The Carbohydrates

THE CARBOHYDRATES were founded by Japanese singer-rapper “nission” and American born 2nd generation Japanese songwriter “ryo.” during the covid pandemic in the heart of Los Angeles. nission and ryo. had met and collaborated together for the first time at the Splash Fest 2011 held in Los Angeles with ryo.’s former band’s last show. The name of the groups simply comes from all means for their love of carbs.

Melding together a number of their musical influences, such as the late 90’s Japanese pop and rock movements (such as Dragon Ash, Steady & Co.), lofi beats, and the Western nu hip-hop alternative sound (Emenim, Fort Minor, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.), THE CARBOHYDRATES offer an alternative nostalgic spice to today’s indie music scene.

The Los Angeles based music duo released their first digital single ‘SOLA’ together to kick off their activities. "We all have our daily struggles. Things we want to do, things we need to do depending on that person. Be honest to yourself. This may be the one last chance. Let's try to believe in infinite possibilities spreading out like this wide sky", says nission who wrote the lyrics and topline melodies. SOLA comes from the word "Sora" which means the "Sky" in Japanese and the word popped into songwriter ryo.'s head as he had said "That's so LA" during a beer drink chat. "I wanted to write a song where I can apply expressions of pumping emotions that came from inner struggles through an experience and encourage those who had something like that. Especially during the stay home orders in the COVID disaster that hit us this year.” The song had totally been created, recorded, produced at their homes without any help from productions which they had both agreed it deeply meant something by being truly DIY for this project during this time.