Kishi Bashi
A singer/songwriter, producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist whose main instrument is the violin, Kaoru "K" Ishibashi's solo project, Kishi Bashi, is recognized for its playful, highly melodic, often romantic songs. His distinctly kaleidoscopic sound frequently incorporates looping technology, with repeated segments sped up to varying degrees to otherworldly effect. He debuted the project in 2012 with 151A, which helped to establish the Joyful Noise label. His more slickly produced third album, Sonderlust (2016), included increased electronic elements, while Omoiyari (2019) and its companion EP, Emigrant (2021), and related soundtrack album, Music from the Song Film: Omoiyari (2023), relied on a more organic, orchestral folk palette. He switched gears to a mix of high-spirited prog and alternative dance tunes for 2024's Kantos.
Born Kaoru Ishibashi in Seattle, Washington, in 1975, he spent his formative years in Norfolk, Virginia. After studying film scoring at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he collaborated on albums with acts including Vitamin String Quartet and, in 2003, co-founded the Brooklyn-based indie rock outfit Jupiter One with fellow songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Zac Colwell. Adding drummer Dave Heilman and cycling through several bassists, the band went on to release a pair of EPs and two full-length albums: 2007's Jupiter One and 2009's Sunshower. In 2009, Jupiter One toured in support of Regina Spektor, with members including Ishibashi also playing in her backing band. Back in the studio, he played strings on Of Montreal's 2010 album False Priest, the first of many such collaborations with Kevin Barnes' project.
In 2011, Ishibashi embarked on a solo career, adopting the pseudonym Kishi Bashi. He began opening shows for indie artists including Sondre Lerche, Alexi Murdoch, and Of Montreal, and released the single "Bright Whites," which was licensed for a major tech-company ad campaign. His full-length solo debut under the moniker 151A (a pun in Japanese for the expression "ichi-go ichi-e," sometimes translated as "one chance in a lifetime"), arrived in April 2012 on the then-startup Joyful Noise label. The album did well by small-indie standards, receiving raves from NPR Music and landing on the Billboard independent albums chart.
After Ishibashi relocated to Athens, Georgia, the project's second full-length, Lighght, followed in early 2014. It marked Kishi Bashi's first appearance on the Billboard 200, reaching number 53. A year later, he released String Quartet Live!, which offered selections from his first two albums arranged by Ishibashi for himself, string quartet, and guest spots by Tall Tall Trees' Mike Savino (modified banjo/vocals) and Elizabeth & the Catapult's Elizabeth Ziman (vocals). It also included a cover of Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)." The album landed in the Billboard Classical Albums Top Ten.
Citing frustration with the creation of new material, Ishibashi all but ditched what had been his primary songwriting tool, the violin, for his third Kishi Bashi studio LP. A play on the recently invented word "sonder" -- essentially, the realization that any stranger has a life experience as vivid as your own -- from the Web's Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, Sonderlust was co-produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear, with guests including drummer Matt Chamberlain. Released on Joyful Noise in September 2016, it returned him to the Billboard 200, where it spent a week at number 153.
Following extensive touring for Sonderlust, Ishibashi, the son of Japanese immigrants, became involved with a cautionary documentary that saw similarities between the day's anti-immigrant political rhetoric and the conditions that led to Japanese American internment camps during WWII. With original songs inspired by the project around themes of empathy, his fourth album, Omoiyari (a word for the idea that thinking about others promotes compassion), was released in 2019 in advance of Omoiyari: A Songfilm by Kishi Bashi. Ascending to number ten on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart, Omoiyari was recorded with members of his touring band including Savino (banjo, bass) and Nick Ogawa (aka Takenobu) (cello). A related EP, Emigrant, arrived in 2021 before the Emmy-nominated documentary and its soundtrack/score album, Music from the Song Film: Omoiyari, eventually saw release in 2023.
After spending years with the heavy themes and material associated with his documentary, Kishi Bashi changed things up for 2024's Kantos, which he dubbed a party album. Consisting of funky and sparkling dance music spanning disco, synth pop, and theatrical prog, it was recorded with over a dozen friends including several prior collaborations and featured artists Augie Bello (saxophone) and Linqua Franqa (raps). Kantos arrived on Joyful Noise in August of 2024.
© Marcy Donelson /TiVo
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Discografía
40 álbum(es) • Ordenado por Mejores ventas
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Omoiyari
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 31/05/2019
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Estéreo -
Music from the Song Film: Omoiyari
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 17/11/2023
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Colorful State
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 15/05/2024
Disponible en24-Bit/48 kHz Estéreo -
Lilliputian Chop
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 6/08/2024
Disponible en24-Bit/48 kHz Estéreo -
Red, White, and Blue
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 13/09/2023
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Kantos
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 23/08/2024
Disponible en24-Bit/48 kHz Estéreo -
151a
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 10/04/2012
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Winter's Eve
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 8/03/2023
Disponible en24-Bit/48 kHz Estéreo -
7" Singles
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 19/03/2013
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Lighght (Deluxe Version)
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 13/05/2014
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
151a (Demo-arigato Version)
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 11/03/2022
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
All I Want For Christmas Is You
Rock - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 30/11/2022
Disponible en24-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Every Day Is a Sunday b/w Slow Motion Feel
El Ten Eleven, Kishi Bashi, Tall Tall Trees
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 27/08/2021
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Kishi Bashi on Audiotree Live
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Audiotree Music el 17/02/2015
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Make Believe
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 10/07/2024
Disponible en24-Bit/48 kHz Estéreo -
Polyvinyl 4-Track Singles Series, Vol. 2
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Polyvinyl Records el 1/10/2015
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It! / Song For The Sold
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 10/09/2013
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Sonderlust
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 16/09/2016
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Lighght
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 13/05/2014
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
String Quartet Live!
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 13/11/2015
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Emigrant EP
Alternativa & Indie - Editado por Joyful Noise Recordings el 2/04/2021
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Estéreo