My friend Thom is a 1st year music tech student and is looking to start up his brand identity as Hexoshpere. He is a Japaneseophile who enjoys listening to abrasive electro chiptune music and I want to design him a set of promotional materials that reflect his personal aesthetic for an upcoming event thom has in March.
Thom draws musical inspiration from Porter Robinson and Anamanaguchi,
Porter Robinson, born in 1992, became a contemporary musician/artist who creates electronic house music for a growing audience in this genre. Realising his first EP in 2010 titled ‘say my name’ it is reminiscent of Skrillex and Deadmau5, today he has four albums, and two EPs to his name featuring many smaller artists. During 2011 his album spitfire crashed the servers upon release due to the high demand, being recognised as one of the greats, now able to tour America and Europe alongside them at large scale events. Across his creator we can see a shift in his work away from the house party D&B element and more towards a chill vibe for home listening.
His newest album Get Your Wish was released earlier this year with an interactive website (https://porterrobinson.com/) you’re able to draw on using the cursor, this seems like a fun way to interact with an audience as it gives them creative movement, allowing them to express their wishes.
Anamanaguchi is an eletro, chiptune band who use old gaming hardware like the Nerdtracker II program (an emulator with music capabilities) and combine it with live instruments to make this hyper melodic sound. formed in NewYork (2004), they released their first album Power Supply by 2006 on their own website and http://www.8bitpeoples.com/
they were also featured in Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs the world (2010) . and even performed on the jimmy fallon show in 2013.
In their earlier work there were a lot of references to video game culture – but now there’s more of a shift in society to be more culturally sensitive, as anamanaguchi retract from their japanese influences and ‘traditional’ chip tune. focusing on realising their own sound and caturer towards a more electro house audience.
“The general shift from Endless Fantasy to [USA] for me comes from a shift between a world shaped by TV to a world shaped by computers and the environments that come with those technologies,” – Peter Berkman (band member)
“In the process of making the album, the cultural landscape they inhabited changed.[ … the ] Discourse surrounding cultural appropriation prompted the band, long influenced by Japanese pop culture, to reflect upon their own work.” – Liz ohanesian
During my write up hours of study i will be listening to the artists named above to immerse myself in an inspirational mindset through auditory stimulation. You too can list at following the QR code.
Thom’s heritage is mixed, comprising half british and half indonian backgrounds, i might choose to draw on his cultural background for influence as this wouldn’t be stepping the line into cultural appropriation. However later talking to him about this, he says he doesn’t want to have Japanese text as he doesn’t feel he doesnt want it as part of his brand identity and i have chosen to respect that as an artist. though he does want me to build on ideas and relate to 90s’ – 00s’ Japaneses aesthetic
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/dance/8540161/anamanaguchi-usa-album-interview-2019 (accessed on 04/03/20) words by Liz Ohanesian
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/porter-robinson-mn0002614218/biography (accessed on 03/03/20 ) words by Aneet Nijjar
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/anamanaguchi-mn0002424483/biography (acessed on 03/03/20)words by Jon O’Brien
http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Nerd_Tracker_2 (acessed on 03/03/20)
https://porterrobinson.com/ (acessed on 03/03/20)
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