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A­R­T­I­S­T­S

Artists creating content together

KOM_I

#MUSIC

An artist who expresses herself primarily with her voice and body. Influenced by Japanese local performing arts, folklore, and classical music of Northern India. She is currently living in Bahia, Brazil, and is working on a book about her birth experience in the Peruvian Amazon. Major works include “YAKUSHIMA TREASURE,” an album with Oortaichi inspired by Yakushima Island, “Dream Nested in a Stone Chamber Tomb,” a performance at the Ishibutai Kofun Tumulus in Asuka Village, Nara, and a solo performance of Christian Marclay's graphic score “No Solo performance of Christian Marclay's graphic score “No! He founded the artivism collective “HYPE FREE WATER” with visual artist Jiri Murata to learn and advertise water-related issues, and is also an actor, having appeared in NHK's “Rainy Day,” Netflix's “Followers,” and the film “The Fukuda Village Incident. He left the music unit Wednesday Campanella in 2021. He is currently living in Bahia, Brazil.

GRAPEVINE

#MUSIC

Kazumasa Tanaka (Vo/Gt), Hirotake Nishikawa (Gt), Toru Kamei (Dr)
The band started its activities in Osaka in 1993. The band was named after Marvin Gaye's "I heard it through the grapevine. Moved to Tokyo and made their debut in September 1997 with the mini-album "Kakusei" from Pony Canyon. In 2014, he moved to Speedster Records, where he has consistently released five full-length albums. Their 2021 album "New Fruits," which includes the songs "Gifted," "Nezumi Jodo," and "Awake Mashi wa Itsumo Narimasenai," debuted at No. 8 on the Oricon Weekly Ranking. The current lineup is Kazumasa Tanaka (Vo/Gt), Hirotake Nishikawa (Gt), Toru Kamei (Dr), Isao Takano (Key), and Satoru Kindo (Ba). 3 years after the release of their first new album on September 27, the band will launch a nationwide tour "GRAPEVINE TOUR2023" in October.

NTsKi

#MUSIC

Artist and musician from Kyoto. He produces gentle yet somehow eerie vocals and tracks that mix a variety of musical styles. In 2021, he was selected by Bijutsu Techo as one of the newcomer artists who will pave the way for the 2020s. He has attracted attention from prominent artists in Japan and abroad, and has participated in works by Giant Claw, Food Festival a.k.a foodman, Tagaryu, KM, and others. Other projects include songwriting for Dirty Hit's new singer Wallice, the METI-sponsored Japan Pavilion at SXSW2019 under the general direction of Yoichi Ochiai, virtual singer te'resa, and music for a fashion brand. On August 6, 2021, he released his first album, “Orca”, on the Ohio label Orange Milk/EM Records, and it was selected as Bandcamp's Album Of The Day, and also charted on Apple Music Japan's electronic album chart. On November 10, 2023, he released his second album “Calla” on “EM Records”. On November 10, 2023, his second album “Calla” was released on the EM Records label.

Miram

#MUSIC #MOVIE #BOOK

Born in 1999 in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Her inclusive voice and songwriting that is both dainty and sharp are appealing. 2021 saw the release of an EP with Syotanegi (WANG GUNG BAND, ex.Valley Boys), the CD release of her 1st AL “Sail wind", the EP "The Day I Played with the Momoiro Pelican", a cassette co-written with vocalist Meow from Nekosen, and a single. On March 16, 2022 (Wed.), She released her 2nd album "Ducky" including "Low Airplane" (producer: Keiichi Sokabe), the theme song of the movie "Love Nonetheless" directed by Hideo Jojo & written by Rikiya Imaizumi, and produced by Keiichi Sokabe. After that, he invited Yusuke Kume (Special Favorite Music) as a producer and released "Natsu no Boku ni mo" and "Lemon Tree" for distribution, attracting attention, and on March 22 (Wed.), She released a new song "Like You Like It".

Twitter:https://twitter.com/m11ram_5
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/mirams11

Fuki Kitamura

#MUSIC

Born in 2003 in Kaminoyama City, Yamagata Prefecture. She began studying piano and children's songs at an early age, and later participated in the National Children's Song Contest as a Tohoku representative. In March 2023, she released her first single "amaranthus feat. Misaki Umei" and performed in "ROKIE A GO-GO" at "FUJI ROCK FESʼ 23. GO-GO" at "FUJI ROCK FESʼ 23. Her mix of various genres including dance music, jazz, folk, and electronica has become a topic of conversation. He also participated in the remix of "Ichigo Miruku" by ena mori feat. tomggg, and in the original soundtrack of the TV drama "Chikyu no Arukikata" by Tomita Labo, as well as DJing under the name asak.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Futa Takamura

#MUSIC

He was a member of “Plasonika,” which has produced many artists active in the major scene, and made his major debut in 2020 as “Hi Cheers!” formed by the same group. After the band's activities came to an end, he launched his solo project “sabio” and is currently active mainly on the Internet scene with works using synthetic voices such as VOCALOID.

