Line-up

Headliner
Kishi Bashi Last time in Portland: 1 year ago

Venue

Wonder Ballroom

128 NE Russell, 97212, Portland, OR, US

www.wonderballroom.com

Capacity: 778

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Additional details

Doors open: 19:00

Concert in your area for Indie & Alt, Pop, Rock, and Folk & Blues.

Find out more about Pop and Rock.

Kishi Bashi biography

Kishi Bashi, stage name for Kaoru Ishibashi, is an American indie pop singer, songwriter, and producer originally from Seattle, Washington.

Born in Seattle, Washinton on 4 November 1975, Karou Ishibashi studied classical music, later going on to become a renowned violinist. He went on to become an international touring member for Regina Spektor, Sondre Lerche, and Of Montreal. On top of his work as a violinist, he is also a singer and founding member of Jupiter One, a New York based synth pop band formed in 2003. Jupiter One released their self-titled debut album in 2007, followed two years later by their sophomore album, “Sunshower.”

Kishi Bashi also started to record and perform as a solo artist starting in 2011. He started his solo career as the opening act for such artists as Alexi Murdoch, Sondre Lerche and Of Montreal. He released his first studio solo album entitled “151a” in 2012 through Joyful Noise Recordings. The album brought him some acclaim, including being named as favorite new artist of 2012 by Bob Boilen, the host of NPR’s All Songs Considered. Additionally, some of his songs off the album were featured in television advertisements. Kishi Bashi has also toured extensively, playing festivals such as SXSW in Austin, Texas and Austin City Limits, and in Spring 2013 spent time touring around Europe and the United Kingdom.

Live reviews

Rarely have I encountered an individual and performance so charming. Travelling Australia without his band, Kishi Bashi is doing a very impressive solo show. Being very familiar with both of his albums, I was curious to see exactly how we was going to pull it off. Both albums are riddled with complexity and layered sound, it was difficult to imagine how this was going to work. The answer, it turns out, is to have two loop pedals and be surprisingly adept at beat boxing. So hear we have this waistcoat wearing fellow, with wild hair and a big grin, working his violin adeptly, displaying an incredible vocal range in between, and laying down the bout of beat-boxing, all while stepping on and off the loop pedals - and to incredible effect. The venue was tiny, which turned out to be perfect. The closeness and intimacy meant that you could see everything that happened, particularly if you were fortunate enough to end up on stage. When Kishi Bashi realised there were a good number of short people in a tall crowd, he cheerfully invited as many people as would fit to join him on the podium. Hugely interactive with the audience, and utterly charming. He talked over his rare looping fumbles with aplomb, was incredibly conversational, involved the audience in producing beats for the music, he even handed out candy. At the end of the show after disappearing for a little while, he even popped out to mingle with the people who stuck around. Highlights of the night were Q&A, Wonderwoman Wonder Me, Atticus In the Desert, Bittersweet Genesis for Him & Her, and of course the closer - Manchester. It was perfect. Thank you Kishi Bashi.

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