Meet Greg and Yoshiko of Warau – Two Musicians on two different sides of the planet.
You know what they say “Creativity is infectious, and must be freed of barriers.” These barriers were obliterated with this online collaboration by Greg and Yoshiko of Warau. This is a single full of oxymoron’s with lyrics like:
"There is a forest without trees / There is music without sound"
“There is light there, there is a spark that brings us together” Warau’s spark is being brought together to make amazing music from a distance of 6,200 miles and they have perfected their skills over time and Denki No Ryu is the first fruit of their labours, at least that has been released for sale so far. Overall, this track has a lot going for it;
a superbly produced punk-rock inspired piece of EDM that is equally radio and dance-floor friendly.
It will appeal to the currently huge mainstream dance crowd and beyond due to its fine pop sensibilities.
Denki No Ryu
Exposed Vocals Score 8.3/10
Two more by Greg and Yoshiko of Warau.
Questions and Motorcycle
Exclusive Interview with Greg
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Well my story is I’m an internationally minded artist with a focus on Japan. I grew up in the suburbs of Maplewood Minnesota which is a really laid-back atmosphere and certainly not big city stuff. I like really urban environments over lakes and ponds and grassy hills. Also, being a minority didn’t help me and I felt isolated and alone all the time. I only had a few close friends which I am grateful for. Growing up I was always looking to change my circumstances because I wasn’t happy with what I had for some reason and I was attracted to all the pretty stuff in the arts so I found myself drawn to Japanese culture because of its mature and austere beauty. I started studying Japanese in about 1994 and can now have a basic conversation in Japanese and read a simple article online. And let me tell you in those days it was really hard to learn Japanese. Now there are all these tools and smartphone apps but back then it was a kanji dictionary you had to page thru and look up kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese) by the number of brush strokes in the character and that was about it. So anyway, I was drawn to Japan and started to think about writing my music I had been making since I was 15 in the language I was learning. By about 2005-07 I had a computer I could make music with compared to the midi sequencer and radioshack mixing desk for cassette tapes I had before. I loved bands from all over, but I really liked Japanese rocks bands. I remember the first time I got a copy of the breaststroke by Coaltar of the deepers I was just blown away, that and vision creation newsun by boredoms and many others really made me want to write a song in Japanese. I always have song ideas, so I decided at that time even I would do it and compose songs in Japanese, I mean it was only natural right? In 2016 I wrote a book about the Japanese music scene call Jpop: Beyond Oricon: An Alternative Listener’s Guide to Japanese Pop Music and I began to have contacts in the Japanese music world. It was thru these associates that I became aware of recruitment sites for Japanese artists. I put up a request and got in touch with Yoshiko and we hit it off immediately.
After I got my first song with her I decided to become an artist. I had fun making music all these years as a hobby, why not let some people hear it? I want to give the same joy to people I get whenever I discover some great music
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
I recently had the pleasure of getting Ableton Live 10. I think it could completely change the music I’m making, previously I used audacity to record, but Ableton Live 10 has a lot more to offer I think, I got the deluxe version of it so there are many dials and knobs to turn to try to get a better sound. I only hope its easy to learn as I tire of learning new software environments all the time. I really need someone to teach it to me I think,
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
Names like mc ukudada and mc iknow or oki dub ainu band come to mind or even buffalo daughter, but overall I would have to say I’d like to play with the wedding present somewhere in England because I went to go see their show in the 90’s and missed it by about 5 minutes and its frontman and songwriter David gedge comes out and greets me and talks with me at the bar for quite a while saying he’s sorry I missed the show. I tell him how much I like the band, so he gives me a free poster and his address to send him a letter! I never expected to be treated so well by a band I love at the time. So I’d like to play with them the most because he’s such a nice person to be so kind to a young painfully obvious virgin boy with pimples. Thank you David gedge
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
I’m going to release a series of singles in different genres. Once I get good at Ableton 10 I’ll make an album with Yoshiko, right now denki no ryu is out and you can get that now, coming for preorder next month is my best song so far called “questions”, which Exposed vocals has heard, and then motorcycle and some others too, just expect a bunch of singles by me before the year is up with new material being thought up by me as we speak. So, if you like denki no ryu know that more is coming in the form of singles, some really way out stuff is planned.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
I’d be painting pictures and photography, the artist in my bones has got to come out somehow. I’ve got to express myself to the world…I feel the need to have my works seen by others recently so painting and photography would be some natural choices for me.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?
Singles and more singles. As I progress with Ableton live you should see an increase in the technical difficulty of my compositions
Exposed Vocals: Any Shout-outs?
I would like to say hello Barbara thanks for your support.