Crowdfunding from Japan to the world

What's this Challenge about?

World, Here Comes the Real Sound of Japan! Help Us Launch “oshite,” Online Music Magazine and Platform, in English!

oshite is an online music magazine and distribution platform for unique and extraordinary Japanese sound started in Sept, 2012, by the music label, origami PRODUCTIONS.

oshite is a hub for a wide range of music and digital contents created by not only our label artists but many other likeminded artists and creators in the scene. A monthly fee of 525 JPY (approx. $5.50) gives you free access to more than five “exclusive releases,” articles, online radio shows, and videos freshly delivered from their studios.

We don’t distribute music as albums and singles. Instead, our “packages” combine music with colorful digital contents to allow each artist to express their creativity in the best form.

This Challenge seeks to raise funds to build the international platform to deliver all the deep, unique culture of the real Japanese sound available on oshite.

How We Will Use the Money

TO BUILD AN INTERNATIONAL PAYMENT SYSTEM
Our payment system currently accepts Japanese credit cards and bank deposits only. We need to build a new payment system that accommodates international credit cards and other payment methods for users from overseas.

TO TRANSLATE THE CONTENT INTO ENGLISH
We’ll be translating everything we offer on oshite into English. To deliver all its greatness to the international audience, we need to hire a skilled translator who understands “our language” from the musical jargon to the artists’ quirky word use to subtle nuances that can’t be missed.

The above will cost about 200,000 JPY per month. We’re seeking to collect funds for the first six months, 1,200,000 JPY, on COUNTDOWN. We hope to gain enough international users to cover the running cost after that beginning phase.

Sample Music

SINGLES:
GROOVE NOW / 45 a.k.a. SWING-O
DigMeOut / Shingo Suzuki
Beautiful Love (LIVE) / Ovall
a kind of nocturne [Niigata120923] / Conguero Tres Hoofers
Typhoon and Full moon (improvisation) [Kariya120929] / Ty Burhoe × Yukihiro Atsumi
JAPANESE MUSIC / Ty Burhoe × Yukihiro Atsumi
The Stress / 45 feat. Steph Pockets
Te no hira (The Palm) from “Miracle” by Kenji Nakgami / Yosuke Kubozuka x Yukihiro Atsumi
in close sympathy / DJ MITSU THE BEATS × mabanua
High and Dry / Shingo Suzuki × Leyona
GRAND ROYAL BLUES : Remix / 13souls feat Yusuke from Blu-Swing
Sexy Mama (808 Remix) / Dezille Brothers

ALBUMS:
In TRANSIT / Ovall
Full moon concert at Goemon-tei / Ty Burhoe × Yukihiro Atsumi
Re: Ovall / Ovall
〜origami Free Live Tour〜 O2 at LIQUID ROOM / 45trio
O2 LIVE at UMEDA CLUB QUATTRO / mabanua
Live at LIQUID ROOM / Ovall
1minute Sessions / Q-ill × origami
“Shinsho Sketch” Series / Kan Sano

Sample Content: Get a Peek into an Artist’s Mind. Experience the Perfect Sync of the Visual and Audio, the Moment When Music Is Born.

In this short clip, you get a peek into the mind of Shingo Suzuki, leader of the band, Ovall. Shingo took the video on his iPhone at a firework festival in the summer. The sound of fireworks turns into beats. Melodies are layered. Music is born.
For an artist, simple street noise may become an inspiration for a great music. Regular CDs only provide the completed products, not the process. oshite offers the rare experience of looking into the moment of creation. The perfect synchronization of the visual and audio will blow your mind.

Sample Content: Witness a Creative Improvisation Session of a Guitarist and a Washi Painter at a Historic Japanese-Style House in Kyoto.

This clip is a collaboration of visual and sound by Ryu Kodama, visual creator, and Yukihiro Atsumi.
In this piece, shamisen player, Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen, and washi painter, Kenta (OT29), joined and improvised with the flow of Atsumi’s guitar to produce a breathtaking result.
The movie was shot in one take with a single camera. Ryu Kodama’s amazing camera work is definitely a great creative asset to the piece.

