We Need to Talk about Buntai

Like any good idea, the conception of such requires patience, determination, and a strong foundation. Buntai, like many local brands, started out with an objective to impose their blueprint onto the London scene. In this case, through designing and selling clothes. Until four years ago, during lockdown, when they decided to embark on a musical journey that would see them become one of London’s most authentic underground collectives – achieving a flurry of accolades throughout this period. Post lockdown, they began their guest mix and interview series with their first event and an EP drop following shortly after. From uk garage, dubstep, bassline, and a whole host of other 140 sounds, alongside their occasional foray into the jungle arena, Buntai represent a modern and forward-thinking approach when representing the underground scene in its entirety. 

Recent releases from Four Eyes, Nik Fury, Rolla B, OP Breaks, Architek, and Jaz have instigated an indisputable anticipation around the label side of the brand. With an array of new music coming out from the likes of the legendary DJ Hybrid, Tommy Villiers, Ance, Four Eyes, Jaz, FSHR, Jaynie, and CamUKG over the course of the back end of 2024 and beginning of 2025. We can be certain that momentum will not ease up as Buntai begin to mark their stamp on the UK electronic scene as a whole.

A lack of fear when showcasing new sounds, and genres, is exactly what makes this project tick. Buntai means ‘squad’ in Japanese, and the tight knit team they’ve built certainly lives up to its name. Run by London-based music entrepreneur Akira, as well as creative pillar Mia Marshall, whilst counting on an extremely talented DJ and producer roster at their disposal has forged a community that is flourishing on all fronts. Throwing some of the best raves around London, curating a continual body of exciting releases, and obtaining a strongly followed radio and social media presence, collectively, is no mean feat. 

The scene sorely needs outlets such as Buntai to push the artists who have the talent to reach the top. With an undeniable vision in place, we caught up with Akira and Mia to find out more about their beginnings, as well uncovering plans on the immensely exciting releases coming up for the label. 

Before we take a look at the present day, why don’t we have a quick chat about how and why, you started Buntai?

It started through our love to rave. We both needed a creative outlet during lockdown. When we started, we didn’t know what it was going to be. We didn’t know if we wanted it to be a podcast, a radio show, a clothing line, an events brand, or a bunch of other stuff. We basically took a year trying to do all of the above. Buntai essentially started in lockdown, but was fully established in September 2021 – where our first party took place, our first clothing drop happened, and where it ultimately felt like everything really began. This was definitely the teething ground stage, but we really enjoyed doing it. Although, unofficially, the concept of Buntai started way before this, back when I (Akira) was still in secondary school. The idea was that I could design clothes that me and my friends could afford. So everyone could wear good quality clothes for not nearly as much. The meaning of Buntai in Japanese connotes the word family, and that’s what the idea has always been about – to help the ‘family’ out. That ethos has run right through bringing us to today, whether it be giving a DJ a set who doesn’t normally get to play out in front of a crowd or allowing an up-and-coming producer a chance to release a track. We’re here to help the community out however we can.  

Establishing yourselves into the scene must’ve been a change of pace from coming out of lockdown?

For sure. Our first proper event was in collaboration with LAVALAND/NiNE8COLLECTIVE at Werkhaus. We’ve got to give a big shout out to Lava La Rue and Nige for believing in us and wanting to work with Buntai. Without that push I don’t think we’d be where we are today. 

That must’ve been a nice feeling for such an established brand to give you the nod of approval! How did that come about in the first place?

We first met Nige in a pub, and by the end of the evening he was super invested in us. I think he saw a hunger in us to want to get to the top. Their whole ethos is community driven, so once the other members of the collective knew about us, they were willing to help us out. Nige featured on the first Buntai Sessions, during lockdown, which was a mini series fusing mixing and podcasting into one. He bigged up our future plans, and it felt nice to have someone support us like he did. Shortly after, NiNE8 member Bone Slim actually joined Buntai. Which was such an amazing feeling for us. He brought a new light to our brand and has consistently supported us in every way he can. Being able to run our Rinse FM show together will always be one of our greatest memories and achievements.

