Because I spend so much time worshipping my bust of Chuck Norris and throwing darts at Iraq on my world map while blasting “America, Fuck Yeah” and eating a Big Mac, I sometimes forget how great a lot music outside of the states can be.
But I only needed to go as far as Japan (or MySpace, but I was scared of Mothra versus Godzilla battles, y’know?) to find Shugo Tokumaru, a prolific songwriter who writes ridiculously catchy acoustic pop tunes. Tokumaru combines his guitar with a massive assortment of music boxes, noisemakers and other gizmos to create a fun, almost childlike atmosphere on his tracks. And then there’s his breezy voice, which, coupled with the fact that he’s often singing in his native language, adds a cool dreaminess to the music. Even with unfortunate bits of twee here and there, the songs are still very much enjoyable.
He recently released a pretty great EP entitled Rum Hee, which you’re welcome to buy over here. It even comes with a bonus DVD! For now, though, some MP3s are below. If you don’t take a listen, I’ll groan at you angrily while eating nachos off my chest. Or maybe something even scarier. Seriously. I’ll do it.
Shugo Tokumaru - “Rum Hee” [MP3] (from Rum Hee)
Shugo Tokumaru - “Alaska” [MP3] (from Rum Hee)
Shugo Tokumaru - “Parachute” [MP3] (from Exit)
Check out Shugo Tokumaru on MySpace
