Yukimi Nagano | |
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 Nagano performing with Little Dragon at Parklife festival in Sydney, October 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Yukimi Eleanora Nagano |
| Born | 31 January 1982 Gothenburg, Sweden |
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| Years active | 1996–present |
| Member of | Little Dragon |
| Website | www |
Yukimi Eleanora Nagano (born 31 January 1982) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She is the vocalist for the Swedish electronic group Little Dragon.
Nagano first made a record at the age of 18 with Andreas Saag (Swell Session). She then worked with Swedish nu jazz duo Koop on the songs "Summer Sun" and "Bright Nights" (both from 2001's Waltz for Koop ) and joined the duo on tour, which she says "opened a lot of doors for me both life and collaboration wise". [1] She collaborated with Koop again on "Come to Me", "I See a Different You", and "Whenever There Is You" for the 2006 release Koop Islands . [2] Nagano also contributed significant vocal work to the 2004 album Moving On by Hird, including the song "Keep You Kimi" and the title track "Moving On". [3]
Nagano is the vocalist of Gothenburg-based electronic band Little Dragon, which she established with her close high school friends Erik Bodin (drums) and Fredrik Wallin (bass) in 1996 while they were in high school. Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards) joined the group later. [4] Nagano and her bandmates each applied to music college but were denied entrance, and instead continued to make music together while working side jobs. [5] In 2007, Little Dragon released their first single, "Twice", which led to the group being signed to the record label Peacefrog Records. [4] The band released their self-titled debut album on September 3, 2007, to favorable reception. [6] This was followed by Machine Dreams in 2009. [7]
Little Dragon was featured in Gorillaz's 2010 album Plastic Beach on the songs "Empire Ants" and "To Binge", both of which Nagano co-wrote, and she performed in the "Escape to Plastic Beach Tour" the same year. [4] [8]
Little Dragon's third studio album, Ritual Union, was released in July 2011 and the band went on tour in North America, Europe, and Australia. [9] The band's fourth studio album, Nabuma Rubberband, was released in May 2014 in the United Kingdom via Because Music and in the United States via Loma Vista Recordings. [10] It received a nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. [11] The album was supported by tours in Europe and North America. [12] [13]
In 2015, Nagano was featured, along with Little Dragon, on electronic music duo ODESZA's 2015 single "Light". [14] Also in 2015, Nagano and Little Dragon were featured on Mac Miller's GO:OD AM album on the last track titled "The Festival". [15]
In 2016, Little Dragon collaborated with De La Soul on the track "Drawn" and a music video for the song was released in 2017. [16] [17] Season High, Little Dragon's fifth studio album, was also released in 2017. [18]
She and Erik Bodin have played live with fellow Gothenburg artist, José González. [1]
In 2011, Nagano was featured on SBTRKT's eponymous debut album with her vocals on the song "Wildfire". [19] She is also featured on Raphael Saadiq's 2011 album Stone Rollin' on the song "Just Don't". [20]
She also provided vocals for "Scale It Back" on DJ Shadow's 2011 album The Less You Know, the Better and for "Descending", "Higher Res", and "Thom Pettie" from Big Boi's 2012 album Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors . [21] [22] Nagano additionally co-wrote "Mama Told Me" and sang on the song's original version. [23]
Nagano was born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden, to Japanese father Yusuke Nagano and Swedish-American mother Joanne Brown. She has a son, Jaxon, who was born in 2016. [24] Nagano's sister is the musician Sandra Sumie Nagano, whose eponymous album was released by Bella Union in December 2013. [25]
The Knife were a Swedish electronic music duo from Gothenburg, formed in 1999. The group consisted of siblings Karin and Olof Dreijer, who together also run their own record company, Rabid Records. They gained a large international following in response to their 2003 album Deep Cuts.
Hardcore Superstar is a Swedish rock band from Gothenburg, formed in 1997. They have released eleven studio albums.
Koop was an electronic jazz duo from Sweden, consisting of Magnus Zingmark and Oscar Simonsson. Their music consists of mostly vocal jazz created by putting together thousands of different song samples and has been described as a blend between 1960s jazz, swing and Caribbean music.
Koop Islands is the third studio album by the Stockholm-based electronic music duo Koop. Compared to their last success Waltz for Koop, Koop Islands combines inspiration by 1930's swing with an exotic Caribbean touch. Collaborators include Yukimi Nagano, Ane Brun, Rob Gallagher, and others.
Little Dragon are a Swedish electronic music band from Gothenburg, Sweden, formed in 1996. The band consists of Yukimi Nagano, Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrik Wallin (bass) and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards).
Karin Maria Erika Park is a Swedish-Norwegian singer-songwriter.
Machine Dreams is the second studio album by Swedish electronic music band Little Dragon. It was released on 17 August 2009 by Peacefrog Records.
"Empire Ants" is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz, released on their third studio album Plastic Beach. It features guest vocals and instrumentation from Yukimi Nagano, the vocalist of the trip hop band Little Dragon.
