So you want a revolution
The first in hopefully many artist spotlights goes to the J-pop singer T.M. Revolution. ^^
About 2 years ago I took a trip to Japantown in San Francisco with some friends of mine. My friend, Ryan, and I were in the Kinokuniya store checking out the PV (promotional video aka music video) sampler when we came across the T.M. Revolution PV for "Out of Orbit -Triple Zero-". It was then that I fell in love with T.M. Revolution's music.
Though the name may suggest T.M. Revolution (or Takanori Makes Revolution) to be a music group it is actually only one man, Takanori Nishikawa. His music easily falls into the pop genre but his songs are influenced by many other music styles. He was a part of another music group (which I sadly know little about) before he began his solo career as T.M. Revolution in 1996.
Since his debut he has released 9 albums as well as a best of album. He's probably best known for his song "Heart of Sword -Yoakemae-" which was featured as a theme song for the popular Ruroni Kenshin TV anime series as well as the song "Invoke" from Gundam Seed.
In 2003 with Tofu Records (a branch of his label Sony Music) released his Coordinate album shortly followed by the Summer Crush DVD. Then at Otakon 2003 he made his American concert debut which I was lucky enough to attend. I was truly blown away by his lively and fun performance and it was then that I knew I was truly hooked on his music. His kindness also surprised me as he stayed well over the set time to sign autographs so everyone waiting in line could get one.
This year he performed again in the U.S. this time at Pacific Media Expo in California, which I sadly couldn't make it to. There has had another American album and DVD release from Tofu Records in the past year and he recently made an appearance on the red carpet for the Spider-Man 2 movie premiere (he had written the song "Web of Night" used for the Japanese release of the film). He has stated in several interviews his desire to be able to reach his American fans more easily commenting on wanting to be able to make an all English album sometime in the future.
T.M. Revolution Links:
Unofficial International Fanclub
http://brigade.takanori-nishikawa.com/
Official Website
http://www.tm-revolution.com/
Where to buy his cds
http://www.tofurecords.com/
His clothesline website
http://www.defrock.jp/top.html
The information is taken from his official sites and from interviews and reports at http://www.animenewsnetwork.com and http://www.nt2099.com/J-ENT/index2.html