastorius album, which I loved and listened to a lot when I was a student.

—That's "Portrait of Tracy," a song with a bass solo by Jaco Pastorius, right?

Motohiko Hamase (on the ninth track, "Reminiscence") also makes a popping sound with his bass. I think the overall flow of the playlist is like splashing around on the surface of the water at first, then diving into the deep sea, and then coming back up again. And finally, splashing around at the end. Even though I said "the feeling of being in the ocean," I also wanted to make it ambiguous whether you're in the ocean or on the surface.

—I was also impressed by your selection of "Spray" from the classic album "Future Days" (1973) by the German rock band "CAN".

You might think, "CAN and the sea don't go together," but ind_fris (a producer based in Aichi Prefecture) listened to 'Future Days' and said, "It has a randomness to it, like light hitting the surface of water and shimmering." So, I think the image of water became attached to 'Future Days,' and that's why we chose it.

Later in the playlist, I also chose a song by Eiko Hiraiwa with the straightforward title "Like Water," and I thought about things like, "How should we think about the difference between the sea and water?" It led to discussions about the difference between Lake Biwa and the sea, and I was thinking about things like, "What's the difference between being underwater and being in the ocean? Being in water is a 'state,' but being in the ocean has an ecosystem..." but I realized it would be impossible to express that in a playlist.

—That's quite a deep dive...

Let's stop doing things like that. Let's stop trying to do things that are impossible.

The ocean is complicated, isn't it? It's not always calm; there are rough seas too. When people who live far from the sea think of "the ocean," they immediately picture "peace," but in reality, that's not the case at all.

Speaking of things that didn't match expectations, the album 'Sextant', which includes the fifth track, Herbie Hancock's "Rain Dance," had a cover that incorporated cosmic motifs, which was quite unexpected.

It could be described as outer space, or anything else...that's the feeling I get. I really like this album. Herbie was incorporating psychedelic synths around this time, and when I thought about "the sea," I thought the song title "Rain Dance" would be good because it has a splashing sound to it. It's the same with reggae, but the reverb sound (the effect of reverberation and echo) that you hear in the song has a splashing sound to it, right? You could say that sounds like the sound of water.

Speaking of other tracks, Christoph El Truento, who sang the third track "Low Tides," is a reggae craftsman from New Zealand. You can definitely hear the sloshing sound.

When you listen to all kinds of music, you sometimes hear things that sound one way at one time, but not the other. For example, if someone says "Fire Playlist," you might hear fire, and if they say "Ocean Playlist," you might think "Ocean, huh?" So this time, I created a playlist with the idea of expanding the range within the constraint of "Ocean."

—By the way, do you have many songs with a sea theme?

There are tons of songs with ocean or water themes. I feel like there are overwhelmingly more songs about water than about fire or earth. Is there some kind of affinity between them? In painting, stones and trees are common motifs, but the ocean is too vast to be a suitable motif, and since music is intangible, maybe that's why the ocean becomes the motif. Also, music is sometimes referred to as "sound waves." I'm glad this time it was an ocean playlist instead of an earth playlist.

—There are many songs about the sea. A song by Russia's XYR has also been selected, but what is the connection between XYR and the sea?

The first XYR album I ever heard was "Robinson Crusoe (Lost Soundtrack)," an ambient album based on the novel "Robinson Crusoe," so I've always had an impression of the sea from him. He's a prolific ambient musician whose music is hard to pin down but incredibly pleasant to listen to. This particular track is titled "Underwater Calm"...

—It truly feels like you're "in the ocean." Finally, a question for our listeners: How do you think this playlist would be best enjoyed?

I designed it so that you can listen to it when you want to relax, or rather, so that it would sound nice even if you just leave it playing in the background. I think it would be interesting to listen to it intently once and think, "Ah, the ocean."

I had planned to make "Umi no Chinmoku" by Mio Fou, a unit formed by Hirofumi Suzuki of Moonriders and Hiroko Mio, formerly of Real Fish, the last song, but I wanted to let you know that I left it out this time because it wasn't available on streaming services.

—If you're interested, please check it out on CD or vinyl. Thank you for today!

TRACKLIST

Jaco Pastorius – Portrait of Tracy
Tondo Trio – Soul Scuba 95
Christoph El Truento – Low Tides
YOSSY LITTLE NOISE WEAVER – Small Ship
Herbie Hancock – Rain Dance
CAN – Spray
Arthur Russell – Ocean Movie
Yuri Harada – Hidden Love
Motohiko Hamase – Reminiscence
XYR – underwater calm
Eiko Hiraiwa – Like Water
Doctor Rockit – Runners On Hastings Beach
Die Antwoord – Age Of Illusion
Gitkin – El Gran Camino
Juana Molina – La visita

Profile

okadada | Okadada

A DJ/trackmaker born in Shiga Prefecture in 1986.
They perform at a wide range of events across Japan, including large-scale clubs in Tokyo, regular parties such as "lost decade," "LESS," "AUDIO TWO," and "now romantic," outdoor festivals, and niche parties.
At the end of 2018, they successfully held a solo long set at Daikanyama UNIT, and at the end of 2025, they held another solo long set at Shibuya O-EAST.
As a trackmaker, he releases music through the net label "Maltine Records" and Bandcamp. He has participated in various compilations, provided music for Red Bull, remixed tracks for artists such as FPM (Fantastic Plastic Machine), ZEN-LA-ROCK, Inhumai Kumiai, Yumemi Nem, Disc Yuri On, Kyoko Koizumi, and Yu Hayami, contributed articles to the magazine "USCA," and performed karaoke on a Space Shower TV program, among other diverse activities.
My chat podcast with fellow DJ Shakke, "Chatter Island," is also available on Spotify.

IG: @okadada

Interview and text by Hanazawa Ou
Illustration by Oki Masahide