BIOGRAPHY

jimanica-057

 

Yu Ojima – Jimanica

ドラマー。作曲/編曲家。

Yu Ojima – Jimanica

1975年、東京都出身。

武蔵野美術大学映像学科卒業後渡米。 その後2年間NYでドラマーとしてマンハッタンのクラブを中心にライブやレコーディングに参加。作曲も始める。

2000年帰国後、Jimanicaのアーティストネームで東京を中心に活動を開始。

2005年ドラムソロ・アルバム“Entomophonic”をリリース。以降ドラム + PCでのソロライブを始め、即興からポップスに至るまでの多数アーティストと共演。

2006年にドラマー Itokenと映像作家 山口崇司と共に、映像とドラム演奏がシンクロしあうサウンドインスタレーションバンド d.v.dを結成。2007年のTPAM(国際舞台芸術ミーティング)出演が話題を呼び、ヨーロッパ、韓国、シンガポール、オーストラリアなど各地で公演を重ねる。また毎年オーストリアのリンツで開催されるメディアアートフェスArs Electronicaにて開催されるコンペティション Prix Ars Electronica 08”にて、Digital Music部門Honorary Mention賞を受賞。

2010年、相対性理論ボーカルのやくしまるえつことの新ユニット「やくしまるえつこ と d.v.d」を始動。同年4月7日に8曲入りアルバム『Blu-Day』を発売。さらに同年11月にJimanicaの2作目となるソロアルバム”Pd”をリリース。以降今までに5作のソロアルバムを発表。

近年ではリミックス曲提供や編曲/作曲、CM音楽なども多数手がけ、J-POPアーティストのレコーディングに作編曲、またドラマーとして数多く参加する。

 

Yu Ojima – Jimanica

Drummer/Laptop musician.
Born in 1975, Yu Ojima is a Drummer and Composer active mainly in the Tokyo area.

From 1998, he spent 2 years in New York, lending his skills as a drummer to numerous live performances and recording sessions on the Manhattan club scene.

In 2005, he released Entomophonic, a solo drum album. Put together using a minimal combination of drums and effects, each track was inspired by a given variety of insect. The 13 species represented across the 13 tracks comprised a concept album intended as a sonic entomological field guide, and also constituted Ojima’s debut offering in his JImanica guise.
Following the release, Ojima began to make use of drum triggers, which enabled the simultaneous deployment of effects and melodies and even took part, using his drums as the lead instrument, in a wide variety of live and recording sessions spanning a diverse range of styles from Improvised music to Pop, all the while also remaining highly active as a solo live performer.

In 2006, Jimanica put together and released a DVD in collaboration with fellow drummer Itoken and the media artist Takashi Yamaguchi. This work received an honorable mention in the Digital music category at the 2008 Prix Ars Electronica. Every year since then, Jimanica has ventured on a European tour, as well as being invited to perform at various events in Korea, Singapore, Australia and elsewhere. In 2010, he played at the Mimi and Marsatac festivals in Marseille France and the Festival Scopitone in Nantes.

In 2007 Jimanica teamed up with Ametsub, another highly-regarded electronic artist, to form the duo Jimanica:Ametsub, who garnered much attention with their activity, including a performance at the outdoor Nagisa festival.

In 2010, Jimanica commenced a collaboration with Yakushimaru Etsuko (of Soutaisei Riron) and d.v.d as the unit Yakushimaru Etsuko & d.v.d. In April the same year, they released the 8-track album, Blu-Day. Then, the following November, Jimanica went on to release his second solo album, Pd, which even featured a remix from Oval, aka Markus Popp. It was also in 2010 that Jimanica took his Jimanica band set onto the live circuit.

The third Jimanica album, Torso, was released in September 2012. The way it shifted the role of drums in pop music from the rhythm section to the forefront earned Ojima plaudits not just as a drummer, but also as a composer.

At present, whilst maintaining an active schedule of performance and releases with his own band, Jimanica continues to collaborate with and do remixes for various artists on the Tokyo scene and elsewhere.