Zongamin

Susumu Mukai[1] (born c.1974, Osaka, Japan),[2] better known as Zongamin, is a UK-based Japanese-born musician and producer.

Zongamin (2nd from left) in Vanishing Twin, Glastonbury Festival, 2019

Biography

Mukai was born in Japan and moved to East Anglia at the age of eleven.[3] He attended Summerhill School where he started playing bass guitar and other instruments.[3] He went on to study at the Royal College of Art, and was signed to Mike Silver's Flesh Records label.[3]

Mukai explained his stage name: "When I started this imaginary band I wanted to name it with a new word."[3]

Zongamin live band was formed in 2000. Past and current members : Nathalie Fowler. Mao Yamada. Leon Harris. Leo Taylor. Will Sweeney. Robert Green.

His self-titled debut album was released in 2003 by XL Recordings, and met with a positive critical response; Allmusic gave it a three-star rating, commenting on the "wealth of ideas" and an "endearing 'anything goes' playfulness" on the album.[4] Pitchfork Media gave it 7.3/10,[5] Gigwise.com also gave the album an enthusiastic review, calling it "a lo-tech electro-fuzz monster".[6]

He has also acted as a remixer for Air,[7] Playgroup, Grafiti, John Cale, Mickey Moonlight, Headman, Sandro Perri, Alexis Taylor and Seelenluft.[8]

Since 2015, he has been a member of Vanishing Twin.[9][10]

Mukai is currently also a member of Becker & Mukai, Off World, Stalactite and School Of Hypnosis.


Musical style

His music has been described as "incorporating left-field disco, funk, hip-hop, and house, along with good old sloppy garage rock and spaghetti Western soundtracks",[4] and "post punk, somewhat cheesy funkdom interspersed with droning catchy dance hooks".[2] Gigwise.com described his debut album as "a schizophrenic shot of spaghetti western mayhem, angular foot-stamping menace, and made-in-the-kitchen-sink funk".[6]

Discography

Albums
  • Zongamin (Vinyl LP; 12" album; 33 rpm). XL Recordings. 2003. ASIN B000088EGG.
  • Flesh Tapes (Audio CD; imported; total 11 tracks). Flesh Records. 2004. ASIN B0002MOLL0.
  • Zongamin (Audio CD; imported; total 12 tracks). Flesh Records. 2007-08-28. ASIN B000088EGH.
  • "O!" (Vinyl EP; 12"; total 4 tracks). Multi Culti. 2018.

Singles
  • "Serious Trouble" (2000), Flesh
  • "Tunnel Music" (2001), Flesh
  • "Spiral" (2002), XL
  • "Serious Trouble" (2003), XL
  • "Hotel 17" (2004), Kitsuné
  • "Bongo Song" (2005), Ed Banger

References
  1. ""FOMA ga omoshiroi kotoni nattekita"no Sony Ericsson「SO902i」no CM-kyoku wa？" [What is the Sony Ericsson "SO902i" CF song for "Things are getting exciting with FOMA"?]. CD Journal (in Japanese). ONGAKU SHUPPANSHA Co.,Ltd. 2006-03-24. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  2. Colley, Claire (2003) "Zongamin Zongamin Archived June 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine", musicOMH, retrieved 2010-06-25
  3. Walton, Matt (2003) "Zongamin Archived November 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine", BBC, 28 March 2003, retrieved 2010-06-25
  4. Kellman, Andy "Zongamin Review", Allmusic, retrieved 2010-06-25
  5. Bryant, Andrew (2003) "Zongamin Zongamin", Pitchfork Media, 28 May 2003, retrieved 2010-06-25
  6. Bruzon, Tim (2003) "Zongamin 'Zongamin'", Gigwise.com, 24 September 2003, retrieved 2010-06-25
  7. "Air Remixed by Zongamin", aversion.com, 12 March 2004, retrieved 2010-06-25
  8. Kellman, Andy "Zongamin Biography", Allmusic, retrieved 2010-06-25
  9. https://www.m-magazine.co.uk/newmusic/featuredartist/featured-artist-vanishing-twin/
  10. https://thevinylfactory.com/news/vanishing-twin-age-of-immunology-album/
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