City Life Feature: February 04

Who?

The missing link between Cornelius and Stereolab, Shirokuma is a Manchester-based musician who specialises in infectious electro-pop. He's also a self-confessed magpie with a serious soft spot for Japanese pop, disco, trip-hop, rock, punk-funk and all things synth based.

What to Expect

If his debut EP is anything to go by, expect to be surprised, seduced and bedazzled. The A-side fuses an irresistable pop melody with shuffling drums, Spanish guitar and euphoric vocals while "Spraypaint" layers robotic synths with a playful chorus and DIY samples. Elsewhere, he masterfully morphs intricate guitar loops with beats, distortion and background noise.

The struggle so far

Mark Corrin began writing his own songs at the age of 14 when he stumbled across an old guitar at a car boot sale. After a brief diversion into goth/grunge (his first song was called "Graveyard Shift"), he cut his teeth playing covers of Pavement and the Pixies in bands like Panel Beater, Jason Takes Manhattan and Beat Safari. Encouraged by his friends and family, he borrowed a sampler, shelled out on an ancient Atari and started writing and recording solo material as Shirokuma around three years ago. Despite John Peel regularly hammering his demos on his Radio 1 show, Corrin's pleas for a record deal went un-noticed until mid-2003, when local label Faith & Hope finally signed on the dotted line.

What Next?

Between promoting his bi-monthly club night Niku Jaga and collaborating with local folk duo George, Corrin has been busy mastering his debut album "Secret Moves At The Midnight Chessclub". He's pleased it'g since he’s recorded over 100 songs since. A true eccentric, he describes his debut as "warm, inventive, leggy, intimate, intriguing, fresh and ceramic" before deciding it's "actually music for confused barnyard owls that have just turned neon…"

See/Purchase

"Moonlight in the afternoon" is now out on limited 10… "Secret Moves At The Midnight Chessclub" is released in June, both on Faith & Hope.