Browse by Artist: KAITO

Artist:	KAITO
Title:	EP
Label:	BLAST FIRST (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$8.00
Catalog #:	BFFP 189CD

"Boy girl vocals, snarling art-punk guitar fuzz, catchy sugar-pop choruses and the kind of riffs that suggest Sonic Youth jamming with the Pixies. One of the most winningly freaked bands to ever detune and beautifully abuse their guitars. Songs drenched with sex and madness, cool like Elastica but completely off the hook, unpoised blasting apart the concept of pop as we know it. Kaito compose chaos and capture the thrilling beauty of the exact moment of fragmentation."

Artist:	KAITO
Title:	Beautiful Day
Label:	KOMPAKT (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.00
Catalog #:	KOM 039EP

"No long time ago the Kompakt people were sitting in their sun-heated office thinking about the good old days when tracks like Humate愀 'Love Stimulation' or Energy 52愀 'Cafe Del Mar' were played everywhere and loooove was in the air ...That was then but this is now. No nostalgia but a wish rose up: We want nu trance! All at a sudden the postman dropped a little package containing some tracks by the Tokyo-based artist Kaito aka Hiroshi Watanabe who also releases under his Aqua guise on the well known Japanese Frogman imprint. Still captured by the 1993愀 trance euphoria his music made everybody at Kompakt Feel like: 'yeah, this is it!' The perfect mixture between Kompakt愀 minimal style and good ingredients of classic trance. The title track 'Beautiful Day' is a slamming masterpiece with a little kitsch inside while 'air rider' on the flip will surely be the royal flash in every DJ set. Brilliantly arranged catchy goose pimple techno at its best. Love is back in town. Please file this record under: Hymn!"

Artist:	KAITO
Title:	Awakening
Label:	KOMPAKT (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.00
Catalog #:	KOM 056EP

"The sun is shining again and so are the records. Summer is not far. But what would summer be like without any hymns? Kaito, Kompakt's man in the far east, nips this question in the bud and comes up with his new record 'Awakening'. With only 2 releases, Kaito has managed to conquer the hearts of Techno-Germany. 'Beautiful Day' and 'Everlasting', both records have styled a new sound, a style, DJs as well as any kind of record collectors could agree upon. The buzzword: neo-trance. It's trance without any bad breath or fluorescent tubes, it's pure and fresh. It's gentle euphoria. For a better Ibiza. For a splendid summer of love 2002."

Artist:	KAITO
Title:	Soul of Heart
Label:	KOMPAKT (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.00
Catalog #:	KOM 099EP

"After a long absence, our Japanese soulbrother is finally back for spring-cleaning the technoworld with a hearty loading of warm water. And again it愀 not easy to say what exactly Kaito is doing. A little try of explanation: 'Sometimes a single person has to do something forbidden to exceed a border, to change something.' Kaito changed a lot with his records. He exceeded a border. Astonished the popes of taste. Got discussions going. He broke embankments and found new friends. He recharged the perception of 'Trance' positively, familiarized it with Minimal and Deephouse. With prominent support of integer people like Larry Heard, Francois Kevorkian or Joe Clausell he reestablished Trance in a fair and gentle way. Again it got totally self-evident. Recently in the club: 'Hey Trance, you also here? -- Great!', 'Yes you愉e right. By the way, I name myself NeoTrance now.', 'Really? Sounds chic!', 'Exactly. Also a Sake on the rocks for you?', 'Of course, with lemon. Thanks, cheers!', 'Cheers!', 'Hey Neotrance, ...?', 'Yes?', 'What愀 so bad about taking warm showers?'"

Artist:	KAITO
Title:	Color of Feels
Label:	KOMPAKT (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.00
Catalog #:	KOM 119EP

"For already the seventh time, Hiroshi Watanabe (aka Kaito) sends us his friendly smile over the Pacific. 'Color of Feel' is a wide-wall epic, less trancy and functional than the previous releases, but more emotional, much more intensive. You could almost say more musical, if this only wouldn't sound so stupid. Comparisons with Manuel Gottschings E2 E4 -- respectively Sueno Latino's 'Sueno Latino' -- are out of place. It's this agravic moment, this Balearic lightness that pervades into Kaito's music, that makes it seem unbelievable that his music has its origin in the huge metropolis Tokyo. Well, if you don't have a beach in front of the house then you have to imagine it. The artwork comes from Hiroshi Watanabe himself. The young man on the picture is the real Kaito, the son of Hiroshi. For the first time he was seen on 'Everlasting' (KOM 045). At that time he was still a baby. You can almost watch him growing. Kids, the time is passing so fast..."

Artist:	KAITO
Title:	Hundred Million Light Years
Label:	KOMPAKT (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.00
Catalog #:	KOM 135EP

Two-track 12" from the forthcoming CD-only album. The maestro of nu-trance brilliance and cosmic kitsch returns. Hundred Million Light Years is the story of a man who left the earth to return to a universe of expressive, unrestrained music that fully embraces classic '90s trance euphoria and Kompakt's trademark minimal style. This is the dream-filled sound of one thousand and one flying sound carpets. Flickering flutes and jubilating bells. Pulsing melodicism that lifts to the stratospheres. It's music-become-feeling and MDMA to the ears.

Artist:	KAITO
Title:	And That Was The Way
Label:	KOMPAKT (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	KOM 208EP

Presenting a 12" version of leading tracks off of Hiroshi Watanabe's (aka Kaito) full-length Trust (KOMP 074CD), including beatless versions. The piano chords of the title track play tenderly to a reverberating room, there's the sublime ease of "Nothing Could Be More Peaceful," and "Rainbow Circles" releases you from the pains of winter with the breath of spring. The remix by Echospace is a 14-minute opus that takes the finest elements of the original and rebuilds it into a deep groove.

