Kishi Bashi

Mar

posted by tommy

What’s up readership, are your lives moving forward? Are you doing all you can to be the best you you can be? I’ll consider this next post a success should it help you to discover your spirit animal. Mine is Channing Tatum, that rugged son of a bean, and just knowing that has unlocked my inner reality and now I’m free to dream big. Think about it. Anyway, Seattle born K Ishibashi (a traditionally Seattle-esque name) performs under the moniker Kishi Bashi and I’m sure glad he does, because his music is a delight to my ear-chambers (trust me, it’s a scientific term, Encarta it). And no, I’m not saying I’m glad he’s making music under that particular title, I’m just saying it’s a good thing he’s making music in general. Maybe if you spent less time analysing my sentence structure and more time focusing on the bigger picture you would have your degree in International Studies already instead of your two subjects per semester and part-time job at the Levis Warehouse.

He is one of the eight members that make up the geographically misleading Of Montreal (from Athens, Georgia) as well as being a member of Jupiter One so this man is no true newcomer. This solo project (which is a new[ish] thing) has turned heads at sxsw this week. For those of you who are wondering (which is likely far more than you’d think) sxsw is an American “industry” event where artists go to perform in front of bigwigs to simultaneously win hearts and contracts. There’re are also punters who just go for the spectacle but in the end it’s an exposure tool.

Kishi Bashi bang out some seriously chirpy numbers that would allow me to reference virtually any band within reason and still be drawing fair comparisons. Importantly, what they don’t do is write vibe songs without direction or progress. There’re some big melodies and there’s a clear trajectory to what the man is trying to achieve, notably in ‘Bright Whites’. He reminds me a little of Shugo Tokumaru (probably because I’m latently racist, but just as probably because they’re both musically joyful and exhuberant). Hit play below.

<a href="http://kishibashi.bandcamp.com/track/bright-whites-2">Bright Whites by Kishi Bashi</a>

<a href="http://kishibashi.bandcamp.com/track/it-all-began-with-a-burst">It All Began With a Burst by Kishi Bashi</a>

And for some balance, here’s a slow burner from the his first EP:

<a href="http://kishibashi.bandcamp.com/track/manchester">Manchester by Kishi Bashi</a>

His debut record 151A drops in about 2 weeks and you can preorder it here. The mp3 is only $8 and you can splash out and get the physical CD for a $10 total. Avoid purchasing this on itunes (which will probably be $16) else you’ll just be funding apple (who are fine but in no need of your sponsorship). Finders fee goes to Katie Brown.

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