岡崎体育(Okazaki Taiiku)

© 岡崎体育. All rights reserved.

Updated 14th August 2019.

Biography

岡崎体育 (Okazaki Taiiku) has been doing music for most of his life but it was in 2012 where he decided to try and make it his career. When he began he did everything himself, working part-time in a supermarket to fund his releases. Four years later he signed to major label SME Records (a part of Sony), a testament to his musicality. He has gone on to release 11 albums, most he released independently which is no easy feat. Some of his tracks have also been used for various media, most notably including Pokemon Sun & Moon anime series, and he has also created music videos for adverts. Unfortunately he is yet to perform in the Western side of the world but hopefully as his success grows this will change.

Sound

The main aspect of Okazaki’s sound is that it is comedic. As mentioned with previous artists, there is a slight language barrier to his music but the general vibe still makes it fun to listen to. Compared to 打首獄門同好会 (Uchikubi Gokumon Doukoukai), Okazaki has produced a more comedic sound which boosts it compared to his counterpart which helps overcome the language barrier further. It is the tone in his vocals over the instrumental get the vibe across. These are either singing, rap or just spoken word, both he manages to utilise to the full effect to get the concept of the song across. Further to this, his videos are also hilarious and give more visual cues to what the songs are about, so I wouldn’t be worried if you don’t understand Japanese, the music is still accessible.

Going deeper into the sound there is two styles to Okazaki Taiiku’s music, electronic and alternative rock. Which he makes more depends on what point of his career. His earlier releases were more alternative rock and his more recent is electronic (although note it is most, he has always, and still does. experiment with both). Both have their merits, but I feel his comedic style shines with the electronic side of it. In both instances the instrumental is more of a simple rhythm to give some drive to the vocals. Neither really stand out on an instrumental level, however the electronic style is more easy-going. It allows him to change things up within the song and you can hear the creative freedom, particular with the higher frequencies and vocal effects makes the songs even funnier. This is compared to the harsh rock sound, where it still works but does hinder it a bit if you do not know Japanese. Either way, he is truly talented as he pretty much does the whole production himself which is not easy!

My Top 5 Hits

 

1. Music Video
2. お風呂上がりにパピコを食べる歌 (A Song That Eats Papico as the Bath Rises)
3. 家族構成 (Family Structure)

4. 飛び散る恋神経系 (Scattering Love Nervous System)

5. 鴨川等間隔 (Kamogawa Tōkankaku)

Availability

Unfortunately as most of his releases were independent they are hard to get in Japan let alone in the UK, only his album Techno Basin is available on iTunes (under okazakitaiiku). This means most of his music has to be imported.

Links

Website  –  Youtube  –  Twitter