Undisputed "it-girl" during Shibuya-kei's bubbliest years, Kahimi Karie began her career as a music photographer. Tapped for a vocal performance on another album by her boyfriend at the time, Keigo Oyamada (AKA
Cornelius), Karie turned in in impressive performance highlighted by her now trademark sexy yet naive singing style. Released in 1992, just over a year after her appearance on the Crue-L Records compilation
Blow Up, Karie's first single,
Mike Alway's Diary, was an immediate hit. Her name check of the El Records impresario and music journalist coupled with production by Oyamada landed Karie in Tokyo's hippest crowd, where she quickly rose to star status. She released her second single,
Girly in mid-1994, which sold a healthy 70,000 copies - big numbers for an indie release in Japan. Karie released a string of singles over the next several years, finally releasing her first full-length,
Larme de Crocodile, in 1997 on Crue-L. The album featured collaborations eccentric Scottish producer/songwriter Momus and
Pizzicato Five's Yasuharu Konishi. Karie moved to Polydor for her next release,
K.K.K.K.K., in 1998. Assisted again by Momus, French indie artist Philippe Katerine, and others, the album was a major hit. Earlier the same year she released a best-of collection entitled
Kahimi Karie on the Minty Fresh label, and the sardonic
One Thousand 20th Century Chairs on Polydor. 1999 saw the US release of
K.K.K.K.K.,...
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Undisputed "it-girl" during Shibuya-kei's bubbliest years, Kahimi Karie began her career as a music photographer. Tapped for a vocal performance on another album by her boyfriend at the time, Keigo Oyamada (AKA
Cornelius), Karie turned in in impressive performance highlighted by her now trademark sexy yet naive singing style. Released in 1992, just over a year after her appearance on the Crue-L Records compilation
Blow Up, Karie's first single,
Mike Alway's Diary, was an immediate hit. Her name check of the El Records impresario and music journalist coupled with production by Oyamada landed Karie in Tokyo's hippest crowd, where she quickly rose to star status. She released her second single,
Girly in mid-1994, which sold a healthy 70,000 copies - big numbers for an indie release in Japan. Karie released a string of singles over the next several years, finally releasing her first full-length,
Larme de Crocodile, in 1997 on Crue-L. The album featured collaborations eccentric Scottish producer/songwriter Momus and
Pizzicato Five's Yasuharu Konishi. Karie moved to Polydor for her next release,
K.K.K.K.K., in 1998. Assisted again by Momus, French indie artist Philippe Katerine, and others, the album was a major hit. Earlier the same year she released a best-of collection entitled
Kahimi Karie on the Minty Fresh label, and the sardonic
One Thousand 20th Century Chairs on Polydor. 1999 saw the US release of
K.K.K.K.K., this time on Momus's US label Le Grand Magistery.
Tilt, also on Polydor was released in 2000 after another collaboration on the singles
Journey to the Centre of Me with Momus and
Once Upon a Time with Olivia Tremor Control. Karie released the cover album
My Suitor in 2001, covering a range of obscure 70s and 80s bands including Dolly Mixture, Virginia Astley, The Lilac Time, and Berntholer. In 2003, Karie released perhaps her most fully realized work to date
Trapeziste. Combining classical, ambient, jazz, and noise elements, Karie created a sound that was uniquely her own, and pushed her further away from the now confining Shibuya-kei stereotype.
Montage, released in 2004, expands on the themes explored in
Trapeziste. In addition to her releases, Karie has held several exhibitions of her art, penned several books, written extensively on European film and music, and created the theme song for the long-running animated television series
Chibi Maruko Chan.
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