Erik Paul Kowalski (May 5, 1973), most known as Casino Versus Japan is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

musician who works in

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

Influences

As a child, Erik Kowalski was originally heavily influenced by Jan Hammer's music for ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, Ricardo "Rico" Tub ...

'', as well as

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed ...

and

Jean-Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the Electronic music, electronic, Ambient music, ambient and New-age music, new-age genres, and is known for organising out ...

. Kowalski taught himself

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

in the early '90s while in high school.

Early work and releases

Recording guitar-based, ambient and experimental music as Radiogate between 1996 and 1997, Kowalski matured in the underground electronic music community in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. He worked at

Atomic Records Atomic Records was an independent record label based in Hollywood, California, which was founded in 1945 by trombonist Lyle Griffin. Among the notable recording artists on Atomic were Slim Gaillard, Barney Kessel and Griffin himself. In 1947, Grif ...

for 14 years and also wrote for the alternative

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

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'' which also informed developments within many styles of innovative music. During this time he interviewed many of his favorite artists and influences. In early 1998, he approached Mike Bailey (d. 2019) of the local electronic label Star Star Stereo with some demo tapes, and shortly thereafter, released his self-titled debut ''Casino Versus Japan''. This subsequently led to live performances (including several dates opening for

Low Low or LOW or lows, may refer to: People * Low (surname), listing people surnamed Low Places * Low, Quebec, Canada * Low, Utah, United States * Lo Wu station (MTR code LOW), Hong Kong; a rail station * Salzburg Airport (ICAO airport code: LO ...

) with Charles Wyatt (Charles Atlas) accompanying Kowalski on guitar, as well as a subsequent tour opening for

Deerhunter Deerhunter is an American indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 2001. The band currently consists of Bradford Cox (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Moses Archuleta (drums, electronics, sound treatments), Lockett Pundt (guitar, vocals, ...

in 2010. In January 2000, ''Go Hawaii'' was released on CD by Wobblyhead (later on double-vinyl LP by City Centre Offices, 2001). By the Summer of 2002, the track "It's Very Sunny" was used in a

Hummer Hummer (stylized in all caps) is an American brand of Pickup truck, pickups launched in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. Although discontinued in 2010, Hummer returned as a model under GMC (automob ...

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

commercial. His third album ''

Whole Numbers Play the Basics ''Whole Numbers Play the Basics'' is an album by Erik Kowalski under the alias of Casino Versus Japan. It was released in 2002 by Carpark Records. On its release, the album was praised by AllMusic, the BBC and '' Uncut'' while being panned by Pit ...

'', followed in September 2002 on

Carpark Records Carpark Records is an independent record label based in Washington, D.C. History Carpark Records was established by Todd Hyman in 1999 in New York City. In 2005, the label relocated to Washington, D.C. Carpark has subsidiary labels. Acute Re ...

. The song "Manic Thru Tone" was used in

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's " Choose Or Lose" campaign in the Fall of 2002. In 2012, the title track from ''Go Hawaii'' was covered by Adam Peters for use as the incidental theme music for

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...

's film '' Savages''.

Collections and collaborations

Hitori Hitori (Japanese: "Alone" or "one person"; ''Hitori ni shite kure''; literally "leave me alone") is a type of logic puzzle published by Nikoli. Hitori is NP complete.{{citation, title=Games, Puzzles, and Computation, title-link=Games, Puzzles ...

Kaiso Kaiso is a type of music popular in Trinidad and Tobago, and other countries, especially of the Caribbean, such as Grenada, Belize, Barbados, St. Lucia, and Dominica, which originated in West Africa particularly among the Efik and Ibibio peopl ...

(1998–2001)'', a collection of unreleased tracks, appeared in 2004. The album was compiled and released by Attacknine Records from a large archive of material initially presented as a gift to Nick Huntington of

Freescha Freescha is the musical collaboration of Nick Huntington and Mike McGroarty, based in the San Fernando Valley, California. Huntington and McGroarty have been friends and partners since they met in high school. The duo has released most of their m ...

, and not intended for public release. Huntington enthusiastically encouraged a release, however, which also resulted in the 2010 collection ''Night on Tape'', another batch of selected tracks from the same archive. Casino Versus Japan and

released a Split EP together in 2004. Tracks by Casino Versus Japan have featured heavily during the intermissions of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's ''

Radiolab ''Radiolab'' is a radio program and podcast produced by WNYC, a public radio station based in New York City, and broadcast on more than 570 public radio stations in the United States. The show has earned many industry awards for its "imaginati ...

'' podcast. In July 2011 ''Radiolab'' were licensed to allow followers to download Casino Versus Japan's ''Miano: A Pink Night For Snowmen'' from the ''Night on Tape'' album.
Online. Accessed: July 13, 2011.

Discography

Albums and collections

* ''Casino Versus Japan'', CD (1998, Star Star Stereo) * ''Go Hawaii'', CD (2000, Wobblyhead) 2x12" LP (2001, City Centre Offices) * ''

'', CD and LP (2002,

) * ''Hitori + Kaiso (1998–2001)'', Double CD (2004, Attacknine) * ''Casino Versus Japan'' eissue(2010,

Moodgadget Moodgadget is an independent electronic music label with the mission of exposing the diversity in electronically made music. Founded in 2004 in Ann Arbor, Michigan by Jakub Alexander and Adam E. Hunt, the label began as an effort to popularize ...

) * ''Night on Tape'' (2010, Attacknine) * ''Frozen Geometry'' (2016, self-release) * ''Suicide By Sun'' (2018, self-release) *''Echo Counting'' (2021, self-release) *''Tagebuch einer Verlorenen'' (2024, self-release)

Singles and EPs

* Casino Versus Japan +

Jessica Bailiff Jessica Bailiff is an American singer-songwriter from Toledo, Ohio. Her music is largely classified as slowcore, although it contains elements of post-rock and shoegaze. Bailiff was discovered by Low's Alan Sparhawk, who recommended her earlier ...

, split 7-inch (2000, Star Star Stereo) * "Via", 10-inch (2001, Wobblyhead) * "Casino Versus Japan +

" plitCDEP/12" (2003, Wobblyhead) * "Silver And Gold" b/w "64 Colors" Split 7-inch w/ Am Boy (2004, Wobblyhead) * "Damaged Errata", "Scenic Loop" (2015, Attacknine)

References

External links

Casino Versus Japan on BandcampCarpark RecordsWobblyheadOfficial MySpace PageAttacknine Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casino Versus Japan 1973 births American electronic musicians Intelligent dance musicians Living people