English transcript of the TEKE::TEKE : In eight key songs episode
Please note : This is an English translation of an automated (yet perfected) AI transcript. It is provided for informational purposes only. While we did our best to capture the vibe, automated tools can sometimes twist spoken words—especially with our local Quebec slang! For official or accurate reference, please consult the original audio episode.
Hugo Lachance: We are on June 22, 2026, broadcasting from Vieux-Longueuil in the suburbs of Montreal, and today I have the immense honor of being invited to the home of TEKE::TEKE, a group I adore—an amazing, Japanese-Quebecer band. So, we’re going to talk about their equally amazing career through eight songs. That’s what’s coming up, right after the theme song, welcome to l'album podcast! Before properly introducing my guests, I want to thank our new subscribers. It’s greatly appreciated. Come join us on YouTube, among other places, and all our social networks: Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky—I’m everywhere, even on Reddit. I also invite you to visit my website at www.lalbumpodcast.ca. If you like my work, you can also make a monthly donation or a one-time spontaneous donation like that. Head over to the website, all the explanations are right there. But the most important thing is to talk about it. Do you like the podcast? Spread the word, it's always the best advertising.
I also want to thank Hopera microbrewery, the sponsor of this episode. Hopera is a microbrewery located in Jonquière, in the Saguenay region. They’re a bunch of really, really cool people. They have great products, but they are also deeply integrated into the region's cultural scene. They build connections all over the place, as much through beer and food as through the musical and cultural side of things. So, if you're heading to the Saguenay this summer, I invite you to stop by Hopera. Especially La Shop, which is located right in the heart of the industrial park in Jonquière. You'll see, it's a really cool factory. You can taste the products right there and buy some to go. So, I am here with TEKE::TEKE. Hello!
Maya Kuroki: Hello!
Hugo Lachance: Thank you for welcoming me into your home.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Our pleasure. Welcome.
Hugo Lachance: I’m here with Maya Kuroki, Hidetaka Yoneyama, and Sei Nakauchi Pelletier. Welcome. You recently played at the SAT, inside the famous Dome. How did the show go?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Oh, it was awesome, right? In the Dome, it’s mind-blowing. It was the first time we experienced something like that with the video and everything. It comes with its challenges audio-wise, for example, with the speakers. There are forty speakers built right into the wall of the Dome. But overall, it was truly awesome. It was a great collaboration with the VJ, Alex Vlair, too.
Hugo Lachance: Yes, there were 360-degree projections, right?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes, exactly. We integrated Maya's artistic visuals.
Maya Kuroki: We sent over everything we had done, and he was so happy to work on it. He kept saying, "Oh yeah, bring me more, more!" So I sent everything, everything, everything—huge files—and he worked so hard.
Hugo Lachance: We’ll actually talk about your artistic involvement in TEKE::TEKE. The concept of the episode is that we chose eight songs to go through your amazing career. But first, I like to introduce the artists. I always ask the exact same six questions. Because we all start somewhere, and there’s a beginning to everything. I'll start with you, Sei. So Sei, where are you from?
Chapter: Sei Nakauchi Pelletier
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Actually, from right here. I was born in Japan, in Chiba, which is near Tokyo. I was barely two years old when my parents moved here. So, a Quebecer father, a Japanese mother, who met in Japan. Then they came to settle here. Like I said, I was barely two. So I grew up in Vieux-Longueuil. I didn't stay here the whole time, obviously; I lived in Montreal, but for the past three years, we've been here in Vieux-Longueuil. In fact, all three of us have.
Hugo Lachance: All three of you too? Your childhood album, the earliest one you can remember. Get ready, I'm going to ask you all the same questions!
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: There are several, but I have some here. I have some of my father's albums right here. There was a lot of The Beatles, The Kinks, all that. But the one I truly remember is definitely Michael Jackson's Thriller. There’s also an album by Nakajima Miyuki, who is a Japanese singer my parents loved a lot. I have that album—I have several of hers, actually—but that specific album, I don't know which one it is, maybe the first or second, but I love it, it left a mark on me, and I remember hearing it a lot around the house. It’s a very precious record to me, and I still have it here.
Hugo Lachance: Speaking of which, what used to play around the house or in your parents' car?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: In the car, not so much, though there were cassettes back then. But at home, The Beatles, The Kinks. That was very much my dad's side, he was heavily into '60s music, kind of like everyone from that generation. The whole British Invasion, all of that. But there was also a lot of Jacques Brel, for example. A lot of Jacques Brel, so that stayed with me. Even today, when I hear it, it moves me.
Hugo Lachance: And your first instrument?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: I think it was the drums, because my true love is for the drums. You're a drummer?
Hugo Lachance: Sort of, yeah, in a way!
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: No way! I think I'm more of a drum nerd than a guitar nerd. I wanted a drum kit when I was a kid, but it's that classic story where the parents don't want that. We didn't have a basement. So it ended up being an electric guitar bought at Steve's, with a little Marathon brand amp. That was my first instrument. I started with that.
Hugo Lachance: And the last question: at what point did you realize that music was going to be fundamental for you?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: I feel like there were several levels to it, several phases. Of course, when I started playing guitar, maybe at thirteen or fourteen with that little Marathon amp, even then it changed my life. But I wasn't telling myself that’s what I was going to do later in life; I didn't necessarily have big dreams about it. After that, I did a lot of sports, I played hockey, I grew up here. But from the moment I bought that guitar, a switch really flipped. Then I moved much more toward music, arts, and all that. In the '90s, I played in a band called Men O' Steel, a punk rock group from the South Shore. I was sixteen, seventeen when I played in that band. They were a bit older than me, they were already somewhat established.
Hugo Lachance: Were you part of the Groovy Aardvark crew or with Vincent Peake?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: We did shows with them. Vincent lived right here in Longueuil. When I was fifteen or sixteen, I used to go see them on Friday nights upstairs at the D-Light Donuts.
Hugo Lachance: You know about that because I did a four-hour podcast with them. People listening to this episode will have already listened to the two-hour episode with Groovy Aardvark.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: It’s two blocks away from here. I have an older brother whom I followed everywhere, he knew them, and we would go watch them jam on Friday nights. It was really something for a fifteen or sixteen-year-old kid.
Hugo Lachance: Shout-out to the Groovy Aardvark guys!
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Forty years this year, on top of that, congratulations.
Chapter: Hidetaka Yoneyama
Hugo Lachance: Let's keep going. Hidetaka, where are you from?
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Well, unlike Sei, I was born in London to a Japanese father and a French mother. I arrived in Japan at the age of two. I went to elementary school there, and after that, I went to France. Then I went back to Japan, and I've been in Quebec for thirty years now.
