Tag Archive: tokyo black star

Tokyo Black Star, Bit Commander EP

This is one of those releases where the packaging tells you everything. These guys aren’t called Tokyo Black Star for nothing; leader Alex From Tokyo — get this — is from Tokyo. Collaborator Isao Kumano is a Japanese producer and studio engineer relatively unknown in the English-speaking world, and whose internet presence is somewhat overshadowed by a character of the same name in anime series Red Baron. Apparently, the duo was christened Tokyo Black Star by Kerri Chandler, and their earlier work (including “Psyche Dance,” the first Innervisions release) fittingly bore the influence of American house. With “Bit Commander,” however, the clear reference point is Yellow Magic Orchestra — the only Japanese group ever to appear on Soul Train. The shimmering minor-key melody of “Sepiaphone” aims for the charming simplicity of YMO’s greatest tracks, given grit by nearly bluesy chunks of guitar-like vamping buried in an old-school electro groove.