Biography
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ALL K.I.A. / SHINJUKU CDs ON iTUNES &THE WEB->
iTUNES: search "shinjuku zulu" and/or "K.I.A."
MP3s -any player: AMAZON.COM (search MP3 Downloads: Shinjuku Zulu)
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NEW RELEASES:
-"F-1 Papillons - Best of K.I.A. & Shinjuku Zulu" feat. "Make Me Shake (Gimme Some Crush)", "Baby U Got"; 15 songs of the smartest, dumbest, & funnest Shinjuku Zulu songs, from Paris (Hilton's TV Show BFF w/"Hey La") to Venice (Biennale, w/sound installation artist Janet Cardiff "Large Slow River")...
OTHER FEATURED TRACKS:
"We Do Supersonic"
"SXYLV"
"Dirty Liar"
"Feel It"
"Kiss the Honey, Honey"
"Nevermine (Major Tom uptempo edit)
etc.
-"DXLR8 - Downtempo 'Best Of' K.I.A. & Shinjuku Zulu" feat. "Broken" (dubstep & soul)...
13-track digital chillout compilation...
TRACKLISTING:
01 "Scarborough Fair - A True Dub of Mine" (21st century dubbed up version of the song)
02 "Mrs. Major Tom" (continuing the story of Major Tom, now from the wife's p.o.v.)
03 "Allelujah" (17th century dancehall-reggae stylee; also used in the Courteney Cox t.v. series 'Dirt', in, ahem, a celebrity limo-sex scene)
04 "Rainbowbeau" (ambient pop w/haunting vox)
05 "Yedayed" (chillout/world)
06 "Broken" (new track; dubstep & soul)
07 "Scatter" (jazz scatting & breaks & fx)
08 "One Come We" (electonicameraderie)
09 "Dubmarine" (chillout, featuring two reggae haikus)
10 "Sweetness Likes the Reverb" (acapellatronica)
11 "Rise Up" (like Sigur Ros gone dub, feat a St. Michael's choirboy on vocals)
12 "Coal Coal Black" (1920s blues and dub)
13 "Uneunoia" (instrumental/ambient)
Tracks taken from the CDs "Various Chimeras" (SZ), "Shinjuku Zulu" (SZ), "Sonorous Susurrus" (K.I.A.), "Adieu Shinjuku Zulu" (K.I.A.)
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BIO:
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Shinjuku Zulu is one branch of the collective/collaborative scene happening in various cities of the world, but instead of being on the post-rock tip it's more inclusive musically (pop, electronic, hip hop, blues, dub...) and has a much more diverse range of participants--the performers on the releases are a mosaic of mixed and intermixed backgrounds. (Click 'Photos' above for a high-res shot of everybody.)
K.I.A., who currently resides in Toronto (having lived also in L.A. and Tokyo,) is the producer/writer of all the songs and lyrics. "DXLR8" is his sixth release (see discography and press quotes below.) He is also a well-reviewed visual artist, and makes large remixable paintings, sculptures, and installations (seen in the background of the publicity shots.) His artwork resides in corporate and private collections worldwide. (see more on the art here: http://web.mac.com/neuphoria )
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PRESS DESCRIPTIONS for previous K.I.A. / Shinjuku Zulu releases:
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"...create[s] three-headed songs by grafting cultures onto collaged beasts that growl with different tongues..."Be My Woman Be My Man" comes replete with DFA grooves and Herbert snorts..."We Do Supersonic" and "Dirty Liar" will have your dance floor moving..."Rainbowbeau" sees Larissa Gomes bouncing her voice off soft clouds of picazzo strings...my favorite is "Make Me Shake" [with] sentences that say so incredibly much with so little...as devastating as anything else this year...often surprising, mostly pleasing, and at a few moments (Make Me Shake, Da Riddim Griffin, and Coal Coal Black) fantastic." -COKEMACHINEGLOW
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"...especially ambitious trans-continental mash-ups...melds components elegantly into compositions that sound surprisingly natural...great moments, like when "Make Me Shake" leaps from synth-shamisen-encrusted grime-pop to reggae to tango, "Dirty Liar", the surprisingly listenable country-electro-hip-hop number ("Chemical Brothers, Dust Brothers, O Brother, quips the song's ven diagram), astonishes when it slides seamlessly all the way into banjo-driven folk, "Massive Ballerina" manages to dodge effortlessly from spacey computer-narrated-ambiance to rolling techno-rock...Stick-in-your-head melodies and enough stylistic ADD to stay fresh..."Various Chimeras" is on solid footing in the current mash-up-informed, pop cultural petri-dish." -POPMATTERS
