Keitaro Ujiie (Japanese: 氏家 慶太郎, Hepburn: Ujiie Keitarō, born February 23, 1997), professionally known as Snail's House or Ujico*,[1] is a Japanese electronic musician. He currently resides in Saitama, Japan.[2]
Snail's House | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Keitaro Ujiie (氏家 慶太郎) |
| Also known as | Ujico*, StripeCat |
| Born | February 23, 1997 Komae, Tokyo, Japan |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, producer |
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Labels | Youth Composer Association Cachettenotes Attack the Music Tasty |
| Website | ujicosnail |
History edit
He started publishing music on SoundCloud in 2012 under the name Ujico* (which he stated was a childhood nickname given to him by a friend).[3] In 2013, Ujiie created his own record label, Youth Composer Association, a Tokyo-based label specifically geared towards young musicians.[2] In 2014, after listening to performances by Hiromi Uehara and various jazz fusion music,[4] Ujiie was inspired to start playing the piano.[3]
From that point, his music career began to grow and he created a separate Snail's House outfit for his "kawaii" music, which officially began on August 30, 2014, with the release of "Nyan Nyan Angel!". His first two EPs as Snail's House, Kirara and Kawaii Collective, were released in mid-2015, containing high-pitched vocal chops, vibrant synthesizer sounds, and happy-sounding melodies.[5][6][7]
On October 10, 2017, the music video for the song "Pixel Galaxy" was released onto Youtube. It quickly began to go viral and it gave Ujiie a large boost in followers, though the song has significantly fewer plays on all music streaming services, the music video now has more than 100 million views on YouTube.[8]
On October 9, 2018, Ujiie announced that a small game was being developed for his upcoming two-track album Snailchan Adventure.[9] The album was released on October 23 with an accompanying music video,[10] and Ujiie published a preview of the unfinished game.[9] As of May 1, 2019, the game has not been released, with development presumed to be ongoing.[11]
Discography edit
| Date | Title | As | Record label |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 23, 2013 | Aerie | Ujico* | N/A; self-released |
| February 21, 2014 | VASS DROPPER | Youth Composer Association | |
| April 27, 2014 | PF:Addiction | ||
| June 30, 2014 | Goodbye, Our World EP | ||
| July 10, 2014 | VASS DROPPER 2 | ||
| December 30, 2014 | Storyteller | ||
| March 30, 2015 | Junction EP | ||
| March 31, 2015 | VASS DROPPER 3 | ||
| May 13, 2015 | Kirara | Snail's House | TREKKIE TRAX |
| May 31, 2015 | Kawaii Collective | N/A; self-released | |
| June 29, 2015 | -PROGRESS- | Ujico* | |
| September 19, 2015 | Nyan Nyan Angel! Remixes | Snail's House | Youth Composer Association |
| December 24, 2015 | Sweety Sweety | N/A; self-released | |
| December 30, 2015 | 空中都市 (Kūchū Toshi) | Ujico* | Youth Composer Association |
| March 29, 2016 | Ordinary Songs | Snail's House | N/A; self-released |
| June 12, 2016 | Dream Castle | Ujico* | |
| August 27, 2016 | Love Story[12] | Snail's House | |
| November 17, 2016 | Ordinary Songs 2 | ||
| November 18, 2016 | Summer Nostalgia EP | Ujico* | Youth Composer Association |
| February 23, 2017 | Pixel Galaxy | Snail's House | N/A; self-released |
| June 15, 2017 | Ordinary Songs 3 | ||
| September 10, 2017 | WonderWorld | Ujico* | Cachettenotes |
| November 19, 2017 | [FLOWERS] | DiverseSystem | |
| November 30, 2017 | エイリアン☆ポップ (Alien☆Pop) | Snail's House | N/A; self-released |
| February 23, 2018 | Ordinary Songs 4 | ||
| March 23, 2018 | Snö[13] | ||
| June 1, 2018 | StripeCat Collection | ||
| July 28, 2018 | L'été | ||
| October 23, 2018 | Snailchan Adventure | ||
| January 18, 2019 | エイリアン☆ポップ II (Alien☆Pop II) | ||
| February 23, 2019 | Scenery | ||
| July 6, 2019 | エイリアン☆ポップ III (Alien☆Pop III) | ||
| August 16, 2019 | Love Magic | ||
| January 3, 2020 | 妖 -AYAKASHI- | Ujico* | |
| February 23, 2020 | Vass Dropper 4 | ||
| March 31, 2020 | ujbeats vol.1 | Snail's House | Cachettenotes |
| October 23, 2020 | Imaginarium | ||
| February 13, 2021 | love songs | ||
| August 12, 2021 | Pâtisserie Snail | ||
| November 7, 2021 | "SUPERGIRL" | ||
| December 22, 2021 | Christmas of Wandering Ghost | ||
| December 29, 2021 | "Cosmic Air Ride" | GUMIKUMA Records | |
| January 28, 2022 | "DREAMY BEACH" | Cachettenotes | |
| April 23, 2022 | "Biscuit Funk" | ||
| June 11, 2022 | "Astrogirl" | Hololive Production | |
| July 23, 2022 | PIXELIZE | ||
| September 22, 2022 | ujbeats vol.2 | ||
| December 10, 2022 | Cherry | ||
| February 3, 2023 | Lumi | ||
| August 26, 2023 | エイリアン☆ポップ IV (Alien☆Pop IV) |
References edit
- ^ Lachlan Johnston (March 19, 2017). "The Sounds of Tokyo's Hyper-Cute Underground Movement". otaquest.com. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
- ^ a b "Tokyo Transmission: Introducing Ujico – DMNDR". x.dmndr.com. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
- ^ a b "discussions.001 // Tokyo-Based Producer 'Ujico*/Snail's House' - OTAQUEST". OTAQUEST. May 17, 2017. Archived from the original on October 14, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
- ^ Editorial (April 3, 2019). "Coming Out Of His Shell: Chatting With Snail's House Mastermind Keitaro Ujiie". Bandcamp Daily. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
- ^ "Future Bass Music Gets a Kawaii Makeover". Anime News Network. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
- ^ "Eight Kawaii Artists Using Grotesque Sounds to Redefine "Cute" Japanese Music". Bandcamp Daily. March 23, 2018. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
- ^ "Snail's House Releases Infectious New Single 'Warp Star'". OTAQUEST. July 19, 2018. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
- ^ Snail's House - Pixel Galaxy (Official MV), retrieved 2022-09-27
- ^ a b "Ujico*/Snail's House on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
- ^ Ujico*/Snail's House (October 23, 2018), Snail's House - Snailchan Adventure (Official MV), retrieved October 24, 2018
- ^ Johnston, Lachlan (January 25, 2019). "Snail's House' Upcoming Game "Snailchan Adventure" Previewed". OTAQUEST. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
- ^ Patrick ST. Michel (September 18, 2018). "Latest release from Snail's House is a love story for the 'kawaii' bass scene". Japan Times. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
- ^ Ryan, Austin R. (March 30, 2018). "Snail's House gets mellow with "Snö" - LemonWire". LemonWire. Retrieved September 17, 2018.