Toko Yasuda is a Japanese singer, songwriter, keyboardist, guitarist, and bassist, best known as a member of New York indie rock band Enon and as a musician in live

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305) ...

performances.

Life and career

Yasuda grew up in the cities of Fujisawa and

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

. Her father was once a

dōshu The Aikikai is the original school of Aikido. It is centered on the Aikikai Foundation in Japan, and its figurehead is the Doshu (the family heir of the founder of Aikido). It is represented globally through the International Aikido Federation. ...

Aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in around 1 ...

. She moved to New York City in 1992, and lived there until 2006. Yasuda has played in the bands

The Lapse The Lapse was an American indie band formed in late 1997. The band was first signed to Gern Blandsten, then Southern Records. A larger deal with Matador Records fell through in 2001. The Lapse was the duo of then boyfriend/girlfriend Chris Leo (ex-N ...

and

The Van Pelt The Van Pelt is an American indie rock band from New York City that were active from 1993 to 1997, and have reformed briefly several times since then. The band formed in 1993 at New York University, with Chris Leo (formerly of Native Nod and br ...

before their disbandment, and had a brief stint in

Blonde Redhead Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino (vocals, keys/rhythm guitar) and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace (drums/keys and lead guitar/bass/keys/vocals, respectively) that formed in New York City in 1993. ...

. After that Toko appeared in the band Enon from 1999 to 2007. Yasuda plays

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

electronic keyboard An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs an ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

and sings. Welsh singer/songwriter

Cate le Bon Cate Le Bon (born Cate Timothy on 4 March 1983) is a Welsh musician and record producer. She sings in both English and Welsh. She has released six solo studio albums, three EPs and a number of singles. Le Bon has toured with artists such as St. ...

noted "She has the voice of a beautiful, icy ghost; it might be the spookiest thing I've ever heard." Yasuda currently resides in Los Angeles and formerly she shortly lived in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, after being priced out of both

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' profiled Enon's move to Philadelphia as indication of a greater phenomenon of transplanted New Yorkers to the "sixth borough". In 2012, Yasuda released the album ''Parthenon'' under the pseudonym

Plvs Vltra Plvs Vltra is the indie rock solo project of Toko Yasuda ( Enon, Blonde Redhead, The Lapse, The Van Pelt), featuring melodic, fractured tunes created on samplers, vintage synthesizers, drum machines and various effects alongside Yasuda's comfort ...

. ''Parthenon'' is Yasuda's first solo album, featuring collaborations with Danny Ray Thompson of the

Sun Ra Arkestra The Sun Ra Arkestra is an American jazz group formed in the mid-1950s and led by keyboardist/composer Sun Ra until his death in 1993. The group is considered a pioneer of afrofuturism. As of 2022, the Arkestra is led by saxophonist Marshall Alle ...

, Scott Allen of

Thunderbirds Are Now Thunderbirds are Now! were an American, Livonia, Michigan-based post-punk revival band, whose sound used a mix of traditional post-punk, new wave and noise rock. The band was heavily influenced by 1980s new wave and other post-punk revival ...

, and John Schmersal, also of Enon, who produced the album. Mike Reid from the music

webzine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer magaz ...

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...

described the album as "a straight-up pop album with alluring (because “sexy” sounds misogynist and creepy) female vocals". She has released her latest Ambient album ''Institute '' under the pseudonym Kotokoto in 2018. Yasuda is featured on Cate le Bon's Album

Mug Museum ''Mug Museum'' is the third studio album by Welsh musician Cate Le Bon, released on 12 November 2013 by Turnstile Music and Wichita Recordings. It was produced by Noah Georgeson and Josiah Steinbrick and was recorded in Los Angeles shortly after ...

(vocals), and on the song "Masseduction''"'' on St.Vincent's 2017 fifth studio album ''

Masseduction ''Masseduction'' is the fifth studio album by American musician St. Vincent, released on October 13, 2017, through Loma Vista Recordings. The album peaked at number 10 on the ''Billboard'' 200, becoming her first top ten album in the United State ...

'' which won the award for Best Recording Package and

Best Rock Song The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre. Honors in several ...

for its title track, and was also nominated for the

Best Alternative Music Album The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Ho ...

. She also appeared on the track "Gimme A Chance''"'' on

Azealia Banks Azealia Amanda Banks ( ; born May 31, 1991) is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Raised in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, she began releasing music through Myspace in 2008 before being signed to XL Recordings at age 18. In 2 ...

' 2014 debut album

Broke With Expensive Taste ''Broke with Expensive Taste'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Azealia Banks. In 2011, Banks started working on the album despite not having signed to a record label at that time. A year later, she signed a contract deal with Inters ...

which was sampled from a song "Knock That Door" on the album ''Lost Marbles & Exploded Evidence'' from the band Enon in 2005''.''

Yasuda toured with

through the Strange Mercy Tour (2011-12), the

Digital Witness "Digital Witness" is the second single from '' St. Vincent'', the eponymous fourth album by American musician St. Vincent. It was released with another single, " Birth in Reverse", on a gold vinyl triangle packaged with the album. The song, whose ...

Tour (2014-15) - (supporting the album St. Vincent), and through the "I Am A Lot Like You" tour (2018-19) - (supporting the album

). She provided electric bass, keyboards, guitar and backing vocals. In 2019, she was brought in as a touring keyboardist for

Sleater-Kinney Sleater-Kinney ( ) is an American rock band that formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1994. The band's current lineup features Corin Tucker (vocals and guitar) and Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals), following the departure of longtime member J ...

to perform songs from the band's new album ''

The Center Won't Hold ''The Center Won't Hold'' is the ninth studio album by American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on August 16, 2019 by Mom + Pop Music. The album was produced by St. Vincent (musician), St. Vincent and is the last album with drummer Janet Weiss ...

''. In february 2022 she plays bass guitar in Cate le Bon's

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...

US and Europe tour.

Discography

* ''Parthenon'' (2012) (as PLVS VLTRA) * ''Yo-Yo Blue'' (2013) (as PLVS VLTRA) * ''Rooftop Arcade/Mesopotamia'' (2013) (as PLVS VLTRA) * ''Institute'' (2018) (as Kotokoto)

References

External links

*https://abandonedlivingroom.com/review/kotokoto-institute/ *https://soundcloud.com/plvs-vltra *https://soundcloud.com/user-828711725
PlvsVltra BandcampEnon
official website
Touch & Go/Quarterstick Records
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Yasuda, Toko Japanese electronic musicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Kanagawa Prefecture Japanese emigrants to the United States Japanese women in electronic music Women bass guitarists Japanese bass guitarists Japanese keyboardists People from Fujisawa, Kanagawa