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Shugo Tokumaru (トクマルシューゴ, Tokumaru Shūgo; born May 29, 1980) is a Japanese singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who debuted in May 2004 in America with his album Night Piece. He creates every aspect of his music, including the lyrics, music, arrangements, recording and mixing. He is known for the variety of instruments he uses in his music, using over 100 different traditional and non-traditional instruments in his recordings. Tokumaru is also a member of the Japanese rock band Gellers. Tokumaru's 2010 album Port Entropy was his most commercially successful album in Japan, breaking into the top 40.
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Reviews
I thought I was going to dislike this because I thought it was going to be jazz, but it was really quite jolly. I’d rather be surprised it isn’t jazz than ambushed by a stealth jazz.
Eclectic, if nothing else
Feels like a long lost Japanes video game. Thank you for sharing this one 4
This is nice, very light and breezy. 4 stars.
Best Song: Katachi. This had an explosive, immersive sound that wasn't as strongly present in the rest of the album. Worst Song: Tightrope. My hatred of ballads transcends language and genre. Overall: Fun and creative. I'm glad that this was submitted as an album, even if it wasn't my favourite. This overall tone was a bit too light for me, but the brightness managed to be infectious enough to win me over more often than not. One album for which I really wish I could give a rating of 3.5 stars.
This one has been in my collection for 10 years. Are you Josh, by the way?? Original review: Tokumaru Shugo is like an overjoyed kindergarten teacher, except instead of a kindergarten, it's his studio. And we're all his students. Some of us will learn great things from this music, and others who already know the joy of life will just take this time to dance and play.
Whimsical, yet displaying enormous talent. Fantastic production. I have no clue what he's singing about, given I know practically zero Japanese, but his voice is nice enough to be an instrument in the mix, so I legit don't care. This is exactly the sort of thing that needs to be in the list.
Chillin like a villain
Made me smile, playful, silly in places but with some interesting tangents
I liked this a lot. Eclectic and clearly heartfelt despite the language barrier. While a lot of influences are on display it is a unique sound.