Are you guys excited about the Blip Festival Tokyo? For those of you who are, we've got an interview with one of the artists who will be playing during the shows dates of October 22-23rd, 2011. His name is Kenji, or better known as "M7Kenji." A mobile app designer, M7Kenji has played in two Blip Festivals alongside visualists like NoCarrier, Raquel Meyers, and Visualiscious. I'm not done yet, Kenji has also worked on many Flash, Android, and iPhone apps as well as aided in the design for numerous events in and around Japan. Quite the profile, if it has whet your appetite, then read on to see what M7Kenji has had to say about his style, influences, and more:
When did you start performing visuals?
My first show was in 2007 for a rock band in Shinjuku, Tokyo it wasn't related to chip music but it was an awesome experience.
初めてのライブは2007年。新宿でチップミュージックではなくてロックのイベントの。すごい良い経験でした。
What software did you use?
I was using Motion Dive.Tokyo but I have since switched to Numark's NUVJ.
その時Motion Dive.Tokyo を使ったけど、今はNUVJを使ってます。
Which visualists were you into at the time?
I actually didn't know many other visualists, I was really into creating my own little GIFs and Decomeru which are a type of animated emoticon which are pretty popular in Japan. My main early influence was a bit unusual perhaps, Nintendo's keychain Tetris and Bandai's Tamagotchi. The ultra low resolution forces the visual artists to be really creative. This was totally inspiring, I wanted to see how much expression I could get out of a really limited resolution.
昔流行ったキーホルダーのテトリスやバンダイのたまごっちなどのキーチェーンゲームですね。解像度が低くてグラフィックアーティストがクリエイティブじゃないと作れない。ここからインスピレーションがあってその影響でビジュアルをつくろうと思いました。
What visualists do you like now?
At Blip Tokyo 2010 I saw Raquel Meyers she has a very interesting style which is kind of similar to mine in some ways but more glitchy. In New York I met Party Time! Hexcellent! her visuals are really cute but edgy at the same time. Again in New York, cTrix showed me some really fascinating work on Atari 2600.
ブリップ東京で、Raquel Meyersさん を見た。彼女のスタイルがすごい面白い。私に近いけど、グリッチが多い。またニューヨークでParty Time! Hexcellent!さん に会って、彼女のビジュアルはかわいくて、ハードなかんじ。まだニューヨークで cTrix さん がATARI2600ですごい面白いビジュアルを見せてくれた。
A big thanks to Jeriaska for the live image of Kenji doing his thing.
Kenji's most recent app, Ringo, is available in the App Store and he will be performing live at the Blip Festival in Tokyo next month.
A piece of Kenji's unique graphic design.
More of Kenji's work.
Kenji's newest app, Ringo, which you can download now.