antennasia

Founded in 1999 by vocalist, san and trackmaker, Nerve.  Blending elements from such inspirations as triphop, electronica, dub, house etc. from their early days. After songs from the CD-R albums made no.1 in internet music charts in Japan, antennasia released their formal 1st album "Phased" from their own label Double Life Records in 2002. Their sophisticated dub/club oriented sound caught interest of promoters in Europe where they toured in Belgium and Holland. 2nd album "Cinemice," characterized by the mixture of deep dub sounds and indistinct elements of jazz, was released in 2005. On the subsequent tour, antennasia supported Lemongrass from Germany, it brought them the opportunity for their songs and album to appear on the Lemongrassmusic catalog. After "Cinemice," antennasia delved deeper into electronica. Their new songs were played on Ryuichi Sakamoto's radio show and drew attention of electronica/pop music listeners of Japan. Sakamoto sent a comment “I want them to make more music. I think they are a unit with a bright future.” for their 2006 album "23 Bluebird Street, Velo-City."

DJ3000 (Motech), Embee (Looptroop Rockers), D-Fried, Team Doyobi, Rob Smith (RSD, Smith & Mighty) etc. provided remixes for "Velo-city Remixed" album, which was released in Europe (on Lemongrassmusic) and Japan. In 2010, antennasia released "Qus-cus," a calm and introspective album constructed by a collage/cut-up method. Following "Re : Qus-cus" included remixes by D-Fried, Toshiyuki Yasuda etc. The next album "Howling" (2013) showed a harsh and heavy side of antennasia still sprinkled with delicate feelings and sadness. The album was influenced by the tragedies of the 2011 Tohoku earthquakes, tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster in/around the region, where they are based. Through "Dragonfly EP" and "Dragonfly Remixes" 2013 from Mezé in Detroit, antennasia completed their new album. The vocalist, san, takes the initiative this time composing, programming and producing most of the songs in the 2017 album "Alter-Egoist." In 2019, the 20th anniversary year of antennasia's forming, they released the album titled "Error-Code : SFRN". In 2020 and 2021, they consecutively released two EP’s "Papier-Mâché" and “Hazy Pink” which show deeper influences from dark synth-pop of late 70s - early 80s. 

Nerve started to make ambient music under the name NRV during the “stay-home” period by pandemic. Some of the works were released from the San Francisco based electronic label, Tabula Rasa Records. 

"Warped Lucky" - an album that mixes many elements like dub, trip-hop, synthpop, electronica etc., but is strangely unified - was released in 2023 from Tabula Rasa Records in San Francisco and Double Life Records.

“Channel Low”, the new album also skillfully incorporates elements of trip-hop and dub  like the previous work. However, this time, the central theme is “groove,” with the driving force of bass and drums standing out throughout the entire album, creating a sense of dynamism not found in the previous release.

1999年にボーカリストのsanとトラックメイカーのNerveによって結成されたantennasia（アンテネイジア）は、仙台を拠点に活動するエレクトロニック・デュオで、トリップホップ、ダブ、エレクトロニカ、シンセポップといったジャンルを自在に横断するサウンドで知られている。2002年にリリースされたデビューアルバム『Phased』は海外でも注目を集め、ヨーロッパでの公演やLemongrass、DJ3000、Rob Smith（Smith & Mighty）といったアーティストとのコラボレーションにつながった。

antennasiaのサウンドは、シネマティックな『Cinemice』（2005年）から、2011年の東日本大震災の余波の中で制作されたエモーショナルな『Howling』（2013年）に至るまで、多様なリリースを通じて進化してきた。近年では、ボーカリストのsanがより積極的にプロダクションを担うようになり、その姿勢は『Alter-Egoist』（2017年）に色濃く表れている。一方、Nerveはパンデミック中にアンビエント・ドローン・プロジェクト「NRV」を始動させた。

『Warped Lucky』（2023年）や『Channel Low』（2024年）などの最新作では、グルーヴ、ベース、そしてリズムに対する探究がさらに深化し、antennasiaならではの破壊と再創造のプロセスが活発化しているのが見てとれる。彼らの音楽は、レイヤーの重なった音の風景を旅するような、シュールでありながら魂に訴えかける体験であり、アンダーグラウンドとエクスペリメンタル・ポップの両方のリスナーに共鳴している。