The video for "Katachi," an orchestral psychedelic song from the Japanese avant-popper Shugo Tokumaru, is a delightfully hypnotic thing, entirely stop-motion animated with cut-out paper shapes. The…   Read Story »

The Japanese psych-pop savant Shugo Tokumaru recorded his new album In Focus? in his home studio, slathering on, per his press release, "an average of twenty instruments" per song. Then he got the…   Read Story »

"Singer/multi-instrumentalist-songwriter" doesn't quite convey all that's at play with Japan's Shugo Tokumaru, though it's an accurate start. On his forthcoming In Focus?, the artist plays "an…   Read Story »

Shugo Tokumaru's instrumental and melodic dexterity can be dizzying, his pop amalgamations thorough and creative, though on "Linne" -- a single from his Port Entropy LP -- he reins in trickery in…   Read Story »

The Japanese avant pop prodigy has a new EP/DVD, but good luck finding it on an English language retail site. The Rum Hee minisite's flash heavy, so instead head straight to its title track's…   Read Story »

Prodigal pop amalgamist Shugo Tokumaru plays all his instruments (unless he's being backed by the National and Beirut dudes) and multi-tracks his way into rarified space, spinning contemporary and…   Read Story »

The last time we pleaded with you to get obsessed with pop savant Shugo Tokumaru came in relation to the fantastical, Beatles-indebted toy-factory waltz of "Green Rain." Like the best of Shug's…   Read Story »

Shugo Tokumaru completed his tour with Magnetic Fields and went home to Japan, but not before recording a Daytrotter Session, which went to tape in October. Take a listen (and don't forget "Green…   Read Story »

You'll often come across references to Cornelius when people talk up Shugo Tokumaru. At first blush it may seem lazy -- both artists come to us from Japan, see -- but it isn't for lack of…   Read Story »