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Kensuke Ushio

Japanese composer Kensuke Ushio has a reputation for creating cutting-edge electronic music that incorporates both traditional and avant-garde elements. Debuting his electronic solo project Agraph in 2008, he became a member of supergroup Lama and later gained his greatest fame as a composer of anime music, notably the popular series Chainsaw Man. Born in Tokyo in 1983, Ushio grew up in a music school and learned to play the piano as a young child. He played keyboards in a covers band in high school before discovering techno and deciding to become a recording artist himself. He studied arts and music at university, where he qualified as a recording engineer specializing in the audio software ProTools. At a club night hosted by Takkyu Ishino from seminal techno-pop duo Denki Groove, Ushio approached him to ask for advice on how to break into the industry. Discovering he was a ProTools engineer, Ishino hired him on the spot to work on his next album, 2004's Title #1. For the next four years, Ushio worked as Ishino's assistant and engineer, all the while working on his own music. Scrapping his initial forays into electro-disco after they were poorly received, he instead focused on a more personal, emotive, chilled-out, downtempo style. Ushio debuted his solo project Agraph in 2008 with the album A Day, Phases, produced by Ishino and released on Sony subsidiary Ki/oon. It was well-received and a second album in a similar vein, Equal, followed in 2010; it featured a remix by Ushio's longtime hero Alva Noto. That year Agraph supported Underworld when they played in Tokyo. Ushio was then invited by former Supercar members Koji Nakamura and Miki Furukawa to join their new electro-pop supergroup, Lama. He provided rhythm programming for the band, appearing on both their albums, 2011's Now and 2012's Modanica; after Lama disbanded, he returned to solo composition. A massive anime otaku, he broke into anime composing in 2014 with the scores for the TV series Space Dandy and Ping Pong, but had his big break when auteur director Naoko Yamada tapped him to score her films A Silent Voice (2016) and Liz and the Blue Bird (2018). His scores for these films brought him acclaim, and more work. He went on to score the series Devilman Crybaby, Japan Sinks 2020, The Heike Story, Chainsaw Man, and The Dangers in My Heart. Throughout his career, Ushio continually demonstrated his musical versatility. He was able to switch from gentle, impressionistic, post-classical- and avant-garde-influenced work for quiet coming-of-age stories to incorporating traditional Japanese folk influences for historical drama, and churning EBM and techno for more outré fare. Despite being busy with score work, Ushio continued to work sporadically on Agraph material. A more experimental third album, The Shader, appeared in 2016 on indie label Beat Records, and in 2022, Ushio signed the project to Pony Canyon, releasing the single "Unified Perspective."
© John D. Buchanan /TiVo
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Discography

12 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller

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