Header Menu

Friday, October 5, 2012

Behind the Drums: Akitaka Tohyama @ AJURIKA


Akitaka Tohyama (遠山明孝) is a key player in Bandai Namco's music team responsible for the music of many prominent videogame franchises the company has made. His passion for music is undeniable; Tohyama-san began learning the piano at a very young age of 4, and started dabbling in computer synthesized music at 14. An avid lover of video game music in particular, he sent several demo tracks (his own compositions) to several video game companies when he was in the 4th year of college, after which Namco hired him. Tohyama-san has been working there ever since.

The works made during his career with Namco include music from Ridge Racer, Tekken, God Eater, Taiko no Tatsujin, and especially Katamari Damacy, which got him much attention overseas as well.  His favorite genre of music is psychadelic trance, and when he isn't working on Namco's big projects, he's producing music of the genre he loves, under the alias 'Ajurika'. Tohyama-san released an EP (extended play, longer than a single but too short to be an album) called 'Samurai Damacy' in May 2010 with a UK-based recording company PSY-CORE RECORDS. After his departure from Bandai Namco's in-house sound unit, he's currently a freelance artist.

In Taiko no Tatsujin, he is responsible for making three significant techno songs and a good portion of the Muscle March songs. He also has a hand in making some Idolm@ster songs, with a couple of those appearing in the Ps Vita iDOLM@ster-centric titles.

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Soundcloud

Game Music
  • PaPaPa Love
  • Hole in the wall
  • Make Inu Henjou (負け犬返上)
  • KARMA (Tatsujin Mix)
  • Next Life
  • THE IDOLM@STER 2nd-mix - arranger
  • Never say never
Namco Original
  • The Carnivorous Carnival
  • Evidence of evil
  • Turquoise Tachometer
  • Ikanai de Ikaros (行かないでイカロス)
Other Music Games Songs

Idolm@ster
  • Naked Romance
  • Nation Blue
  • Nostalgia
  • Near to You
  • PURPLE SKY
Synchronica
  • Snow Light
beatmania IIDX
  • SPEED ROCKER
Back to Others page