Manami, the Japanese now UK based rising star steps in for our next edition of Origins Selects. An incredible talent that has recently been making waves across the country. We got to know Manami a bit below, check the lovely tracks she’s put together.

MANAMI SELECTION —-

Nico - Return To The House Of Mercury

Loosewomen - Slides

New Composers - The Evening Bell

Andras - River Red

S.O.N.S - A New Life - Planet Earth Mix

T.Jacques - Les Bois (Samo Remix)

Kush Jones - Earth Note

RED - RED 4

Interplanetary Criminal - DTWYM

Moses Boyd & Joe Armon Jones - 2 Far Gone

Hey Manami! Hope you’re well and thanks for taking the time to put these OS Selects together for us ❤ Can you tell us a bit about your favourite tracks from the selection?
Hi! You too and my pleasure ❤ The playlist is made up of some of the tracks that have helped keep my spirits up during the pandemic. I want to highlight Slides by LW (previously known as Loosewomen). It's a meditative downtempo chugger with a lovely groove from the percussion parts. I really love his productions. Another track to highlight is Moses Boyd's 2 Far Gone, it's a bop with it's garage-esque shuffle but the harmonies give it a laid back vibe. I've been listening to that Dark Matter album a lot.

I’ve read that you’re Japanese born, and raised in the UK! I’d absolutely love to go to Japan, it’s on the bucket list, everyone I meet from there too is really wonderful. How long did you live in each country and do you remember where your interest in dance music really started to develop? Do you miss it there?
I was actually really young when I moved to the UK so there's no recollection of when I lived there but I went back every year and always stayed for at least a month and a half, up until a couple of years ago. It's getting trickier to find a stretch of time to go. My extended family is based in Kobe near Osaka. The record shop offering in that city is particularly sublime. Newtone and Especial records are my choice shops if you're ever out there!  

My interest in dance music started developing whilst studying at Bristol. I was exposed to such a wide array of amazing music in a short space of time as a result, it was the perfect city to learn and grow.

Plastic Italo is a lovely tune, is it your first release? I’ve read that you're classically trained so it’s exciting to hear music being put out. Have you got more music in the pipeline and has your prior experience helped with writing? We’d love to put out a record of yours in the future!
Ah thank you! And that would be cool :) Plastic Italo is my first 'official release' though I had a track out on Corrupt Data's charity compilation back in April. I've got lots of music coming out next year. I've got several tracks on compilations lined up, an EP and hopefully a couple more things to add to that as well! 

The musical elements are definitely what drives my tracks at the moment, mainly starting with a chord progression, or bassline or a melodic hook when writing. The sound design aspect is something I'm really working on at the moment.

Manami, I remember hearing your name loads after your Glastonbury set. How was that experience playing there? It wasn’t long after that I saw you DJing more and more too. It was great to see you become a resident at Mick’s Garage too, we had many a great party there!
That was of course a pretty amazing weekend, it's a very special place to play. That really feels like a distant dream now...! I started gigging a lot more after that summer and I was really lucky to find a home at Mick's, it was a wicked space with a wicked team. That was actually where I played my last party before it all changed. Feels surreal looking back at it :(

Any final words you want to say to 2020? Fingers crossed for some real clubbing in 2021!
Suck it 2020! Although admittedly this year has brought its own disguised blessings, where it's forced me to stop, to appreciate and to learn.  

It can still suck it though. We live in hope for 2021 ❤