Hugo Lachance: And what about your childhood album?
Hidetaka Yoneyama: There are several too, but there was definitely a lot of... my mother listened to a lot of music like Motown, Stevie Wonder, and also Diana Ross. There was a lot of that in the house. There was also Queen—a lot of Queen at home—and also Pink Floyd. So that kind of music played a lot.
Hugo Lachance: And your teenage album? The one that was formative.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: The one that was formative, I think there was a best-of by The Police. I listened to it on loop. It made me want to play electric guitar.
Hugo Lachance: And your first instrument?
Hidetaka Yoneyama: My first instrument, at the age of five, was the piano. But it didn't last long because I didn't practice much.
Hugo Lachance: At what point did you realize that music was going to be fundamental for you?
Hidetaka Yoneyama: I think when I went to high school in France, I went to a music school. And there, it allowed me to meet other musicians with whom I could play pieces, like a lot of South American tracks, music from the Andes. And that gave me the desire to keep at it.
Chapter: Maya Kuroki
Hugo Lachance: Thank you. Maya?
Maya Kuroki: Yes.
Hugo Lachance: So Maya, where are you from?
Maya Kuroki: Yes, I was born in Tokyo, Japan. And I used to do theater, actually. I went to a theater university over there. Then, for five years, I worked in the theater field. After that, I traveled a bit all over the world: Morocco, a bit in Europe, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, India too. I traveled a lot in the United States and Canada. Finally, I arrived here and I just love the place. So in the end, I stayed. At first, when I came here, I was just visiting. Yes, and all the friends around, we all lived together in a loft. We did tons of DIY events, we cooked together. A lot of artistic things that we did together. I thought it was truly beautiful. Life was just a lot more affordable and relaxed, too. In Tokyo, to keep doing theater, it costs a lot. Cost of living is high, we needed to put in a lot of effort. But since I came here, I told myself: "Oh yeah, I can do this, I can do that." I worked to pay the rent, but at the same time, I could have more time to create things truly from scratch.
Hugo Lachance: All of that despite the winter?
Maya Kuroki: Actually, because inside the house, in the apartment, it's totally warm. Much warmer than in Japan. Because in Japan, people would put little space heaters right where they were. So, if you move somewhere else, you turn it off. It starts with the cold.
Hugo Lachance: And your childhood album, the earliest one you can recall?
Maya Kuroki: Actually, we have it right here. It’s called Oyo Getaiyakikun. It's an album from a children's TV show. The show is called Hirakiponkeki. It's a bit like Passe-Partout, but it's a truly experimental production.
Hugo Lachance: Oh, really?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Just like Passe-Partout!
Hugo Lachance: I think it was Michel F. Brault who did the music. It’s actually pretty psychedelic too.
Maya Kuroki: Yes, that's true.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: The album's production is very rich, very well made.
Maya Kuroki: I listened to a lot of that. But I realized that he listened to it a lot too. I feel like the influence for TEKE::TEKE comes from there as well, I find.
Hugo Lachance: It’s the sounds we hear in our childhood that define... that always stay with us somewhere. And your teenage album?
Maya Kuroki: From my teenage years? Actually, what I love a lot is Ennio Morricone. John Zorn did an album of Ennio Morricone songs. Sorry, I'm not good at remembering names.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: The Big Undone, it’s a movie that Ennio Morricone scored.
Hugo Lachance: Do you play an instrument?
Maya Kuroki: Actually, I used to play electric guitar, but I don't need to because there are two very good guitarists. So I don't need to.
Hugo Lachance: At what point did you realize that music was going to be fundamental?
Maya Kuroki: Actually, I loved music, I sang and all that, but at the same time, I always thought music was for someone who started when they were a kid. Since I was doing theater, I felt like music—no, I can't. But finally, when I arrived here, I started doing it anyway. I have the guitar, I didn't know anything, but I started composing too, and that's what keeps going.
Wikipedia: Fact-Checking
Hugo Lachance: Obviously we are here to talk about the eight songs, but first, to map out your journey a bit, we're going to do a segment I love a lot: The Wikipedia reality-check segment. So, I looked up your Wikipedia page. As you can see, I do rigorous research! I'll read some statements and we'll talk about them.
"TEKE::TEKE is a Montreal-based psychedelic and experimental rock band whose cinematic soundscape blends influences from '60s and '70s Japanese music with influences from Brazilian, Bulgarian, and African music as well as noise, art rock, and even pop." Is that accurate?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: It’s actually not bad, right? There are certain details that are maybe specific to a few years ago, at the beginning. There's a slightly different line-up now too. I feel like I could put a date on that, say 2020-2021.
Hugo Lachance: They also say it's J-Rock. A term that comes up often when talking about TEKE::TEKE.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Because J-Rock, essentially, means Japanese rock. But to me, it's very mainstream, very radio-friendly. I listen to it, there are some that I do listen to.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Actually, I think J-Rock refers to rock bands that are in Japan. Us, I think we're a Montreal band that sings in Japanese with a lot of Japanese influences, but there’s more to it than that. I don't think you can put us in the J-Rock category.
Hugo Lachance: Perfect, let's fix the Wikipedia. Second statement: "The group originally started as a tribute to Japanese musician Takeshi Terauchi." Is that true?
Maya Kuroki: That is true.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: That is very true.
Hugo Lachance: You started out that way.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Absolutely. The first show we did was at the Distortion festival. I had recruited the musicians to put together a tribute to Takeshi Terauchi.
Hugo Lachance: Whom I discovered thanks to you. It’s really good.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: He’s a great guitarist. When I discovered his music, it really... for once, I was truly blown away. Then I had kind of found my guitar hero. And I wanted to learn his repertoire and his techniques. It’s very, very aggressive on the right hand, actually. Always very close to the bridge. It’s a very percussive sound that is reminiscent of the shamisen, and the koto—traditional Japanese string instruments. And also on the whammy bar.
Hugo Lachance: It's very, very Ventures-esque, but pushed to the extreme.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Actually, how it started is that when The Ventures played in Japan for the first time, it completely revolutionized the music world over there, and suddenly every teenager wanted to buy an electric guitar. Takeshi Terauchi was sort of the guitar hero who represented that wave in Japan, but who brought in elements of traditional music.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: I'll add that his mother was a Shamisen teacher. And his father had an electronics store... He built his first electric guitar himself out of an acoustic guitar. He had the Shamisen techniques. He stands a bit apart from people who started playing electric guitar in a standard way.
