MDNTF @ AREA Osaka - 2026.10.10 (Sat.)

Born in Osaka in 1987 to an American father and a Japanese mother who is a koto player, MAYA MILLER began playing piano at the age of three. Growing up surrounded by a wide range of music from Japan and around the world, he developed a diverse musical background that would later shape his distinctive artistic identity. In 2013, he began pursuing his DJ career in earnest under the name High Velocity, establishing himself in Osaka and performing at many of the city’s leading clubs. At the same time, he expanded into event production, organizing pool parties for the UK house music brand Hed Kandi for three consecutive years. From 2015, he served as a radio personality for the UK’s Ministry of Sound Radio on block.fm, producing DJ mixes for the program and interviewing internationally renowned DJs and producers, including Mark Knight. Through these projects, he became involved in connecting Japan’s dance music scene with the wider international community. As his sound evolved around Techno and House, he relocated to Tokyo in 2017. As an organizer of SiiNE Tokyo, he performed alongside artists from Japan and abroad while also producing numerous Japan shows for international artists. One of his most notable projects was the Japan tour of acclaimed Spanish DJ duo Chus & Ceballos. MAYA organized a six-city , eight-show tour across Japan, traveling together with the artists by tour bus. While tour buses have long been common in international band touring, bringing this format into Japan’s club and DJ scene was unprecedented at the time, creating a unique nationwide DJ tour experience. As a producer, MAYA has released music on international labels including Spain’s Beatfreak Recordings. His track “Till You Drop” reached No. 14 on the Beatport Minimal / Deep Tech Chart, while his album Enchanted Tech Journey peaked at No. 6 on the Beatport Album Chart. His career as a DJ has taken him beyond Japan’s major cities to international destinations including Manila, Philippines. Today, one of the newest chapters of his career is unfolding on Suo-Oshima, an island in Yamaguchi Prefecture. On an island with little established club culture, MAYA founded and organizes Shimamoto Ototen,a DJ event held at Shimamoto Saketen, a local liquor store. Now entering its fourth year in 2026,the event brings together guest artists from Tokyo, Osaka and other parts of Japan, as well as international artists, with MAYA serving as both DJ and organizer. By bringing a full-scale DJ sound not to a nightclub, but to a liquor store on a small Japanese island, MAYA has created a place where people of all generations can experience dance music. Rather than simply transplanting urban club culture into a rural setting, he transforms it into something shaped by the character of the island itself—building a new music culture that belongs to the local community. At the same time, MAYA remains active in Japan’s urban club scene. In 2026, he continues to perform at parties across the country, including BANGBOO in Umeda, Osaka, and Casablanca in Nishinomiya, Hyogo, moving freely between metropolitan clubs and local communities. From Osaka to Tokyo. From Japan to the world. And from the city to the island. Across his roles as a DJ, Producer and Organizer, one idea has remained constant throughout MAYA MILLER’s career: connecting people and places through music. Clubs, radio, record labels, international tours—and now, a liquor store on a Japanese island. The setting may change, but dance music has always remained at the center. MAYA MILLER continues to create new musical landscapes in new places.