bonobos

Hypnotic and soothing, those are two words that come to mind when thinking of bonobos. bonobos is one of many bands in Japan in the new wave of reggae artists.

bonobos formed in 2001 by vocalist/guitarist Sai Chunho. Later that year Sai would be joined by bassist Morimoto Natsuko, guitarist Sasaki Yasuyuki, and drummer Tsuji Bondo. It was not until 2002 after a few live stints in Osaka that the band would release any demotapes. One of their demos, moujiki fuyu ga kuru, hit #1 on the Kansai (western Japan) area student geared CRJ-west charts. It was voted as the #1 song overall for the year as well on that chart.

bonobos joined on the label GALATIC and released their first mini-album, Headphone Magic. This album sold fairly well for the indie newcomers as it hit the Oricon chart. That same year brought the major debut of bonobos with the song that made them popular in the first place, moujiki fuyu ga kuru. It would be followed in January of 2004 with the single water.

In March of 2004 they released their first full major album, Hover Hover. This brought a lot of attention to the group as they would perform in the Rising Sun Rock Festival that summer.

bonobos are still going strong as they released their second major album, electlyric, in May of 2005.

Source:
http://www.circlewithadot.net/bands/bonobos/bio.html