The construction worker turned electronic music phenomenon is proving that sometimes the most authentic art comes from surviving your own personal hell.
- Authenticity: DJ ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U's raw and unapologetically real performances, born from facing a life-threatening illness, are resonating with audiences craving genuine emotion in electronic music.
- Career Transformation: After being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, Yukimatsu quit his construction job to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time DJ, leading to viral success and a role in a film.
- Cultural Impact: Yukimatsu's story and performances, marked by genre-bending sets and intense energy, highlight themes of resistance, authenticity, and finding joy, mirroring themes of the film "Happyend" in which he stars.
The internet is absolutely losing its shit over a shirtless Japanese DJ whose sweaty, primal Boiler Room performance has racked up 14 million views and somehow managed to restore faith in electronic music for an entire generation of jaded ravers. Meet ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U (pronounced Yousuke Yukimatsu), the 45-year-old Osaka native who’s become 2025’s most unlikely breakout star by doing something radical in the age of perfectly curated DJ sets: being completely, unapologetically real.
But here’s the thing that makes this story actually insane: this isn’t just another viral moment. This is what happens when someone literally stares death in the face and decides to go full send on their dreams.
The Plot Twist That Changes Everything
In 2016, Yukimatsu was living the most mundane existence imaginable: working construction, experiencing weird “déjà vu attacks” that he mostly ignored because, well, who has time for that shit when you’re trying to make rent. Then one day, those attacks turned into a full-blown seizure at his new job, and doctors dropped the bomb: malignant brain tumor.
Most people would spiral. Most people would start making peace with their mortality. Yukimatsu? He quit his construction job that same fucking day and decided to become a full-time DJ instead. Because when you’re potentially dying, why waste time pretending to care about anything except what actually makes you feel alive?
“I don’t separate good and functional. If it’s good music, I’m very likely to use it in a set,” he told Resident Advisor, which is probably the most refreshingly honest thing any DJ has said in years.
Underworld at Boiler Room: Proving Rave Culture Has No Age Limit
The Performance That Broke the Internet
Fast-forward to 2025, and Yukimatsu’s Boiler Room: Tokyo set has become the kind of cultural moment that happens maybe once a year. Shirtless, drenched in sweat, mixing everything from Korn and Mariah Carey into dark trap and wormhole techno, he looks like someone who’s channeling every emotion he’s ever felt through a pair of CDJs.
The Reddit crowd is predictably divided, with some users calling it “the most incredible boiler room performance I’ve ever witnessed” while others are less impressed by the topless aesthetic. But even the haters can’t deny the raw energy. One commenter nailed it: “If his performances were delivered by two teenagers dressed in Y2K ironic fashion, rather than a tattered Japanese man who appears to have achieved every level of spiritual enlightenment, it wouldn’t resonate the same way”.
The set features the now-legendary “Kuliki” by Locked Club, a batshit crazy rework of Toño Rosario’s “Kulikitaka” that’s become the unofficial anthem of whatever the hell is happening in electronic music right now. When that track drops, “the energy” becomes “incredible”, according to fans who’ve probably watched the set more times than they’d care to admit.
From Underground Legend to Mainstream Madness
Here’s what’s wild: Yukimatsu wasn’t some nobody before going viral. Dude’s been building a reputation in Japan’s underground scene for years through his Zone Unknown party series in Osaka and Kobe, hosting experimental acts like Arca, Shapednoise, and Equiknoxx. He’s been a regular at Berlin’s prestigious Atonal Festival and his 2020 mix album “Midnight is Comin'” got props from Pitchfork for being “one of the most immersive DJ mixes in recent memory”.
But there’s something different about watching someone perform who’s literally been to the edge and back. “Music has brought me many good things – new friends, delicious local food, travel… and shifts within my own heart,” he says, which sounds like hippie bullshit until you realize this is coming from someone who chose art over safety when facing his own mortality. 1
The Authenticity Problem Electronic Music Didn’t Know It Had
In an era where every DJ set feels like it was focus-grouped to death, Yukimatsu represents something electronic music desperately needs: genuine fucking emotion. His performances are described as “cathartic DJing” where “he mixes with his entire torso”, which is exactly the kind of physical commitment that’s been missing from a scene increasingly dominated by laptop warriors and Instagram-optimized aesthetics.
