Susumu Makai better known as Zongamin, is a UK-based Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese-born musician and producer.

Biography

Makai grew up in rural Japan and moved with his family to East Anglia

East Anglia

East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...

 at the age of eleven. He attended Summerhill School

Summerhill School

Summerhill School is an independent British boarding school that was founded in 1921 by Alexander Sutherland Neill with the belief that the school should be made to fit the child, rather than the other way around...

 where he learned to play bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 and went on to play in several bands. He went on to study at the Royal College of Art

Royal College of Art

The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...

 and began experimenting with sampling and recording, and was signed to his friend Mike Silver's Flesh Records label.

Makai explained his stage name: "When I started I wanted it to sound like a band from another dimension. So I came up with a different word for it."

His self-titled debut album was released in 2003 by XL Recordings

XL Recordings

XL Recordings is a British independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records.Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL Recordings has worked with The Prodigy, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A., Vampire...

, and met with a positive critical response; Allmusic gave it a three-star rating, commenting on the "wealth of ideas" and an "endearing 'anything goes' playfulness" on the album. Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

 gave it 7.3/10, Gigwise.com

Gigwise.com

Gigwise.com is an online music magazine that features music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets, and a community forum. Founded in 2001, the magazine is based in the United Kingdom....

 also gave the album an enthusiastic review, calling it "a lo-tech electro-fuzz monster".

He has also acted as a remixer for Air, Playgroup

Playgroup (band)

Playgroup is a British dance act. Basically the project of musician and designer Trevor Jackson, they were associated with the electroclash movement.Jackson has also performed under the names Underdog and Skull.-Albums:...

, Grafiti

Grafiti

Grafiti is an electronic music group formed in 2007 by Leama and James Davis and known for its progressive house and Techno productions. Its tracks are regularly played by well-known DJs, such as Sasha, John Digweed, Nick Warren and Sander Kleinenberg, and have been included on electronic music...

, and Seelenluft

Seelenluft

Beat Solèr, better known by his stage name Seelenluft, is a producer of electronic music from Switzerland.-Career:Seelenluft is Beat Soler from Zurich. He has been playing music since he was seven. He has made a number of records in the past ten years....

.

Musical style

His music has been described as "incorporating left-field disco, funk, hip-hop, and house, along with good old sloppy garage rock and spaghetti Western soundtracks", and "post punk, somewhat cheesy funkdom interspersed with droning catchy dance hooks". Gigwise.com described his debut album as "a schizophrenic shot of spaghetti western mayhem, angular foot-stamping menace, and made-in-the-kitchen-sink funk".

Singles

• "Serious Trouble" (2000), Flesh
• "Tunnel Music" (2001), Flesh
• "Spiral" (2002), XL
• "Serious Trouble" (2003), XL
• "Italian Fireflies" (2004), Kitsuné
• "Bongo Song" (2005), Ed Banger