Toko Yasuda

Toko Yasuda is a Japanese singer, songwriter, keyboardist, Guitarist, and bassist, best known as a member of New York indie rock band Enon and as a musician in live St. Vincent performances.

Toko Yasuda
Background information
Also known asPlvs Vltra, Kotokoto
GenresRock, Electronics, Experimental
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, musician
InstrumentsBass guitar,
guitar,
keyboard instruments
Years active1992–present
LabelsTouch and Go Records
Spectrum Spools Records
Associated actsThe Van Pelt
The Lapse
Blonde Redhead
Enon
Azealia Banks
St. Vincent
Plvs Vltra
Kotokoto
Websitewww.enon.tv

Life and career

Yasuda grew up in the cities of Fujisawa and Kamakura. Her father was once a doshu of Aikido. She moved to New York City in 1992, and lived there until 2006.[1]

Yasuda has played in the bands The Lapse and The Van Pelt before their disbandment, and had a brief stint in Blonde Redhead. After that Toko appeared in the band Enon. She played the moog synthesizer and guitar for St. Vincent during the Strange Mercy tour from 2011 to 2012.[2]

Soft-spoken Yasuda is known for her smooth sounding voice, simple yet catchy songwriting, and heavy use of synthesizer in song composition, giving the songs an electropop-like quality.

Yasuda currently resides in Los Angeles and formerly she shortly lived in Philadelphia, after being priced out of both Manhattan and Brooklyn. The New York Times profiled Enon's move to Philadelphia as indication of a greater phenomenon of transplanted New Yorkers to the "sixth borough".[3]

In 2012, Yasuda released the album Parthenon under the pseudonym Plvs Vltra. Parthenon is Yasuda's first solo album, featuring collaborations with Danny Ray Thompson of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Scott Allen of Thunderbirds Are Now, and John Schmersal, also of Enon, who produced the album. She has released her latest Ambient album Institute under the pseudonym Kotokoto in 2018.

Yasuda is featured on a song "Masseduction" on St.Vincent's 2017 fifth studio album Masseduction which won the award for Best Recording Package and Best Rock Song for its title track, and was also nominated for the Best Alternative Music Album.[4] She also appeared on the track "Gimme A Chance" on Azealia Banks' 2014 debut album Broke With Expensive Taste which was sampled from a song "Knock That Door" on the album Lost Marbles & Exploded Evidence from the band Enon in 2005.

Yasuda toured with St. Vincent through the Digital Witness Tour (supporting the album St. Vincent) and "I Am A Lot Like You" tour (supporting the album Masseduction), providing bass, keyboards, guitar and backing vocals. In 2019, she was brought in as a touring keyboardist for Sleater-Kinney to perform songs from the band's new album The Center Won't Hold.

Discography
  • Parthenon (2012) (as PLVS VLTRA)
  • Yo-Yo Blue (2013) (as PLVS VLTRA)
  • Rooftop Arcade/Mesopotamia (2013) (as PLVS VLTRA)
  • Institute (2018) (as Kotokoto)
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References
  1. Stashnov, Mitch (27 July 2013). "Surroundings: PLVS VLTRA's Guide To Stateside Staples". URB.
  2. "St Vincent – 4AD Session". 26 October 2011.
  3. Jessica Pressler. 14 August 2005. The New York Times. "Philadelphia Story: The Next Borough."
  4. "61st Annual GRAMMY Awards". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. 6 December 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
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