One fan described him perfectly: “He embodies a unique blend of performer, curator, and raw energy, managing to pull off the most outrageous acts simply through his determination”. It’s that determination (born from literally choosing life over death) that makes his sets feel like more than just entertainment.
The Community Is Here for It (Mostly)
The electronic music community’s response has been overwhelmingly positive, with Resident Advisor dubbing him the “DJ of 2025” and fans praising his “distinctive style of mixing” using “loops and flat out ripping into a massive drop with hard techno”. Even the skeptics are coming around, with one Reddit user admitting: “Just give it a try. It’s not some kind of bravado, it’s animalistic and it comes through in the mixing”. 2
The broader cultural impact is undeniable. He’s now performing B2B sets with Fred again.. in Glasgow, has bookings at major festivals like EXIT Festival’s 25th anniversary, and is being included in “20 Rising Electronic Artists You Need to Watch in 2025” lists. 3
From the Club to the Cinema Screen
And now, in what might be the most perfectly timed cultural moment of the year, Yukimatsu has landed a role in “Happyend,” the debut feature film from Neo Sora, son of the late legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. The dystopian techno thriller, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and recently hit UK cinemas, features Yukimatsu as a DJ performing in his signature shirtless style.
Set in a near-future Tokyo where AI surveillance tightens under authoritarian control, the film follows techno-loving teenagers navigating friendship and resistance in a world where rave culture becomes a form of political rebellion. Sora drew inspiration from both his Japanese roots and UK label Night Slugs, creating what critics describe as “a hopeful, youthful vision of resistance and joy in the face of control”.
The film’s opening scene depicts a rave in a converted car park space with kaleidoscopic strobes where Yukimatsu’s character performs, only to see the venue shut down by police (a scenario that mirrors Japan’s real history with the ‘Fūeihō’ law that allowed authorities to raid clubs for being “too loud or bothersome”). As Sora explains, “clubs [would] spring up in the basements of parking lots, and then they, too, are raided and shut down by police”. 4
The casting feels almost prophetic: here’s an artist whose real-life story embodies the film’s themes of resistance, authenticity, and finding joy despite systemic oppression. Critics have noted how “a performance from DJ ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U (Yousuke Yukimatsu) all bring an upbeat tone to events, tying together the feeling that standing up for a principle is a Good Thing”. And get this, 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes!.
What This All Actually Means
Look, electronic music has been struggling with an authenticity crisis for years. Too much of it feels manufactured, algorithmic, designed to generate streams rather than genuine connection. Yukimatsu’s rise suggests that audiences are hungry for something real (even if that something is a sweaty, shirtless Japanese dude playing 20 minutes of Ryuichi Sakamoto classical music mid-set).
His story resonates because it’s the ultimate fuck-you to playing it safe. When faced with the possibility of death, he chose to live more authentically than most people ever will. The brain cancer was terrible, but it also freed him from the bullshit constraints that keep most of us from pursuing what actually matters.
Now, with his appearance in “Happyend,” Yukimatsu’s journey from construction worker to underground legend to viral sensation to film star feels like the kind of narrative arc that only happens when real life gets weird enough to rival fiction. The film’s exploration of surveillance, youth disillusionment, and resistance through music couldn’t be more relevant, and having Yukimatsu (whose actual life embodies these themes) as part of the cast adds another layer of authenticity to an already powerful story.
“We are so capable when truly driven by something from our core,” one Instagram user commented on his story, which pretty much sums up why this matters. In a world full of carefully curated personas and risk-averse career moves, Yukimatsu represents the radical idea that sometimes you have to risk everything to find out who you really are.
Whether his moment lasts or fades like every other viral sensation remains to be seen. But right now, watching him perform (whether in a sweaty club or on a cinema screen) feels like watching someone who’s figured out something the rest of us are still trying to learn: that life’s too short and too precious to waste on anything that doesn’t make you feel completely alive.
- https://www.exitfest.org/en/yousuke-yukimatsu-sets-that-transcend-the-mind-speak-to-the-heart-and-are-remembered-forever ↩︎
- https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOverload/comments/1i9x614/%C3%B8uuk_uk1matu_boiler_room_tokyo/ ↩︎
- https://www.stereofox.com/articles/20-rising-electronic-artists-you-need-to-watch-in-2025/ ↩︎
- https://theface.com/music/neo-sora-interview-happyend-ryuichi-sakamoto ↩︎
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