Hugo Lachance: Let's continue. "TEKE::TEKE is the name of a monster from Japanese urban legend that tells the story of the ghost of a young woman who reportedly fell onto a railway track where her body was cut in half by a train. Deprived of her legs, she walks on her hands or elbows, dragging her upper torso and making a scratching-like sound. But, in your case, the band name refers to the onomatopoeia used in '60s Japan to describe the signature sound of surf guitar." Is that it?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes, there you go, there you go. Thank you! It happened often that we had to clarify that. But it's normal, a quick Google search brings us right to that legend. But yes, indeed, it's the sound of the guitar. Tick-a-tick-a. It was also slang back in those same years for when teenagers dressed up like surfers but weren't really surfers. They were considered ticka-tickas. It’s slang. And plus, T and T are the initials of Takeshi Terauchi.
Hugo Lachance: On January 30, 2018, Patrick Baillargeon for Voir.ca: "If we wanted this project to last, we had to move away from the tribute aspect and create something similar but uniquely ours, because there really is chemistry among all of us. We don’t want to be pigeonholed as a retro band, so we’re trying to make it all more current in a way. I’d tell you there’s something darker, more sinister, a bit like 1960s, '70s, and '80s Japanese horror films with a noise touch. Then, with the addition of Maya, we also drew inspiration from the catalog of various pop singers my mother used to listen to and that left an impression on me during my childhood." After the tribute to Terauchi, Maya arrived. How did that change the sound of TEKE::TEKE?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: It changed it a lot, and quite quickly, from one show to the next. Maya joined us for the second concert at Divan Orange. We had proposed to the Pop Montreal festival to do a Showa-era post-war night, '60s-'70s style, with our influences. To do that, we already knew we wanted vocals. Maya was at the first show at l'ESCO for the instrumental tribute, but she was in the audience, we already knew her. So it happened very naturally. And also, a matter of timing in personal life made it all possible. So, second concert at Divan Orange as part of Pop Montreal, it was still a tribute to Takeshi Terauchi but mostly a tribute to the era. We expanded the song repertoire and we had, I believe, two original songs.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: There was one song we never published, but at the second concert we didn't have original compositions yet, that was at the third!
Hugo Lachance: Maya, I think you're the one who posted the cartoon video of TEKE::TEKE's history on YouTube. We see you in the crowd dancing.
Maya Kuroki: Exactly! The first concert, I was in the crowd, but I knew a few musicians in there. Yuki, the flutist, she was wearing the dress my mom used to wear in the '60s-'70s. I saw those people playing in front of me.
Hugo Lachance: You saw those people playing in front of me. And right there, you saw something, I imagine, watching them. What did you bring to the table? What was your plan?
Maya Kuroki: I was surprised that people liked it so much here. Because me, I love it, I know that vibe. It's nostalgia, it touches me deeply. But I realized that here too, people get it right away and they hop on board.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Actually, from the very first concert we did, we already had a sound that was our own, I find. Which wasn't exactly Terauchi's sound, it was much fatter, with more punk energy. We were kind of halfway between several influences. I think it touched a lot of people.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: It took us a bit by surprise ourselves, and that's what made us keep going. Nothing was planned.
Hugo Lachance: Hey, speaking of videos, because I found it very cute by the way, the intro video, I had in my notes... Yes, that's it, I forgot to mention it, but in the intro video, Maya Kuroki is introduced as a passionate improviser and a fan of The Residents.
Maya Kuroki: Yes, I love The Residents! I do a lot of vocal improvisation and I collaborate with tons of people. Montreal has a very vibrant experimental scene.
Hugo Lachance: Hidetaka, you are a bossa nova specialist?
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Specialist is saying a bit too much! I started with bossa nova in Quebec City, even before that in Japan. TEKE::TEKE is the first group where I play electric guitar. Before, I was on classical guitar.
Hugo Lachance: And you are a Japanese teacher?
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Yes, at the Université de Montréal.
Hugo Lachance: And a "noise-maker"?
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Yes! It was a big revelation while working on a project. I did research on Japanese noise for a theater piece. We had even gone to Fukushima with Antoine Laprise for a show about Otomo Yoshihide, a Japanese noise musician. That opened doors for me, I started doing research on Japan noise and I was doing trials at home with the electric guitar using pliers, motors, all that.
Hugo Lachance: We see it in the KEXP session, you use pliers on the guitar.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Yes, that's right. Besides, the first song we did with TEKE::TEKE in concert started with the pliers. Pliers are very important to me! Long-nose pliers.
Hugo Lachance: Long-nose pliers!
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Yes, that's it!
Hugo Lachance: And Sei, you are a composer for film and TV, a hip-hop anthropologist, and a skateboarder.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Ah yes, that, that's what was written for each... Anthropologist of... Hip-hop, that's true, because I've been listening to a lot of rap, a lot of hip-hop forever. Thinking about skateboarding, yes, but now the older we get, the more injuries there are, the less we do it, but I did a lot of it when I was young too. It brought me... you said you forgot to ask me about my fictional teenage album. It was very connected to skateboard culture for me.
Hugo Lachance: What is it?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: It coincided with buying the new guitar. When I discovered Minor Threat, I think it changed many people's lives. It’s a classic of like: I can play three chords, let's go. It hits me very deeply when I hear that music even today. What was the other one? Anthropologist? It was "skateboard enthusiast" then anthropologist. Ah yes, for TV, you're a composer for TV, film, that's something I've been doing for over 15 years now. On and off, on film projects, TV series, a bit of everything. It’s great.
Hugo Lachance: Now, we've learned a bit about the band's history. We've gotten to know you personally. Now, the members of TEKE::TEKE, there, I think there has been some lineup movement too. But there is, obviously, there's you, Sei, on guitar-composition, Maya on vocals, Ian Lettre on drums...
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: No, that's it, Ian Lettre is the O.G. drummer. Now, we have a new drummer named Oli Bernatchez, who did his first show with us at the SAT. Ah yes, I had it here. Yes, yes.
Hugo Lachance: Then Camily Michaud, ?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes, Camily Michaud who is on bass now. Yes, that's it, for a while now... She has done several shows with us.
Hugo Lachance: There is obviously Hidetaka Yoneyama on guitar. There is Mishka Stein on bass.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes, him, who is also the O.G., who did the first show with us, who was with us for a very long time, who did the albums, but who also plays with Patrick Watson. And then, at some point, it was just too much...
Hugo Lachance: Too much for him, huh?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes, that's it.
Hugo Lachance: Then formerly also, Etienne Lebel, who was on trombone. O.G. too, I think.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: O.G. too, yes.
Hugo Lachance: And the excellent Yuki Isami.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yuki Isami, yes.
Hugo Lachance: I listened to her solo album, by the way. Rives, yes. Oh, it’s magnificent. It sounds great. Oh, yeah. You're a guest on the podcast, we have to talk about it. How much did I love that. We have to talk about it, I loved it.
