Aloha Got Soul's first collab release with the Kakubarhythm label, featuring Japan's Your Song Is Good with Nick Kurosawa and Videotapemusic. 

In May 2017, Aloha Got Soul and Kakubarhythm hosted their first party together with ‘Soul Time in Tokyo’ at Tokyo Cultuart by Beams in Harajuku. 

At the event, Your Song Is Good and Videotapemusic performed an instrumental cover version of Babadu’s “We’re Not To Blame”. Hearing that song reinterpreted by musicians 35 years from the original release date and thousands of miles away from Hawaii gave me chicken skin. 

But the magic didn’t end there. At the end of our DJ set with the crowd yelling “Hana hou!” for one last track, I reached into my record bag and grabbed my OG copy of Babadu LP and dropped the needle on “We’re Not To Blame”. Videotapemusic, JxJx, and Izumi Matsui instinctively picked up their instruments and we closed out the Beams party with a surprise jam session none of us had anticipated! 

When we started planning for 2018, I pitched JxJx the idea of releasing their instrumental cover on a 7-inch. When the final recording arrived, it was around the same time we were recording Nick Kurosawa’s debut EP, so I asked Nick if he’d be down to lend his soulful voice to the instrumental. 

The “Coast to Coast” EP, releasing April 21, 2018 on Aloha Got Soul and Kakubarhythm, represents a unique opportunity for us to connect the past and the present, and as bridge the musical relationship we share between Hawaii and Japan. 

Available in limited quantities.

A1. Cruise
B1. "We 're Not To Blame" feat Nick Kurosawa ※ BABADU COVER
B2. "We 're Not To Blame" feat VIDEOTAPEMUSIC ※ BABADU COVER

"We're Not To Blame feat Nick Kurosawa" (excerpt)

Aloha Got Soul is a Honolulu-based record label breaking the conventions of what music from Hawai‘i should sound like.