Sample Content: Radio Show by mabanua, “a poor talker” vol. 1 with Guest U-zhaan

Screenshots

Top Page (as of Feb. 21, 2013)

The Artists

45 a.k.a. SWING-O

45 a.k.a. SWING-O, a Japanese producer, composer, and piano player, mainly works in the Tokyo club music scene with countless well-known artists such as Steph Pockets, KYOTO JAZZ MASSIVE, Ai, Keyco,Kreva, etc. He was featured in over 100 albums as producer, composer, and piano player. He was a leader of a soul band called Izanami. After that, he was part of a band called JAMNUTS, which was a project of Top 30 professional musicians in Tokyo. He released his 1st solo album “Hello Friends” in 2008. He delivered 70’s soul and Japanese flavored tracks with guest artists like Steph Pockets (female MC from U.S.), Tasia D’Mour (a tour vocalist for Reel People from UK), Lark Chillout (A.Y.B Force from Japan). This album blew a new wind in the scene. It has been a big hit and has sold at CD shops and iTunes music store for over a year.
His 2nd album, THE REVENGE OF SOUL, released on May 13th, 2009, is a collaborative effort with US Grammy nominated singer Ryan Shaw, Stephanie McKay, Jimmy Abney and Bulljin. The album was released as CD and EP in France (through OPENZIC Distribution); and included in SOUL TOGETHERNESS 2009, (a compilation album of the most soulful music of the year, which is very much respected throughout the UK) to represent the Japanese soul music scene.
In 2010, he played as 45trio in the Orange Court of Fuji Rock Festival, bringing soul to the festival and bringing down the house. He was an MC at O2, a charity event hosted by the label in March, 2011, after the Great Earthquake, and created a powerful stage presenting over 30 artists including widely-known rappers such as Twigy and COMA-CHI as well as singers such as Yu Sakai, Mika Arisaka, HanaH, and Azumi. Its Ustream broadcast ranked the fourth most watched of the day in the world ranking with more than 20,000 viewers. The year 2011 saw the birth of Dezille Brothers, soul band SWING-O started with Junpei Shina (vo) and Tomoyasu Takeuchi (gtr). The band released their 1st album, “Dashi no Torikata” and appeared at Arabaki Rock Fest and Rising Sun Rock Festival. He also fully produced an album of Fusanosuke Kondo, one of the leading figures of the Japanese music scene, and helped create valuable connection between him and young, emerging artists such as Osaka Monaurail and Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro.
In 2012, in celebration of their fifth anniversary, his label, origami PRODUCTIONS, hosted a free live tour, “O2,” in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sendai. The tour brought a lot of buzz, for it was rare to see free lives at large capacity venues (each fit hundreds to a thousand), with publicly-sought supporting companies.
He has appeared at music festivals and live events, including Summer Sonic, all over the nation, devoting himself to delivering the soul of “Black Sound” to the hearts of music lovers.

Yukihiro Atsumi

Despite his relative youth guitarist cum songwriter Yukihiro Atsumi has enjoyed a fair measure of success in his homeland, Japan.

In 2002, at age of nineteen, Atsumi began his career as a guitarist and studio musician. He worked with a wide variety of well-known artists such as Shuya Okino, Towa Tei, Yu Sakai, DJ KAWASAKI, etc. performing live and laying down guitar tracks for studio recordings.

Atsumi was the only Japanese artist to perform on the ANANDA PROJECT’s 2005 Japan tour.

In 2006, he played with JAMNUTS, a group of more than thirty artists based in Shibuya, and worked on their arrangements and sound production. The same year Atsumi’s mellow reworking of the massive OUTKAST hit, “Hey Ya!” (Rhodes ?) made a positive impact and was well received by the media following its airing on BBC radio.

2007 saw Atsumi release ‘Monologue’, the first album of his solo project, ‘thirdiq’. Having improvised and recorded every track in a single take, he chopped them up, sampled them, and created a fresh sound the likes of which had never before been heard. ‘Monologue’ was later put to excellent use as the soundtrack of ‘The Cleanest Line’, a documentary movie that chronicles the life of legendary surfer Gerry Lopez.

2009 was a big year for Atsumi. He was responsible for the soundtrack of the movie based on ‘Lush Life’, a novel written by Kotaro Isaka. In September, he released his second ‘thirdiq’ album ‘who may find love in the imaginary axis’, which included tracks used in the movie. Following its release in Japan, France (by OPENZIC Distribution) and Indonesia (distributed by Demajor), DJ Benji B aired some tracks from the album on his BBC Radio show, 1extra.