MANAKANA

#MUSIC

A new unit by Mana (Vo / Key) and Kana (Vo / Gt) of the New Excite Onna band “CHAI,” which disbanded in March 2024. Mana has started a character project named “Omochizu,” and Kana is also active as a yoga instructor.

Summer Eye

#MUSIC #ART #BOOK #MOVIE #OTHER

Tomoyuki Natsume's solo name, debuted in 2009 as vocalist and guitarist of Siamese Cats. Through his exploration of Japanese rock and independent activities, the band was supported by many young people, but disbanded in 2020.
In December 2021, he made his solo debut under the name Summer Eye with the release of his first single “Jinsei".
In 2022, he released a split 7" with DSPS Amy from Taiwan and his second single “Kyukon" In February 2023, he released his third single “Shippai" and a remix of the same song by XTAL, which became a hot topic On March 21, he released his first album "Daikichi". The preceding track “Hakugei" was used as the theme song for a TV drama.
He is currently contributing to the fun of the world with his free and unconstrained expression through his lifework of collage production, songwriting, writing, DJing, and more.
https://summereye.net/
https://twitter.com/s_e_ntm
https://www.instagram.com/s_e_ntm/

Quruli

#MUSIC

Formed around September 1996 by Shigeru Kishida (Vo,&Gt), Seishi Sato (Ba), and Nobuyuki Mori (Dr) in the Ritsumeikan University music circle "Rock Commune". The band made its major label debut in October 1998 with the single "Tokyo. The band's activities are diverse, including creating numerous experimental works that defy the boundaries of band forms and genres, producing music for films, providing music to musicians, and since 2007, holding the "Kyoto Music Expo," a music event held in Kyoto's Umekoji Park. After several member changes, they welcomed original member Nobuyuki Mori and produced their 14th album "Sensation is a Signpost".

ALMONDot

#MUSIC

日本のプライドを背負って世界を目指す、インダストリアル・メタル・バンド。ギター女子界隈で異彩を放っていたALMONDot リーダー蒼来(Vo / Gt)と、幼少期をロンドンで過ごし独自の哲学で自己プロデュースする17歳のアーティスト苑茜(フィロソファー / ダンサー / ラッパー)が意気投合。そんな2人の感覚や思想に、圧倒的な存在感を放つ謎多き覆面女性ベーシスト黒梦(Ba / Cho)と、ラウドロックバンド魔法少女になり隊のメンバーでもあり、ALMONDotの全ての楽曲を手掛ける白い男UI(Gt / Cho)が共鳴し、2023年4月始動!

Ayumu Imazu

#MUSIC

Born on May 12, 2000 in Osaka, Japan. Based in Japan and the U.S., Ayumu Imazu is a global artist representing Generation Z. She writes lyrics, composes music, and choreographs dances, and with her overwhelming dance performance and bilingual Japanese/English vocals, she continues to challenge the world with her attractive voice. Ayumu Imazu's music, with its delicate yet straightforward word sense and dramatic worldview, has been making waves not only in Japan but also among listeners around the world. Obsessed,” released in January of this year, topped the Billboard ‘Japan Songs’ chart in South Korea. The song became a viral hit in Asian countries and is now sweeping the charts in many other countries, and the song's choreography was performed by Taiga of “Taiga's Choreography,” a choreographer who creates dance trends on TikTok.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Shuhei Kato

#MUSIC

NOT WONK/SADFRANK. A musician born in Tomakomai City in 1994 and currently living in Tomakomai City. In 2010, while still in high school, he formed the rock band NOT WONK. Since 2015, he has released a total of four albums from KiliKiliVilla and Avex Entertainment. He will also release an album in 2022 as his solo project SADFRANK. He is responsible for the art direction of many of his works.

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NiEW Best Music is a playlist featuring artists leading the music scene and offering alternative styles in our rapidly evolving society. Hailing from Tokyo, the NiEW editorial team proudly curates outstanding music that transcends size, genre, and nationality.

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