Discography and History
Hugo Lachance: So, we're going to go through your discography, so that's a way maybe to tell a bit about what mindset you were in or to quickly tell the story behind each album. So, we start with Jikaku, it's an EP in 2018 on Ray-On.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes, the EP... Do we have it here? I think we have it... Yes...
Hugo Lachance: Wow, it's magnificent.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Recorded in 2018. Recorded at Masterkut studio, which is a studio on Saint-Laurent. I think since then, it has changed names. It’s producer Jean Massicotte who works in that studio and who worked with us on this EP. And which includes two covers, two covers on one side. And then... Ah no, that's it. Look, side-A, it always makes me laugh when I see that. Because it’s our original composition that takes up a whole side in the back... With a long intro. So, it’s only that song on side A, then on side B, there’s the composition of Jikaku and a song by Takeshi Terauchi, and a song by Asakawa Maki, who is one of the singers we were talking about earlier, whom we did covers of with Maya in the second show. It’s a first recording for TEKE::TEKE, and we see it a bit like a sort of black and white documentary compared to the other albums after that became perhaps more technicolor. It was a bit of a test for us because we had done a few shows anyway, we wanted to see if we could record a few songs.
Hugo Lachance: It’s Maya, you’re the one who does all the covers, right?
Maya Kuroki: That's true. I integrated the photo for that. Those are his mother's legs. Here, it’s his father, when he was in Japan. In Kyoto, I think.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: In Kyoto.
Maya Kuroki: Jikaku, that means awareness. For me, I felt that TEKE::TEKE's music, it's really like that, it comes from its identity, from something. It influenced me, it's really that. Just, I wanted to put that
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Communicate that through art. It’s funny because I pulled out photos that I found beautiful from the era and it was more aesthetic in my thinking, then I put that into her hands. It's when I listened to it... I saw that, I went: there’s my mother on one side, my father on another side, then I went, that’s what TEKE::TEKE is. It had really struck me
Maya Kuroki: It’s because TEKE::TEKE, it's not just like an imitation of that era. It's more like using our way like filtered or something, condensed, I don't know. But at the same time, there is something that doesn't change with time. So Jikaku, it's the word, it talks about that as an awareness that time, it passes, but I have the awareness of the center of me that never changes, things like that.
Hugo Lachance: Next, there is Shirushi, 2021 on Kill Rock Stars. It's an album that wins the award for Album of the Year - Other Languages at the 44th ADISQ gala.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes, yes. It’s awesome. We were so happy and it’s quite an honor to receive that because we are very proud of this album. It’s the first full-length and then that one, we went to record it in Rhode Island, a studio that was a bit on my list of "Dream Studios" without being an inaccessible studio. It’s Machines with Magnets, it's called. It's in a little town called Pawtucket.
Hugo Lachance: Ah yes, yes, yes.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Where there is practically nothing else. There is a sort of microbrewery. There is the studio. There are even signs pointing to the studio.
Hugo Lachance: Oh yeah, OK, for tourism. OK, OK.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: But I had... there are bands like Battles. It’s mostly bands that are pretty heavy, that have a pretty loud or noise sound from the somewhat Rhode Island scene that had recorded there, but also the Montreal band Big Brave which did all those albums there.
Hugo Lachance: I don't know them.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Oh no! Oh, you have to... because I think you also like music that’s pretty heavy, pretty heavy.
Hugo Lachance: Oh yes, music in general.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Big Brave is one of those bands. Then they produced, I don't know how many albums, they have several, but they did everything over there.
Hugo Lachance: I had heard of Pawa up first back in the day, but not Big Brave.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Big Brave still exists, by the way. I saw, I think, through Big Brave, a connection knowing one of the members. It’s good because it’s a studio that also includes an apartment that is attached to the studio. For us, I knew that being seven in a band, we couldn't make an album here. We had to go elsewhere then stay there for a week then focus on that.
Maya Kuroki: Otherwise, there were four dads and always busy.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: We really had to go isolate ourselves somewhere.
Hugo Lachance: I am the owner of three children too, I know what you have. Let's keep going.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Can I add something about Jikaku?
Hugo Lachance: Yes.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: There is a little anecdote about Jikaku. It’s a 33 RPM format but it’s a 45 RPM.
Hugo Lachance: Ah OK.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: There are a lot of people who listened to it slowed down and who told me: "But I thought it was a woman singing and now I hear a man with a very deep voice. What’s going on?"
Hugo Lachance: That's perfect. That's really good. We continue with the songs Onigami and Kodomo no Kuni which were released on a 45 RPM this time, in a limited edition via the exclusive vinyl club created by the Seattle record label: Sub Pop.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Ah yes, that very small one. It had a beautiful cover too.
Hugo Lachance: Yes, that's a painting Maya did.
Maya Kuroki: We had it here before. It was quite big, like that one. But I just sold it.
Hugo Lachance: Oh, really?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: A collector purchased that piece.
Hugo Lachance: Wow! Congratulations. That's cool!
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: So, a new life for that artwork.
Maya Kuroki: Yes, I'm happy.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Those two songs, we did them... we worked with Samuel Woywitka who often does our live sound too. He is a musician, an artist, but he has worked a lot in the studio as well. He is a producer. We did that with him here in Montreal. And then what more can we say about that... those songs, was it at Hidden Ship in his studio? That's it. The story with Sub Pop is that very early in the band's life, we were approached by a friend, Nick, who is with Sub Pop. And then finally, well, all sorts of things happened, but we didn't… Ultimately, we signed with Kill Rock Stars and not with Sub Pop, but they have always been very generous with us, they always wanted to... They kept us in mind, and then when there was the opportunity to...
Hugo Lachance: It's still pretty cool, because it’s a label that is very much in vogue anyway, but important, Sub Pop.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Personally, I listened to a lot of Sub Pop and Kill Rock Stars artists when I was younger. So yeah, they remembered us. And when this Singles Club came up, this vinyl thing, they thought of us. We recorded the two songs for that.
Hugo Lachance: We continue with Hagata, 2023 on Kill Rock Stars. It made the longlist for the 2024 Polaris Music Prize. It’s worth mentioning that Hagata Deluxe also came out last year. Another magnificent cover, I absolutely love it. So, what was the context behind Hagata?
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Hagata, actually, we recorded it at Outlier, Outlier Studio in New York State. And unlike Shirushi, most of the tracks were songs we were already playing live. Whereas Hagata was more of a studio effort. We worked a lot in the studio. We had some beautiful unexpected moments that we kept, things like that.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: We also worked on it while on tour. Because Shirushi was done very quickly in 4 or 5 days. Like Hidetaka said, the songs were already pretty much realized, pretty polished. But Hagata was different. We had two studio sessions of about 5 days separated by a tour. So there was like a batch of songs that we did, then we went on tour, there was another batch that we wrapped up a bit on tour, but not entirely, and then we finished it up in the studio during the second week.
