Riow Arai (リョウ アライ)

Music Composer

Riow Arai is the composer of the Playstation title Front Mission Alternative. Artist, beat & track maker, and producer, he was born in Tokyo in 1969. From the time he was a teenager, he started to make music in his room with a synthesizer. Around the same time he joined some bands, mainly as a drummer. In his early twenties, the musician put his career as a drummer on hold and devoted his time to making his own music. Putting out some demo tapes and joining the Frogman Records' compilation album "From The Bedroom To The Whole Universe," he accomplished his first public release as a solo artist.

In 1996, Riow released his first album, "Again" from Frogman Records. The mellow ambient sound involved elements of techno, break beats and dub, establishing a new musical genre called "Listening Techno". The following year, he composed the music for the Japanese video game Front Mission Alternative. His second album, "Circuit '72," released from Soup-disk/silverstone, shifted to drum and bass, down beat, and trip hop. Since then, he has released more than 300 free MP3 tracks on his official website.

In 1999, Riow published his third album "Mind Edit," which had an impact on the underground hip-hop scene. His first vinyl record release, "Mind Syndicate," was a best-selling album issuing from website releases. The following year, he joined a compilation album "si-con series" from a newly formed Shibuya style label called "SHIBURAI." In 2001, his second vinyl album "Bitter Beats" incorporated sampling sounds of edit beats using computer software.

The artist's fourth album "Beat Bracelet" entered the Coldcut DJ chart, though it was promotion disc. In 2003, "iBeat E.P." and fifth album, "Device People," was released. He joined a compilation album "Listening Is Believing" published by Libyus Music, and released his sixth album, "Rough Machine" from the same label. He formed a team with Tujiko Noriko in August of 2005, releasing the album "J.." which catered more to pop tastes and appealed to a wider audience. In 2006, he wrote three orignal songs for TV animation series "Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN." They were released as an original sound track by the same name.

In November, on the 10th Anniversary of his debut, the seventh album "SURVIVAL SEVEN" was released on the Libyus Music label. Atop the break & edit sounds, the record added more disco tracks and electro beats. In April of 2007 April, "RIOW ARAI+NONGENETIC" will be released from mass.mvmnt(USA). In May of 2007, Square Haven talked with Riow about his soundtrack for Front Mission Alternative and his more recent albums for the Q&A session Breakbeat Alternative.

Source: RiowaraiSpace, riowarai.com

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