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"' ...high tech boom cut with voodoo...the most casually efficient encapsulation of culture clash we've ever heard...'Shanghai Masai',featuring Shankhini, is stark skittering electronic hip hop [that segues from] M.I.A. to Prince..." - Anti-Hit List "The best new music outside the mainstream" -TORONTO STAR
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"The worldly sound of Shinjuku Zulu...sweltering breakbeat for the summertime heat from the cooking cobblestones of Toronto!" -CBC RADIO
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"...pop, electronic hip hop, blues and dub... it really grows on you--definitely worth checking out" -Gill Mills, BBC
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"...the songs are really f**king good...'Shanghai Masai' is brilliant!" -YOUTH (producer/remixer U2, Madonna, Bjork,etc)
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"...someone threw open the dance club's fire-door and let the fresh air in..." -GLOBE & MAIL
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"...like Kevin Yost spinning Everything But the Girl with Mad Professor remixes...a master at aural collage" -THE HERALD
*
"K.I.A., also known as Shinjuku Zulu, never takes a straightforward approach -- not with his worldly music nor with the convoluted presentation of it. The Canadian producer, born Kirby Andersen, began in Calgary, where he graduated from the city's university with a degree in English literature. From there he followed his urge to travel and moved to Tokyo, where he found substatial inspiration in Japanese culture and its wonderful ironies -- ancient temples amid a forward-looking highly technological society. He eventually returned to North America, ended up in Toronto by way of Los Angeles. He began work on what would become his debut album, Shinjuku Zulu, which he released under a moniker of the same name on his upstart Neuphoria Recordings label. The release drew from numerous styles of music, most of them either categorized under the electronica or world genres, and freely mixed these styles together, not only throughout the album but also throughout the course of a given track. Moreover, the album featured numerous guest vocalists as well, adding yet more ecclecticism to the mix. The release earned him notable praise from the Canadian press, and the producer switched his name to K.I.A. for his next two releases, returning to Shinjuku Zulu for his fourth release." -AMG
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VIDEOS @ Youtube:
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"Broken" (hurricane'd faces & liquid'd limbs)
"Various Chimeras" (song-sampler video feat. falling fashion models, speed collage, speed reading, body morphing, etc.)
"Slow Is the New Fast" (video is worth a 1000 words)
"SXYLV" (electrorobopornodisco)
"Shanghai Masai" (velocity collage)
"Make Me Shake" (booty shaking & body morphing)
"Susurrus" (song-sampler of downtempo Susurrus songs)
TO WATCH (or search youtube: "Shinjuku Zulu") cut/paste the link: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0447BB04A849945D
AWARDS:
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*"Da Riddim Griffin", finalist in the International Songwriting Competition; judges include Tiesto, and members of New Order, The Cure, Modest Mouse, etc.
*"Make Me Shake"; semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition
*"Da Riddim Griffin"; finalist in the international Independent Music Awards, Dance/Electronica category, judged by Fatboy Slim, Paul Oakenfold, Peter Gabriel, etc.
*"Shanghai Masai"; semi-finalist in the UK Songwriting Competition.
*Shinjuku Zulu; Best Urban Artist, Toronto Independent Music Awards 2006.
*"We Do Supersonic"; used as the theme song for the Serbo-Creole Speed Yoga Left-handed Chess Championships, Division C
ITUNES:
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All Shinjuku Zulu / K.I.A. CDs available worldwide on iTunes, Emusic, Napster, etc etc.
SONG EQUATIONS FOR VARIOUS CHIMERAS CD:
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DA RIDDIM GRIFFIN = Japanese cheerleaders + electro + German cabaret + disco.
SHANGHAI MASAI = Cowboy MoFos + PoMo Eskimos + Digi-Gypsies + Cholo Chreokees.
MAKE ME SHAKE (GIMME SOME CRUSH CRUSH) = la-la-la-songs + sextronica.
COAL COAL BLACK = 1920s + Dub + Dirty Liar.
DIRTY LIAR = Rap + regret + banjos.
CHIMERA HEY YA = almighty beat + tweaks
MY MAN, AMEN = sadness + scratching.
WE DO SUPERSONIC = ragga + data.
SCARBOROUGH FAIR (A TRUE DUB OF MINE) = Simon & Garfunkel + Mad Professor.
ONE COME WE = love + peace + unity
MASSIVE BALLERINA (PIROUETTES FOR MILLENNIA) = H.A.L. + e. e. cummings.
