Kishi Bashi

Kaoru Dill-Ishibashi (born November 4, 1975), who performs as Kishi Bashi, is an American singer-songwriter and filmmaker currently based in Athens, Georgia.

He was a founding member of Jupiter One and, for a few years, was a member of the band of Montreal. He embarked on his career as a solo artist in 2011, releasing his debut album 151a at Joyful Noise Recordings in 2012.

Biography Born in Seattle, Washington, Bashi grew up in Norfolk, Virginia where both of his parents were professors at Old Dominion University. His mother is from Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, and his father is from Iga, Mie Prefecture. After graduating from Matthew Fontaine Maury High School in 1994, he went to Cornell University College of Engineering. At Cornell he co-founded a band named Tamarisk. After flunking out of Cornell, he went to study film scoring Alexi Murdoch, and of Montreal. He supported of Montreal on their spring 2012 tour.

Shortly after Dill-Ishibashi debuted his full-length solo album 151a on Indianapolis label Joyful Noise Recordings, NPR All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen listed Kishi Bashi as his favorite new artist of 2012 noting that he created "a radiant, uplifting soundscape" with songs such as "Bright Whites."

In 2014 Kishi Bashi released his own line of coffee through Jittery Joe's called Royal Daark Blend. Each purchase comes with an exclusive song download.

Kishi Bashi's songs are frequently used in other media. His music also appears in Banana Split, The Babysitter's Club, God Friended Me, Into The Dark, Atypical, the DC Universe's Titans series, and others. He composed the soundtrack for the Apple TV+ series Stillwater, and wrote the theme song to the television series Shrill. In July 2021, Kishi Bashi's song "I Am the Antichrist to You" was featured in season 5 episode 3 "A Rickconvenient Mort" of the animated television series Rick and Morty.

Discography Studio albums + List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions US US Indie USRock 151a Released: April 10, 2012 Label: Joyful Noise — 47 — Lighght Released: May 13, 2014 Label: Joyful Noise 53 11 13 Sonderlust Released: September 16, 2016 Label: Joyful Noise 153 17 19 Omoiyari Released: May 31, 2019 Label: Joyful Noise — 10 — Kantos Released: 23 August 2024 Label: Joyful Noise — — —"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Live albums + List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions US Label: Joyful Noise — 37"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Compilation albums "7" Box Set" (including covers of Talking Heads, ELO, and Beirut) (2013) – Joyful Noise

Extended plays Room for Dream EP (2011) – Aerobic International / Joyful Noise Philosophize! Chemicalize! EP (2013) – Joyful Noise Room for Dream EP (2017) – Joyful Noise Emigrant EP (2021) – Joyful Noise

Soundtracks Stillwater: Vol. I (Apple TV+ Original Series Soundtrack) (2020) – Joyful Noise The Fourth Phase (2016)