Yoko Kikuchi
| Yoko Kikuchi | |
|---|---|
|
Yoko Kikuchi, 2006 June 26 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Labels | Recommended If You Like Records |
| Website | Personal Site |
Yoko Kikuchi (born September 1, 1981) is a fourth-generation American artist and singer/songwriter of Japanese and Filipino descent, associated with the Antifolk community of New York's East Village. Born in New York City to parents involved in the visual arts, she was raised in SoHo and Hell's Kitchen, attending public schools including Wagner JHS 167 and Stuyvesant High School. It was at those schools where she met Ann Zakaluk, with whom she co-fronted the Antifolk indie pop band Dream Bitches between 2004 and 2009. Although she is self-taught on the guitar, her ear for harmonies is due to her ten-year involvement in the Young People's Chorus of New York City, directed by Francisco J. Núñez, with which she toured and competed both nationally and internationally.
Kikuchi has released three solo albums. Songs I Wrote For You (2003) is a collection of songs written and recorded during her time as a student at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts. The double-album "How to Stay Amazed/Lilly Lafayette" (2008) is a retrospective of songs written between 2001 and 2006. "Menahan Tree" (2008) is an EP of songs recorded in the living room of the house/venue she shared from 2007-2010 with Jacinta Mack and Angela Carlucci (The Baby Skins, Herman Dune).
In 2006, Recommended If You Like Records released a split 7", This Song/That Song with Casey Holford. Yoko toured Europe in support of that release with Holford and Daoud Tyler-Ameen as the band Daouets. She also has two releases with Dream Bitches: "Sanfransisters" (Olive Juice Music, 2005) and "Coke-and-Spiriters" (Recommended If You Like Records, 2008). In 2008-2009, she played drums in two bands, Lady Bright, with whom she toured but never released an album, and A Fermata. Since then she has formed a band called Tight Little Ship (named after a song by Schwervon!) with her Lady Bright bandmate Sara Lautman and their friend Christy Davis.