Justin Hori

Justin Hori : Composer & Creative Director, LA
justin@commamusic.com

At age 12 Justin bought his first 12” single from a young record store clerk named Derrick Carter at Chicago’s legendary Gramaphone Records. His musical path was set the second that needle hit the groove to Fast Eddie’s “Yo Yo Get Funky”. Today, Justin is Comma’s lead Composer/Creative Director in Santa Monica, CA.

Growing up, Justin’s turntables were his instrument. It wasn’t Bach, Hayden, or even McCartney - it was Marley Marl, Pete Rock, and the Rza. It was the Mark Farina mixtape that he stole from Hiroki. It was many late nights gyrating in front of a bassbin. His formative years were spent learning to beat juggle and scratch, and eventually choppin up breakbeats on his mom’s laptop.

Before working at Comma, Justin released EPs on Subtitled Records and Guidance Recordings. His beats appear on the albums of the hip hop groups Netherworlds and The Pacifics.

In 1999 Hori began working with Bryan Rheude at Redsquared, initially as an assistant & drum programmer, but quickly graduating to Composer. He’s been a member of the Comma team since it’s inception in 2001. While at Comma, Justin mastered the guitar, piano, and bass. (He even graced the stage as the Take the Panda’s original bass player.) Though he initially grew up with a hip hop and underground dance background, Hori has become a gifted composer in a broad range of genre’s and styles. He made the move to Santa Monica in 2008, and the new venue for his creative vision is sure to produce some amazing musical results.

Aside from writing music for Comma, Justin stays busy with side projects. He was the keyboard player of the hip hop group, Contriband, and he produced and mixed much of their debut album The Sound. Currently, he’s recording songs with his wife and singer, Amy under the name Jarvis. He’s also the co-producer of the Sexy Beast mix series with DJ SD. Hori is said to be sartorially inclined, and will freely discuss all matters of haberdashery with anyone who’s interested.