ArtistInfo

Koenjihyakkei

Band, *1991 JP
Rock and Jazz
A.k.a. 高円寺百景

Kōenji Hyakkei is a Japanese zeuhl band, originated from Tokyo and led by Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins. The band released their first self-titled album in 1994 with Kubota Aki from Bondage Fruit on vocals and keyboards. Not widely presented outside of Japan, the band gained international fame and notoriety among heavy/heady progrock lovers, and Koenji Hyakkei were highly praised for extreme complexity, mind-boggling rhythm patterns and high expressiveness of their music. They've often been compared to such cult bands, as Area (6), Electric Light Orchestra, Deus Ex Machina with tempo changes multiplied by 100 and, most of all, French Magma (6). Their fourth album and US-debut Angherr Shisspa was described by the critics as a mixture of Stereolab, Yes, Queen, Melt-Banana and 'something so far off Broadway it's on the moon'. The group released four studio albums and four concert DVDs between 1994 & 2010. They returned in 2018 with fifth studio album, Dhorimviskha. The Japanese band name is translated as Hundred Sights of Kōenji (Tokyo district). There is no standard way of romanizing this name, often appearing as Koenji Hyakkei or Koenjihyakkei, less commonly KoenjiHyakkei, Koenji-Hyakkei. Most of the lyrics are performed in the unknown language, reminiscent of Christian Vander's Kobaïan. There are few words shorter than four letters and almost no repeated words in any phrases. Some spelling conventions and pronunciations vary between songs and albums. Current members: Yoshida Tatsuya – drums, vocals Sakamoto Kengo – bass, vocals Komori Keiko – reeds, vocals Yabuki Taku – keyboards, vocals AH – vocals

Members

	AH voc JP
	Tatsuya Yoshida dr, voc *1961 JP
	Kubota Aki voc, key JP
	Ryuichi Masuda b, voc
	Jin Harada b
	Kengo Sakamoto b, voc JP
	Keiko Komori sax, cl JP
	Akio Izumi g
	Taku Yabuki key, ss JP