Captain Funk

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Tatsuya Oe (大江達也 Ōe Tatsuya) is a Japanese electronic music producer, club DJ and label impresario, known for a flair in alternating between some abstract experimentation and more pop-oriented sounds.

Career

Tatsuya Oe started full-fledged music composition in 1996. Soon after that, he released his debut 12 inches from Italian techno label called ACV. With “Encounter with…” album (’98), Oe launched himself on the Tokyo club scene in 1998 under the alias of Captain Funk, and has since played at most of Japan's major clubs and music festivals, like the Fuji Rock Festival, as well as overseas including UK, France, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong.

The origins of Oe's production moniker were remarkably simple. "I used to like Captain America," he told Simon Bartz, of The Japan Times, in 1999. "And, in Japan, also Captain Ultra and Captain Tsubasa - who is a soccer hero in manga comics. I liked their characters, and wanted to characterize myself. I make techno and dance music, but my roots are in funk. There's different genres of funk. Prince has Prince's funk. George Clinton has George's funk. My funk is my funk."[1]

"There're a swath of internationally recognizable (and respected) Japanese producers of electronica at the moment: think people like Ken Ishii, Fumiya Tanaka, Takkyū Ishino, Hideaki Ishi (a.k.a. DJ Krush), Tatsuya Kanamori (DJ Shufflemaster), Susumu Yokota, Tomoyuki Tanaka (Fantastic Plastic Machine), and Shuji Wada and Heigo Tani (Co-Fusion) - not to mention one Tatsuya Oe, better known as Captain Funk or just plain OE," wrote journalist Andrez Bergen in the Daily Yomiuri newspaper in 2006.

"Captain Funk made his very substantial mark in the latter half of the 1990s - with releases like Bustin' Loose on Sublime Records subsidiary Reel Musiq - as a leftfield big beat artist sandwiched somewhere between Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) and Si Begg (Buckfunk 3000), and he's spent the past eight years constantly reinventing himself."[2]

Big Beat legacy

One of Oe's resounding early comparisons was his link with the big beat sounds of Norman Cook and his ilk in the latter half of the 1990s.

"It may be a facile and vaguely condescending comparison, but calling Captain Funk the Japanese Fatboy Slim isn't too far off the mark," suggested journalist Steve McClure for Japan music website Nippop.[3]

"I'm here to make people happy. I'm here to make them dance. That's all I desire. I love parties and I make party music. It's as simple as that," Oe told Bartz back in 1999.[4]

Bartz further reported the Norman Cook connection - referring to Captain Funk's 1998 record Bustin' Loose.

"Lord of Big Beat, Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim), sent this fax to Captain Funk's home at Sublime Records after hearing the EP: 'What a fucking insane record. I love it. Can I have two more copies...?'"

A track called "Twist & Shout" in "Bustin' Loose" was featured as a main theme of Japanese film director SABU's "Monday" which won　the International Film Critics Association Award in Berlin International Film Festival (2001).

In 2000, Oe released his second album "Songs of the Siren", on which he worked with vocalist Raj Ramayya, and brought the singer's attention to Yoko Kanno, who subsequently used Ramayya on the soundtrack for the anime series Wolf's Rain.

"Her label actually tracked me down after they heard that CD," Ramayya told website Rakuen's Requiem in 2004.[5]

On the strength of Songs of the Siren and his earlier work, Oe performed that year "in mid-July, at the Future Music Festival, Japan's first showcase for electronic-based music," reported Daily Yomiuri newspaper writers Steve Matthews and Sayaka Yakushiji later in 2000.

At the time, Oe told those journalists that "The production of electronic music does involve trial and error, but I use computerized equipment because I can't play guitar."[6]　Nevertheless, as of the following album Here and You, Oe actually plays several instruments such as guitar, bass and keyboards. In most of recordings, Oe finishes all steps of the production process including programming, recording, mixing and mastering　all by himself.[7]

Experimental music

With "Here and You" (2002), "Oe assembled a pop album fused with sneaky electronica that a more subversive label like Warp Records or Mille Plateaux might've been quite chuffed to release," Rave Magazine reported five years later, and with that release Oe changed course to start another solo project, simply known as OE, in which he pursued more innovative musical terrains.

