Album Review: Shugo Tokumaru - Exit

Tokumaru, a 28 year old Tokyo native, has put together one of the best pop-electronic albums of the year, an album that is both impressive in sound and sheer musical talent; Shugo used over 50 instruments while recording this in his bedroom. There is some distinguishable eastern influence (most words are in his native Japanese) but this sounds like it could have been recorded in a bedroom in Sweden or Portland just the same. The best comparison I can come up with be if Sufjan Stevens fronted the Shins and wanted to experiment with some lo-fi electronic sounds. Since that probably doesn't help much, I recommend you check this record out. Like Sue Jorge or Malajube, the beauty of the music isn't in understanding the lyrics, so the language barrier is not one at all. If anything, it takes the whole "meaning" idea out of the question and justs adds the vocals as another instrument. Unless of course, you speak Japanese, then by all means, enjoy whatever it is he has to say. Highlights for me are La La Radio, which erupts into the biggest song on the album midway through, and Green Rain, where you can just picture his bedroom walls lined with instruments everywhere, most getting some use here. Also worth checking out are the videos for some of the songs, easily found on (take a guess) the youtube. This is his third full length, but first to get wide release in the States, so if you really dig this, it will take some actual digging to get a hold of his older stuff.