TAMTAM is band from Japan drawing influences from so many genres and output something that you can’t simply pigeonhole into "pop", "soul" or "dub". On the face of it, they’re a regular band of four members on synths, guitar and drums (bass is outsourced) with a female lead singer, and they're all talented, professional musicians. But each member is into different things, ranging from 90’s era R.Kelly R&B and Neptunes production, to reggae, Balearic beats and traditional Japanese pop heroes like Makihara Noriyuki and Yuming. They make free use of organic instruments and digital samples, so you might hear a standard drum kit on one track with the natural shimmer of the cymbals, then next track you’ll hear an TR-808 kick drum loop. Vocalist Kuro shows great stylistic range, being able to sing sultry soul, singer-songwriter pop, dub and R&B, which are all on display across these tracks. And on top of that, TAMTAM deploy vocal sample manipulation and digital production techniques courtesy of producer/engineer Nakamura Kohsuke, incorporating the latest trends in hip-hop and future bass. None of it is overdone, all these elements are well balanced and augment one another rather than serving as gimmicks. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.