The same year also saw Atsumi begin to participate in a monthly session project called ‘laidbook’ with his label-mates, mabanua, Shingo Suzuki (Ovall) and 45 a.k.a SWING-O. Their collective experiments (songbooks fused with music and visual art) followed a different theme each month. This was something new and fresh, and caused much media buzz.

In 2010, Atsumi established an acoustic project called 'Conguero Tres Hoofers' in which tap dance sounds, percussion and acoustic guitar develop ever-changing grooves. Following the band’s acclaimed performances at music festivals such as FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL 10 and GREENROOM FESTIVAL 10, they released their first album, ‘Classics from THe parallel world.’ (Spelling as it appears on the album). In March 2011, it had reached the top of the iTune’s Jazz Chart in Japan!

Atsumi is also involved in the community by visiting kindergartens and playing is style of jazz for the children. “First, I started playing for the kids for musical education purposes, but the kids’ pureness, sensibility, bohemian reactions… I am learning a lot from them, and they are having a great impact on me and my music”, says Atsumi. He currently teaches on the theme of 'improvisational expression' at an elementary school in Mitaka, Tokyo.

Atsumi, as part of 'Conguero Tres Hoofers', performed at FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL 2011 for the second year in a row. In a first for FUJI ROCK, they constructed a special stage in Kids Land, and played four shows over two days. Serious crowd pleasers, CTH’s performances went down a storm.

Atsumi has also composed many tunes for the media, including EDWIN and Nu Skin tv commercials and FM radio jingles.

Shingo Suzuki

Shingo Suzuki, the bassist/keyboardist/track-maker/producer creates quality tracks which are made with his unique track making style, sampling the recording of himself playing an instrument. The style caught attentions of artists such as Moka Only (rapper/Canada), Blu(rapper/US), 20syl of Hocus Pocus(Rapper/France), and DJ Greem of Hocus Pocus. With the appearances of these internationally known artists, his first album “The ABSTRACT TRUTH” became a hit not only in Japan but also in Europe. The album has reached TOP10 in Japanese CD shops and iTunes hip hop album charts in Portugal and France. Critics in Yahoo! and Myspace Japan stated that “The ABSTRACT TRUTH” is the biggest surprise in the Japanese music scene of the year 2008. Shingo also leads a band called Ovall. Ovall is a spiritual jazz/hip-hop band based in Tokyo. The other members are mabanua (dr), who is also a fellow track maker, Shingo Sekiguchi (gtr), who also plays as “vusik,” and sj (kb).
Despite it being before their album debut, Ovall made an appearance at the Asagiri Jam Festival in 2009 and was praised to be the best of the year by many in the audience by their performance which mixed tension and peace beautifully and transformed the aura of the stage. In 2010, they played at other music festivals including Fuji Rock Festival, Green Room Festival, Sunset Live, and Rising Sun Festival. Their 1st album, “DON’T CARE WHO KNOWS THAT,” released in March, 2010, became the top hip-hop title in the iTunes store and ranked eighth in the Tower Record bounce year-end chart. In 2011, they released their 1st mini album, “Heart Fever,” which established their popularity among music fans. Their 2nd mini album, “In TRANSIT,” first became available for free download for the first 3,000 users on the online magazine, oshite, by origami PRODUCTIONS. The album grew popular among not only the listeners but also other artists and creators, which led to the immediate release of a remix album, “Re: Ovall,” by a group of talented remixers including grooveman Spot, Budamunk, and Ken Sano. Ovall has also collaborated with a hip-hop unit, GAGLE, as GAGLE x Ovall. They have already released their first collaboration album, “GAGLE x Ovall,” and have been touring around Japan together.
With each member displaying unique musicianship and solid skill together, the band’s approach to hip-hop with fusion of live instruments and sampling takes the audience to the world of “Absolute Mixture Music” as Suzuki describes the style of Ovall.

