Westerners guide to Japanese electronic music artists – Part 2

continuing…

Part 2 is slightly shorter, but together with Part 1 it will give you a good introductory view of the Japanese world of electronic music. So without further ado…

 


 

Keita Sano:

As Discogs so elegantly states it, Keita Sano is part of Japan’s new wave music producers. I think you will find he lives in different worlds with e.g. The sun child album being more Funky and Nu Disco flavoured a record and the Keita Sano album more towards the tech and deep side of things. Great stuff quite simply. He has been releasing stuff just a few years, but I know see him stopping very soon.

Tunes to check out:

 

Takkyu Ishino:

This guy has been around since the 80s and formed the Denki Groove with Pierre Taki in 1989. They released an album in the middle of the 90s. He began DJing in during this period, and have been able to build a career which reaches world wide. He was not known to me, although a big name, but I usually do not listen to techno. This guy sparked my interest though, when I heard “Rapt in fantasy” from the Lunatiques album, last January in Tower Records Shinjuku. He has released about a Dozen of albums since 1995 and is still going on strong DJing, Producing and Remixing.

Tunes to check out:

  • “Rapt in fantasy”
  • “Fana-Tekk”

 

Hiroshi Yoshimura:

Hiroshi was a key figure in the Japanese ambient music scene. The conceptual artist grew and eventually expressed himself musically, and flourished in the late 1970s in Tokyo, alongside Akio Suzuki and Takehisa Kosugi. He sadly passed away in 2003, and I cannot say I have heard his stuff. However, Rush hour records have some albums currently in store if you want to check him out.

 

Hiroshi Watanabe aka Kaito:

This artist is also relatively unknown to me. Brought up in the lovely city of Tokyo to jazz pianist mother and composer father. He plays the contrabass and is trained in the art of Music Synthesis. Has been giving us music since a decade back and is best known for his releases on Kompakt record label.

Tunes to check out:

 

So Inagawa:

DJ, Producer and co-founder of Cabaret Redordings. Simply put, his Deep House sound is very warm and welcoming. Quite lovely to listen to.

Tunes to check out:

 


 

There you have it, a bunch of cool artists to check out from the Japanese overwhelming club scene. A scene which is hard not to like. If club music is not your thing, read house music, techno etc, then you will for sure find anything of your liking anyway. You can find something for everybody in Japan, especially in Tokyo.

In any case, I hope these two posts have been useful and informative.

Comment below, otherwise have a good one!

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