100s | tl

1. Emerging from the ether as mysterious as he is imposing, Ice Cold Perm is the debut album from Berkeley, CA rapper 100s.

Merely a reckless young black man in the eyes of a broken society, 100s has taken it upon himself to thrive. At 19 years old, he arrives a true student of the game: a living, breathing, smoking tribute to the long line of West Coast players.

2. 100s (or Hyaku Shiki) are a six-piece Japanese guitar group formed around the singer-songwriter Nakamura Kazuyoshi, first appearing as a group in 2001 at the Rock In Japan Festival.

Nakamura Kazuyoshi first appeared in 1997, releasing a number of singles, four original albums and a best of compilation as a solo artist. Called a 'genius' by his peers for the quality of the songwriting he produced, Nakamura's first music was convincingly Lo-Fi, some making comparisons with Beck at the time.

Gradually his sound became more expansive, and the group 100s was formed from a mixture of contributors to his previous solo projects and other musicians. Taking their name from Nakamura's fourth solo album 100s played festivals and released their first album 'OZ' in 2005.

Three of 100s' members; Machida (Macchi), Tamada (Tom) and Yamaguchi (Hirokun) have been friends since studying music together at university, while Nakamura Kazuyoshi and Ikeda (ikechan) are from similar neighborhoods. The sixth member, Ono (Onochan) has played guitar and contributed vocals to a number of groups in his career.

100s' second album 'ALL!!!!!!' is expected for release in May 2007. .