Chainsaw Man Soundtrack Vol 1 & Music Video for Opening Song Kick Back - Out Today

NEW YORK, NY (October 26, 2022) – Milan Records today releases the first soundtrack from the year's biggest new anime series CHAINSAW MAN by electronic composer and musician kensuke ushio. Available everywhere now, the album features music written by ushio for the first three episodes of the new anime series, which is currently streaming on Crunchyroll. Today's album is the first of an eventual three volumes of 11 songs to be released from the first season of the series, with additional soundtracks for arriving Wednesday, November 23 and Wednesday, December 28. kensuke ushio brings with him to the project a resume of solo electronic music released under the moniker “agraph” as well as scores to A Silent Voice, Space Dandy, DEVILMAN crybaby, Boogiepop and many other anime titles.

Of the soundtrack, composer kensuke ushio says, “When I first read the original CHAINSAW MAN, I thought, 'what a mess!,' and I created the music based on that initial concept. I chopped, stretched, and distorted the finished music, carefully butchering it as if I were grinding the music down – because he is a Chainsaw Man! This album is the result of that work – messed up chainsaw beats that were created based on that initial impulse. I hope you enjoy it.”

Also making its debut today is the official music video to the series' main opening theme “KICK BACK” by Kenshi Yonezu – watch here. The video arrives after a huge debut for the track, which hit #47 on Spotify's Top 50 Global upon its release on October 13th, marking the first time in history that a Japanese artist from Japan has appeared on the chart. The song also debuted on the Billboard Global 200 chart at #64 and cracked the Top 10 of their World Digital Song Sales at #7. Released alongside the series' third episode on Crunchyroll, the “KICK BACK” video was directed by Yoshiyuki Okuyama, a photographer and video director previously worked with Kenshi Yonezu on his most recent artist photos and the "Kanden" music video. Packed with impactful cuts and footage of Kenshi Yonezu training in the gym, the video also features Daiki Tsuneta (King Gnu/Millennium Parade), who co-arranged the song, and a shocking ending awaits us towards the end.

The global success of Kenshi Yonezu's “KICK BACK” also includes the #1 spot on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, Top Streaming Songs, Top Download Songs, Hot Animation, and Top User Generated Songs, as well as their overall chart, Billboard Japan Hot 100 Songs, and Top User Generated Songs. Surpassing 30 million streams in just 10 days, “KICK BACK” marks the fastest release of Kenshi Yonezu's to hit 10 million streams in less than 3 days. Starting last week, Yonezu will have 8 special videos from CHAINSAW MAN for Spotify Canvas. Each Canvas videos has scenes from the film references in the CHAINSAW MAN opening and will be revealed every week to coincide with the episodes.

Chainsaw Man Original Sound Track E.P Vol.1 (Episode 1-3) – kensuke ushio
LISTEN HERE | ALBUM ARTWORK
CREDIT TATSUKI FUJIMOTO / SHUEISHA, MAPPA

“KICK BACK” – KENSHI YONEZU
LISTEN HERE | SINGLE ARTWORK
CREDIT TATSUKI FUJIMOTO / SHUEISHA, MAPPA REISSUE RECORDS

ABOUT CHAINSAW MAN
Denji is a teenage boy living with a Chainsaw Devil named Pochita. Due to the debt his father left behind, he has been living a rock-bottom life while repaying his debt by harvesting devil corpses with Pochita. One day, Denji is betrayed and killed. As his consciousness fades, he makes a contract with Pochita and gets revived as "Chainsaw Man" — a man with a devil's heart.

CONNECT WITH CHAINSAW MAN
WEBSITE | TRAILER | TWITTER

Chainsaw Man Original Sound Track E.P Vol.1 (Episode 1-3)
TRACKLISTING –

1. edge of chainsaw
2. the door
3. nail-biter
4. special division 4
5. looking for something
6. chainsaw attacks!
7. the devil appears
8. destroy them all
9. good night, boy
10. sweet dreams
11. that's a dream come true

ABOUT kensuke ushio
As a child, kensuke ushio first learned to play the piano. While studying arts and music at university, he learned how to use the audio editor software Pro Tools. At the age of 20, ushio was first introduced to electronic music like techno.

He started his solo career in 2007 as an electronic music artist known as “agraph.” His debut album A Day, Phases was released in December 2008. Two years later, his second album Equal was released and ranked in the Japanese Albums Charts. In 2016, he released a third album as “agraph” entitled The Shader.

Since 2003, he has supported the production and live performance of various artists such as Denki Groove and Takkyu Ishino, as a technical engineer and production assistant. After 2012, he will be active as a live support member of Denki Groove. In 2011, ushio and some former musicians of bands like SUPERCAR and Number Girl formed a rock band called Lama. The band released two albums which both ranked on the official Albums Charts of Japan.

ushio works as composer of film music, animated TV series and advertising as well, with titles such as A Silent Voice, DEVILMAN crybaby, Space Dandy, Liz and the Blue Bird, Japan Sinks: 2020, Heike Story and Chainsaw Man.

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ABOUT KENSHI YONEZU
Kenshi Yonezu is no stranger to breaking records and making history. His 2020 album STRAY SHEEP sold 1.5 million physical copies and, cumulatively with digital streams, 2 million copies on the Oricon Album Chart. The album charted at No. 1 across 54 countries, and Yonezu topped 46 year-end charts in 2020. The 15-track album features his smash hit single “Lemon,” which ranked No. 1 on Billboard Japan's annual cumulative charts for two years consecutively, making history as the first-ever act to do so.

That same year, he became the first Asian artist ever to collaborate with FORTNITE for a virtual event – STRAY SHEEP in Fortnite. The innovative and global virtual concert, which reached the game's audience of over 350 million players, is just one of the many contributing factors to his acclaim both within and outside of Japan. He collaborated with UNIQLO on a UT T-shirt available in shops worldwide and partnered in the GIVENCHY SS21 collection look book alongside a star-studded roster of celebrities across the globe. He ranked 7th in the IFPI GLOBAL Chart and was listed in Forbes as one of Asia's Digital Stars 100. In Japan, he received the Best Newcomer, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Art Department Prize.

In January 2022, Yonezu wrote "POP SONG" for a PlayStation® commercial and appeared in the commercial, marking the first time ever an artist has had a new song unveiled through PlayStation. The campaign, “Play Has No Limits featuring Kenshi Yonezu,” won the Bronze Prize in the Entertainment for Music Category at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the only work from Asia to win an award in that category.

In May 2022, he wrote "M87" as the theme song for the movie Shin Ultraman. He released the single with cover art featuring Ultraman, the world's third top-selling licensed character since the 1980s.

As for his music videos, “Lemon” has over 760 million views and the numbers continue to grow as he continues to set new records for a Japanese artist. A total of 15 songs (“Lemon,” “Eine Kleine,” “LOSER,” “Peace Sign,” “Haiiro to Ao [with Masaki Suda] [Grey And Blue],” “orion,” “Flamingo,” “Kanden,” “Uchiage Hanabi [Fireworks],” “Shunrai [Spring Thunder],” “Paprika,” “Uma To Shika [Horse and Deer],” “Paprika” sung by Foorin, “Machigai Sagashi” [Spotting The Mistake] sung by Masaki Suda) have been viewed a staggering 100 million times and he has over 6.3 million subscribers on his official YouTube channel.

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