RIOW ARAI (artist, beat & track maker, producer) was born in Tokyo, 1969. as a teenager, he started making music in his room with a synthesizer. at the same time, he joined some bands, mainly as a drummer.
In his early twenties, he suspended his musical career as a drummer to devote himself to making his own music.
in 1996, he released his 1st album "Again" through Frogman Records. the calm ambient sound, involving elements of techno, break beats and dub, established a new musical genre called "Listening Techno".
in 1997, he composed music for the Japanese video game "Front Mission Alternative" (Square Soft) and its original sound track album.
in 1998, his 2nd album "Circuit '72" was released from soup-disk/silverstone. in this album his sound shifted more towards drum'n bass, down beat, trip hop, and away from techno and ambient. since then, he has released more than 300 free MP3 tracks through his official website.
in 1999, his 3rd album "Mind Edit" released by soup-disk, made a big impact on the music scene, not only in techno, break beats and electronica circles, but also in the underground hip-hop scene. it was praised by Nobukazu Takemura, and re-issued by UK label "LEAF". And in 2003, Soup-Disk re-issued it with bonus tracks in Japan, under the title "Mind Edit Syndicate".
his first vinyl record, "Mind Syndicate"(soup-disk), was a collection of the best 16 songs of his website releases.
in 2000, he appeared on a compilation album "si-con series" released by a newly formed Shibuya style label called "SHIBURAI", with the song "Wandering"(taken from "circuit '72"), and he was pushed into the spotlight.
in 2001, his 2nd vinyl album "Bitter Beats"(soup-disk) was released. this was a collection of sampling sounds of edit beats, made by a new technique using only computer software.
His 4th album "Beat Bracelet"(soup-disk), which showed a more sophisticated version of his original "break & edit" style, was selected album of the year by many music magazines. it also entered to Coldcut’s DJ chart.
in 2003, "iBeat E.P."(soup-disk) was released. The two 12-minute songs that each made up one side of the disc were created by manually recording a sampler in real time. In turn, the disc could be used by DJs as sampling beats.
His 5th album "Device People"(soup-disk) presented a harder, funkier sound than previous releases, and firmly established him as a fine musical creator.
in 2004, he appeared on the compilation album "Listening Is Believing" by Libyus Music, and released his 6th album "Rough Machine" through the label. Focusing on break beats, he completed his "break & edit" method in this album.
in 2005, he formed the unit "RATN"(Riow Arai + Tujiko Noriko) with Tujiko Noriko(mego, tomlab) and in August, they released the album "J"(disque corde). This was Tujiko’s most pop-sounding album, and brought her music to a wider fan base.
In the same year, he released the single "opdisc.002", including a song done in collaboration with Nao Tokui, from a private label of Yoshihiro Hanno and Fumiya Tanaka, "op.disc".
in November, he released a collaboration album "RIOW ARAI + NONGENETIC"(Libyus Music) with Nongenetic, a rapper from Shadow Huntaz(skam).
in 2006, he wrote three original songs for the animated TV series "Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN" and they are released as an original sound track.
in November, on his 10th Debut Anniversary, 7th Album "SURVIVAL SEVEN"(Libyus Music) was released. on top of his break & edit sounds, he added more upper disco tracks and electro beats.
Also, click/minimal track, EP "Pink Body" was released from perc trax(UK) under the name of "redsound".
in 2007 April, "RIOW ARAI+NONGENETIC" will be released by mass.mvmnt(USA).
he has also appeared on other compilation albums and has done many remix works for artists including: Child's View(Nobukazu Takemura), PHAT, ASLN, Dragon Ash, ILL SUONO, Scott da Ros, Moon Riders, etc.
He DJs and does live performances at his regular DJ event "ModeDown" and other events, and he recently played at the party of "Skam" and "Mush" labels. he has done front act for: Radio Boy(Herbert), Four Tet, Maurice Fulton + MU, Machine Drum, Eliot Lipp, ESG, Nobody, Pole, Spencer Doran, Domitatrix, Club D'elf and more. He joined "sonarsound Tokyo" in 2006 and did a special live performance featuring Nongenetic from LA.
20代前半にバンド活動から離れ、トラック制作に専念し、DemoTapeがFrogmanRecordsに認められ、レーベル初のコンピレーション"From the Bedroom to the Whole Universe"(FROGMAN)に参加。それを経て96年、1st Album"Again"(FROGMAN)でデビュー。穏やかなアンビエントサウンドが中心ながらもテクノ、ブレイクビーツ、ダブ的な要素も含まれ、リスニングテクノとして注目を集める。
98年には2nd Album"circuit'72"(soup-disk/silverstone)をリリース。テクノ/アンビエントサウンドからドラムンベース、ダウンビート、トリップホップ的な方向にシフトした。この頃よりofficial web siteでMP3によるトラックを無料配信し始め、05年までに約300のトラックがuploadされた。
"ELECTRIC OVER DRIVE" Non On Sale.
"Weekend Edit Style" Non On Sale.
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