Bebel Gilberto - Towa Tei - Technova (Petko Turner's Copacabana Edit)

Towa Tei - Technova Copacabana Edit By Petko Turner Towa Tei is a
third-generation Korean-Japanese. Towa began making demo tapes at
the age of 16 having bought his first synthesizer, a Korg MS-10.
While studying at Musashino Art University Junior College of Art
and Design he sent his tape to a radio program of Ryuichi Sakamoto
titled "Sound Street". In 1987, Towa moved to the US to study
graphic design and joined house act Deee-Lite, a trio with Supa DJ
Dimitry and Lady Miss Kier, enjoying almost instant success after
debuting in 1990 with their album World Clique and the single
"Groove Is In the Heart". In 1991, Towa collaborated with his idol
Ryuichi Sakamoto on Sakamoto's album Heartbeat. He also appeared on
Sakamoto's follow up album Sweet Revenge. In 1994, Towa returned to
Japan after seven years in New York. He hinted in a 2011 interview
that his time with Deee-Lite made him ill, though he didn't expand
on the reasons why. Towa debuted as a solo act with Future
Listening! that same year, incorporating an array of musical
styles, including electronic, bossa nova, house, jazz and pop. It
featured collaborations with Joi Cardwell, Bebel Gilberto, MC
Kinky, Hiroshi Takano, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono, Toshihiko
Mori, Satoshi Tomiie, Yuichi Oki of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra
and Pizzicato Five vocalist Maki Nomiya. Sound Museum followed in
1997, then Last Century Modern in 1999. 2002 brought the album Towa
Tei, under the pseudonym Sweet Robots Against the Machine. Flash
surfaced in 2005 by which time Towa was DJing regularly in Japan.
He has admitted though, that he doesn't enjoy performing and
prefers producing and using computers. Big Fun, featuring Verbal
and Mademoiselle Yulia was released in 2009 and was the third album
to feature the artwork of San Franciscan painter and graffiti
artist Barry McGee. For the album, Towa utilized MySpace to
collaborate with artists from around the world even if he didn't
know them, such as with German act Taprikk Sweezee.[1] Another
collaborator he worked with for Big Fun was Miho Hatori of Cibo
Matto, though they also only met on MySpace. Towa has also
established his own creative company, hug inc, which among other
things, manufactures his trademark sunglasses.