Hailing from Australia’s capital Canberra, Shinji is an instrumental Hip-hop and Plunderphonics artist. The name comes from the main character of the anime Neon Genesis: Evangelion, of which he is a huge fan. His first project was initially intended to be a one off where he would remix the OST of the show. The remixes were forgotten but the name became convenient for the increasing number of demos and features being created.

Though a trained guitarist in Blues and Metal, Shinji became immersed in electronic production during university when he was exposed to all new styles of music and art, especially jazz and hip-hop. An ever-growing appetite for music had him listening to anything and everything. Discovering artists like Dilla, Madlib, Iglooghost, Sophie, Slauson Malone, Tsuruda and the underground Bandcamp scene drove him to start writing music seriously. His friends encouraged him to start playing a few shows and local beat battles, and finally convincing him to send his demos out and landing him in the inbox of Cold Busted.

Shinji’s production style is a mix of complexity and slapdash samples. Samples can come from anywhere; an old home VHS tape, dusty vinyl, buried internet tracks, field recordings of birds found at the tip, anything. Sounds that sometimes have no right being part of a song, but somehow are twisted and distorted into rhythms and melodies. If it makes the room shake, nothing else really matters. In using forgotten media Shinji builds a dusty, hazy soundscape that reminisces on the past. The beats are crusty and the bass is heavy, but it never stays in the same lane for too long, frantically switching from one idea to the next. It’s as if a kid who listened to J Dilla, The Avalanches and a metric ton of Drum & Bass got his hands on a cracked DAW.

Shinij - Shinji will be his second release with Cold Busted. The first album, In Colour, gave him the confidence to push forward with stranger ideas. This new album started as a collection of beats written while bedridden for 3 months after a hip surgery, slowly building for years to become the track list it is now. Now that COVID in Australia is calming down, the ability to play big shows is coming back and he plans to make good on a year’s worth of practicing in isolation, potentially even getting to travel abroad. He also plans to start working with more artists in the future, bringing on vocalists and instrumentalists to bring something new to his sound.

Instagram: Shinji