Hifana are fast making a name for themselves in Japan and beyond by cooking up a fresh brew of club music that includes scratching, samplers, percussion, break beats, sound effects, gamelan, video, and a healthy sense of humor. The dynamic duo go by the names KEIZOmachine (born Keizo Fukuda) and Juicy (born Jun Miyata). Oddly enough, the two began playing together in a percussion unit backing belly dancers.

In 1998 they began experimenting with samplers to diversify their sound, and then kept right on adding to their sonic arsenal. Their range is part of what makes them an interesting group to watch perform. As many club-goers know, a DJ hunched over a turntable or PC can sometimes lack dynamics. Hifana’s live shows include drumming, turntablism, samples, and an upbeat tag team style of playing. They cut beats with a real time sampler, and incorporate scratch and percussion, without using programming. They also use clever, mostly animated videos, often with traditional Japanese themes, to spice up their performance.

The Tokyo based group has so far released two albums, both on W+K Tokyo Lab, a DVD music label owned by hip ad agency Wieden Kennedy Tokyo. In November 2003 they released Fresh Push Breakin to a good but not tremendous response, and while popular in club circles it did not break to a mass audience. They did however merit a performance at 2004’s Fuji Rock festival, which helped them pick up a wider array of fans. In early August, just after their second album Channel H was released, Hifana played an enthusiastically received show at one of Japan’s biggest music festivals, Metamorphose. The album was released August 24, 2005, packaged with a DVD including over 20 inventive videos, and featuring guest appearances by Keyco, Twigy and Tucker. Channel H has received strong critical reception, including landing them on the cover on Tower Records’ monthly magazine Bounce, and in the Oricon top 100.

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