Hugo Lachance: OK. And then there is the latest one, Assassin's Creed Shadows, 2025.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Ah yes, we love that one too, Assassin's Creed Shadows. It's good to talk about it because for us, we consider it like an album because there are 7 or 8 songs, but still pretty long like... it's quite...
Hugo Lachance: Oh wow! A sort of box-set... wow, magnificent.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: That's the three... Because, well, Assassin's Creed Shadows, first of all, you have the composers of the orchestral score, which runs over three hours of music. That's for gameplay.
Hugo Lachance: For immersion.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Which is more orchestral. Those are two composers from London whom we actually met, by the way. They also came down to Ubisoft in Quebec City. It was during the Festival d'été de Québec. We were playing... they came out. There's also another group from London, Thunder Drum, who handled the music for one of the main characters, who is a samurai. And then, us, our music was rather for the ninja character. Ah, OK. Her name is Naoe. And so, the kind of scenes they call cinematics in the game, which were associated with that character. That's where TEKE::TEKE's music comes into the game. So, we had... it was a long process. We were approached pretty early on while we were being sent scripts, short videos. It was a work in progress. There were videos that were very... it was pretty funny too. The animations weren't finished.
Hugo Lachance: Not finished.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Or the actors with the... Ah, who have the dots. For us, it was quite a beautiful experience.
Hugo Lachance: A question for you regarding that. Who beat the game first?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Nobody in TEKE::TEKE has played it. But Yuki, her boyfriend is very, very... he's heavily into video games. He played... he gave us updates, he told us how it was.
Blending and Culture
Hugo Lachance: We're moving on, slowly getting closer to the 8 songs, but I wanted to know a bit more precisely about the cultural fusion between Japan and Quebec which, in essence, forms TEKE::TEKE's sound. So, Matt Bobkin, January 9, 2019, for Exclaim!, despite the unique blend of eleki, psych, and shoegaze specific to the band: "The lineup feels comfortable in the Montreal psych scene," Nakauchi Pelletier states. I quote you: "A lot of people here in Quebec, at least, grew up watching anime, things on TV that were Japanese series dubbed into French. But the original music remained. There is this strange connection. I feel like people can hear something they sort of know."
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes, exactly. When Maya was speaking earlier about the first concert, how you're surprised to see people getting into it as if they sort of knew it. My own theory is that because I grew up in Quebec with shows like Demetan, Maya the Honey Bee, or whatever, all those series that were translated into French but had... Rémi sans famille always had the original music often, even still in Japanese. In the case of Demetan, the theme song is in Japanese, that's true.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Sometimes it was translated, but they still kept the music.
Hugo Lachance: Yes, I told myself, the melody. I’m not gonna sing it, but...
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Go on, do it!
Hugo Lachance: No way!
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: So, I feel like somewhere... well, because, let's say the audience at the first concert was maybe the same generation as us. Yes. So maybe it stuck. Relative to the music we hear when we're young, and it stays with you, especially with the images and everything. So, there is still a familiarity. But obviously, we want to make our own version.
Hugo Lachance: Right, I have a question about that. What are the basic clichés that you notice in Quebec or in the West regarding Japanese music? What would the clichés be?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Oh my god! Oh, you're really putting us on the spot here. I don't know if...
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Yes, we have to be careful. In fact, often people will make an association when they listen to TEKE::TEKE and certain Japanese music. For example, Kill Bill, Tarantino's world, because they often discovered this kind of music for the first time thanks to Tarantino. So, even if it's tracks from the '70s, old Japanese movies, Tarantino was like the opening, the gateway for a lot of people, I think.
Hugo Lachance: Absolutely. And within that, there are clichés.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: At the same time, I can really understand. There are worse things than being compared to a soundtrack of a Tarantino film. But a cliché, I don't know.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: It's not really a cliché, but it's kind of the association they make. Earlier, we were talking about Demetan. And I was looking at the comments after our first concert and someone had written: "Ah, it's like Demetan on acid."
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: That's brilliant.
Hugo Lachance: Still, that's good!
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Thanks to Demetan.
Hugo Lachance: No, but it's absolutely... you're right. It's a gateway to Japanese music, Eastern music too, what we hear, what we heard on TV, what we see in movies, often what becomes clichés as well, by that very fact, things like that.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: When it starts to mix, that's it, cultures.
Hugo Lachance: And, my last question regarding that, in fact, artistically or politically, what is it about Quebec that lets you do things that would be tougher to pull off in Japan?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: That's quite a question. Maya spoke about it a bit earlier, saying that when she arrived here, she could live easily in a community, then do her art and no need to work that much. There's that, but otherwise, how to put it... wow, where to begin? It's so, so different.
Hugo Lachance: There is a scene, though. People are interested in that kind of message here?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes, Montreal is known for blending, for openness. But compared to Japan…
*They speak in Japanese*
Maya Kuroki: That is so important. Because... well, it's just me who thinks this way. But I find that in Japan, the mainstream is so strong. So strong. But there are those who are underground, doing experimental things and all that. There are some too, but it's really separate. There isn't any...
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Very niche. Very underground.
Hugo Lachance: The underground is even more underground than here.
Maya Kuroki: Yes, and people... mainstream people have a lot of...
Hidetaka Yoneyama: A hierarchy maybe? Something...
Hugo Lachance: Mainstream people, they have a certain power. They decided...
Maya Kuroki: In fact, it's really... there is no connection. But here, it's all mixed up, and people who don't do art or just anyone, they are interested in truly experimental things, it's really easy, like there is access. It's very accessible for daring or experimental things, it's not necessarily mainstream. It's so interesting.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: If I have something to add, I was truly amazed that, for example, we pitched a project with TEKE::TEKE... the first time, we had pitched a project out of nowhere, it was the first time we were playing, and people simply accepted that we play in a festival. And after 4 or 5 concerts, we were already on stage at the Jazz Festival. It happened in a very natural way, without obstacles.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: People were just very curious and didn't hesitate to program something a bit different. But I think that's really the attitude here, that's how we see it.
Hugo Lachance: It's the pleasure of discovering a bit of the Japanese underground in Quebec. In a way, it's the beacon.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Maybe. Yet, personally, I always knew that Japan would probably be the last place where we would perform, precisely because, as Maya was saying, music consumption in Japan is very mainstream. 80% of people, I think, it's really the general population, consume music from Japan, very mainstream. The other 20% is American music, very mainstream. That is to say, 20%. There is still a very, very underground percentage, because there are punk bands, bands from Montreal that go tour in Japan, and for sure there are people, there are crowds everywhere.
Hugo Lachance: Has Japan shown interest in you?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes, in a way.
Hugo Lachance: Have you gone to play there?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: No. We are in discussions for a tour in Asia.
Hugo Lachance: Wow.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Soon. It takes a lot of organization and a big budget, obviously. It's among our projects though.
Hugo Lachance: I have no choice but to talk to you about your KEXP sessions. So, on December 29, 2023, in an interview on YouTube, there is Jewel Loree, the host of the KEXP session, who was talking to you about the sonic opportunities that the group brought you. You started your answer with "Sonic Opportunities," "Sonic Opportunities." Then you said: "Ah, I'm going to reuse that." And now, it's me who is reusing it, it's my turn. So, how do you use these sonic opportunities when composing a TEKE::TEKE song?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Ah yes, yes. Well, even today, it has perhaps evolved, changed a bit, just due to the lineup changes.
Hugo Lachance: Just to say that people need to check that out, because the way you talk about it, with the enthusiasm with which you talk about it, we say to ourselves: "OK, I need to catch my breath." It was really cool.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: It was right after we played. But I remember that term, "sonic opportunities," because for me, it's just seeing the ingredients that are within my reach with TEKE::TEKE, with everything the trombone could bring... not just the instrument, but the person, the personality, their background, their influences, all of that. Each person is like that.
Hugo Lachance: It makes a lot of sense because when we listen to the sessions and when we listen to the music, but when we see it live, it's something else entirely compared to the albums. Her expression was spot on because it's true that you all bring something truly different and that's what makes the sauce come together, if you will, in TEKE::TEKE. I think it's a beautiful expression.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: That's it. There are many elements, many ingredients with which we can make the sauce. It's always inspiring.
Hugo Lachance: So, the famous KEXP sessions, they are now famous in Quebec and around the world, because they triggered the explosion of Angine de Poitrine that we know. You participated twice in these sessions, which are super good, by the way. How did you benefit from this exposure?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Benefit from...
Hugo Lachance: Did it help you, the spin-offs rather?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: For sure, KEXP is always widely watched. And it's widely listened to as well. There are many people who listen to KEXP radio.
Hugo Lachance: You did one in Seattle and the other in Montreal?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes, that's right. The first one, we did it in COVID mode. They called those "KEXP at home." Which approached the... I think it coincided perhaps with the release of the album. There is still always a certain timing with the KEXP sessions. And it happened... I don't remember exactly, but through our team, I feel like maybe... KEXP is Seattle, it's Sub Pop. And Kill Rock Stars isn't very far, it's in Portland. We also went several times to that... to that area, in the West, because that's where the Kill Rock Stars label is, but also we still have a good fanbase over there. I think it's through all that that finally, we were approached to do… I'm going to put the videos in the description. We'll listen to that, it's really cool.
Segment: One Song After Another
Hugo Lachance: So we're going to move on to the segment One Song After Another. So in discussing with Sei, we made the decision — I don't know if you decided among yourselves — but to choose 8 key songs that cover your career. So we're going to listen to excerpts. If you want to go further into the song, you tell me, we'll try to find it. Either way, I do editing. So we're going to start with Jikaku.
*Excerpt from Jikaku*
Hugo Lachance: So, I said myself that it cuts off sharp. Because unfortunately we can't listen to all of them. But don't hesitate if you want me to fast-forward the song a bit. So, Jikaku is yours.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Jikaku is the first original composition by TEKE::TEKE with vocals. Because there is another one on the same EP, but instrumental. So, first original collaboration with vocals, lyrics. Yes. There you go.
Maya Kuroki: In fact, we already talked about that earlier!
Hugo Lachance: Yes, that's right. That's fine. That's neat. I copied the lyrics and the lyrics in Japanese on Bandcamp. That's neat. We can fast-forward a little bit for... Maya, your voice. I think it's been a long time since you listened to it.
Maya Kuroki: Wow. I sing like...
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yeah. But later in the song.
Hugo Lachance: Yes. It's good for Jikaku, we spoke about it earlier. We continue with Meikyu.
*Excerpt from Meikyu*
Hugo Lachance: "Even if I pretend to be a woman, it's only a lie and it's upsetting"...
Maya Kuroki: Wait, that's "Kala Kala."
Hugo Lachance: Ah, excuse me, yes, that's true, you're right. "I send myself drifting through the air, traveling through eras, I only feel my body. I don't need a dream, but only my awareness. The awareness of space"...
Maya Kuroki: That is Jikaku!
Hugo Lachance: Ah, yes! Jikaku, yes. Wait.
Maya Kuroki: Are we doing Meikyu or Kala Kala?
Hugo Lachance: But anyway, yes, you're right. In short, for me, it's one of my favorite songs by TEKE::TEKE. And especially, yes. And the music video too.
Maya Kuroki: Ah yes, but that's it. It was the first time we made a music video. For me, that was...
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: It's the first official music video by TEKE::TEKE.
Maya Kuroki: Very DIY!
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes. In COVID mode again. That's why we see each person individually. And also, just learning editing programs, animation. On the spot.
Maya Kuroki: Yes, me, I did the drawing, it's the illustration, but I didn't know how we were going to put that into a video.
Hugo Lachance: It's truly DIY. The result is excellent, it gives an aesthetic, it's perfect, it's a success.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: This song took on a life of its own, I feel, because it has been used in several places like for the trailer of Assassin's Creed, and also Fantasia uses it too for trailers. So this song has its own life.
Hugo Lachance: It's a super beautiful, very rock song,
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: For us, it's a bit like the blueprint song, if you will. We felt we had managed to put in many elements that we wanted to integrate into our music. And that's it, indeed, it resonated with a lot of people. And the Assassin's Creed soundtrack, actually, Ubisoft used the song for the trailer, and it's with that song that they went to pitch that we compose the original score.
Maya Kuroki: Regarding Meikyu, it means labyrinth. But actually, it's inspired by the movie House from the '70s-'80s, the Japanese movie. But in Meikyu, it's a mansion that is a bit like a Yo-Kai that has awareness and wants to invite people to lose themselves dancing. A ghost mansion, but there is a girl who tries to truly find her own room and to continue to fight in this labyrinth. That's the story.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: It's a bit of a theme of perseverance.
Hugo Lachance: I didn't ask you the question earlier, but you opened the door. How do you compose a song in TEKE::TEKE? How does it work?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: That too has changed a lot over the years. At the beginning, it was mostly me who brought the bulk of the song, sometimes even a whole song from start to finish. Quickly, I realized that with seven members, you really had to let the others find their connection. And then, we did what we call kintsugi, which is the art of repairing ceramics with gold, and making something more beautiful even afterwards. So, we applied this analogy a bit to TEKE::TEKE's composition. We took my songs, we broke them together, and we glued the pieces back together.
