Nobukazu Takemura

Nobukazu Takemura (竹村延和 Takemura Nobukazu; born August 28, 1968, in Hirakata, Osaka) is a Japanese musician and artist. He became interested in music at a young age by listening to the radio, and began to make music at home with a tape recorder and keyboard. During high school, after a record store job that exposed him to jazz and hip-hop, he had regular gigs in the clubs of Osaka and Kyoto as a battle DJ before launching his music career. Takemura's music career has seen him cover a wide range of genres and styles within short periods of time. Beginning his career in hip-hop and jazz, Takemura later entered into a prolific period as an electronic musician, exploring genres such as glitch, drum and bass and minimalism. Takemura's most recent work has included chamber music and performance art.

Career In 1990, Takemura founded the instrumental hip hop group Audio Sports with Yamatsuka Eye (of Boredoms) and Aki Onda. Their first album, Era of Glittering Gas, was released in 1992 (after which Onda subsequently took control of the project).

In 1992, Takemura formed the nu-jazz collective Spiritual Vibes, which released several albums and a few singles throughout the early to mid-1990s. During this period Takemura would occasionally toy with (and eventually pursue full-time in the late 1990s) his own solo releases, typically under the names of DJ Takemura or Kool Jazz Productions. He has released music under the pseudonyms of DJ Takemura, Child's View and Assembler, and his music has covered a wide variety of genres in a short amount of time, ranging from hip-hop instrumentals, to jazz, to chamber music and electronic minimalism, breakbeat, noise pop, glitch and jungle music. The vast majority of Takemura's music has been recorded in his home-made "Moonlit Studio", in his Kyoto apartment.

He founded the Lollop and Childisc labels in the 1990s after meeting musicians who were unable to release their music due to not having a record label. His voluminous releases, remixes, and collaborations make a comprehensive discography difficult, and his music often defies any easy categorization. Takemura's first U.S. release was Funfair on the Bubble Core label in 1998, a slightly altered release of the Yoru No Yuenchi album released previously in Japan. This was followed by Scope on the Thrill Jockey label in 1999, an album that was released solely in the U.S. He has frequently collaborated with fellow Childisc vocalist/composer Aki Tsuyuko, with her vocals having been sampled on many of his albums.

His unique and complex approach to melody and instrumentation has generated a catalog of collaborations with critically acclaimed artists including Issey Miyake, Zu, Steve Reich, DJ Spooky, Yo La Tengo, Tortoise, and Tujiko Noriko. Takemura performed live extensively in the early 2000s, having toured the U.S. opening for Tortoise and Plaid, as well as touring the U.K. with a full live band playing his music on a sponsorship from the British Arts Council. Takemura was also responsible for the sound design of Sony's robotic dog AIBO.

Takemura moved from his long-term home of Kyoto to Berlin, Germany in 2008. In February 2014, Takemura released Zeitraum, a compilation of music, sounds and images he had created from 2004 – 2013 for various projects, commissions and collaborations. Zeitraum is Takemura's first solo album release in 11 years.

Discography Note: This discography only includes solo and collaboration releases under the names of "Nobukazu Takemura", "Child's View", "Assembler" or "DJ Takemura". None of Takemura's group releases, such as with Audio Sports or Spiritual Vibes, are included.

