Zongamin
Susumu Mukai[1] (born c.1974, Osaka, Japan),[2] better known as Zongamin, is a UK-based Japanese-born musician and producer.
Biography
Makai grew up in rural Japan and moved with his family to East Anglia at the age of eleven.[3] He attended Summerhill School where he learned to play bass guitar and went on to play in several bands.[3] He went on to study at the Royal College of Art and began experimenting with sampling and recording, and was signed to his friend Mike Silver's Flesh Records label.[3]
Makai explained his stage name: "When I started I wanted it to sound like a band from another dimension. So I came up with a different word for it."[3]
His self-titled debut album was released in 2003 by XL Recordings, and met with a positive critical response; Allmusic gave it a three-star rating, commenting on the "wealth of ideas" and an "endearing 'anything goes' playfulness" on the album.[4] Pitchfork Media gave it 7.3/10,[5] Gigwise.com also gave the album an enthusiastic review, calling it "a lo-tech electro-fuzz monster".[6]
He has also acted as a remixer for Air,[7] Playgroup, Grafiti, and Seelenluft.[8]
Musical style
His music has been described as "incorporating left-field disco, funk, hip-hop, and house, along with good old sloppy garage rock and spaghetti Western soundtracks",[4] and "post punk, somewhat cheesy funkdom interspersed with droning catchy dance hooks".[2] Gigwise.com described his debut album as "a schizophrenic shot of spaghetti western mayhem, angular foot-stamping menace, and made-in-the-kitchen-sink funk".[6]
Discography
Albums
- Zongamin. XL Recordings. 2003. ASIN B000088EGG.
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(help) - Flesh Tapes. Flesh Records. 2004. ASIN B0002MOLL0.
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(help) - Zongamin. Flesh Records. 2007-08-28. ASIN B000088EGH.
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Singles
- "Serious Trouble" (2000), Flesh
- "Tunnel Music" (2001), Flesh
- "Spiral" (2002), XL
- "Serious Trouble" (2003), XL
- "Italian Fireflies" (2004), Kitsuné
- "Bongo Song" (2005), Ed Banger
References
- ^ ""FOMA ga omoshiroi kotoni nattekita"no Sony Ericsson「SO902i」no CM-kyoku wa?" [What is the Sony Ericsson "SO902i" CF song for "Things are getting exciting with FOMA"?]. CD Journal (in Japanese). ONGAKU SHUPPANSHA Co.,Ltd. 2006-03-24. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
- ^ a b Colley, Claire (2003) "Zongamin Zongamin Archived June 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine", musicOMH, retrieved 2010-06-25
- ^ a b c d Walton, Matt (2003) "Zongamin Archived November 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine", BBC, 28 March 2003, retrieved 2010-06-25
- ^ a b Kellman, Andy "Zongamin Review", Allmusic, retrieved 2010-06-25
- ^ Bryant, Andrew (2003) "Zongamin Zongamin", Pitchfork Media, 28 May 2003, retrieved 2010-06-25
- ^ a b Bruzon, Tim (2003) "Zongamin 'Zongamin'[permanent dead link]", Gigwise.com, 24 September 2003, retrieved 2010-06-25
- ^ "Air Remixed by Zongamin[permanent dead link]", aversion.com, 12 March 2004, retrieved 2010-06-25
- ^ Kellman, Andy "Zongamin Biography", Allmusic, retrieved 2010-06-25