Minami Deutsch

Minami Deutsch, also known as 南ドイツ and pronounced “Minami Doitsu”, are a Japanese krautrock group from Shibuya, Japan. Formed in 2014, the band centres on Kyotaro Miula, who performs guitar, vocals and synthesizer. Other current members listed are Yuichi Ushioda on guitar, Keita Ise on bass and Kosei Terunuma on drums. Former members include Riki Hidaka, Tatsuhiko Rauschenberg and Taku Idemoto on guitar, Keisuke Ise on bass, and Takuya Nozaki, Hikari Sakashita and Masahito Goda on drums.

Style and influences

The group describe themselves as “repetition freaks” and draw on psychedelic rock and minimal techno as starting points. Their music is mainly instrumental, although it sometimes includes brief lyrics in Japanese or English. They are associated with krautrock, psychedelic rock, rock, jazz and space rock, and their recordings often focus on repetition, motorik rhythms and dense atmospherics.

Releases and collaborations

Their self-titled debut album appears in 2015 on the British label Cardinal Fuzz. Before the next album, they sign with Guruguru Brain, a label set up by the Japanese psych band Kikagaku Moyo, which reissues the debut and releases With Dim Light in 2018. Their third studio album, Fortune Goodies, follows in 2022. Other releases include the 2016 single “Tunnel / New Pastoral Life”, the 2018 single pairing “Minami Deutsch / Kuro” with “Boogie Down / Atlas Stabbed”, and the 2019 EP Can’t Get There.

Minami Deutsch also work with former Can vocalist Damo Suzuki at Roadburn Festival, and that collaboration leads to the live album Live At Roadburn Festival in 2019 on Fuzz Club Records. The 2018 album With Dim Light features four guest percussionists, including Go Kurosawa of Kikagaku Moyo. The band also compose the soundtrack for the Japanese film Lapse in 2019.

Performance history

The band promote With Dim Light with their first large-scale US tour, supporting Kikagaku Moyo. They perform at Roadburn Festival with Damo Suzuki, take part in the 2024 Adelaide Fringe, and open for Blood Incantation on a European tour beginning in April 2024. They also play joint dates with Earthless and perform with maya ongaku. In November 2025, they play a run of shows across nine European countries and present new material.

Later development

Kyotaro Miula moves from Japan to Berlin around 2023, citing an interest in the German psychedelic, dark and experimental scene. The band’s name means “South Germany” in Japanese.