Hiroshi Watanabe

Kaito, or Hiroshi Watanabe, is a Japanese producer who lived in America for a long time, and a rare electronic musician who can boast an excellent musical education (Watanabe graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston in composition). After moving to New York after college, Watanabe became a DJ, soon acquiring a great reputation and performing in clubs such as Tunnel, Twilo, and Speed. At the same time, he began releasing music under his own name and the pseudonym Nite, with some of his tracks reaching first, third, and fifth places on the US Billboard Club Play Chart. In March 1999, Watanabe decided to settle in Japan, where he became a music producer and made remixes. He invented the new pseudonym Kaito in 2001. Under this name, he began releasing on the respected Cologne label Kompakt, where his extremely unusual compositions are still released. At Kompakt, they labeled them as nu-trance (a term Kaito distances himself from in interviews); essentially, it is elements of early trance mixed with beautiful New York deep house – gentle, melodic, and transparent sound collages. Watanabe often performs as a DJ (in this case, he uses his real name). Hiroshi Watanabe is a man of many talents. Besides his well-selling music and successful performances (including at prestigious festivals Sonar in Barcelona, Vision in Switzerland, and Popkomm in Cologne), Watanabe writes music for films, performances, and fashion shows. He also engages in photography – since 2002, he has had several exhibitions in Tokyo and even has a photo book that is sold along with the soundtrack.