What a Bash.

Last Night, Kishi Bashi Lit Up the Stage At Prophet Bar.

Kaoru Ishibashi is a multi-disciplinary artist who has performed with the likes of Sondre Lerche, of Montreal and Regina Spektor in the past. More recently, though, he's struck out on his own, and Kishi Bashi is the moniker he adopted as he began to perform and record on his own.

Good thing he has, too: The Kishi Bashi record was released earlier this year, 151a, is a total masterpiece. It's full of lush instrumentation and, while I hate to sound so ridiculous, it really is a transcendentally joyous album. To think that he can make this incredibly rich music as a solo artist is pretty impressive.

That much was fully on display last night at the Prophet Bar, as Ishibashi wowed his audience using a combination of loops (which he builds live), a violin played three different ways and beatboxing. When not impressing solely through his own talents, he also brought his opening band, Last Bison, on stage to help him out.

It was something to see, really. Ishibashi just has a fantastic stage presence, and, to be fair, that's exactly what you'd expect if you've heard his incredibly endearing music.

His smile is contagious and on display pretty much the whole time. More impressive? He's one of the few artists who can talk a lot during a set and not come across as totally pretentious.

At one point, while trying to set up a loop for a cover of a Beirut song, he implored the crowd to “just laugh it off” as he failed to properly build the look for a second time in a row. That, of course, got the crowd laughing with him. And, to no one's surprise, the third time was the charm for that off-note loop.

Unfortunately, Ishibashi won't be back to town for awhile. But he will be at ACL for those of you heading down there. We highly recommend catching him.