 CUBISMO
GRAFICO – this might sound a little Italian or Spanish
to some people but is indeed quite Japanese!
What stands behind this rather unusual name is the one-man project
of Japanese multi-talent Gakuji “Chabe” Matsuda.
To some insiders the name CUBISMO GRAFICO might ring a bell
as one participant on the great Bungalow compilation “Escalators
Records, Tokyo”.
Remixes for Tahiti 80, Le Hammond Inferno, Pizzicato Five
and other international acts have already gained him some
popularity even outside of Japan and he also appeared as one
part of the famous ESCALATOR DJ TEAM in various European clubs
over the recent years. Their unique mixture of house, big
beat, reaggae and crazy Japanese club pop made clubbers in
Spain, Germany or Holland go totally bonkers!
In Japan, CUBISMO GRAFICO can already look back on three
successful longplayers while „One Wish“ is his
first official album release in Europe.
CUBISMO GRAFICO belongs to a new generation of Japanese pop
music producers strongly influencing even the older generation.
Internationally successful Japanese acts like Cornelius, Fantastic
Plastic Machine, DJ Krush or Pizzicato Five have made people
all over the world become aware of the unique and exciting
music coming out of the land of the rising sun. But the times
when Japanese pop was considered to be a strange mixture of
bizarre ecclectisism loaded with funny and playful gameboy
electro sounds and backed with outrageous samples are gone
by now.
Japanese club pop music has grown up.
And CUBISMO GRAFICO, already spearhead of this new movement,
shows us with “One Wish” that there is much more
exciting music to come in the near future.
To many of us this longplayer might seem unusually wide-ranged
but this is indeed the secret recipe. “One Wish”
takes us elegantly and groovy from tasty housy downbeat („Blissful“)
and tender electro pop („Riddim Mago“) on to fluffy
calypso-like reggae pop (fantastic: „Ave Maria“).
As a pasionate percussionist and steel drummer, over the years
CUBISMO GRAFICO developed a distinctive penchant for light
carribbian rhythms (check out “In Your Face”!).
On this longplayer CUBISMO GRAFICO could count on helping
hands from some of Japan´s finest pop musicians. Yukari
Fresh and Hirohiso Horie (Cornelius) showed up in the studio
as well as Japan´s top indie popstar Hideki Kaji who
helped out on “Heart And Joker”.
An album, so tasteful and varying, it makes most lounge and
club music compilations sound pale and boring.
A fantastic pop record, for which the word POP may has to
be redefined! |
