James Shinra is a UK electronic music producer, also identified as James Clarke. He works in acid house, acid techno, breaks, electro, IDM and juke.

Early work and development

Shinra begins making music as a primary school pupil, experimenting on an Amiga 600 with OCTAmed 4 software. He later spends long periods DJing progressive house at home before hearing Aphex Twin around 2000, which changes his musical direction. After that, he makes tracks on a laptop.

Performances and releases

His first live break comes when Saint Acid invites him to play Bangface in March 2005. That appearance leads to further bookings including Wrong Music in Brighton, Fractals in Reading, Ruin It in Glasgow and more Bangface sets. He builds a full live acid set that performs well at Bangface and Fractals, and he also wins a Laptop Battle title.

His first release, Demons, appears in summer 2006 on Wrong Music’s netlabel. The release collects his strongest tracks from 2004 and 2005, and one track is played by Mary Anne Hobbs on her Radio 1 show.

Activity

He continues to play regularly around the UK and develops further project ideas while maintaining a focus on live acid and laptop-based performance.