"Music is painting and thought" King Gnu's Daiki Tsuneta's transversal aesthetics
"Music is painting and thought" - King Gnu's Daiki Tsuneta's transversal aesthetics
Introduction: Beyond the Boundaries of Genre
"Don't be trapped by genre" - King Gnu's music embodies this saying, freely moving between rock, jazz, classical, hip hop, and R&B. While the band's central figure, Daiki Tsuneta, is a musician, he also constructs his music with the sensibility of an artist. His creations stir the emotions and memories of listeners, like abstract paintings.
A fusion of artistic sense and music
Tsuneda graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts. His aesthetic sense permeates not only music, but also space, video, and fashion. For example, in his collaborative track "SUNDANCE FOR BOTTEGA VENETA" with Bottega Veneta, he fuses tribal rhythms with free jazz, creating a work that unites visual beauty and music.
In this piece, the piano functions like a percussion instrument, and the tone is elegant and tight. The sound cuts through the space like lines drawn with a paintbrush. Tsuneda says that the piece "lacks individuality," but this is probably the flip side of his creative approach, which is not bound by any "form."
The essence of "Tokyo New Mixture Style"
King Gnu's music has been described as a "Tokyo New Mixture Style," a style that transforms the atmosphere of Tokyo, where the hustle and bustle of the city intersects with tradition and innovation, into sound.
In his signature song "Hakujitsu," classical piano and modern beats are combined to leave a deep impression on the listener. In "SPECIALZ," the opening theme for the anime series "Jujutsu Kaisen," the visuals and music are synchronized, blurring the boundaries between sight and hearing.
Music philosophy: "You don't have to take it so seriously"
Tsuneda says, "There's no need to be bound by mass-producing hit songs." For him, music is not about commerce, but about ideas, and the moments when he "intersects" with his listeners are the most precious.
This philosophy is also reflected in WABISUKE's "poetic yet universal" content creation. Unconstrained by convention, yet deeply resonant, this creative approach resonates across generations.
Conclusion: Resonance from a WABISUKE perspective
Daiki Tsuneta's music is a comprehensive art form that encompasses not only sound but also "visuals," "ideas," and "atmosphere." It resonates deeply with WABISUKE's goal of "combining tradition and innovation" and "a poetic yet accessible worldview."
His work makes us reconsider what music is and what beauty is. These questions will likely become the source of WABISUKE's next articles and products.