Towa Tei is a Japanese* house DJ and producer.
While he was an art student, he sent some tracks to the radio program of Ryuichi Sakamoto from YMO.
After that, Towa Tei went to America to study graphic design and eventually debuted as a member of Deee-Lite in 1990.
A song from their debut album "Groove is in the Heart" was No.4 on the Billboard chart in America.
Since 1994 he's worked solo in Japan.
Deee-Lite - Groove is in the Heart (1990)
Towa Tei - I Want To Relax, Please! (1994)
This video isn't original, but I posted it cus you can listen to other early and new works of him on Myspace. It's my favorite track from his first album Future Listening! :)
Towa Tei - 火星(Kasei=Mars) (2000)
I like his PVs too. They're always fantastic!
Btw, lately he collaborated with a glasses company and made super cool sunglasses.
I want them anyhow, but I have to wait for going back to Japan...
Other videos
Towa Tei featuring Kylie Minogue - GBI: German Bold Italic (1998)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzK_xB52NrE
Towa Tei featuring Kylie Minogue - Sometime Samurai (2005)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqC2hiBk8QQ
Geisha Girls - Kick & Loud (2005)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDWqjoPh9tw
Singers are Japanese popular comedian Downtown, which appear on many comedy programs and made a game show Silent Library(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGGDhuQbu4A). Ryuichi Sakamoto from YMO and Tei Towa were producers.
Links
Official website (partly Japanese) +
http://www.towatei.com/
Myspace +
http://www.myspace.com/towatei
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towa_Tei
*It's written in English and German Wikipedia that he has (had?) Korean nationality, but there is no description about nationality in his official profile and Japanese Wikipedia. Music is beyond nationality!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deee-Lite
Last.fm
http://www.last.fm/music/Towa+Tei
Discogs +
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Towa+Tei
what's up with the long finger?^^
返信削除unfortunately i always link Teitowa with
DJ Yoyo...however he's involved into so many
sidekicks..but there are some weirdo video clips
is it selfironic or a too sophisticated approach towards music?..cant decide...
The winner is DJ~Yoyo!
返信削除Don't think about it, but just feel it! >video clips
Ah, memories. "Groove Is In The Heart" is a stome cold classic, I remember watching that video clip a lot when I was still at school.
返信削除One has to admit that Towa Tei has style and skills, though I think I like his stuff up until 2000 most.
Oh, the song was really known then. I got to know it lately ^^
返信削除hmm, the newest album isn't my thing, but FLASH(2005) was also good... well, I bought his first album only..