For indie rocker Kaoru Ishibashi, who tours and records as Kishi Bashi, the music for a new album always comes to him first. After he has some idea of what the record will sound like, he begins to think about what themes he’ll explore in the lyrics. His latest effort, Kantos, followed that same trajectory; it comes off as one of his more conceptually complex albums.
“I was trying to figure out how to write the lyrics, and when I start thinking about lyrics, that’s when I start thinking conceptually,” he says via phone from his Santa Cruz, CA home. Kishi Bashi performs with Sweet Loretta at 8 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 14, at the Beachland Ballroom.
The album was inspired by the cult-classic sci-fi novel series Hyperion Cantos, the writings of 18th century enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant and a trip Ishibashi took to the island of Crete.
A philosopher who also loves sci-fi, Ishibashi’s wife introduced him to Hyperion Cantos.
“[Hyperion Cantos] is a cult classic novel, and it’s about the far future when humanity and AI have separated from earth,” he says. “They’re living separate lives, but they’re intertwined in the galaxy. There’s time travel too. I don’t know how to summarize it in a way that’s compelling, but AI taking over is something that sci-fi writers have talked about for a long time. It’s the kind of thing we fear, but it’s an inevitable future for us. I want to celebrate the fact that we can be excited about our inevitable future but warn that looking too far into the future and forgetting about our present can be dangerous. There are still people in need who could benefit from being present. That makes it challenging.”
The album’s latest single, “Make Believe,” features rapper/activist Linqua Franqa. With its mix of rapping and fluttering synths that give way to a beefy bass riff, the song evokes proto-funk-rap from the early ’80s.
“I always liked rap and hip-hop,” says Ishibashi. “I started with a groove. I was trying to sing on it, and the singing wasn’t compelling enough. I started rapping over it. I had my friend [Linqua Franca] on it, and there it is.”
Mixed by Tucan (Hot Chip, Jungle, Aluna) and recorded at Chase Park Transduction in Athens, GA with long-time collaborator, engineer Drew Vandenberg (Faye Webster of Montreal, Toro y Moi) and British musicians, Kantos also features additional guests such as singer Zorina Andall and saxophonist Augie Bello.
“[Chase Park] is like my second home,” Ishibashi says of the recording experience. “Drew is a long-time collaborator and a great engineer. The guys in the band are in my live touring band. I met them in Europe at festivals. They’re great. It was the sound I wanted. I flew them over from the UK to record the album."
The album draws from Brazilian funk and Japanese pop, delivering a genre-hopping mix of music.
“It is kind of all over the place, but as a solo artist, aren’t I allowed to do that and be more eclectic than I could if I were a band?” says Ishibashi. “That’s my luxury. I can do whatever I want. I always loved funk and music from the ’60s and ’70s. Brazilian funk has always been influential. I wanted the album to be super groovy. I created music that was in that vein. I am nostalgic toward that. I like to give a nod to the music of the past that I love. I like to talk about it, and I know music writers love to talk about it too."
The song “Chiba Funk” has a great energy, pairing upper-register vocals with a funky rhythm section.
“One of the sounds that I realized my album was gravitating toward was city pop, a Japanese funk sound from the ’80s,” says Ishibashi. “It’s a genre that I wanted to experiment with. I also wanted to sing in Japanese, and I wanted to experiment with a new singing style that’s more throaty. I was just trying things out and put slap bass on it. It seemed appropriate.”
Ishibashi says he and his band embrace the album’s uptempo energy during the live performances.
“The live show is awesome,” he says. “The British guys [who played on the album] are here. They’re young and exciting. [Indie rocker] Mike [Savino] from Tall Trees is there. It’s been quite a blast, and it’s a good mixture of old and new tunes.”
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