Cinq is the solo project of Nagano-born Masaaki Takemura. A post-pop collage of acoustic and electronic instrumentation at times accented with woozy vocals, Cinq shares sensibilities with labelmates
Gutevolk,
Tenniscoats, and Eisi along with a host of cutting-edge ambient musicians from Japan and the west. Takemura started playing the guitar when he was a junior high school student, later encountering and being influenced by jazz in high school. As a college student, his jazz combo performed at clubs in Kyoto where he was attending university at the prestigious Kyoto University, where he later received his doctorate. After being exposed to the possibilities presented by samplers and sequencers, Takemura shifted his focus from performing to composing and recording. He released his first album,
Sketch, under the Cinq moniker on the independent Noble Records, on April 25, 2002. A subtle affair,
Sketch was a beautifully composed record informed equally by post-rock, ambient, and classical music. With his second album as Cinq, the sublime
Day Off, Takemura continued in the same vein he mined with
Sketch. Featuring solo artist Kazumi Nikaido on vocals, dj klock on turntables and programming, Hiroshi Funato on wood bass, and Takashi Kashikura on drums, the record was well-received by various culture and club music magazines, defined by Takemura's simple yet sophisticated guitar lines layered onto a lush brocade of electronic and acoustic sounds. In...
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Cinq is the solo project of Nagano-born Masaaki Takemura. A post-pop collage of acoustic and electronic instrumentation at times accented with woozy vocals, Cinq shares sensibilities with labelmates
Gutevolk,
Tenniscoats, and Eisi along with a host of cutting-edge ambient musicians from Japan and the west. Takemura started playing the guitar when he was a junior high school student, later encountering and being influenced by jazz in high school. As a college student, his jazz combo performed at clubs in Kyoto where he was attending university at the prestigious Kyoto University, where he later received his doctorate. After being exposed to the possibilities presented by samplers and sequencers, Takemura shifted his focus from performing to composing and recording. He released his first album,
Sketch, under the Cinq moniker on the independent Noble Records, on April 25, 2002. A subtle affair,
Sketch was a beautifully composed record informed equally by post-rock, ambient, and classical music. With his second album as Cinq, the sublime
Day Off, Takemura continued in the same vein he mined with
Sketch. Featuring solo artist Kazumi Nikaido on vocals, dj klock on turntables and programming, Hiroshi Funato on wood bass, and Takashi Kashikura on drums, the record was well-received by various culture and club music magazines, defined by Takemura's simple yet sophisticated guitar lines layered onto a lush brocade of electronic and acoustic sounds. In addition to recording as Cinq, Takemura is a member of the highly regarded snoweffect, and a researcher in the field of biotechnology.
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