Captain Funk | Profile It may be a facile and vaguely condescending comparison, but calling Captain Funk the Japanese Fat Boy Slim isn’t too far off the mark. Like the British DJ/producer, Captain Funk (real name: Tatsuya Oe) made his name by creating infectiously catchy, genre-busting big-beat dance tracks. Oe, who was born in 1969, started out as a guitarist before becoming a full-time producer/DJ on the Tokyo club scene. Like Ken Ishii, Oe’s first release was on an overseas label, in his case two 12-inch singles titled Dazzlin and Copa Feelin, which came out on Italy’s AVC label in 1997 under the name Tatsuya Oe. His first Japanese release was the 1998 album Encounter with ... Captain Funk, which was released by techno label Sublime Records. Again using his Captain Funk moniker, he made a big splash with his 1999 album Dancing in the Street, which got the attention of music fans outside the club scene with its relentless, pounding rock/funk rhythms and insanely over-the-top production. That led to appearances at the Fuji Rock Festival as well as several overseas events. In 2000 the Captain released another album in the same vein, Songs of the Siren, which featured guest artists such as Canadian singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith, Zoobombs vocalist Don Matsuo and singer/songwriter Raj Ramayya, who is one-half of Tokyo-based folk-rock duo the Beautiful Losers. Following the release of Songs of the Siren, Oe became the remixer of choice for many J-pop artists, including Denki Groove, Original Love, ram jam world, Puffy, Tomoyasu Hotei and Tommy february6, among others. Oe then changed musical direction by giving his Captain Funk persona a rest, releasing the album Here and You in 2002 under the name Tatsuya Oe. That album, and subsequent albums Physical Fiction (2003) and Director’s Cut (2004) saw Oe adopt a less-frenetic, introspective style than on his Captain Funk releases. |
