, 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 (RZN) is a record label in the Avex Group that releases urban contemporary Japanese music. History The label was founded in 1999 by Max Matsuura with a focus on urban music, signing M-Flo as its first artist, then followed by Exile. In 2000, ...

label. Previously he was signed to

Sony Music Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation and is ...

's FEARLESS RECORDS division and released albums under the title of ''Mondo Grosso'' (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

for "big world"), showing influences of Brazilian music and language in songs such as "Maigo no Astronauta" or "Carnival of Colors." Over the course of his career he has worked in genres from acid jazz to

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

, with strong influences of underground club music, though his recent work has been in the genre of

electro house Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 130 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJs, including Benny Benassi, Skrillex, Steve Aoki ...

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

rated Mondo Grosso at #95 on their "Top 100 Japanese Pop Artists" and Shinichi Osawa is ranked as Japan's #1 electro house DJ and Japan's #3 overall DJ by TopDeejays.com.

Background

Shinichi Osawa was originally the producer and bassist for the popular Japanese musical group Mondo Grosso, which formed in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

in 1991 on the

For Life Records is a Japanese record label founded in 1975.Official site
of FLME Inc.'

Sub-divisions

*Güt Records *Anri *

label. However, in 1995, after the group disbanded, Osawa concentrated more on his own material, collaborating with many artists such as

Monday Michiru is a Japanese American actress, singer, and songwriter whose music encompasses and fuses a wide variety of genres including jazz, dance, pop, and soul. She is arguably best known for being a pioneer of the acid jazz movement in Japan in the ...

Amel Larrieux Amel Eliza Larrieux (née Stowell; born March 8, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and keyboardist. Larrieux rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a founding member of the duo Groove Theory along with Bryce Wilson. After leaving the group in 199 ...

, UA, Chara,

Dragon Ash is a Japanese rap rock group founded in 1996 by Kenji "KJ" Furuya and Sakurai Makoto. They were one of the first groups to popularize hip hop in Japan. Dragon Ash is a member of Mob Squad, which is an affiliation with the bands Source and En ...

and even

Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickname "Empress of J-pop" due to her popularity in Japan and throughout Asia. Due to her success and relevanc ...

. During his collaborative work in 1997, he became a solo producer, releasing the R&B-infused acid jazz and house album ''Closer''. He made a move from For Life Records to Sony Music Associated Records in 1999, where he began his own label. Throughout the years, Osawa acted as a producer for artists such as Bird and

Eri Nobuchika 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 ...

. His 2000 album MG4 displayed the diversity of his production, fusing jazz and house. It featured the hit song 'Life,' featuring Bird. In 2003 he released Next Wave, a more traditional house album. Osawa provided the hypnotic array of techno music on the popular

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 (pronounced as "Loo-min-ess") is a puzzle video game series developed by Q Entertainment. The core objective of the games is to survive by rotating and aligning 2×2 blocks varying between two colors to form 2×2 squares of a single color whic ...

'' in 2004. He did not reappear as a composer for its sequel. In 2007, Osawa signed to record label Avex Trax. Feeling that, in comparison to his previous albums, the sound reflected more closely his DJ sets and performances (performed under his real name), Osawa released his

album ''

The One The ONE is a shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is built on the site of the former Tung Ying Building at 100 Nathan Road. It was developed by Chinese Estates Holdings and opened in 2010. Owner Joseph Lau Luen-hung g ...

'' under the moniker of 'Shinichi Osawa' rather than 'Mondo Grosso.' "Our Song" was the initial single released in Japan, followed by the Chemical Brothers cover Star Guitar. Under his real name, Osawa has received more international attention, creating acclaimed remixes of

Felix da Housecat Felix da Housecat (born Felix Stallings Jr., August 25, 1971) is an American DJ and record producer, mostly known for house music and electro. Felix is regarded as a member of the second wave of Chicago house Musical career Early life Stall ...

's "Radio" and Digitalism's "Pogo." He also performed at

Electric Daisy Carnival Electric Daisy Carnival, commonly known as EDC, is an electronic dance music festival organized by promoter and distributor Insomniac. The annual flagship event, EDC Las Vegas, is held in May at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and is currently t ...