Hugo Lachance: For you, Hidetaka, how do you see it when you receive a song from Sei? What's your approach?
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Actually, I like it a lot and immediately, I start thinking about, for example, adding noise.
Hugo Lachance: Shopping for pliers!
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Yes! Haha! Changing pliers. But sometimes, it hurt my heart, at the beginning, to break it completely. Once we were used to a song, to break it, to change the order, to change even the vibe. But as time goes on, you get used to it. At first, it's a big shock. It takes time to get used to it each time.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: It's an interesting process. And above all, it's truly worth it. It's just much longer, but it's worth it. And obviously, I always compose knowing very well, I know the ingredients, I know who is there. I think about all that too. And it's a matter of trust too. With time, I've come now to know that I won't go too far either. I'll know where to stop, then say to myself: OK, I'll stop there. I'll bring that to the others to see what Hidetaka can bring, or Yuki.
Hugo Lachance: Do you work more locally or remotely, both?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Not really remotely. Truly locally. But sometimes in sections because obviously, the schedules of seven people, it's always complicated.
Maya Kuroki: But I'm telling you that when he brings the demo, it's quite completed too. That's why the composition is really well balanced. Because when people listen to it like that, they might imagine that you're just going to bring the skeleton of things, but in his case, his demo is well composed.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Well, quite realized. I do it because I want to give the right impression of the starting idea. It's difficult to communicate certain ideas or certain things just verbally or even with the guitar. Often it's concepts, it's not necessarily a riff or chords, but rather even a certain beat or a global idea. So I kind of have no choice somewhere but to make a sort of demo.
Maya Kuroki: That's the beauty of it, I find.
Hugo Lachance: You are also used to working like that now. Well, awesome! We continue with Gotoku Lemon.
*Excerpt from Gotoku Lemon*
Hugo Lachance: Gotoku Lemon: L’illumination par le citron!
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: It's a good example of how we composed the song. That one took a lot of time to develop. We worked on many versions, I have demo versions completely on another groove. It was really the contribution of all the members of TEKE::TEKE that gave that. So for me it's like a pretty important song because of that. Otherwise the influences, it's the Chindonya.
Maya Kuroki: Chindonya is like street musicians in Japan who sell things like advertising, who do promo with music and colorful costumes. Also, in the Edo period, there were many people who sold things in the street by singing. And the inspiration comes from there. But us, with Gotoku Lemon, we sell lemons. Through that, we see the lie of society or something like that. And we made a music video for this song. I did this painting to make the background for this video. I wanted to film little by little like that, with people walking on the background. But actually, when we ordered a green backscreen, it was too small.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: We were all cramped. In the video, it gives the effect of being like puppets.
Maya Kuroki: Many friends were in the video.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: In fact, it's a track where there is precisely the image of Chindonya which is a bit of a certain punk, but also a quite festive rhythm of a Japanese festival. And at the end, it becomes something very epic. So there is something cinematic too.
Hugo Lachance: Because cinema is important too in TEKE::TEKE. We can fast-forward it a bit.
*Excerpt from Gotoku Lemon*
Hugo Lachance: We move on to the next one: Corpse Pose.
*Excerpt from Corpse Pose*
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Corpse Pose is a bit more into trip-hop. It's funny because the original song is by the band Unwound. I invite people to listen to it, it's very different.
Hugo Lachance: Yes, I listened to it!
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Unwound is a band that really left a mark on me that I discovered in the late '90s, on the label Kill Rock Stars. There is really a very strong link. I discovered Unwound during a show at the Underworld skateshop back when it was on Henri-Bourassa. In fact, I played drums in a band at that time and we opened for them. There was also Blonde Redhead. Several years later, we find ourselves on Kill Rock Stars, which is for me a label whose music I listened to a lot, like Elliott Smith or Sleater-Kinney. For the 30th anniversary of the label, they did a compilation and asked current artists to do covers of bands from the label. For me, it was automatic: my choice was Unwound. Why is the version so different? I think it's because it's a song very focused on the bass. When Mishka, at the time, proposed doing a completely different version, we went in that direction. It was daring, but it was really good because it's a reinterpretation and bringing that into our world too while respecting certain elements of the original song obviously but it's interesting to do something new because the original version exists, it's there, it's not a different re-reading,
Hugo Lachance: Perfect, that's what I really like about covers too.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: We opened in New York and Philadelphia for Unwound when they did their tour. It was big pressure to play their hit Corpse Pose because we knew they were going to play it right after us. But the fact that it was different was good, we didn't give away the punchline.
Hugo Lachance: And what was their reaction?
Hidetaka Yoneyama: Ah well… Haha! They found it very interesting.
Hugo Lachance: Not more than that?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Maybe they were surprised! That night, I don't know if it was in New York, when they played Corpse Pose, they announced: "We're going to do a cover of TEKE::TEKE for you." It was very funny. What a legendary band, their show was very impressive even today.
Hugo Lachance: We continue with Kodomo no Kuni.
*Excerpt from Kodomo no Kuni*
Hugo Lachance: That is so good.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: I'm glad you like it. I like that one a lot too. We talked about it a bit earlier regarding the production work with Samuel Woywitka. It's a good example of a song where I had made a fairly polished demo, very hip-hop, with a bit of a J. Dilla influence. I approached it really like a hip-hop producer, beat-making. Then when we recorded it in the studio, Yann played the beats and we sampled our own track. We played with a bit of a crushed beat, the bass a bit lagging. I remember very well the moment I presented this song to Maya for the lyrics. When she came back with that chorus, I was like: wow! It's perfect! And the text too, truly, it's very beautiful, and it blends well with the artwork.
Maya Kuroki: The text talks about when we were little. The title means the country of children. I'm talking about the fact that when we were little, we believed in plenty of superstitions or strange stories. We invent them, but we believe them too. In that, there is a lot of imagination and passion that can change real things. And there are many possibilities. And so, I just wanted to bring that in.
Hugo Lachance: That's magnificent, it works very well. We continue with Kala Kala.
*Excerpt from Kala Kala*
Hugo Lachance: It's funny, in this one I hear some Frank Zappa! When you play in unison. It reminds me of Apostrophe. There is a sonic link that forms in my head.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: It's funny because that one too had several versions. We had the opportunity to play it live a lot before going into the studio. Eventually, we worked with a co-producer who proposed other structures to us. The intro, before, was found in the middle of the song. It was a bridge that became an intro. For Kala Kala, we made a video during COVID where everyone was at home and sent a video of themselves playing. It's the sound of everyone at home, it's not a track we put on afterwards. I think it can still be seen on YouTube.
