What does your laptop mean to you? If you venture by NTU's Corridor Cafe tomorrow evening, you'll see four guys from Japan whose laptops serve as their artistic medium. Childish Music Concert, organized by Node Culture and Plop, is a multimedia production with a kiddish bent.
Featuring four Japan-based laptop electronica artists, the concert is aimed at kids, adults and "kidults" alike. The artists will work their aural and visual magic through a combination of acoustic instruments -- guitars, xylophones and toy instruments -- and electronic equipment -- laptops, projection screens, speakers, etc.
"Childish music," a small-but-worldwide trend in electronica, treats the ear to soft, sweet-sounding music that incorporates a variety of sound effects. The German record label Staugbold is planning to release a compilation CD later this month titled Childish Music. The CD will include tracks from two of the artists performing at NTU tomorrow night: Kazumasa Hashimoto and Lullatone.
Kazumasa Hashimoto, who encountered music at a young age and majored in composition at the Tokyo College of Music, creates pieces rich in imagery with a combination of acoustic instruments and electronic sounds. In addition to his contribution to the upcoming Childish Music he has two individual albums, Yupi and Epitaph.
Lullatone is the stage name of Shawn James Seymour. Seymour, who grew up in Kentucky but now lives in Nagoya, Japan. He likes to compose lullabies and play on toy instruments. His latest album is Little Songs About Raindrops.
The other two artists are Sora ("sky" in Japanese, the pseudonym of Kyoto's Takeshi Kurosawa) and Mondii. Another childhood musician, Sora was later influenced by the "intelligent techno" scene in the UK. His debut album, Re.sort was noted for its transformation of electronic glitches into sounds of nature, such as birds singing, insects humming and gentle waves hitting the shore.
Mondii (Nao Sugimoto) studied ethnic music in college. Once a sound designer for TV commercials, he is a "sculptor of clicks and beeps." Nao runs the Plop label and his own label Spekk.
A mini free-admission version of tomorrow's concert will be held tonight at 7:30pm at the I Prefer Concept Shop, 61, Lane 161, Dunhua S Rd, Sec 1, Taipei.
Performance notes:
What: Childish Music Concert (with artists Kazumasa Hashimoto, Lullatone, Sora and Mondii)
Where: Corridor Cafe in the NTU Sports Center (at the corner of Xinhai Rd and Xinsheng S Rd) (
When: Tomorrow at 7:30pm
Tickets: NT$600 (includes one drink) at the door
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