Shugo Tokumaru is the kind of artist you hear about from that friend of yours, the one who first took you to that out-of-the-way Peruvian restaurant, the one who made you that mix with the great Icelandic reggae band on it. This friend has a knack for sniffing out things that are special and unique. Extraordinary maybe. "Extraordinary" is a word that describes Shugo well. In fact, if there is any one adjective that can be applied to a young pop genius making miniature symphonies in his bedroom in Tokyo, "extraordinary" is it.

Shugo records all of his music himself, in his apartment, using a Mac and a few microphones. He plays most of the instruments on Exit himself. There are over 50 instruments on Exit. The only instrument Shugo has taken lessons for is the piano. There is very little piano on Exit. He sings mainly in Japanese and bases his lyrics around a dream journal. Sometimes Shugo's music sounds like a roomful of clockwork toys having a rave (listen to Exit's opener, "Parachute," and you'll hear it). Other times, it is sweet, slow and mournful. There are cowboy guitar riffs rubbing shoulders with traditional Japanese instruments. Percussion sometimes means a drum kit and sometimes an ashtray, if not both. There are melodies as catchy as anything you'd hear on Top 40 radio, and moments as unique as anything you'd hear on college radio at 2 AM. It is the sound of a nuclear physicist playing with Legos: a precise mind having fun.