Chee Shimizu

Free-form ambient and cosmic disco journeys, deep-dug and hypnotic

Chee Shimizu is a DJ, producer, curator and record store owner who has shaped Tokyo's underground for more than three decades. He began DJing in the city's clubs in 1993 and later founded Organic Music, an online store launched in 2008 that became a celebrated physical shop in 2019. He is the author of Obscure Sound, an influential record guide to leftfield and experimental music, and led the DISCOSSESSION project that helped introduce cosmic and Italo disco to Japan. Known for a free form, listening focused approach, his sets drift through ambient, Balearic, cosmic disco and downtempo, prizing deep knowledge over dancefloor convention. He has played Boiler Room in Tokyo and holds a long running show on NTS Radio. Few selectors carry his combination of scholarship and feel behind the decks.