Feb. 17, 2024 (Sat.): Cross-Border Co-Writing Project BEYONDERS vol.2
The Music City Council of Fukuoka presents BEYONDERS vol.2, a cross-border co-writing project.
BEYONDERS aims tosupport musicians active in the Fukuoka area as they expand into Asia and raise Fukuoka’s profile as a center for music production. In March 2023, the project held a co-writing session between Bangkok indie-pop band KIKI and Fukuoka’s Deep Sea Diving Club. The public watched the two bands build a song in real time, and the program also included a welcome party with live performances and a talk on how musicians can work in Asia.
The second edition of BEYONDERS focuses onTaiwan. Recent creative exchange has included FUKUOKA ASIAN PICKS, a music-culture event that explored Asian music and Fukuoka’s future from 2017 to 2020, and appearances by Gestalt Girl and Sunset Rollercoaster at the CIRCLE ’23 outdoor festival in Uminonakamichi Seaside Park. This time, with Butta Terao—who operates live venues and music labels in both Japan and Taiwan—as coordinator, the project invites Taipei reggae bandPonLai Mt.. Awaiting the band as its co-writing partner is Fukuoka-based rapper「PEAVIS」. Anticipation is high for the song created by PEAVIS, fresh from releasing the street-life chronicle The Blooms Album (Deluxe), and PonLai Mt., making its first visit to Japan.
On Feb. 17, the two artists will co-write in the recording studio at ESP Entertainment Fukuoka, 3-1-6 Maizuru, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka. The resulting song will be unveiled the following day at a welcome party at ROOMS, ONO Building 3F, 2-1-50 Daimyo, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka. Live performances will also feature the perfect me, the solo unit of Fukuoka-born sound creator Takumi Nishimura. A talk show with Butta Terao and a networking event are also planned.
Event Overview
“BEYONDERS” Co-wright Session
Date: Feb. 17 (Sat.), 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Public session times, tentative: 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.
Venue: ESP Entertainment Fukuoka, 3-1-6 Maizuru, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka
Participating artists: PonLai Mt. and PEAVIS
Admission: observation permitted; advance registration required. Contact the council office if you wish to attend.
“BEYONDERS” Welcome Party
Date: Feb. 18 (Sun.), 2:30–7:00 p.m.
Venue: ROOMS, ONO Building 3F, 2-1-50 Daimyo, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka
Admission: general ¥1,000 plus one drink
MCCF supporting members and Database registrants enter free, with one-drink order required.
Advance reservations are accepted through the form below.
Part I: Talk Show & Networking 3:00–5:00 p.m.
Coordinator Butta Terao and COSiMOZ, leader, music producer, and track maker of PonLai Mt., join as guests to explore the forefront of Japanese and Taiwanese culture.
Talk, 3:00 p.m.: “Taiwanese Indie and Street Culture Today”
Guests: Butta Terao and COSiMOZ, leader of PonLai Mt.
Networking, 4:00 p.m.: OTOJIRO MEET UP PARTY vol.3
The event aims to encourage close communication among participants, including music businesses active in the Fukuoka area, and help generate new business opportunities.
Part II: Showcase Live 5:30–7:00 p.m.
Alongside PonLai Mt. and PEAVIS, the perfect me—the solo unit of Fukuoka-born sound creator Takumi Nishimura—will perform. Do not miss an experience available only at BEYONDERS.
Performers: PonLai Mt., PEAVIS, and the perfect me
Inquiries
Music City Council of Fukuoka Office, Attn. Tomita
Riverain Center Building 8F, 3-1 Shimokawabata-machi, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka 812-0027, within the Fukuoka City Foundation for Arts and Cultural Promotion
Tel: 080-7980-5383
Email: info@mccf.jp
designed by DOLO & YaungTa o.
Performers
PonLai Mt. from Taiwan
A reggae band formed in Taipei, Taiwan, in 2020. Led by COSiMOZ, active across a wide field as a DJ and producer, the group brings together distinctive players from Taipei’s independent scene.
PEAVIS from Fukuoka
A Kobe-born rapper based in Fukuoka. PEAVIS began making music as a teenager and formed YELLADIGOS in 2015. After group activities, he launched his solo career in 2018. His collaborations cross genres, extending beyond hip-hop figures such as Son GONG, Dengaryu, and Chinza DOPENESS to YonYon, kiki vivi lily, Takuya Kuroda, Shin Sakiura, and many others, earning broad acclaim.
“Garasu no Chikyu” from his second album PORTRA¥AL was inspired by Osamu Tezuka’s essay collection Save Our Mother Earth. Its release led to a conversation with Rumiko Tezuka and filming a music video at the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum, among many other activities.
Attention also surrounds his ability to ride any beat, emotionally vivid and uplifting musicality, distinctive tattoos, and fashion. Under the banner “Peace & Unity,” he continues communicating messages needed in this era.
Butta Terao
Representative of BIG ROMANTIC ENTERTAINMENT. He operates the live venue Moon Romantic in Aoyama, Tokyo, and Taipei. Alongside planning and supporting concerts among Japan, China, and Taiwan, he runs the label BIG ROMANTIC RECORDS, promotes music in Japan and Taiwan, and shares information about Asian music and culture online.
the perfect me from Fukuoka
The solo unit of Fukuoka-born visionary Takumi Nishimura. Formed as a duo in 2013, the project centered on live performance and quickly demonstrated its talent locally, even being selected to open for US indie band DEERHOOF while still little known. The name the perfect me comes from a DEERHOOF song. The first album INTO THE HOUSE arrived in 2017, winning discerning listeners with a distinctive world that skillfully mixes Black music, indie rock, jazz, and many other genres. Following a member’s departure in July 2018, the project launched fully as a solo unit. It won the grand prize at a Fukuoka live audition that September and appeared at JAPAN NITE during SXSW in Austin, Texas, in March 2019.
In August 2020, the first full album under the solo format, Thus spoke gentle machine, received a nationwide response including power play on FM stations such as J-WAVE and Alpha Station. The title track’s music video, featuring new MAD-animation creator Franz K Endo, also drew attention online.
In spring 2023, the project released three consecutive singles—“armours,” “My Dungeon,” and “Our Theory”—and continued exploring new musical ground through bold orchestration centered on strings.
Nishimura also works in parallel as a recording engineer. Alongside productions for Fukuoka artists including Art title, YOUND, nape’s, MADE IN HEPBURN, PEAVIS, Niina, and muque, he has mixed bands that have led the independent scene, including Otogivanashi and Spangle call Lilli line. In 2022, he became chief engineer at Fukuoka’s Unknown Sound Studio, attracting attention as a new base for sharing music from the city.
Nishimura handles composition, arrangement, tracking, vocals, mixing, and all other engineering. His music combines a pop presence with deep alternative character, sustaining a distinctive position within Fukuoka’s flourishing independent scene.
Venue Information
ESP Entertainment Fukuoka
“Fully equipped live halls and studios are yours to use. Two years immersed in music await.”
At the Fukuoka campus, students can learn the global expertise developed by ESP Gakuen, which operates schools in Japan and Hollywood. Advanced professional equipment includes a full live hall with capacity for 150 and a well-appointed recording studio that attracts industry attention. Students can use the same equipment found at hall-scale concerts, building immediately applicable skills.
