Shingo Suzuki

I came across Shingo Suzuki, like many others, through the Japanese iTunes Store that I’ve recently come to use quite a lot. It’s a great way of discovering new music, the top Japanese music is easily available and Genius gives you great recommendations. I try to keep my library varied and I’ve been in need of some good jazzy Japanese hip-hop for a while and I have a few others that I will be writing about later on.

Shingo Suzuki is a Japanese bassist and producer whose quality tracks are made with his unique beat making style. Sampling his own instrumental playing cought attention of artists such as Moka Only (Canada). Blu (USA), 20syl of Hocus Pocus (France) and DJ Greem of Hocus Pocus. With the appearances of these internationally known names, Shingo’s first album ”The ABSTRACT TRUTH” became a hit not only in Japan but also the European scene. The album hit the top 10 in Japanese stores, in Portugal and France as well as on the hip-hop album chart of the iTunes Music Store. Yahoo! and MySpace Japan critique that “The ABSTRACT TRUTH” is the biggest surprise in the Japanese music scene of the year 2008. Also, Shingo is the leader of Ovall, a spiritual jazz/hip-hop band based in Tokyo.  The band approaches hip-hop with a fusion of live instrumentals and sampling that takes listeners to the world of “Absolute Mixture Music” as Shingo Suzuki calls the style.

I haven’t bought any of his albums actually, on the iTunes Store I usually just pick my favorite songs and one of them is Night Lights with thirdiq from his album “The ABSTRACT TRUTH”.

Also bought “Inside Your Love”.

So if you’re looking for some great jazzy hip-hop beats, Shingo is the guy you’re looking for.

Listen to “The ABSTRACT TRUTH” on iTunes, the album is 1800 yen if you want it.

And if you’re looking for someone to discuss this kind of music with, besides me, I recommend following @OTAKUPHONE, he knows everything about this stuff ;)