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I set up this blog to hopefully introduce those outside Japan to some of Japan's best music and a taste of Osaka and Kyoto's thriving underground music scene.

Alot of what I post will be CDR's and CD's sold by bands on the Kyoto/Osaka live circuit. Hopefully giving a little exposure to the bands outside Japan. The rest will be Japanese bands from pretty much any and every generation and genre. From 60's Rock'n'Roll and folk to 00's noise and electronica.

If anyone has an issue with me uploading their music please contact me and I'll remove the links immediatley. My intention is to introduce this music to new audiences. So please help support these bands by buying their releases or catching them live if you have the opportunity. Alot of these guys are working full time jobs on top of making great music. Please send comments, complaints, recommendations and seasonal greetings to stinkinhippy@hotmail.com

Friday, 29 March 2013

Ichi - Mono


I is for Ichi

Ichi is the Pseudonym/solo project of multi-instrumentalist and artist Eiichi Shimasaki. Born in Osaka and raised in nearby Nagoya Eiichi is best known for his work as steelpan drummer with long standing eclectic, world music influenced rockers Nohshintoh. Eiichi performs delighful one man shows that utilize everything from accordions, steel drums, ping pong balls, typewriters and toothbrushes to his own hand crafted instruments like his glockenspiel-contrabass hybrid.  

Charming seems the most appropriate adjective to use when describing Ichi's music but doesn't really seem to do justice to just how marvellously charming his music and performances actually are. Fusing a wide range of World Music influences with field recordings and some light Jazz. Ichi comes off a little bit like a more ambient, slightly more psychedelic sounding Manu Chao. All sung in his bizarrely cartoonish high pitched muppet jibberish. This is Ichi's first studio which was released back in 2005 but he also released a second album entitled "Memo" in 2010. Ichi regularly plays plays shows in the UK and Europe so catch him if you have the chance. You won't forget it.


2 comments:

  1. He's the Rachael Dadd's husband and i didn't know.
    Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Actually I didn't know that either. Although I did notice that they put out an EP together recently. Makes sense now.

    http://egypt-rec.com/?pid=58934239

    ReplyDelete