We Speak Music
Rare London shows with awesome Franco-Japanese artist Maia Barouh
Off the back of critical acclaim for her recent album release ‘Aida’, Franco-Japanese singer, rapper, producer, and musician Maïa Barouh will be heading to London this April for a string of solo dates across the capital which will show her performing both a full electronic and acoustic set.
“Aida” means “between” in Japanese: between France and Japan, between the mainland and the islands, between the ancient and the modern. The character for the word is 間, a sun caught between two doors and it also means “silence”.
Written, arranged, and produced by Maïa over the past few years, she has built a distinctive soundworld around her two main instruments, flute and voice. The resulting album is raw, spacious, and thought-provoking whilst also being playful, quirky, and sometimes disconcerting, for example when she explores anti-Asian racism and feminism.
Tracks like ‘TOKYO ONDO’ and ‘HAFU’ are fierce, bass loaded, explorations of unconventional beats and tasty Asian motifs that twist and turn embedding more and more in the psyche on each listen. Elsewhere on the album, Maia moves into more ambient cinematic territory with the intriguing & surreal ‘RINGO’ and the experimental flute-bounce of anti-Brexit anthem ‘EXIT’, with its loaded Theresa May sample and hook line “Do you wanna Brexit with me?”.
Embracing the challenge of combining her two native languages, Maia collaborated with rapper Elea Braaz to find the perfect French lyrics for traditional Japanese melodies and to find a Japanese rhythmic flow when rapping in French.
Daughter of French film composer Pierre Barouh, Maia comes from a rich creative lineage. Her lyrics and production take inspiration from the eccentric Tokyo underground scene, traditional folk singing, tribal grooves, French rap and electronic elements: a sonically and culturally blended album which fluctuates between roots and reinvention.
Maia Barouh April 2023 London tour:
21st April- Finnish Church
22nd April- Brave Poets, Cromwell Place
23rd April- The Tent At The End Of The Universe (with surprise full band show)
Aaron makes music about meaningful topics that rocks and grooves – and sometimes it even skanks on a rock steady beat!
His new song ‘Geeks’ has been released on all major music platforms on November 15th. It is an anthem for the heroes of the digital age: computer nerds, also known as geeks. It is driven by an off-beat ska guitar, a sticky bass line and a groovy brass section. The icing on the cake is a jazzy saxophone solo.
“I have always loved Ska, I even saw the Specials, the Selecter and Madness live in their heydays”, says Aaron. “I chose the topic although I am not a geek myself, but I have a lot of sympathy for them. Geeks are often frowned upon because they can be socially awkward, but they are the ones who are building a better world. So I think they deserve an anthem.”
The music video is mostly made up of typography, minimalistic ASCII graphics and heavily pixelated images – it surely looks geeky! Watch it here:
Aaron writes catchy songs that are made for people who like meaningful, uplifting topics and guitar-driven, hand-made sounds. His musical journey started young but it wasn’t until he discovered Bitcoin and became so invested in it that he used music to express his new found joy.
“It’s mostly rock music, with excursions into funk, soul and other styles I grew up with. In general, it’s guitar-driven and hand-made, often with a punkish energy and beatlesque harmonies. What all my songs have in common are meaningful lyrics about being in the here and now, about transforming disturbing emotions into wisdom, about being in the flow, things like that.” says Aaron in an interview.
“I have always been making music and writing songs, starting with a punk rock band when I was 15. However, I never saw it as a career. I played in several bands in my teenage years and my early twenties, but after my media studies in Berlin and Rio de Janeiro I focused on other things. I first worked in TV production and then founded one of the first Internet agencies in Germany. I discovered Bitcoin in 2011 and became fascinated by it. I wrote five books about it, made lots of promotional videos and educational series for Bitcoin and blockchain companies, and organised events. I even wrote some songs about Bitcoin, which became quite popular in the community, like my Reggaeton about the Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador. People always liked that my songs are catchy and provocative. It was by the end of 2023 that I decided to go full in on music. It’s what I enjoy the most, so now I want to fully follow my passion.”
Since May 2024, his songs have been streamed more than 250,000 times on Spotify and his music videos have been viewed more than 350,000 times on YouTube.
Read more about Aaron King: http://aaron-koenig.net/press/
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