Japan's electronic-music scene has long seemed to suffer from a stylistic and unbridgeable gap between popular and independent music — one side characterized by overzealous polish, the other by lo-fi charm. In the case of N.O.R.K., the two sides have collided in spectacular fashion.
The duo consists of Nariaki Obukuro and Ray Kunimoto, two 20-somethings — one fresh out of university, the other soon to graduate — whose initials form the act's name. Although the two only began recording as N.O.R.K. as recently as August last year, the project is already turning heads with a brand of beat-driven, contemporary R&B that recalls the likes of How to Dress Well and Inc.
"At first we wanted to make EDM. Zedd, Skrillex, that sort of thing," Kunimoto says. "We started making tracks last spring, but that style wasn't going so well. Then, last August, we both stayed in a hotel and used that as an opportunity to work on tracks. After three days cooped up in the room, we found ourselves making quite dark music that really worked."