During the past few years, Takkyu Ishino has earned huge recognition worldwide both as a DJ and as a credible solo artist.

Born on December 26, 1967 in Shizuoka, Japan, Takkyu Ishino began his musical career by forming a band named Zinsei (meaning "one's life") together with his then high school mate, Pierre Taki. In 1990, following the break up of Zinsei, he formed Denki Groove which later became the most successful techno act in Japan.

As "Japanese DJ Takkyu Ishino", he has been active throughout Europe centering in Germany for the last few years. He has slowly made his way up in the European underground club scene that tends to be pretty hard on outsiders.

As a solo artist, he is well known for his minimal cutting-edge sound. He put out his first solo album titled DOVE LOVES DUB in 1995. The artwork was designed by Katsuhiro Otomo, the producer of the world-prestigious Manga AKIRA, which of course attracted plenty of attention when the album first came out in Japan. Their relationship continued with Takkyu producing the theme track "In Yer Memories" for the next Otomo film called Memories.

In 1998, Takkyu decided to use a name to represent his series of side projects and launched LOOPA. LOOPA is where Takkyu concentrates on putting out very minimal underground techno tracks that are quite different from the music of Denki Groove. The label kicked off with the release of Takkyu's 2nd solo album Berlin Trax, and has since put out 8 titles in Japan in less than a year.

While pursuing his DJ and solo career, Takkyu has also earned great respect as the man behind the popular DJ Mix-Up album series and the Ghost In The Shell compilation. His most recent DJ mix album DJ F 400 was released in Europe in 1999.

As for his band, Denki Groove, after earning huge success in 1997 with their million seller hit single "Shangri-La" and the album A which sold over 350,000 copies in Japan, they performed in Europe for the first time in 1998 in Germany at the Mayday party, where they put on afantastic performance and captured the hearts of their German audiences.


SOLO DISCOGRAPHY
Releases on exceptional

Anna 12" single

Throbbing Disco Cat CD and LP

Feeling 12" single

Other releases

Loopa

Montag EP

Dove Lubs Dub

Berlin Trax

Asunaro Sunshine

Galactik Pizza Delivery Vol.1

New Wave EP - Galactik Pizza Delivery Vol 2 as Takbam (Takkyu Ishino and WestBam)

Elektronische Tanzmusik as Takbam

International DJ Syndicate Mix1

DJ F400 DJ Fumitoshi - mixed by Takkyu Ishino


DENKI GROOVE

Takkyu Ishino formed "Denki Groove" with Pierre Taki in 1990. The album "662 BPM by DG" was released by SSE in June of that year. This was followed by a collaboration with TM Network which resulted in the single "Rhythm Red Beat Black" released in February 1991.

On 10 April 1991 the band released their debut album "FLASH PAPA" recorded in Manchester, England, on the Sony Trefort label. They became the best selling new artist of 1991 on Sony Records Japan. Also in 91, they began playing live starting at an observatory of the Tokyo Tower followed by more live shows including Shibuya Quattro which sold out on the same day that the tickets went on sale.

Yoshinori Sunahara joined in August, whilst the live shows continuedwith the tickets for the 3-days live concerts at Shinjuku Power Station also selling out on the same day that they went on sale, demonstrating just how popular they had become.

They released the single "MUD EBIS" in October 1991 followed by their 2nd album "UFO" in November which had more techno flavors and a wider variety of sounds compared to the previous album. In November, they performed at many universities, and had a big success in their first nationwide tour "Bucchigiri TECHNO GROOVE TOUR '91" the core of which was the concert at Shibuya Kokaidou which needless to say was also a complete sell out.

The 3rd album "KARATEKA" was released on 21 October 1992 and the concert at Budohkan immediately after the album release was a huge success. "FLASH PAPA MENTHOL" a remix album containing 10 full length mixes of their debut album tracks released on 21 May 1993 debuted at No.1 in the charts of the Original Confidence magazine.

The fifth album "VITAMIN" was a turning point for Denki Groove with a stronger emphasis on the techno side of things. The album entered at No 5 on national chart, selling 200,000 units, followed by the 500,000 unit mega-hit single "N.O." from the album, which included the Ken Ishii remix version.

The next (mini) album "Drill King Anthology" came out in 1994 and was an imaginary compilation of supposedly famous artists (in reality being the members of Denki Groove in disguise). The 12 inch single released in January 1995 included the Hardfloor mix of their track "Zinsei" which ranked at #2 in the techno charts in Generator magazine in the UK regardless of the fact that the re cord has actually not been released there.

"DRAGON" was released on 1 December 1994 sold more than 250,000 copies in Japan. They appeared on the front covers of more than 20 major magazines Tickets for their nationwide tour of Japan including 10,000 capacity venues were sold out immediately.

"ORANGE" is Denki Groove's 7th album, which was made after each members tried out their own solo projects. Lyrically, the album is a contrast to the stoic abstract world shown in their previous work, and reminds us of the bands much earlier works full of crazy nonsense. Musically, both Takkyu Ishino and Yoshinori Sunahara has proven that they have developed their musical talents through their respective solo projects, and contributes on the high quality album. The album marks an epoc in the Japanese music scene allowing techno music to crossover to the pop audience.

A: With the success of the lead single "Shangri-La", the "A" album went to become the biggest selling album by Denki Groove. "Shangri-La" sold more than 500,000 copies. Although the album is structured with each song mixed and linked together, it succeeds presenting a diverse musical world by unifying the talents of Takkyu Ishino, Pierre Taki and Yoshinonri Sunahara. The album is said to be one of the best dance music album in Japan up to date. After the success of this album, Denki Grove went on to explore the international market.

"Recycled A" is a remix album of A. All the tracks on A is remixed by various artists both Japanese and international. The members each picked the remixers for the tracks they made. The album features a line up of great remix work, and at the same time brings out another side of the talented trio. A double CD package of "A" and "Recycled A" was released only in Europe.

Tracks by Takkyu Ishino available on the exceptional Jukebox:

Anna

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Titles available on exceptional by Takkyu Ishino:

Anna - 12"
Throbbing Disco Cat - LP
Throbbing Disco Cat - CD
Suck Me Disco - 12"
Suck Me Disco - CD Single
Feeling - 12"

Takkyu Ishino Press Cuttings:

MUZIK Magazine
DJ Review
DJ Magazine
7 Magazine
DJ Review
Melody Maker