I’d love to hear some Buntai highlights over the years.

Being able to have Four Eyes on our team, someone we’ve supported from the beginning of his journey, and to see how much he’s blossomed, has been a real privilege to witness – getting to see Girls Don’t Sync spin his release with us at Boomtown’s Origin stage in 2023 was crazy. Hearing a track that we released, on such a big stage in the world of dance, was unbelievable. I’d also have to say getting a room 3 takeover at Fabric was a real moment for the whole brand. We took it all in as we saw Citizen close the evening with a heaving room 3.

I guess once you established yourselves as a top grade events brand, the natural progression was to start churning out the releases. Why was it the right time for Buntai to do this?

We want to have a catalogue that has longevity and is tangible. The events are great, but we’re not doing them all the time. It essentially gives the brand a sound. You can go on our bandcamp or soundcloud page and see what we’re all about. We love going through submissions, and now we’ve grown we get submissions from some of our favourite producers. Uk garage and dubstep are definitely our foundation, but we will always be down to branch out – as long as the song is to our taste. 

Why don’t we go through some of the releases coming up soon on Buntai. Let’s start with the DJ Hybrid 2-tracker EP. 

Side 1 is a rolling garage track called ‘Dedicate The Style’ and side 2 is a dubstep track called ‘Mish Mash’. It’s a very interesting combination. He’s obviously known for his jungle and drum & bass sounds, but these two tunes are serious. He sent us about 10 tracks, we were going through them and they were all insane. It was hard to whittle it down. The route we want to go down for the foreseeable future is to release two-trackers, with a potential longer LP in the future – with a collection of tracks from everyone that’s released on the label so far.

And other releases we can look forward to over the next 6 months.

Yes, plenty. We’ve got an Ance one coming out soon too called ‘Matter Of Time’. He’s such a versatile artist, it’s only a matter of time before he properly breaks through. Also coming up is a Tommy Villiers remix of ‘Too Much Sauce’ by Bakey and Capo Lee, as well as a two-part EP coming from him next year which will be his original music. He’s someone who really cares about the music despite all his success and he’s really on board with what Buntai stands for. So it was about time we got him on a release to be honest. Of course, we’ve got more Four Eyes releases, with an imminent Chris Stussy remix of ‘Desire’ coming next year. We’ve got stuff coming from Buntai resident Jaz, who’s already released with us this year with her debut track ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’. DEEPROT even premiered it on their Youtube channel, which was massive for all of us. We’re going to put together a 5 track dubpack with her, similar to the one we did with Four Eyes, and have a limited amount on our Bandcamp. We met her right at the beginning of our journey, she helped us out by getting us an event at the Red Bull HQ which was pretty much the first real brand we ever got to work with. It’s really nice that we’ve still got her around and the fact she’s now able to release with us is a real full circle moment. Also next year, we’ve got Jaynie and FSHR releasing a heavy dubstep number with us, as well as a CamUKG track who’s still a pretty fresh name with a serious armoury of production behind him. 

To wrap up, who are some names you’d love to work with in the future?

There’s a producer called Moreofus who the whole Buntai family really vibe with when it comes to production. We saw him at Outlook this year and were completely blown away. Shout out to White Peach boss ZHA as well, a big inspiration in every form. Then the likes of Sicaria and Neffa T would be unreal too. We were lucky enough to have Neffa at our Lengfield Festival back in 2022. We’d love to also mention some stand out names from over the years. Plenty of amazing figures that deserve some light. Shout out Modula, a core Buntai member that’s been with us from the beginning. Lakiya, a new creative pillar for Buntai that has the brightest of futures ahead of her. The rest of the team – LISH, Citizen, Insectcrusha, Andz, CTRL, TS, Zero, Rishi, and Holly, head of Favourite Child and Digital Footprint, a GOAT in this scene. Also, Sam and John, the boys behind Pull Up Recordings. Too many amazing names to mention.