Charlie Yin, professionally known as Giraffage, is an American electronic music

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

. Of Taiwanese descent, Yin grew up in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, and graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, with a degree in Political Economics. He subsequently pursued his musical career, regularly performing as Giraffage at

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

venues and around the world, independently and with other artists. Yin has collaborated with other electronic music producers, including

Porter Robinson Porter Weston Robinson (born July 15, 1992) is an American DJ, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Robinson began producing electronic music during his adolescence. He sign ...

. Giraffage has produced numerous remixes of pop and R&B tracks and several EPs, including ''No Reason'', released on November 18, 2014. He has produced three full-length studio albums: ''Comfort'' in 2011; ''Needs'' in 2013; and ''Too Real'', released on October 20, 2017. In 2022, he debuted his collaborative project Bodysync with Canadian DJ

Ryan Hemsworth Ryan Hemsworth (born 23 April 1990) is a Canadian record producer and DJ. He specialises in electronic music and sampling. He has produced tracks for Tinashe, Tory Lanez, Mitski, and E-40. Biography Raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Hemsworth a ...

Career

Yin started releasing music in 2011 with his debut EP ''Pretty Things''. Later that same year, he followed it up with his first full length album, ''Comfort.'' His first few releases were sample-heavy, taking inspiration in late-2000s chillwave artists like Toro y Moi and Washed Out. In 2012, he embarked on a 30-date European tour with Orlando producer

XXYYXX Marcel Everett (born October 31, 1995), better known as XXYYXX, is an electronic musician and record producer from Orlando, Florida, formerly signed to the label Relief in Abstract. His style is likened to Clams Casino, Zomby, Burial, James B ...

after the release of their collaborative EP, ''Even Though''. Shortly afterwards, Giraffage signed to Alpha Pup Records in early 2013 and released his second album ''Needs.'' Giraffage performed as the main support during

's "Worlds" tour of North America in 2013. In November of the same year he released the ''No Reason'' EP through

Fool's Gold Records Fool's Gold Records is an independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York, United States. The label is known for its annual series of Day Off concerts across the US and Canada. History Fool’s Gold Records was founded in 2007 by DJs A-Tr ...

. ''No Reason'' received acclaim from blogs like

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

, XLR8R, and The FADER, who described the project as "bedroom dream-pop" with "the lushest of synthesizers." In 2017, Giraffage signed to Counter Records (an imprint of

Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an independent record label based in London, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1990 by musicians Matt Black and Jonathan More, known collectively as Coldcut. The label was established as an outlet for Col ...

) for the release of his third EP, ''No Reason.'' The album launch began with the single "Slowly", which featured Matosic and was released worldwide on October 20, 2017. On his full-length album ''Too Real'', Yin also collaborated with indie artists such as

Japanese Breakfast Japanese Breakfast is an American indie pop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 2013. The project is fronted by vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter Michelle Zauner; she is joined in its current iteration by long-serving music ...

. Yin has played venues and festivals worldwide, including Boiler Room, Coachella, Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival, and Decibel Festival, and toured North America in support of his ''Too Real'' album.

Previous projects

Prior to Giraffage, Yin produced

chiptune Chiptune, also called 8-bit music (although not all chiptune is 8-bit music), is a style of electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video gam ...

music under the moniker "Robot Science" in 2009 with the debut EP ''Doodads''. He followed this up with ''Square'' in 2010 and ''Good Luck'' in 2011.

Discography

LPs

* ''Comfort'' (2011) * ''Needs'' (2013) * ''Too Real'' (2017)

EPs

* ''Pretty Things'' (2011) * ''No Reason'' (2014)

Singles

* "Even Though" (with

) (2012) * "Move Me" (with Jhameel and DWNTWN) (2013) * "Impression of You" (with Viceroy and Patrick Baker) (2015) * "Bring Me Your Love" (2016) * "Slowly" (2017) * "Workout" (2020) * "Basketball" (2020)

Remixes

(*The R. Kelly remix was later reworked into an original track entitled "Be With You" and included on the ''No Reason'' EP.)

References

External links

* {{Authority control American electronic musicians Record producers from California University of California, Berkeley alumni Living people Counter Records artists 1992 births