Studio albums

YearTitleAlbum details 1994 Child's ViewReleased: 2 November 1994 Label: Toy's Factory (JP) / Bellissima Records (GER) Formats: LP, CD 1997 Child and MagicReleased: 15 December 1997 Label: Warner Music Japan (JP) Formats: CD 1998 Yoru No YuenchiAs Child's View Released: 1998 Label: Childisc (JP) Formats: CD 1999FunfairAs Child's View Released: March 1999 Label: Bubble Core Records (US) Formats: CD U.S. version of Yoru No Yuenchi with slightly altered tracklistMilano: For Issey Miyake Men By Naoki TakizawaReleased: 26 May 1999 Label: Warner Music Japan (JP) Formats: CDScopeReleased: 9 June 1999 Label: Thrill Jockey (US) Formats: LP, CDFinale: For Issey Miyake Men By Naoki TakizawaReleased: 22 December 1999 Label: Warner Music Japan (JP) Formats: CD 2000 MeteorReleased: 2000 Label: Childisc (JP) Format: CD Was released in U.S. as a 12" single instead of an albumHoshi No KoeReleased: 2000 Label: Childisc (JP) / Thrill Jockey (US) Formats: LP, CD Japan and U.S. versions had one different track on eachSignReleased: November 2000 Label: Tokuma Japan Communications (JP) / Thrill Jockey (US) Formats: LP, CD Japan and U.S. versions had some differing tracks 2001SongbookReleased: 21 December 2001 Label: Childisc (JP) / Bubble Core Records (US) Formats: LP, CD Released: 13 March 2002 Label: Childisc (JP) Formats: CDAnimateReleased: 13 March 2002 Label: Childisc (JP) Formats: CD10thReleased: 24 July 2002 Label: Childisc (JP) / Thrill Jockey (US) Formats: LP, CD Japan version had one extra trackWater's SuiteReleased: 2002 Label: Extreme (AUS) Released: 30 May 2003 Label: Moonlit (JP) / Thrill Jockey (US) Formats: CD Japan version had an extra live bonus trackEtudeReleased: 2003 Label: En/Of (GER) Formats: LP Limited edition of 100 vinyls 2007Kobito No Kuni (Unreleased Tracks up to 1999)Released: 21 December 2007 Label: Moonlit (JP) Formats: CD 2014ZeitraumReleased: 26 February 2014 Labels: Happenings (JP) Formats: CD 2015EinheitReleased: 5 December 2015 Labels: Happenings (JP) Formats: CD Exclusively sold at Hotel Anteroom in Kyoto for a Takemura art exhibition.

Extended plays

YearTitleAlbum details 1993The Quest is a RewardReleased: 1993 Label: NEC Avenue (JP) Formats: CD 1998Sablé & Grill EPAs Child's View Released: 1998 Label: Childisc (JP) Formats: CD, 12" The CD version had one more track than the 12" 2001Recursion EPReleased: 2001 Label: Childisc (JP) Formats: 12" 2002Animate EPReleased: 2002 Label: Childisc (JP) Formats: 12"Mimic RobotReleased: 2002 Label: Thrill Jockey (US) Formats: 12"

Singles

YearTitleAlbum details 1992Hoping For The Sun / Kool Jazz Scene / Science FictionAs DJ Takemura Released: 1992 Label: Global Dept Records (UK) Formats: 12" 1994For TomorrowReleased: 1994 Label: Toy's Factory (JP) / 99 Records (GER) / Bellissima Records (GER) Formats: 12", CD 1999The Cradle of Light / After ImageAs Child's View Released: 1999 Label: Childisc (JP) Formats: 12"MeteorReleased: 1999 Label: Thrill Jockey (US) Formats: 12" U.S. single version of the Meteor album 2001Mahou No HirobaReleased: 21 November 2001 Label: Childisc (JP) Formats: CDPicnic / OyasumiReleased: 2001 Label: Bottrop-Boy (GER) Formats: 7" 2002Hiking / VikingReleased: 2002 Label: Bottrop-Boy (GER) Formats: 7"

Collaborative albums

YearTitleAlbum details 1997Changing HandsWith Richard Barbieri & Steve Jansen Released: 16 July 1997 Label: Flavour of Sound (JP) Formats: CD 2003Turntables and ComputersWith Otomo Yoshihide Released: 6 November 2003 Label: Headz Formats: CD 2007Identification With the Enemy: A Key To the UnderworldWith Zu Released: 2007 Label: Atavistic Formats: CD 2012East Facing BalconyWith Tujiko Noriko Released: 6 June 2012 Label: Happenings Formats: CD