Moskitoo

During my first week here in Japan, my friend Keiichi Sugimoto (from Fonica, Minamo, Fourcolor, et al), introduced me to Moskitoo, a new artist on the 12K label. We spent a very hot Sunday afternoon in the comfortable confines of a coffee house in Shimokitazawa, a beautiful neighborhood in the western part of Tokyo that has become home to many artists and musicians. At that time, Moskitoo provided me with a copy of her debut 12K CD, "Drape."

I spent the next couple of evenings listening to this wonderful, quirky album. In the US, we have a certain preconception of the term, "Singer/Songwriter." More often than not, we think of a solo artist (usually American), who composes, sings, and plays acoustic guitar. If we could stretch our imagination a bit (as well as our definition of the term) to include "Japanese vocalist and electronic artist who composes, sings, and processes/manipulates sounds," we might have a grasp of the music by this very special artist named Moskitoo. After coming under the spell of her CD, I requested an interview and, as a result, she, Keiichi, and myself spent Tuesday afternoon at Shibuya's Midwest Cafe, talking about her musical pursuits.

Moskitoo (whose real name is Sanae Yamasaki) is originally from Sapporo and now lives in Tokyo. She was "discovered" two years ago when Keiichi and 12K label founder Taylor Deupree were on tour in Sapporo. They shared a bill with Moskitoo and were immediately impressed by her one-of-a-kind music. She uses a wide range of acoustic instruments to create her music (pianica, xylophone, toy piano, guitar, chimes, etc.), often sampling these instruments into an Akai MPC - 1000. She then records her "performance" of the sounds (via the MPC's touch pads) into her computer and the audio program, Logic. In fact, she told me that "Drape" was recorded almost entirely with Logic. (As a side note, she mentioned that she's just starting to use Ableton Live as a sampling and recording tool.)

When I asked her about musical influences, she came up with a very interesting array of artists who have inspired her. These include iconic pop/electronic artists like Robert Wyatt and Brian Eno (whose "Another Green World" is most definitely an influence on "Drape), to French artist Brigitte Fontane (who recorded some landmark "art pop" albums with the then unknown Art Ensemble of Chicago in the early 1970's), to the Japanese singer Haco (virtually a Kate Bush-like figure on the Japanese pop scene). Moskitoo has processed her influences well - she shares their singular manner of producing music without sounding like any of them. Her album is something of a stretch for the 12K label, but it is a stretch that works admirably.

Another interesting facet of her CD is the predominance of time signatures based on "3" (3/4, 6/8, 12/8, etc.). This is most assuredly not a "4 on the floor" dance record, and - as I am a drummer - I was seduced by all of the interesting rhythmic pulses she built around "3." It turns out this is no coincidence: it's her favorite number!

At the end of the interview, I asked Moskitoo if she had anything else she wanted to share with the readers of this blog. It turns out that she had a very simple message: "Please listen to my music!"

With that thought, I will now try to help. Check out these websites:

http://www.12k.com/index2.html
(Click on the CD cover for "Drape" and you'll be able to listen to an MP3 of the song, "Skie")

http://moskitoo.moo.jp/

http://www.myspace.com/moskitoo
(You can hear some of her music at this site, as well)

PS: She also does some lovely work in graphic design. She gave me her original post card (see in the third photo) as a gift!