Fujita Pinnacle made a name for himself in Slovenia’s underground scene by hosting the Štrom event series as part of the local creative collective Nimaš Izbire. After some prominent releases on Scumtapes, Chao Gardem and SNIF, he expanded his reach to Europe’s alternative broadcasts, hosting residencies at Operator, Cashmere and Subtle Radio. His production and live performances pay tribute to the old-school rave legacy while incorporating unpredictable elements of internet-age freshness and ex-yu influences, always creating explosive dancefloor ordeals to watch out for. His DJ sets feature wide-ranging material spanning every imaginable era of old-school dance music, seamlessly blended with percussively intense variants of contemporary music production.
What is your background? How did you get into music?
My parents enrolled me in a music school where I learned to play the flute for 13 years, during which time, I started exploring other ways to perform and make music. My parents also share a vast CD and record collection that we listened to all the time while I was growing up, including many great trip-hop, breakbeat, and dub albums. Although they didn’t explicitly tell me about these genres, and I still had my own moments of discovery and learned about music independently, their taste in music undoubtedly greatly influenced mine.
You’ve been involved in various aspects of music: organising events, producing, DJing. You also hosted an event series as part of the Nimaš Izbire collective. Can you talk about this venture?
I’d say this is a natural progression for anybody working in the creative field in Ljubljana. Since the subculture in a city with fewer than half a million residents is really small, you’re often faced with a lack of public interest in the field you’re trying to explore and showcase. It’s common for producers of all kinds to organise their own events to create their own following and a supportive community. I first teamed up with a group of friends producing experimental hip-hop, trap, and footwork back in 2016, and hosted my first few events together with them under the name “spejs collective” (with “spejs” pronounced like “space” in English).
After some time, our interests diverged and I ended up being the only one in the collective still interested in event production, so I decided to join forces with the already-established “Nimaš Izbire collective” to start a fresh series called “Štrom” (pronounced as “strom” in German), focused on the 1990s UK bass and rave legacy, combined with the fresh wave of productions from a similar musical spectrum. Gabriele, one of the founders of the crew, and I did an interview with groove.de, which focused primarily on our collaboration and event production over the four years that followed – from our beginnings during COVID to our development into credible event promotors and organisers as a crew. Gabriele continues to curate the Štrom series today, while I started a series of my own called Echo0000 last year in order to shift my focus towards less demanding and costly productions that are more affordable for our local community and better connected with similar initiatives in the region.
How is the Slovenian music scene you’ve been part of? Are you based in Ljubljana?
I’m currently still based in Ljubljana, and I find it really cosy and comfortable working with others involved in our small scene. Because of its small size, everybody in the creative industries here knows each other, and we often find ourselves working together in various productions. I’d say the music scene is one of the best in the region, with many individual promoters and collectives producing a significant number of quality events throughout the year. Recently, it’s been rare for a week to go by without at least one great event being hosted for each field of interest, which—given the size of the city—is quite remarkable. The downside is, unfortunately, the absence of larger crowds at alternative productions, necessarily reduced ticket prices, and a lack of infrastructure, investment, development, and political interest, which all severely limit the industry and everyone involved in it.
Production-wise, you’ve done a lot of edits and remixes. How do you approach recontextualising tracks and making them your own, so to speak?
It’s usually easier for me to start my projects working around samples and taking inspiration from tracks I listen to in my free time, and remixing/editing is the simplest way to do this. I approach my productions differently every time, exploring possible ways to reconstruct the sounds I’m working with while still searching for my own signature sound. It’s the ones that I make in a night or two that I like the most, but that only happens when the original tune or my own idea of working with it moves me in a special way.
Your DJ sets are inspired by old-school sounds as well as new. How do you structure them?
I like combining my record collection with my digital library the most since I get the best of both worlds this way. I usually don’t pre-plan my live sets, but instead jump from playlist to playlist and see what works best with the crowd. The only ones I prefer to structure ahead of time are radio shows in which I mostly choose to showcase my recent music discoveries and unfinished projects.
As an up-and-coming DJ and producer, how do you view the dance scene nowadays? What are its challenges and good points?
The way the dance scene is connected globally nowadays is incredible, and it feels amazing to share all kinds of projects with people from all over the world. Our life online also opens up a lot of possibilities for collaboration, and opportunities for mutual support, growth, and education. The tools available for content creation and promotion are also highly accessible, enabling us to bring our work to new audiences. But the online world can also be really demanding, taking time away from real-life interactions and the creative process. I see it as a double-edged sword with benefits and downsides. For me, the most frustrating aspect is the battle against algorithms—figuring out what sticks in this fast-evolving and oversaturated environment.
What are your plans for 2025?
I’m planning to create four more Echo0000 events this season, release more original productions of my own, and hopefully, prepare a live set to perform by the end of the year. I can’t wait to meet and work with interesting people in the field and do some more international collaborations and performances.
Photo: Kristjan Kovac