Tujiko Noriko | Artist
Tujiko Noriko is a Japanese musician, actor and director born 1976 in Osaka. Since the early 2000s Noriko, who is sometime referred to as the "Japanese Bjork", has released several albums of experimental pop, singing bittersweet melodies in Japanese and English over glitchy, downtempo electronics and electro-acoustic arrangements. Early releases such as Shojo Toshi (2001) and From Tokyo to Naiagara (2003) were highly acclaimed, attracting attention from IDM and indie pop audiences alike. Over time her sound has taken on elements of Ambient electronic and electro-acoustic drone. Her first album, the primarily self-composed Keshou to Heitai (Make-Up and Soldier), was released in Japan in 2000, then her international debut Shojo Toshi appeared on Austrian experimental label Mego in 2001. To-date she has released a total of 17 studio albums, including collaborations, plus a live album and several EP's and Singles. Standout album releases include Shojo Toshi (2001), Make Me Hard (2002), From Tokyo to Naiagara (2003), My Ghost Comes Back (2014), and Skylight (2015), and her most recent album Crépuscule I & II (2023). The live album Live dublab Performance (09.07.01) (2016) is also recommended. The following review from RYM captures how the artist's sound creates a psychic resonance with the listner: "The delicate ethereal minimal sounds reverberates into space, the smooth singing applies a tranquil plaster onto my soul.. It's relaxing, but it's also a working in progress: the song progresses with cutting passages, vanishing noises and perspective sonic changes." Much of Noriko's music is composed on a laptop and consists of layered samples, electronic beats, keyboards, and vocal melodies. Her lyrics are in Japanese and English. She has completed two films: Sand and Mini Hawaii and Sun. In Spring 2012 she was artist in residence at WORM, a Rotterdam-based institute for avant-garde music and art to record new music. In 2019, she co-directed, starred in, and composed the soundtrack for the film Kuro. She is currently living in Paris and is also working on experimental short films.
Artist Website: tujikonoriko.com
Featured Albums: Tujiko Noriko