Ritual Union is the third studio album by Swedish electronic music band Little Dragon. It was released on 25 July 2011 by Peacefrog Records. The album reached number 47 in the band's native Sweden, as well as number 28 on the UK Albums Chart and number 78 on the US Billboard 200. The album's second single, "Ritual Union", peaked at number 76 on the UK Singles Chart. Ritual Union received generally positive reviews from music critics.
Aaron Jerome, known professionally as Sbtrkt, is an English musician and producer. Jerome has remixed songs by artists such as M.I.A, Radiohead, Modeselektor, Basement Jaxx, Mark Ronson, and Underworld, and has released singles, EPs, and four albums. His music has been playlisted by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music.
Jessica Lois Ware is an English singer. She came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album, Devotion (2012), which peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart, produced the single "Wildest Moments", and was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. Her second studio album, Tough Love (2014), reached number nine in the UK and produced the singles "Tough Love" and "Say You Love Me". Her third studio album, Glasshouse (2017), reached number seven in the UK. In 2018, Ware began co-hosting the Table Manners podcast alongside her mother Lennie.
Robin Hannibal Mølsted Braun is a Danish record producer and songwriter, best known for being one half of the musical duo Quadron and for being a founding member of Rhye, which he has since left. Besides being involved in both, he is also known for producing two tracks for Little Dragon's Nabuma Rubberband and received co-writing credits for Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe by Kendrick Lamar, as the song contained a sample of "Tiden Flyver" performed by his band Boom Clap Bachelors.
Loma Vista Recordings is a record label founded by Tom Whalley, former chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Records and Executive of A&R at Interscope Records. The label was initially a joint venture with Republic Records and is based in Beverly Hills and Brooklyn.
Odesza is an American electronic music duo originating from Bellingham, Washington. It consists of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight, known individually as Catacombkid and BeachesBeaches. They formed in 2012, shortly before Mills and Knight graduated from Western Washington University.
Nabuma Rubberband is the fourth studio album by Swedish electronic music band Little Dragon, released on 9 May 2014 by Because Music. It features collaborations with Dave from De La Soul and Robin Hannibal. The album spawned three singles: "Klapp Klapp", "Paris" and "Let Go". Nabuma Rubberband was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.
The Chopstars, also known as Chopstar DJs or simply Chopstars, are a collective that include American DJs and turntablists that perform chopped and screwed remixes of popular music under Chop Not Slop Ent. including Drake's 2011 Take Care album, as well as Little Dragon's 2014 Nabuma Rubberband album. and recently released Savage Mode II from Metro Boomin and 21 Savage. Created by OG Ron C, the co-founder of Swishahouse Records, it is a homage to the late DJ Screw. The motto of The Chopstars is "Keeping DJ Screw alive since 2001" and "Dedicated to the memory of DJ Screw." Notable members include DJ Candlestick, DJ Lil Steve, Mike G, DJ Ryan Wolf the official DJ of the Cleveland Browns, DJ Hollygrove formerly of KQBT, and Academy Award-winning director Barry Jenkins. They also received a proclamation from Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Nov 4th making July 1st The Chopstars Day.
Daniel John Vidmar, best known by his stage name Shy Girls, is an American alternative R&B singer-songwriter and producer currently based in Los Angeles, CA. His debut EP, Timeshare, was released in 2013 to critical acclaim on the Internet. Throughout 2014, Shy Girls was hand-picked as US tour opener for Haim, Maxwell, and Little Dragon and performed at festivals like Lollapalooza and MusicfestNW. Vidmar also was featured on "All We Need" by Odesza for their 2014 album, In Return. In 2015, he released a 13-track mixtape titled 4WZ which featured guest appearances by Tei Shi, Rome Fortune, Antwon, and Junglepussy. As a producer and songwriter, Vidmar has worked with artists such as Jhené Aiko, Young Thug, Cashmere Cat, Kito, Cyril Hahn, and Yoke Lore.
Season High is the fifth studio album by Swedish electronic music band Little Dragon, released on 14 April 2017 by Because Music. The song "High" was released as the first single.
New Me, Same Us is the sixth studio album by Swedish electronic music band Little Dragon. It was released on 27 March 2020.
Slugs of Love is the seventh studio album by Swedish band Little Dragon, released through Ninja Tune on 7 July 2023. It includes collaborations with JID and Damon Albarn, and was preceded by the singles "Slugs of Love", "Kenneth", "Gold" and "Tumbling Dice". The band will tour North America and Europe in late 2023 in support of the album.
The first record I ever recorded was with Andreas Saag, I was about 18 and it was shortly after that the Koop guys contacted me to feature on their album. A couple of years later I was touring with them all over the world so it opened a lot of doors for me both live and collaboration wise.
The band formed 15 years ago in Gothenburg, Sweden. Nagano, 29, whose peripatetic father is Japanese and mother is American, was a freshman in high school when she met seniors Wallin and Bodin.
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