Intricate pop tinkerer Shugo Tokumaru’s latest album, Toss, officially arrives in stores today, and since we weren’t anticipating it enough already, he’s shared the song “Lift” to coincide with its arrival. What has been fun to watch — especially as Tokumaru has gone from domestic obscurity to Tower-Records-front-room staple — has been how he builds…
Intricate pop maestro Shugo Tokumaru and instrument inventor / oddball pop act (and sometimes robot wedding organizer) Maywa Denki have been running in the same circles for the last few years, including playing together at last year’s Tonofon Festival. They are a natural pair — both use less-than-common tools to create dizzying songs. So now…
Bedroom-whizz Shugo Tokumaru has released his first glimpse of the follow-up to 2010’s Port Entropy in the form of new single “Decorate.” For those expecting his whimsical, toy-instrument heavy music to morph into something new by now, prepare to be let down because “Decorate” is another solid example of his playroom pop. Tokumaru’s usual assortment…
Plenty of Japanese artists have found ways to help the earthquake/tsunami relief efforts, ranging from Lullatone making all proceeds from digital album sales go to the Red Cross to AKB48 just donating a bunch of money. Now precarious bedroom-artist Shugo Tokumaru has gotten in on the giving. He’s teamed up with TONOFON and made a…
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsKb38VDtV0″] Remember the critical meme that popped up last year after the release of Port Entropy, the one where folks became skeptical of pop whiz Shugo Tokumaru because he seemed “creepy” sticking to sounds of kid-whimsy? Still a pretty dumb opinion (in my opinion) but the blog-owning chorus gets a little more evidence with the…