All photos courtesy of 1LDK.
Welcome to SOUND ADVICE, Interview’s destination for playlists curated by our friends, enemies, and lovers. In recent weeks, we’ve featured playlists from Kylie Cantrall, Anok Yai, and girlsweetvoiced. This week’s installment comes courtesy of 1LDK, the Tokyo-based indietronica duo that sings in English, Japanese, and Chinese, while speaking the universal language of irresistible synths. Made up of Beijing-born Yiqing and Amsterdam-born Goos, the pair fuse hazy bedroom pop with propulsive club rhythms, making songs that feel equally suited to a stroll through a bustling metropolis or a solo dance party in your own 1LDK—the compact Japanese apartment layout the band borrowed its name from. Following the release of their debut EP and a sold-out New York show, 1LDK made us a playlist spanning lesser-known bangers like Pen Pal’s Cadillac to fan favorites like Paris Hilton’s Stars Are Blind. Afterwards, they dished on their musical awakenings and favorite sound effects in our questionnaire.
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How did you two meet? In front of a venue called Sexyland in Amsterdam, 2020.
Amsterdam or Tokyo? Both! Love&Peace ✌🏼✌🏼✌🏼✌🏼
What language do lyrics come to you in?
YIQING: Feeling comes to me first, depending on how I feel, lyrics come after in slightly different tones.
Where do you make your music?
GOOS: Caffe Veloce in Nakano.
YIQING: My 1LDK.
Name your favorite artist no one knows about:
GOOS: More people should listen to ity and Pen Pal.
YINQING: Life Without Buildings. I love the girly maniac stutter when she sings.
Favorite sound effect?
GOOS: Cartoon boing sound.
YIQING: Squidward walking.
What’s a song you wish you produced?
YIQING: AlunaGeorge – Kaleidoscope Love
GOOS: Coltemonikha – Communication
What was your musical awakening?
YIQING: Cassette tapes of Mandopop, J-Pop, and some English songs from the ‘80s, all from my mom’s bedroom.
GOOS: My dad taking me to a Gorillaz concert in 2010.
Any pre-gig rituals?
YIQING: A solid hug from Goos.
GOOS: Trying to get Yiqing to leave the pre-drinks.
What is a 1LDK and why is it significant to your music?
YIQING: 1LDK is my room layout and it suits us as a band.
Describe your sound in three words: Dreamy, tongue-in-cheek, transient.
Last concert that changed your life?
YIQING: Florence Sinclair at Mitsuki in Tokyo, 2024.
GOOS: Cornelius at Paradiso in Amsterdam, 2024.
What’s a genre you can’t get into?
YIQING: I don’t like self-loathing emo music.
GOOS: Anything too distorted.
