Blue: The Color of Noise

DJ and record producer Aoki writes of his life and music in this passionate, introspective memoir. The son of Hiroaki Aoki, a former wrestler and Benihana restaurant founder, Aoki inherited his father’s love for showmanship and entrepreneurship, just as he possesses his mother’s compassionate spirit. Growing up in 1980s Newport Beach, Calif., he became obsessed with music early in life, first through his older brother’s record collection and then through his discovery of Michael Jackson. An outsider at school, Aoki turned to music, which gave him permission to “kick up some dust.” He eventually began hosting house parties and started his own label, Dim Mak. Aoki wasn’t planning on being a DJ, but his friend booked him at a Super Bowl after-party in 2006, “which kicked things off for me,” followed by a meeting with L.A.’s DJ AM, who deeply influenced him; in 2012 Aoki released his debut studio record Wonderland, which was nominated for a Grammy. Eventually, he realized he was concerned more with the music he chose to play rather than considering the listening experience of his audience; in that moment, he began focusing on “connectivity” and creating in concert with others. In graceful prose, Aoki writes that the color blue came to define him, because it is the color of the water, which “we need to help all the seeds we plant in our lives to flow into something meaningful and purposeful.” Aoki spins a smart, lively tale of the power of music to connect people with each other. (Sept.)