Artist:	KAITO
Title:	Special Life
Label:	KOMPAKT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KOMP 019CD

"Kaito is Hiroshi Watanabe. And what he's doing is magic. He is a moving interface, Techno poet and soul man. He mixed classical New York Deep House with Pop Ambient and Neo-Trance to a thrilling something which can be considered as the future of Soul. Seriously. Euphoric audiences at Kaito's DJ sets are swept off their feet by the cosiness this charming and discrete man from the Far East is able to create. This guy definitely knows what he1s doing and can look back at a vivid music past. He1d spent a couple of years in the US where he gained a lot of credibility in New York's Deep House scene: he was resident dj at Save The Robots, guest DJ at Twilo, Tunnel and Speed, and not to mention his numerous productions for legendary labels as King Street, Nitegrooves and Oxygen Music Works. And now, Hiroshi is bundling his exceptional sense of emotional music in his New project called Kaito. Unscrupulously romantic, he mixes trance music elements (Cosmic Baby, Energy 52) with spiritual House ingredients (see Joe Claussel) and spices them up with Cologne minimal sounds. A really drop-dead gorgeous mixture. Kaito, this wonderful delicate lichtgestalt, has already conquered the hearts and dj cases from all over the world with his three maxi singles 'Beautiful Day', 'Everlasting' and 'Awakening' (all on Kompakt) and with his debut, he will definitely keep on shining there."

Artist:	KAITO
Title:	Special Love
Label:	KOMPAKT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KOMP 023CD

"Kaito's album Special Life was a one of 2002's most talked about records. Throughout all music scenes and stylistic preferences. And it is one of the rare records that found its way into the cases of Larry Heard, Gilles Pettersson, Sven Vath and Miss Kitten at the same time. It is a powerful dedication to House music in a most euphoric and sophisticated way. A sweet reminder of the emotional depth and strength of House. It is about love to this music. About this 'special love'. Kompakt now releases a beatless version of Special Life for everybody who shares this love. Special Love pushes the emotional essence to the forefront. Unlike the 'Pop Ambient' series this is not about modern concepts. Special Love is about Ambient tradition. A good tradition. The vinyl version comes as a limited edition of 1000 copies. It works both as an ultimate DJ tool or just as what it is: Pure bliss. The person behind Kaito is the Tokyo-based DJ and producer Hiroshi Watanabe. This project is dedicated to and named after his 3 years old son. In translation the Japanese word 'KAITO' means: 'The one that is able to explain the universe'."

Artist:	KAITO
Title:	Hundred Million Light Years
Label:	KOMPAKT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KOMP 049CD

This is Tokyo-based Hiroshi Watanabe's third full-length CD on Kompakt. Ever since his debut 12" Beautiful Day, Kaito remains one of Kompakt's fan favorites. The maestro of nu-trance brilliance and cosmic kitsch returns with an album of beautiful, euphoric cadence. Hundred Million Light Years is the story of a man who left the earth to return to a universe of expressive, unrestrained music that fully embraces classic '90s trance euphoria and Kompakt's trademark minimal style. As we celebrate his eighth release for Kompakt, it seamlessly connects to the history of his predecessors. This is the dream-filled sound of one thousand and one flying sound carpets. Flickering flutes and jubilating bells. Pulsing melodicism that lifts to the stratosphere. It's music-become-feeling and MDMA to the ears.

Artist:	KAITO
Title:	Hundred Million Love Years
Label:	KOMPAKT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KOMP 053CD

This is Tokyo-based Hiroshi Watanabe's fourth full-length release on Kompakt. Kaito presents the perfect antidote to bring us out of this year's intense mid-summer heat into the tranquil cooling of the autumn season. As already accomplished with his previous full lengths Special Life and Special Love, Watanabe now presents Hundred Million Love Years -- the beat-less accompaniment to go alongside his acclaimed full-length Hundred Million Light Years. This record is a landmark addition to Kompakt's cherished Pop Ambient utopia. Another dimension to his music is unveiled with the removal of percussion -- his songs expand and bring the cerebral euphoria that he celebrates in his music to a dramatically different context from his renowned beat-laden output, however equally as satisfying. From the oceanic wash that gently mingles with your tangerine dreams on "Nobody Could Be Alone," the strobe-lit vibrations of "The Universe" that impregnates your soul with joy, and the out-of-orbit rhythmic arpeggiations of the exclusive album climax "Soul Of Heart," Kaito is here to take you on a mystical journey of orchestral waves -- a constellation of flawlessly crafted minimalism in its truest form.

Artist:	KAITO
Title:	Trust
Label:	KOMPAKT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KOMP 074CD

This is the third full-length release by Japan's veteran dance producer Hiroshi Watanabe aka Kaito for the Kompakt label. Kaito is a familiar whisper at the center of Kompakt's kaleidoscopic strobe light for the many loyalists that know the label well. Eight years have passed since he dropped the unsuspecting masterpiece "Beautiful Day" and he has steadily grown in beauty and stature, much like his son who has graced the cover of nearly all of his 13 releases for the label. Kaito remains one of Japan's biggest dance producers and undeniably one of the most respected artists from Asia, remaining a top 3 best-selling artist in Japan, USA and Greece for Kompakt. Trust signifies a change of pace for Kaito, who has created one of his most mature and meditative releases to date. Fear not, the euphoria remains -- Kaito continues to flow through his melodies with a remarkable ease and grace that is rarely heard by producers today. Throughout Trust, Kaito seems to want to draw the listener into an aura of introspectiveness -- carrying an elated earnestness that is sure to be welcomed by many considering these serious times, and certain to draw new fans to his already full table. Another classic moment for Kompakt from one of their most endearing and tranquil producers.

Previous Page Index of Artists Next Page