GimmiJapan is a Danish band that merges dreamy female vocals with guitar, bass, drums (among other instruments) and structured electronic noise to create harmonious, complex songs that are easy to listen to. With two releases (a demo and an EP) so far, and another EP on the way we recently had the pleasure of speaking with drummer and laptop programmer, Casper, regarding the band, its influences and some of their favorite foods.

PE: How did GimmiJapan form?
GIMMIJAPAN: The Bass player, Ruben and I knew each other from school, and Ruben moved to London for a couple of years, but when he got back a mutual friend had started a band with this weird girl who just got out of Jehovah’s Witnesses and became a lesbian for a period. This woman turned out to be Therese of GimmiJapan. We tried to form something great for a year or so back in our hometown (Aalborg), but could not agree on the terms, so we split up and moved to the Capital, Copenhagen. Ruben, Therese and I agreed to give it another go, and began to make music as a trio with the computer as a forth partner. It worked out ok, but we needed a guitar player, and tried different people out until we found Morten who fit in perfectly and had the right approach. After that we became GimmiJapan. By the way, we are planning on recording an EP over the summer, and rerecord some of the tracks from our myspace profile. We want them to be more sensual and with less effects on vocal and drums. Also, we are planning a tour through Sweden and Finland in the fall.

PE: When did you first get into music? First band? How did the computer enter the scene for you?
GIMMEJAPAN: I (Casper – laptop, drums) started playing ´cause my dad was a drummer as well, and I kind of looked up to that. Ruben (bass) started cause he heard that it is a good way to pick up girls, unfortunately he picked the bass instead of the guitar! Morten (guitar) liked the Pixies and grabbed a guitar to be like them. Therese (vocals, organ) started in school and has a background strongly inspired by the early trip hop scene. GimmiJapan was the first real band for Therese, Morten played in some indiebands in his hometown, me (Casper) and Ruben played in a Jazz band together.

PE: What motivates you to play music?
GIMMIJAPAN: We have got a lot of stuff that needs to be said and a lot of feelings and moods are projected via the songs.

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Recently, Deborah of Pop Experiment had the pleasure of talking with Shawn James Seymour and Yoshimi Tomida of Lullatone. “Lullatone’s music is cute!” they say.

We say it is that, plus more.

With three released albums (Computer Recital, My Petit Melodies, and Little Songs About Raindrops) and another on the way (Lullatone Plays Pajama Pop for You), Lullatone has created worlds where the sounds are gentle, interesting, varied, layered, and evocative of afternoon sunshowers, dreamy summer naps and languid days spent painting, writing, and watching the moon move across the sky.

This music is contemporarily electronic, but full of the natural world, be they the sounds of drinking orange juice, or the sense you get of being outside while listening to Lullatone at your computer with your headphones on.

Some say it is minimalist, and it is essential, using only what is needed to convey its incredibly lush sentiments, leaving the rest to you, the listener.

PE: I love the organic nature of your music and vocals. Do you have a way of describing/defining it?
SHAWN: Thank you! We usually call it pajama pop. A lot of musicians and artists seem to want to avoid genres and descriptions of their music, but I think it is fun to think about that kind of stuff. Especially if you make up your own genre name!

PE: I read that many of your songs grew out of lullabies you were writing for Yoshimi…has this changed over time?
SHAWN: Yeah, it has really. Before I would stay up all night every night. I only slept like 2-3 hours a day, so it was a good chance for me to make these sleepy sounds for her while she was snoozing by my side. But now I work with Junior High School kids, teaching English, and I usually end up playing basketball or running or something with them after school. So, I am too sleepy at night to make lullabies these days. Every time I try I fall asleep in the studio (it happens a lot).
YOSHIMI: He always woke me up in the middle of night to play the lullabies he made for me!

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Dean Garcia Versatile and innovative musician Dean Garcia has played and collaborated with many musicians over the years, creating distinctive and interesting sounds. Born in Kentish Town London, he left school at 15, and is self-taught on the bass, guitar and drums. He started off working and touring with the likes of the Eurythmics, Mick Jagger, and Sinead O’Conner, and then played in State of Play in the late ’80s where he met Toni Halliday. They created Curve in 1991, composing and performing incredibly innovative music together until deciding to move on to other things in 2004. Dean continues to bring his distinctive sound to his collaborations with other artists, including his daughter, Rose Berlin and The Black Holes. Dean lives and works in London, England with his family. Popexperiment had the pleasure of asking Dean a few questions. This is what he had to say.

PE: In Curve you manged to create a new sound, a rock without all the baggage associated with it. Is there anything you’d like to share about that time or the work you did on the Curve project?
DEAN: A wonderful chaotic time was had by all….

PE: What is Doglab?
DEAN: It’s was more of a studio identity for collaborations. I’ve ditched that now and pulled the site and am in the middle of setting up a new one probably under my own name this time (see www.deangarcia.com) …I like to chop and change things and names for the work I do. [note: Doglab was a website Dean had up for a while with mp3’s of his recent collaborations and links to artists he was working with.]

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