Hugo Lachance: We did the same thing with WD-40. I recorded my drums in my space, on my iPhone. Alex did the same thing. Separate tracks. After that, I did the mix. It's available on YouTube.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes. I think there are many people who did that. We had no choice. That video is what caused us to sign with Kill Rock Stars. When the founder of the label saw the video, he felt the personality of the band, of each and every one.
Hugo Lachance: That's what I was saying earlier. The albums are one thing, but seeing you live is something else. We truly feel the contribution of each person.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: They appreciated the DIY and human side. I think they also appreciated the DIY side. There is something a bit cute in the fact that we were a bit naive about what we wanted to do with the video. For them, it was the moment they felt there was something human in there, which made them interested.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: We were filming daily life in the pandemic. There are videos where there are dads playing with their child, there is stop-motion. Maya gave somewhat absurd artistic instructions. Maya gave instructions like, yes, roll around on a colorful fabric with a mask. Somewhat artistic things.
Hugo Lachance: Especially when you do it alone at home.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: I would send that and she would tell me: the camera needs to be closer, there were plenty of instructions, and at the end there are also members making pastries at home, it's very interesting with stop-motion.
Hugo Lachance: Wasn't it Yuki making pastries?
Maya Kuroki: Yes, yes, yes. It's Yuki who does the baking.
Hugo Lachance: That's also because in TEKE::TEKE's intro video, in Yuki's description, it says "Baker."
Maya Kuroki: That's true. That's true!
Hidetaka Yoneyama: There were many pastries at the time.
Hugo Lachance: We move on to Mienai Iro.
*Excerpt from Mienai Iro*
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: The intro is hyper long on that one. Inspired by Kala Kala. Ubisoft asked us to rip ourselves off.
*Another excerpt from Mienai Iro*
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: It's a piece from the Assassin's Creed Shadows soundtrack. It's at a crucial moment in the game, apparently. It's like in movies when there is a montage of redemption, of rebirth. There is a transformation for the character Naoe, who is a ninja. It's still pretty touching, that moment. And then, in terms of text too, Maya...
Maya Kuroki: For Assassin's Creed, at the beginning, I thought about how I was going to engage with the story, which consists of fighting the enemy. I think fighting the enemy, in fantasy, is fighting oneself.
I'll start over. Regarding... Let's say, Assassin's Creed Shadows, it talks about ninjas. And ninjas, everything I knew about ninjas was exaggerated images as heroes. But it wasn't like that for real. But I didn't know either. So I did a lot of research regarding a real ninja. What the philosophy was and all that. And it was really interesting. For instance, Bushido, Samurai—for a samurai, death is in the fight, it's honor, but for a ninja, you must not die because to complete the mission, you must survive, and also, you must stay hidden. So, they don't look for honor. There is no reputation. Nobody knows.
Hugo Lachance: It's more like contracts, basically, ninjas.
Maya Kuroki: Also, they don't even look for a reputation. They can change into any form. They don't have a kind of attachment. They can always let go too. And to train oneself like that, it's really difficult.
Hugo Lachance: You made a link with the inner fight?
Maya Kuroki: Yes, that's it. That's the aspect I wanted to bring into all the lyrics.
Hugo Lachance: I'm glad because I love doing the podcast for that, to—I'm glad to know the secrets of the songs. Could you sing in French?
Maya Kuroki: Yes, I can. Singing yes, but not writing the lyrics. That's why it's in Japanese. There are no other statements. But I think it's not that important if people don't understand. But at the same time, to explain...
Hugo Lachance: On the other hand, I was glad to see on Bandcamp, on certain albums, having the lyrics in Japanese, English, and French.
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: But on the TEKE::TEKE website, there are truly all the lyrics of the albums translated into French and English for people who are curious.
Hugo Lachance: I searched everywhere except there!
Maya Kuroki: Also that's why I do the drawing, to show a little bit what the universe of that song is.
Hugo Lachance: We continue with Meimu.
*Excerpt from Meimu*
Hugo Lachance: I'll stop it there, but super beautiful atmosphere on that song, it's magnificent
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: The cinematic side and the soundtrack side. It's a piece where we pushed the use of samples. I did it initially with the MPC; I use it as a creation tool. It's a mix of the demo with the studio recording.
Hugo Lachance: How do you work in the studio? Do you record all together or is there a base, then overdubs?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: For the first album, we recorded all together. We try to do as many things together as possible. After that, Hagata too anyway. But we try to do as many things together as possible. Obviously, we keep certain elements of trombone-flute. Sometimes, we'll do it together, separately from the band, overdubs. Meimu is found on Hagata Deluxe which came out last year. It's a sort of compilation, a sort of sequel to Hagata with remixes and all that, alternative versions. It's the only new original composition that highlights the transition or a new chapter.
Hidetaka Yoneyama: It opened doors. Often we played all together, there were many sounds at the same time. There, it's a bit more stripped down, it gives each person intense moments to express themselves. It influences the rest of the tracks we are currently making.
Hugo Lachance: Speaking of what's next, what's coming up for TEKE::TEKE?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: The third album is in development right now. We will be in the studio this summer for recording, but this time it's a bit different, we're doing some recording a bit on our own, we do some in the studio. We have our studio too, it's going to be a bit mixed. It won't be like the other times where we are truly focused. It's going to be done mostly here in Montreal.
Maya Kuroki: And you bought analog?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: Yes, that's right. There is an approach regarding what we use as equipment. I have a lot on tape. I wanted to sort of impose certain things on myself, but at the same time, I found a sound that is warm. I wanted a sound that is warm, so I bought a half-inch 8-track tape to impose limitations on ourselves regarding composition. Not just piling up tracks. That's really the approach for the 3rd album.
Hugo Lachance: Do you have a planned release date?
Sei Nakauchi Pelletier: We are aiming for a release in early 2027.
Hugo Lachance: I can't wait to hear that! Before we go, Maya, I'd like you to tell me about the cover of Hagata because I love the little character with the bite mark.
Maya Kuroki: Hagata means bite mark. We saw a cloud that had that shape. It's the idea that someone ate something, they hide it and think nobody knows, but the trace remains. And at the beginning, when we were creating the Hagata album, there were concepts a bit like each song has characters that are a bit ghost-like, like Yo-Kai. In Japan, we believe a lot in spiritual characters like Yo-Kai. Believing in things that don't exist makes us humbler.
Hugo Lachance: Congratulations on all the visuals, it's fascinating. TEKE::TEKE, thank you very much to the three of you. Thank you to everyone for listening to this episode. We'll see each other again for another episode of L'Album Podcast!