HELLO (SNZ022) by TOKYOLITE

"The debut EP from the kids from middle of nowhere, Tokyolite is finally released! Mellow, funky, distorted and quirky, is the best 4 words to describe this EP. Contains 5 catchy home made tracks, this EP is truly for those who seeks a good earfood. Inspired by old mo-town grooves, blended by modern pop hooks and add some crunchy mellow riffs, or anything you might add. Check their music, and you'll know how this trio gather attention from Indonesian indie music junkies.
辺鄙な場所に住むキッズたち、TokyoliteのデビューEPがとうとうリリース！
メロウ、ファンキー、歪み、風変わり・・・がこのEPを言い現すのには最良の4単語。5つのキャッチーなホームメイドの楽曲を含むこのEPを、素敵な音楽を探している人たちに。古いモータウンのグルーブにインスパイアされて、モダン・ポップのフックを混ぜ合わせ、ザックザクでメロウなリフに、君が加えたいあらゆる要素を携えて。彼らの音楽を聴けば、どれだけこのトリオがインドネシアのインディー・ミュージック・ジャンキーたちから注目されているかわかってもらえるだろう 。
Bilingual Japanese by Toshihiko Furukawa
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"Melodies and harmonies, movies and images, funny things and everybody we met are our influences" says band manager Marteen Lu. "There is just this urge, this need to create and it takes on different shapes. Sometimes it's rough and loud and sometimes it's very quiet.
We consider ourselves to be more and more of a painter of sound. It always starts out with something easy and timid, like a simple brush stroke. Depending on the mood, we change the color and intensity of our next stroke and suddenly the whole impression of what that piece was drastically changes. We compose with layers and depth, and it's often the slightest thing that makes the whole song turn into a new direction, we didn't see coming ourselves, usually. That is part of the journey, at least for the way we write music. We never know what we will end up with, and it's usually very different from what we started out with. Sometimes we tell people that this album consists of our dreams...only we weren't waiting and then they came to us, we just did our best to get them down on the tape."
Marteen continues, "At the beginning, we really had nothing except for a vision of something vast, heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. We didn't think in terms of music, but in terms of other things that inspired us, things that painted a picture in our head that we could see so clearly. This was in the Fall of 2011. Without any education in sound engineering or music production, we spent countless days and nights learning how to get the sounds that we could hear in our head to come out through the speakers. We did this by trial and error, reading endless forums about music production, watching tutorials and experimenting. By doing this we learned the capabilities and limitations of the studio and the gear that we could use, as well as our own as a producer. In order to achieve the sound that we had in mind, we had to pick up all these different instruments and learn how to play them. If somebody had told us one year ago that we would record an entire EP by ourselves, we wouldn't have believed them.
We are very proud of it and we can't believe it's done. This EP was about gathering the courage to launch an endeavor that was purely on our own. It was a reawakening, a rebirth, a resurrection of sorts, and a passageway into a dreamlike world that we created by ourselves...a world to get lost in...a world that gives us hope."
"Tokyolite's sound is so good. All songs is very sophisticated and sweet sound in ear, surrounded by noised guitar and vocal. This song come up with adult night, and was beat my heart. Comes with my full recommendation."
"こっちはディスコ・ファンクっぽい骨っぽさがあってかなり好み。" sabadragon.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-271.html - Sabadragon, #bandcamp_d
“Music is developing through many country’s music lover. And Tokyolite have possible to become the one of important band to advance the next stage with emotive music. Tokyolite is rock band. And they were influenced many music, not only western country’s musicians but also asian musicians. Their performance is skillful and polish. And their songs recall landscape in urban night. I’m so feel good if I listen their music with driving in Jakarta’s night. They are still follower of their favorite bands. But someday they will get their originality, and they make their followers in many countries." - Hayashi Kenji, JAPAN4YOU
"肝心の音のほうは、ファンクネスを前面に押しだしたグルーヴが特徴的で、音の隙間やタメを重視しているが、こうした姿勢からは、R&Bやヒップホップの要素が窺える。この点は、シューゲイザーの影響化にあるサウンドを鳴らしがちな日本のインディー・バンドとは一線を画していると思う。そして、見た目とはかけ離れた（と言っては失礼だけど）、色気を漂わせるヴォーカルも魅力のひとつ。少し掠れた憂いのある歌声はバンドのサウンドとも相性がよく、聴き手を惹きつける存在感もある。初聴したときは、一瞬ブレッド・アンド・バターを想起してしまったが、バンドのフェイスブックには、U2やフー・ファイターズと並んで、椿屋四重奏、ザ・バンド・アパートの名前が「影響を受けたもの」で挙がっている。なるほど、これはまだまだ引きだしがありそうですね。今後の活動が楽しみ。" cookiescene.jp/2013/02/tokyolitehelloself-released.php - Masaya Kondo, COOKIESCENE JAPAN
Never Want MV is out! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho1p5Ekjk60
Copyright © 2013 Thelite Records
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since 2011 SENZU has provided a showcasing outlet for artists from 15 countries and counting. in 2014 SENZU began the INFINITE LIGHTS series; a internationally supported grassroots relief fundraiser. VOL.1 LEYLA (with support from A.K.I.N.) raised funds and awareness for the kurdish refugees displaced in iraq,syria,turkey, and iran.