Wamdue Kids – These Branching Moments

A Shibuya-kei classic that in many ways transcends the genre, Towa Tei’s Sound Museum combines the genre’s “cut-and-paste” sampling approach with an all-star cast of feature contributions from Japanese legends Haruomi Hosono, Akiko Yano, and Yasuaki Shimizu alongside rappers Biz Markie, Mos Def, Bahamadia, singers Amel Larrieux, Kylie Minogue, and Bebel Gilberto (daughter of João Gilberto), and producers François K and Q-Tip (on the remix of Happy). Tei’s cross-cultural approach to collaboration can be traced back to his years living in New York, where he immersed himself in the club scene there and eventually joined dance act Deee-lite. After returning to Japan, Tei would further develop his own sound with his sophomore album. Sound Museum builds on the ideas of his first solo record Future Listening! with an even wider spectrum of genre touch points including funk, techno, jazz, reggae, and hip-hop.
Recommended – Full Listen
S1 The Sound Museum
S2 Time After Time
S3 Happy
S4 BMT
S5 Higher
S6 Corridor
M1 GBI (German Bold Italic)
M2 Tamilano
M3 Private Eyes
M4 Everything We Do Is Music
A&R – Hidetaka Ando, Nina Ritter
Arranged By, Edited By, Drum Programming, Keyboards [Programming] – TM* (tracks: M2), TT*
Art Direction – Towa Tei, Tycoon Graphics
Coordinator [NYC] – Hisa Ishioka, Madoka Sugaya
Executive-Producer – Hiroshi Osaki, Sam Nagashima
Hair, Make-Up – Melanie Harris (2), Sonomi Obinata, Takahiro Hashimoto (2), Wataru (2)
Illustration [Inner Cover] – Keiji Ito
Management [Artist] – Hiroshi Osaki, Naohiro Kumasaka
Management [Promotion] – Aki Kihara, Kyoko Miyamoto (2), Masahiko Ebisuhara, Yuriko Komatsu
Mastered By – Bobby Hata
Mixed By – “Bassy” Bob Brockmann* (tracks: S2, S3), Fernando Aponte (tracks: S1, S4 to M4), Toshihiko Mori & Ayumi Obinata As SP 1200 Productions* (tracks: S5, M2), Toshihiko Mori (tracks: S4, S6), Towa Tei (tracks: S1, S5, M1 to M4)
Music By – TT* (tracks: S1 to S5, M1, M2, M4)
Photography By – Higashi Ishida, Kazunari Tajima
Photography By [Front Cover] – Patrik Andersson (8)
Producer – Towa Tei
Recorded By – FA*, Hiroshi Haraguchi, Kaz Miyazaki*, SP 1200 Productions, Tadashi Matsuda, Takashi Watanabe
Stylist – Annett Monheim, Sakae Kaneda, Sonya S. Park