Nice to meet you Kotaro, who I caught up with at Organic Music as our Tokyo Record Style Day Volume 9 event wound down and as the main affair (OM’s 5th Anniversary) began. Kotaro was among the line-up of DJs who would be spinning records from 5pm and onwards and likely late into the evening. His unique, funky, and cool look caught attention and we had a nice chat outside the shop before his set, where I began to notice a few more details of his ensemble, including his gold wire rimmed Lennon glasses, matching gold ring and watch, an interesting timepiece to be sure, a sorta melted Rolex Submariner by the newschool French watchmaker, LAARVEE. Then stepping back and photographing the record Kotaro had, divr’s “Is This Water” it seemed to be, both visually and audibly (as I’d later find out) as about as matching an accessory as could be to his refined style, lovely personality, and artistic sense and vibe.
Not only did I go back and listen for the first time to the Swiss Trio of modern Jazz, that is divr, I took a deep dive into Kotoro’s Link Tree which, first off, has about 100 hours of curated Spotify Playlists that he’s compiled, which if you are into divr, jazz, obscure left-field labels like “We Jazz” and those of the ECM family, you will probably be happy to discover this little goldmine of music. I also checked out several of Kotaro’s homepages. It seem he is an avid, talented, and award-winning filmmaker, 3D animator, and computer graphics expert who seems to push the envelope of the “Glitch” and “Mistake-ism” genres, a sorta of Max Headroom ascetic: Peculiar, Experimental, “Arthousey”, “Futurey”, “Digital-ism”, sorta “Dystopian Delight” in my own words. (I’ll have to link some of his stuff in comments – Be sure to check www.tokyo.record.style for active links.) Finally I found out that Kotaro also has experience as a lecturer at art universities and vocational schools specializing in film and video, and currently teaches at these schools.
Update: I’ve just read that the main theme in his works is “gazing” an original concept that he is currently trying to expand the meaning of. So cool!
Last tidbits: I managed to catch Kotaro’s sublime set at Organic Music, and not really knowing a soul there, I was happy to have made at least on connection. And then a couple of months later, I bumped into Kotaro again, this time on the other side of town, at the All Japan Record and CD Music Summer Carnival in Asakusa. It was great to say hello and to have made a new record-loving pal. Thanks Kotaro!
More Tokyo Record Style on the way!
divr – Is This Water
Label: We Jazz – WJLP60
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Worldwide
Released: Feb 2, 2024
Genre: Jazz
Style: Avant-garde Jazz, Free Improvisation, Contemporary Jazz
https://www.discogs.com/release/29564764-divr-Is-This-Water
Kotaro Tanaka’s LinkTree:
https://linktr.ee/kotaro_tanaka
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