mabanua

Multi-talented artist, mabanua, has different musical faces such as drummer, beat-maker, and singer. He samples the sounds that he plays. Most of his music is hip-hop flavored; however, he is open to various kinds of music. He made a video showing the creation of a song. It caught the attention of people on Youtube, and the British music website, NME featured the video on their webpage. AKIL THE MC of Jurassic 5, Eshe of Arrested Development, and Kev Brown shared understanding of mabanua’s musical style. They have collaborated on mabanua’s 1st album ”done already.”
His talent as an entertainer also attracts the audience to his stage performance. He plays the drums and sings at the same time without stopping just like a DJ spinning.
mabanua is also a member of a jazz hip-hip band, Ovall. The band consists of Shingo Suzuki (bass/keys), Shingo Sekiguchi (guitar) and mabanua (drums/programming). Their music is a unique mixture of sampling and live sound.
In addition, he has been expanding his solo career as a producer, remixer, and tour drummer, working with artists such as Chara, TWIGY, Tabito NAnao, COMA-CHI, Shota Shimizu, Makoto Kawamoto, AISHA, Eshe of Arrested Development, and Chet Faker. In 2011, he launched two collaboration projects, “Green Butter” with a beatmaker, Budamunk, and “U-zhaan x mabanua” with a table player, U-zhaan, and collaborated with U-zhaan and Hirokazu Yamazaki (toe) to create music for UNIQLO’s commercials with Yugo Nakamura as the director. He was also a part of Tower Record’s campaign, “No music, No Life?” as the campaign label.
In 2012, he appeared as mabanua at ITADAKI and as U-zhaan and mabanua at Fuji Rock Festival and KAIKOO. He was also a performer at 100% U-zhaan along with Akiko Yano, Keigo Oyamada, and MIYAVI.
He has also composed a great number of music for various medias including tv commercials for Google, AEON, and Kewpie, and a cartoon show, Kids On The Slope on Fuji TV.
His 2nd album, “only the facts,” has been largely acclaimed in and out of the country.
mabanua is no doubt one of the finest and busiest drummer and creator in the Japanese music scene.

The Label

origami PRODUCTIONS

In 2006, “Tokyo Jam Scene” was an underground movement based in Shibuya.
Instrumentalists, singers, and rappers improvised to take in different genres of music such as jazz, hip hop, soul, funk, reggae and rock.
It was something very unique that only people who grew up in the Japanese music scene could play.
In 2006, Yoshi Tsushima established a team of creators, origami PRODUCTIONS with a concept of taking the movement of “Tokyo Jam Scene” to the world. origami PRODUCTIONS started out with four artists; Yukihiro Atsumi (guitarist/producer), 45 a.k.a Swing-O (keys/beat-maker/producer), Shingo Suzuki (bass/beat-maker/producer) and mabanua (drums/beatmaker/producer).

They not only play instruments, but they are also producers and beat-makers. They compose, record, mix, and even create their own artwork.
They also have worked with artists of different medium such as painters, photographers and graphic designers.

They have been releasing a monthly album called laidbook in collaboration with visual artists such as DRAGON (painter), GLOWZ (photographer/graphic designer), TKO (illustrator), and Shidara the Troopical (Helllvetic/graphic designer). They establish a theme before recording and create music and art cards (called origami) to go along with the theme.

The albums are distributed to Europe and Asia, and they have collaborated with worldly well-known artists such as Ryan Shaw, Jurassic 5, Blu, Arrested Development, Hocus Pocus and Stephanie McKay. They release music and art from Shibuya to the world.

In 2010, all the label artists made an appearance at Fuji Rock Festival, Japan’s biggest summer music festival.

Tower Records chose them as the label of their campaign, “No Music, No Life?” in 2011. In March of the same year, origami PRODUCTIONS hosted a charity event, “O2,” creating a unique stage presenting over 30 artists including rappers such as Twigy and COMA-CHI and singers such as Yu Sakai, Mika Arisaka, HanaH, and Azumi. The Ustream broadcast received the fourth highest view of the day in the world with more than 20,000 viewers.

In 2012, they hosted a free live tour with all the label artists in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sendai, in celebration of their fifth anniversary. The tour brought much buzz, as it was rare to see free lives at large capacity venues (each fit hundreds to a thousand), with publicly-sought supporting companies. In September, they launched oshite, a subscription-based monthly online magazine and platform for music lovers. They have kept the platform open to like-minded artists and creators, transcending the borders between different labels and medias.