Towa Tei has mortality on his mind.
"More and more, I've been thinking about what death means and what life is. One of my best friends died about 10 years ago, and then there was March 11," says the 53-year-old musician referring to the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. "I really feel like life is short ... too short."
Tei is currently promoting "3," the first album released under his Sweet Robots Against the Machine moniker in 16 years. It finds the long-running electronic artist and former Deee-Lite member constructing simple, twinkling tracks over which comedian Hidetomo Masuno (better known as Bakarhythm) lays down goofs galore.