80kidz

Emerging from the borderless youth culture of Japan, 80kidz began making music as a three-piece DJ unit in early 2007, and released their own limited bootleg mix CD “The Kidz Are Alnight No.1” in February of the same year. This mix sold-out rapidly and requests for DJ appearances quickly followed – they have since performed with the likes of Justice, Busy P, Boys Noize, Teenage Bad Girl, Hot Chip and Bobmo. “The Kidz Are Alnight No.2” continued to move things further forward for them, and a series of Myspace only unofficial remixes saw the threesome’s music blogged, discussed, and circulated around the world. This attention has built ever further with the posting of an original track, “Disdrive”, which was soon followed by official remix requests pouring in from autoKratz, Danger, Benjamin Diamond, Cazals, CSS, Black kids, the Shoes, Quiero Club, When Saints Go Machine, and Futurecop. [read more...]

DE DE MOUSE

Referencing its fair share of nostalgia, De De Mouse’s electronica uses cosmic, sunset imagery to dial up the memories of childhood. An androgynous computer-generated voice rises up in make-believe praise while the rhythm section hammers out a measured march. Daisuke Endo, the brains behind this rodent-inspired project, plays out super-chic melodic arrangements live on the keys and his positively charged electric chants and iridescent orchestrations have succeeded in launching De De Mouse into the Japanese firmament in the space of just a few light years.

At the beginning of 2005 Daisuke Endo was mixing in trendy Roppongi clubs and starting to gain a bit of a reputation for himself. In 2006 he brought out his first self-release on CD-R, attracting the attention of a slightly wider audience. In 2007, Kazunao Nagata, a producer with his ear particularly close to the ground, offered to release his first album, Tide of Stars on ExT Recordings. It was an immediate hit. 30,000 copies were sold in just a few months and even mainstream suppliers were placing large orders. The major, Avex, recognised the artist’s value straight up and offered him a contract accordingly. In the spring of 2008, De De Mouse made his “major” debut and brought out his second album Sunset Girls on Avex Trax, alongside the 8-bit trio YMCK.

His first loves were releases on English labels such as Rephlex or Planet Mu and the music that he mixed then was slightly harder than it is now. At the age of about 24 his influences became broader and Daisuke Endo rediscovered Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega and My Bloody Valentine. He then began bringing more melodic elements into his writing. His “live” arsenal grew and he started using keyboards as if to signal to audiences that he was no mere DJ but a composer in his own right. His music might have gained in wisdom over time but De De Mouse hasn’t lost any of the aggressive transcendence he has always brought to the stage. He heckles the audience without any qualms, as if to pull you in deeper. The video projections that accompany his concerts are the result of collaborations with artists such as Tenshi Iwai (DASI), who also did the video for the stand-out track ‘East End Girl’. This recent visual development seems to suggest that there is a whole other world waiting for Daisuke Endo to explore.

Comments by Franck Stofer / SONORE [read more...]

Riddim Saunter

The band’s first eye-opener into the world of music began with band leader, TA-1, first encountering Hip Hop music. At this time, TA-1 was simply a DJ but soon transformed into a drummer after finding interest in intricate rhythms. During high school TA-1 got together with classmates, Keishi (Vo.) and Hiroshi (Gtr.) and a band was born. Influenced by the ska boom in the late nineties they quickly become a ska-core band and upon moving to Tokyo, met a trumpet player named Honma, who was soon included into the group. Soon after, the band recruited a saxophonist and bassist thus creating the six-piece band known as “Riddim Saunter.” [read more...]

Tucker

A hyperactive one-man band / turntablist / organ playing whirlwind, who has created an worldwide internet phemenon. Tucker’s confounding, high-energy mix of rock and roll, punk, pop, and hip hop leaves critics fumbling for words. The electric organ fan site Electone Zone described it dizzily as “a 21st century Neo-Tokyo vaudeville show.” Other fans describe his sets as “performance art” (in 2006, Tucker appeared at Barcelona’s Sónar multimedia music and art festival). “Vaudeville” implies comedy, and laughter is the obvious response when Tucker spins the “Pink Panther” and “Sesame Street” theme songs, scratches records with his nose, or leaps shirtless into the crowd. Music critics’ vocabulary is rarely so taxed, but coming up with a way to describe someone not entirely hip hop, not entirely rock, not entirely retro, and perhaps not ever entirely serious has left many at a loss. Even Tucker’s show-stopping blazing organ trick is both a Hendrix send-up and a gutsy act of vandalism more punk than hip hop. Tucker’s mash-ups are knowing and often more than a little tongue-in-cheek, but his reverence for retro instruments and melodies goes well beyond the merely ironic. [read more...]