Welcome to part 3 of the Denki Groove Mega-party! Growing up, Pierre Taki had a mother who was a professor of nursing and was too busy to spend a lot of time with him. His father spent much of his time away from the family trekking in the mountains of Tibet. Without regular parental contact Taki was largely brought up by his older sister. He grew up learning about what young girls do and how to be feminine, a subject he uses in many of his works today. Later in life, Pierre Taki felt pressure to pursue a career in the medical field like his mother had but suddenly dropped out of university mid course in order to queue up for the debut release of Nintendo's RPG game, 'Dragon Quest II'. Today he is married, has one child and is still a game lover.
These days, performing often dressed in drag, Pierre Taki is the front man of Denki Groove. Taki is known for writing lyrics for many popular Japanese bands particularly for the pop band 'Puffy', now known as Puffy AmiYumi (thanks Diddy... lame asshole). He is a television presenter and is sometimes the goal keeper for FC Kaos. Now nearing the age of 40, Taki needs to be in good shape to block all those goals. Today's video will show just how he stays in such good shape in the form of '36 Year Old Gymnastics'.
Taki is as famous for his video work as he is being Denki Groove's primary vocalist. He has dedicated many years to producing video works in combination with live performance for himself and many other groups. In late 2004, he released 'Pierre Taki Presents COMIC Kiba Deluxe / Pierre Taki to Beethoven LIVE at LIQUID ROOM Vol.2', a DVD featuring some of his recent pieces.
While a talented lyricist, in today's video Taki opts for the minimal refrain, 'Pierre Ohayo!' which simply means 'Morning Pierre' over and over again. The video uses popular Japanese cultural references such as Totoro, juxtaposed by scenes of control and humiliation. As out there as the video may seem I can't help but relate to it on many levels. Maybe it's my comparative age. It also seems to mirror yesterday's Ishino entry nicely. Taki and Ishino obviously share a similar head space.If you liked Taki's 36 Year Old Gymnastics please check out the one he made six year earlier to celebrate his 30th!
Welcome to part two of the Denki Groove Mega-party! Takkyu Ishino has a lot to do with the musical direction of the group so it seems appropriate to take a look into his solo career. I had originally planned to feature the Ishino video for the single Rising Suns (2004) in this post. It's a great video that I saw featured at Kirin Plaza Osaka Art Gallery a few years ago. The video must have been a monumental effort, featuring crowds of thousands of people cleverly filmed from the air so please click this link to take a look.
It's great to see the serious side of Ishino but I will alway love him for his irreverence and so present to you 'Last Scene'. Last Scene was released in 2001 and is the first single to come out after the very funky, tongue-and-cheek, Karaokejack. It features the vocal talent of Tabito Nanao, who is an interesting vocal choice and is not really known for electronic music. It's Ishino at his most honest, not trying to be Denki Groove and not trying to be German-school tekno powerhouse.
The video is about racquetball, disco dancing (thanks largely to Japan's portly, afro-headed, disco king, Papaya Suzuki!), and finding true love. Ishino and Taki are real suckers for playing with male sexual identity and often use adolescent stereotypes in their music and videos.
UPDATE! This video seems to have been removed! Sorry, I'll keep an eye open and try to replace it soon.
UPDATE2! Still looking but in the meantime why not check out Takkyu Ishino and Pierre Taki's pet project released in 1992, 'Techno Kayou' by Fumie Hosokawa. Fumin' started her career as an sexy idol and became the Miss Magazine cover girl in 1990. The strange video is 'Niko Niko Nyan Nyan'.
It's time for the Denki Groove Mega-party! I've been meaning to do an entry on one of Japan's most influential techno-rockers but the problem has been that no one entry can do these guys any justice so to remedy this dilemma I have decided to do series of posts related to the band/duo along with side-projects to give you a feel for their range and styles. I don't want to commit to a certain number of entries and may slip other interesting bits of music along the way so please try to enjoy this very weird band.
The Shizuoka-born duo are lyrical comedians, nonconservative Japanese traditionalists, electronic pop stars, sound experimentalists and performance artists, all in a way that may make you question their sincerity. They seem to thrive on challenging their audience though seriousness vs. unseriousness and information vs. misinformation - in the most interesting ways possible. It's fun, it's strange, it's Denki Groove and it begins right now!
Beginning in 1991 with Flash Papa, their early works have a focus on pop sensibilities. With later releases their style has evolved through several types of electronic dance music, though often with many asides in unrelated genres. Recent work has largely been composted of German-style techno. Their lyrics are often tongue-in-cheek and sometimes quite bizarre.
Today's video, Cafe de Oni (which means devil or demon), is from their aforementioned debut with animation from comic artist and musician Masakazu Amahisa.
There is nothing in life I enjoy more
than music. Like Tower Records says,
No Music No Life. This blog is dedicated
to the music that makes me smile.
I hope you’ll like it too!
The picture of me is by my awesome
sister, Kelly! It makes me smile a lot!
Welcome to part 3 of the Denki Groove Mega-party! Growing up, Pierre Taki had a mother who was a professor of nursing and was too busy to spend a lot of time with him. His father spent much of his time away from the family trekking in the mountains of Tibet. Without regular parental contact Taki was largely brought up by his older sister. He grew up learning about what young girls do and how to be feminine, a subject he uses in many of his works today. Later in life, Pierre Taki felt pressure to pursue a career in the medical field like his mother had but suddenly dropped out of university mid course in order to queue up for the debut release of Nintendo's RPG game, 'Dragon Quest II'. Today he is married, has one child and is still a game lover. 
Taki is as famous for his video work as he is being Denki Groove's primary vocalist. He has dedicated many years to producing video works in combination with live performance for himself and many other groups. In late 2004, he released 'Pierre Taki Presents COMIC Kiba Deluxe / Pierre Taki to Beethoven LIVE at LIQUID ROOM Vol.2', a DVD featuring some of his recent pieces. 