"Captain Funk is my main solo project, and OE is kind of my alter ego; an experimental or more personal side," he explained to Rave in that same article.[8]

After collaborating with Yoshihide Otomo on the experimental album ONJQ + OE (2003), he promptly released two more long-players: Physical Fiction (as Tatsuya Oe) and Director's Cut (as OE).

The following year he collaborated with Yoshihide Otomo's New Jazz Quintet to produce the improvisation piece ONJQ + OE (2003), and in 2004 he released Director's Cut (as just plain OE), mixing and matching old skool vocoder riffs with some innovative studio tinkering.

Current

After touring Japan in 2005 and 2006 with Space Cowboy, as Captain Funk, Oe launched his own company, Model Electronic Inc., which he manages. The company focuses on music production, sound design and label/publishing management to provide cutting edge music internationally and in one-stop, not only to general listeners but also to advertising, films, TV and video game industries.

In 2007 Oe released two new Captain Funk albums, titled "HEAVY METAL" and "HEAVY MELLOW", through Model Electronic. In these albums Oe found a way of fusing together the early Captain Funk’s uplifting vibes and his songwriting skills acquired through OE era.

In 2008 his company Model Electronic Inc launched a new online shop called "Club Model Electronic". “It's a membership based company/label's "direct shop" to deliver our sounds & exclusive info to listeners, especially in the areas where our products have been hardly purchasable.”[9]

While continuing collaboration and remix work for other artists such as Dune, Radiopilot and Ami Suzuki, he released Captain Funk's album "SUNSHINE" (in Japan, August 2009. Worldwide, October 2010), which includes "Weekend (kissing, touching, tasting, loving)" feat. Adnan Kurtov and "Piece of you" feat. Meri Neeser.

In November 2010, "Piece of you" was used and featured by Forever 21 TV for their promotion video, which was aired in movie theaters as well as in Forever 21’s 400+ stores in the United States.[10]

Remix/Collaboration

While Oe has released several successful original albums, he has remixed and collaborated with more than 200 musicians, including James Brown, Chic, Serge Gainsbourg, The Supremes, Ron Sexsmith, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Puffy, Anna Tsuchiya, Ken Ishii, Denki Groove, and Tommy February 6. J-Pop World website (the United States) called him "Remix Wizard".[11]

Music Production for Corporate Branding

Oe has produced a large amount of music and sound design for advertising and corporate branding films such as Sony Ericsson, Shiseido, Uniqlo, Canon, Mitsubishi Motors, Konami, Sega, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa etc. Panasonic Viera’s global branding website "Experience Color",[12] in which Oe was responsible for composition and sound design, won "The Finalist Award 2007" in New York Festivals as well as the "Silver Prize" in Tokyo Interactive Ad Awards 2007.

References

  1. ↑ Fuzzy Logic, Simon Bartz. The Japan Times, May 18, 1999
  2. ↑ Bucking the Funk, Andrez Bergen. Daily Yomiuri, January, 2006
  3. ↑ Captain Funk, Steve McClure. Nippop, 2003
  4. ↑ Fuzzy Logic, Simon Bartz. The Japan Times, May 18, 1999
  5. ↑ Raj Interview. Rakuen's Requiem, 2004
  6. ↑ Electronic Music Renaissance, Steve Matthews and Sayaka Yakushiji. Daily Yomiuri, September 2000
  7. ↑ Captain Funk Interview. MusicMaster.jp, 2009
  8. ↑ The Good Captain, Andrez Bergen. Rave Magazine, July 1, 2007
  9. ↑ J-Pop World interview, November 20, 2008
  10. ↑ Tatsuya Oe official website, November 20, 2010
  11. ↑ J-Pop World interview, November 20, 2008
  12. ↑ Panasonic "Experience Color", 2006

External links

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