, which was his first performance in America. He is also featured in Clazziquai's Robotica album in a remix for Prayers by Christina Chu. In 2008, he remixed #1-hit song Startin' by Japanese pop sensation

. The mix appeared on the album '' Ayu-mi-x 6 -GOLD-''. In October 2008, following a release of "Star Guitar" as a single by

Data Records Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publishing business and fitness studio. James ...

, Southern Fried Records made a digital release of "The One" in the UK. A physical release is scheduled for January 2009. In November 2008, "Our Song" appeared on the 16th version of

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

's DJ simulation series

Beatmania IIDX is a series of rhythm video games, that was first introduced by Konami in Japan on February 26, 1999. ''IIDX'' has since spawned 31 arcade releases and 14 console releases on the Sony PlayStation 2. It is the sequel to the ''beatmania'' game ...

, alongside several other songs by Avex's ''House Nation'' group. Osawa is currently involved in

Ravex Ravex (stylized as ravex; a portmanteau of rave and Avex) is a Japanese electronic music group, consisting of Shinichi Osawa, Tomoyuki Tanaka and record producer DJ Taku Takahashi. Established to mark the 20th anniversary of the Avex label, th ...

, a collaboration with fellow

Avex is a Japanese entertainment conglomerate led by founder Max Matsuura and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1988, the company manages J-pop talents like Ayumi Hamasaki and internet sensation PikoTaro. It has also shifted into other busi ...

DJs

Tomoyuki Tanaka was a Japanese film producer. He is best known for co-creating the ''Godzilla'' franchise and its associated spin-offs. Early life Tanaka was born on April 26, 1910, in Kashiwara, Osaka. As a child, he would often walk miles to the nearest th ...

and

Taku Takahashi is a Japanese hip hop recording artist, DJ and record producer who debuted in 1997 as a record producer of the hip hop group M-Flo. The group rose to prominence in the early 2000s, with hit singles such as "How You Like Me Now?" and "Come Agai ...

established to mark 20 years of

. Their debut album ''Trax'' was released on April 8, 2009, and follows the release of the singles "I Rave U" and "Believe in LOVE" featuring

BoA Kwon Bo-ah (; born November 5, 1986), known professionally as BoA, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer and actress. One of the most successful and influential Korean entertainers, she has been dubbed the " Queen of K- ...

. Osawa released '' SO2'', the second album under his given name, on June 16, 2010 digitally and June 30 on CD/DVD. In 2009, Osawa collaborated with Takeshi Kobayashi to form the duo Bradberry Orchestra. With the lead single "LOVE CHECK," Bradberry Orchestra released their first album " Vol.0" on March 16, 2011 in Japan through Avex. Songs from the album have been used to promote Sony's

Xperia Xperia () is the brand name of smartphones and tablets from Sony. The name Xperia is derived from the word "experience", and was first used in the Xperia X1 tagline of "I Xperia the best". Sony Mobile was previously known globally as Sony E ...

phone as well as

SEGA is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

Yakuza Of the End is an Action-adventure game, action-adventure survival horror video game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3. The game is a spin-off of the Yakuza (series), ''Like a Dragon'' series. The game was originally scheduled for releas ...

. Currently, Osawa hosts a bi-monthly online radio show called Date Line with fellow DJ Masatoshi Uemura on block.fm. In 2017, he released the Mondo Grosso song "Labyrinth". The music video, starring actress

Hikari Mitsushima is a Japanese actress, singer and model. In 2017 she was the vocalist and dancer in Mondo Grosso's videos for "Labyrinth", which has garnered over 32 million views on YouTube as of 2 February 2022, and "In this World". Career She began her mus ...

, has over 27million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

as of January 2021. Along with Australian artist RHYME, Osawa is half of the duo RHYME SO. They released their single "Fashion Blogger" in March 2020. In 2021, Osawa and RHYME opened The Nuts Exchange, a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

cafe in

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

that serves Australian-Japanese fusion food.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

With "Mondo Grosso"

Live albums

Remix albums

Singles

Collaboration albums

Compilation albums

Mixtapes

Remix singles

Production discography

References

External links

Official website

FEARLESS RECORDS official site

Shinichi Osawa
discography at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

.
Mondo Grosso
discography at

.
HMV Japan Top 100 Japanese Pop Artists

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osawa, Shinichi Living people Japanese electronic musicians Japanese house musicians Japanese techno musicians Big beat musicians Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists Ableton Live users Musicians from Shiga Prefecture 1967 births Ravex members