SLOW IS THE NEW FAST = right is the new wrong + naked is the new thong
BE MY WOMAN BE MY MAN = hetero + homo + disco + techno + gogo.
RAINBOWBEAU = Air + Boards of Canada.
THE WAY YOU MOVE = upright bass + breaks + downright cool + babe.
TUKTUYUKTUK TO TIMBUKTU = hypno chants + mesmo beats.
SLOW IS THE NEW FASTER = slow is the new fast + faster - rap.
TOMBOUCTOU ADIEU = wax cylinder + silcone.
HI SHANGHAI = steamtronica.
SONG BLOG:
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Read the stories behind all the Shinjuku Zulu and K.I.A. songs here (dreams of Pi, resonating DNA, etc):
http://mog.com/Shinjuku_Zulu
MICRO-BIOs of contributing vocalists:
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MC SHANKHINI (rapper on "Shanghai Masai", singer on "Coal Coal Black", etc) has recorded and performed with Nelly Furtado, members of Swollen Members, and alongside K-OS and Kardinal Offishal.
LARISSA GOMES is an actress as well as a singer, and has starred in CSI Miami, a series pilot for ABC, and is currently shooting a film in L.A. She sings on "Rainbowbeau" from "Various Chimeras"; she is the only singer to appear on all four Shinjuku Zulu/K.I.A. CDs (See "Mrs. Major Tom", "Sweetness Likes the Reverb", etc.)
MC GENERAL (rapper on" Dirty Liar") has released various tracks under his own name, and is getting airplay on T.O.'s Flow FM and NYC's Power 105.5, etc..
SHAWN SKEIR (vocals on "Dirty Liar", etc) appeared on the K.I.A. track "Almighty Beat", as heard on Puff Daddy's "Making the Band" series on MTV.
SYDNEY WHITE ("My Man, Amen") performed jazz + blues in New York in the 60's and 70s. She has worked as an investigative reporter and teaches propaganda studies at the Free University of Toronto.
GIANCARLO GALLIANI PECCHIA ("Scarborough Fair") is a fifeen-year-old soloist for the St. Michael's Boys Choir, which performs and competes internationally; he has performed before the Queen and the Pope.
CARYN GREEN ("Da Riddim Griffin" lead vox) is also an actress; she starred in the hit tv series "Revelations", and is currently shooting a new series in Toronto.
MIZ MAC is recovering after surgery from straining her vocal cords on "Massive Ballerina"
THE TOKYO GOGO! CHEERGIRL TEAM ("Da Riddim Griffin") is currently motivating people to run faster, hit harder! on their world tour.
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K.I.A. is also a visual artist; he makes large remixable paintings, similar in theme to the music... see more here: http://web.mac.com/neuphoria
Instrumentation
Composer/lyricist/producer: Kirby Ian Andersen
Vocalists: from rappers to blues singers to choirs to Jamaican toasters to cheerleaders to ragtime to folk to opera to....
Discography
GET: All Shinjuku Zulu & K.I.A. cds/mp3s on the web (copy/paste links below into your browser):
iTunes, Shinjuku Zulu: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=7897624
iTunes, K.I.A.: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=5126711
iTunes K.I.A. & Shinjuku Zulu:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=279563989&id=279563892&s=143441
Any-player mp3: http://cdbaby.com/all/neuphoria
RELEASES:
K.I.A. & Shinjuku Zulu:
"F-1 Papillons -Best Of K.I.A. & Shinjuku Zulu" (15 songs) feat. "Make Me Shake","Baby U Got"
"DXLR8 - Downtempo 'Best Of' K.I.A. & Shinjuku Zulu" (2008- 13 tracks) feat. "Allelujah", Mrs. Major Tom"
as Shinjuku Zulu:
"Kiss the Honey, Honey" (2007-7 tracks) feat. SXYLV
"Various Chimeras" (2006-19 tracks) feat. "Shanghai Masai", "Da Riddim Griffin"
"Various Chimeras Instrumentals" (2006-12 tracks) feat. "Be My Woman, Be My Man" Extended Inst. Edit
"Shinjuku Zulu" (2001-14 tracks) feat. "That Groove"
as K.I.A.:
"Sonorous Susurrus" (CDx2- 22 tracks) (2004) feat. "Nevermine"
"Adieu, Shinjuku Zulu" (2003-15 tracks) feat. "Mrs. Major Tom"
(feat. these additional vocalists: Courtney Farquhar, Eugene Spanier, artist Janet Cardiff, Richard Williams, Sarah Daye, the Arctic Zulu ensemble)
Links
| http://www.myspace.com/shinjukuzulu |