Kohei Mihara is a Japanese

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 DJ

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

, who signed to Grand Central Records

Grand Central Records

Grand Central Records was an independent record label based in the Northern Quarter of Manchester, UK. It was started in 1995 by DJ Mark Rae . Rae started out working as manager of the Fat City Records' store...

 independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 in 2005. His music is electronica

Electronica

Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

, combining elements of ambient

Ambient music

Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 and hip hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 and blending both Eastern and Western influences.

His 2005 debut album Cocolotica was described by Allmusic as "trip-hop" with an "amazing variety of beats, vibes, and textures", reviewer Stewart Mason calling it "one of 2005's better releases".

In 2008, after the demise of Grand Central, he moved to the RL66 label in Japan, releasing his follow up album Drama and subsequent singles under the simplified name, Mihara.

Discography

• Cocolotica (20 June 2005, Grand Central Records, GCCD141)
• Drama (20 September 2008, RL66, RL66-024)