Japanese singer and composer Icarus Watanabe, known for his unique style of Engei Rock, which combines music, gag humor, and emotion into a single work, has redesigned his website with up-to-date news of his current activities and links to his various social media and websites with his music.

Graduating from Osaka University of Arts, Department of Visual Arts, he performed as the vocalist in the rock band Icarus (formerly known as “Alien Icarus“), a name inspired from a character of the same name in the Ultra series. After Icarus disbanded in 2003, he began his solo career as Icarus Watanabe, sporting a deep red jacket and matching red horns.

Promoting a genre of music called Engei Rock, he made many compositions for commercials and also worked as a composer for Nippon Falcom, performing as vocalist with the JDK Band for their main video game series such as Ys and Legend of Heroes.

▶︎ Over the years, Icarus has made several different installments to his Engei Rock series that often depict traditional Japanese tales or just silly stories. Here are a couple of his major pieces:

• Shibahama – Fable of a man who comes across a huge fortune and ends up quitting his job and drinking away the days. Concerned for his wellbeing, his wife hides the money. When he wakes up in a haze from drinking the night before and cannot find the money, he asks his wife about it, to which she says he was only dreaming and that there was no money. From then on, he quits drinking and works diligently everyday. Three years later, the wife comes clean. At first he’s upset that she lied to him, but when she suggests that he buy himself a drink, he decides against it… because he didn’t want his happy life to become a dream.
• Manju Kowai – A silly story about fears, and fear of one particular person who is oddly afraid of manju, a traditional Japanese confection.
• Shinigami – This is a fun parody that has dark themes perfect for Halloween. Some of the songs are also reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.

▶︎ On November 12, 2008, he made his first major debut with Epic Records Japan with the song “Namida no Tenpozan,” which is a comedic song that tells an epic story of lost love with many hints to areas of Osaka, especially Tempozan. He has made countless updates to this song to depict further outrageous stories.

More recently, he has been composing songs and writing lyrics for the Akatsuki no Kamui “Voice Comic” Project. Here’s are a couple songs that absolutely demonstrate his vast musical talent.

For more updates on his works, stay tuned to the sites below:

• Official Site
• Twitter
• YouTube