Shin Terai is a Japanese musician and producer most known for his work with Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

 and Buckethead

Buckethead

Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...

. On his albums he combines ambient

Ambient music

Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

 and electronic music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 with dub

Dub music

Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...

 and avant-garde jazz

Avant-garde jazz

Avant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...

.

Biography

Shin Terai gained some first publicity as the singer of Chaos Face, a project by Laswell and Robert Musso

Robert Musso

Robert Musso is a New York City-based guitarist, composer, engineer, and producer. He is the founder of the independent record label MuWorks as well as the recently launched MussoMusic.com...

. Second singer on Chaos Face's only album Doom Ride was Mick Harris

Mick Harris

Mick Harris commonly known and credited both as Mick Harris or occasionally M.J. Harris, is an English musician....

, the former drummer of the metal band Napalm Death

Napalm Death

Napalm Death are a death metal band formed in Birmingham, England in 1981. While none of its original members remain in the group, the lineup of vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris and drummer Danny Herrera has remained consistent for most of the band's ...

.

The first album under Shin Terai's own name was Unison, released in 1999. Guest musicians included Bernie Worrell

Bernie Worrell

George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...

 and Nicky Skopelitis

Nicky Skopelitis

Nicky Skopelitis is an American guitarist and composer from Greek heritage. He is best known as a guitarist, but also performs on banjo, oud, lute, keyboards and other instruments....

, besides Laswell and Buckethead. In 2004, Laswell reworked the material for the remix album Heaven & Hell. Intermediately Terai worked as producer of Soup, a trio consisting of Laswell, guitarist Otomo Yoshihide and drummer Yasuhiro Yoshigake (also playing trumpet).

In 2007, with Lightyears another album was released under his own name. It featured the core members Laswell, Buckethead and Worrell, besides Nils Petter Molvær

Nils Petter Molvær

Nils Petter Molvær also known as NPM is a Norwegian jazz trumpeter, composer, and producer. Molvær is considered a pioneer in fusing jazz and electronic music, showcased on his best-selling album Khmer, released by the German record label ECM in October 1997 in Europe and early 1998 in North...

 (trumpet), Lili Hayden (violin), Karl Berger

Karl Berger

Karl Hanns Berger is a musicologist with a PhD in Music Sociology, jazz composer, jazz vibraphone and piano player.-Biography:...

 (strings), DXT

Grand Mixer DXT

Grand Mixer DXT is an American turntablist. He was formely known as Grand Mixer D.ST. "D.ST" is a reference to Manhattan, New York City's Delancey Street on the Lower East Side...

 (turntables) and Laswell's wife Gigi

Gigi (singer)

Ejigayehu Shibabaw, or Gigi as she is popularly known, is one of the most successful contemporary Ethiopian singers worldwide. Coming from an ancient tradition of song originating in the Ethiopian Church, she has brought the music of Ethiopia to wider appreciation and developed it in combination...

. Additionally, Aman Laswell (son of Gigi and Bill) can be heard gabbling. Lightyears was dedicated to him.

Discography (partial)

• 1994: Chaos Face - Doom Ride (as singer)
• 1999: Shin Terai - Unison
  Unison (Shin Terai album)
  -Personnel:* Bass, Synthesizer, Effects - Bill Laswell* Engineers - Oz Fritz & Robert Musso* Guitar - Buckethead* Guitar, Sitar - Nicky Skopelitis* Ogran, Synthesizer, Clavinet - Bernie Worrell* Voice, Synthesizer, Loops, Beats, Effects - Shin Terai...
  
  
• 2003: Soup - Soup (as producer)
• 2004: Soup - Soup Live (as producer)
• 2004: Shine - Heaven & Hell
  Heaven & Hell (Shin Terai album)
  -Credits:* Performer - Buckethead, Shin Terai, Nicky Skopelitis, Bernie Worrell* Performer , Mixed By - Bill Laswell, from recording sessions material of Shin Terai's album Unison.-References:...
  
  
• 2007: Shin.e - Lightyears
  Lightyears (Shin Terai album)
  -Credits:* Guitar - Buckethead* Keyboards - Bernie Worrell* Strings - Karl Berger* Trumpet, Electronics - Nils Petter Molvær* Turntables - DXT* Violin - Lili Haydn* Vocals - Gigi* Voice - Aman Laswell* Programmed By - Shin Terai...
  
  

External links

• Review of Unison at Fearsmag.com
• [ Review of Heaven & Hell at Allmusic.com]