Eri Nobuchika
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is a Japanese singer-songwriter, under the Fearless Records label on Sony Music Associated Records. She currently resides in Tokyo.


Biography


Early years

Nobuchika'ss professional career began at an open Sony Music audition. She sent in her demo tape but forgot to include her address. The president of the audition wanted to contact her, and after asking for her through a few calls to Fukuoka post offices, he finally got hold of Nobuchika. Through the audition, she attracted the interest of
Shinichi Osawa , also known by his stage name Mondo Grosso, is a Japanese musician, DJ, record producer and composer currently signed onto Avex Trax's Rhythm Zone label. Previously he was signed to Sony Music Japan's FEARLESS RECORDS division and released alb ...
. She received numerous label offers, but ultimately signed with Sony Music, and teamed up with Osawa. As an artist on his label, Fearless Records, Osawa would go on to primarily produce Nobuchika's music as he did with fellow label artist
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
.


2004–2006: Debut and ''nobuchikaeri''

After finishing high school at the age of 19, Eri started work on her debut single, "Lights", which was released on December 8, 2004. The single features the title song, as well as an acoustic version and a karaoke version. The B-track, "I hear the music in my soul", shows off Shinichi Osawa's underground club music background with Nobuchika providing a few vocals. "Lights" was the theme song of the Japanese film "深紅" (''Shinku'', or "The Deep Red") and the ending theme song for the anime
FLAG A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...
. The song was also featured on Q Entertainment's
PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
game Lumines: Puzzle Fusion (and its remake
Lumines Remastered (pronounced as "Loo-min-ess") is a 2004 Puzzle video game, puzzle game developed by Q Entertainment and published for the PlayStation Portable by Bandai in Japan and by Ubisoft elsewhere. The objective of the game is to arrange descending two-c ...
), along with "I hear the music in my soul." Many overseas fans discovered Eri through the game and it also helped launch her career in Japan. Months later, on April 6, 2005, Nobuchika's second single, "Voice" was released. The song carries a Latin atmosphere with the use of Spanish guitars and carries more of Osawa's club sound. Along with the title song are a studio live version, a karaoke version, and a remix of "I hear the music in my soul." On
Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...
's Top 100 chart, the single reached a peak of No. 94 and stayed on the charts for 3 weeks. On June 29, 2005, "Sketch for Summer" was released, a very different genre compared to the previous singles. It was a mellow ballad with some hints of jazz. The single comes with a studio live version, a karaoke version, and a remix of "Voice." The music video was the first to show Nobuchika in color, rather than black and white. The single scored even lower on Oricon. It charted at No. 175 for just one week. Eri's fourth single, "鼓動" (''Kodou'', meaning "heartbeat") was released on December 7, 2005, another ballad containing elements of acid jazz, with Eri accompanied by piano and horns. The song appeared in a TV commercial for the mobilecast mLink. "Kodou" is accompanied by a remix, a karaoke version, and a remix of "Sketch for Summer". The single was re-released two weeks later, replacing the karaoke version with an instrumental version with no background vocals. Her debut album, "nobuchikaeri," was released on December 21, 2005. It contained her four singles, as well as "I hear the music in my soul," and five new tracks. One of the tracks was Nobuchika's first recorded entirely in English. "Yume no Kakera" and "SING A SONG" were released as her first DVD single on March 1, 2006. The video for "Yume no Kakera" was created by Studio 4C, who also created animations for
The Animatrix is a 2003 adult animated science-fiction anthology film produced by the Wachowskis. The film details through nine animated short films the backstory of ''The Matrix'' film series, including the original war between humanity and machines which l ...
. A 7-track album of remixes titled "nobuchikaeri.rx" was released on May 10, 2006. The album includes remixes of Nobuchika's singles by artists such as
Röyksopp Röyksopp (), a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø formed in 1998. The duo consists of Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland. Berge and Brundtland were introduced to each other through a mutual friend in Tromsø, Norway. They enjoy ...
,
Akufen Marc Leclair, better known by his stage name Akufen, is a Canadian electronic musician. His music is electronic music that is often described as minimal house, minimal techno, glitch, or microhouse. His 2002 release titled ''My Way'' introduced ...
, and more. Nobuchika was featured in a radio program on the now-defunct bi-weekly Sony Music Japan vodcast "the swallowtail radio," in which she talked about her career, and read messages from fans.


2006 to present: Independent work and ''Hands''

After the release of ''nobuchikaeri.rx'' and Shinichi Osawa's move to Avex Trax in 2006, Nobuchika went into a lengthy hiatus with no releases. An update on her blog told of a studio recording in Okinawa during the summer; this was eventually revealed as her collaboration with NAOTO, the leader of Japanese band
Orange Range are a 5-member Japanese rock band, based in Okinawa, Japan. Formed in 2001, the band began with Spice Music and later signed with Sony Music Japan's gr8! records division in 2003. The band left gr8! records in 2010 to start their own label, S ...
, in his solo project, delofamilia. delofamilia's first album, ''quiet life'', was released on December 5, 2007, featuring Nobuchika and
AIR The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...
as guest vocalists, although Eri appears on the majority of the songs singing in mostly English and some Japanese. Nobuchika, NAOTO, and AIR all shared lyric-writing duties for the album. In April 2009, Nobuchika announced that her second album, "Hands," would be released on June 3, 2009, more than three years after her debut album. Nobuchika also launched her
mixi is an online Japanese social networking service. It was founded in 1999 and is owned by Mixi, Inc. (). As of September 2012, Mixi had about 14 million monthly active users, with about 8.6 million of those on smartphones. Mixi, Inc. was founded b ...
account and a Myspace page with song samples, along with a live concert on release day to coincide with the new album. The album is to be distributed through independent record label Daiki Sound, and it contains eight tracks produced and written by a variety of artists, such as DSK from Port of Notes, The Company, Yuu Sakai, and Ryuichiro Yamaki.


Discography


Studio albums


Remix albums


Singles


Promotional singles


Notes


References


External links

*
Official website
*
Official Sony Music Website
*
Eri's personal blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nobuchika Eri 1985 births Living people Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists People from Fukuoka Musicians from Fukuoka Prefecture 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers