Poison Girl Friend

Poison Girl Friend, stylized as POiSON GiRL FRiEND, is a musical solo project by Noriko Sekiguchi. A singer, songwriter, composer, producer and DJ based mainly in Japan, Sekiguchi formed The Poison Girl Friends in 1990 with her friends. However, by end of 1991, it became her solo unit as Poison Girl Friend. The name has been since commonly used as an alias for Noriko.

Early life
Noriko Sekiguchi was born in Yokohama, Japan. Due to her father's work as a banker, Sekiguchi lived in Rio de Janeiro for 3 years and was educated in French schools. Sekiguchi moved to the US and UK around the 80s and 90s, where she "was infatuated by" the club music scene in London.

Career
In 1990s, Sekiguchi began her career as a Club DJ in Tokyo. In 1991, she self-produced her first mini-album POiSON GiRL FRiEND with her own independent label, Psycho Planet Communicaitons.

In 1992, Melting Moment, her first major-label album as Poison Girl Friend, was released on Victor Entertainment (Endorphin). Hardly Ever Smile (Without You), on the album, has become her signature piece since, featuring a marriage of electric ambient house style and a texture of classical strings arranged by Neko Saito and performed by his strings quartet.

In 1993 and 1994, Sekiguchi released three albums on Nippon Columbia. In 1993 were released Shyness and Mr. Polyglot Remix, recorded in London and produced by Momus (Nicholas John Currie), whose second album The Poison Boyfriend had inspired Noriko to baptise her unit Poison Girl Friend. With these albums for which she collaborated closely with Momus and Simon Fisher Turner, she is often classified as a Shibuya-kei musician. In Mr. Polyglot Remix, she continued the exploration of the acoustic sound with the Balanescu Quartet. The subsequent album on Nippo Columbia Love Me (released in 1994) showed more French taste with songs titled in French, giving allusion to French cultural elements or covering French pop songs.

In 1993, Sekiguchi released under the name "Dark Eyed Kid" a dance-music album Angelic House' on Spiral Label. In the years that flowed she released, as dance music unit Kiss-O-Matic, circularhythm (1996) and Sambanista! (1997) on her own label Psychoplanet.

In 2014, Sekiguchi released rondoElectro, her first album in 20 years under the name of Poison Girl Friend on her own label Psycho Planet Communications The album "Das Gift" was released in 2018 on Nekon Records, featuring a diverse range of Japanese musicians active in the electro genre.

In 2021, the two major labels, Victor Entertainment and Nippon Columbia, started to allow the distribution of her ancient albums through several download and streaming service platforms. That led to the rediscovery and reappraisal of the Poison Girl Friend. The year 2023 saw the release of two vinyl albums:"Melting Moment" (on Sad dicco in June), the vinyl edition of her 1991 album, and "exQuisxx" (on Nippon Columbia - HMV Record Shop in November), a compilation of her three albums from the Nippon Columbia years. In September 2023, Sega Bodega's project with Mayah Alkhateri, kiss facility released So Many Ways, in which she participated as featured artist. On 30 December, she gave a full concert in Shanghai.

As a DJ, Sekiguchi appears in several venues in Tokyo and hosts her own events. Since October 2023, she works as a resident host DJ on NTS Rradio.

Discography
Discography established from the data on record companies official sites,  the artist's official site and Discogs.

Studio Albums as POiSON GiRL FRiEND

 * POiSON GiRLFRiENDS (Psycho Planet Communications, 1991)
 * MELTING MOMENT (Victor Entertainment - Endorphin, 1992)
 * Shyness (Nippon Columbia, 1993)
 * Mr. Polyglot Remix (Nippon Columbia, 1993)
 * LOVE ME (Nippon Columbia,b1994)
 * rondoElectro (Psychoplanet, 2014)
 * das Gift (Nekon Records, 2018)

As Dark Eyed Kid

 * Angelic House (Spiral, 1993)

As Kiss-O-Matic

 * circularhythm (Psychoplanet, 1996)
 * Sambanista! (Psychoplanet, 1997)
 * St. Angelique (Psychoplanet, 1997)
 * Kiss-O-Matic Remix
 * Tea 4 you (Track 4 me) from circularhythm Remixed by DJ WADA(Psychoplanet, 12inch Vinyl )
 * Kiss-O-Matic / Make a Miracle (DJ SHINKAWA'SSSS Remix) from Sambanista by DJ SHINKAWA(Psychoplanet, 12inch Vinyl)

Featured in

 * Hysteric Ball Room vol2 (as Dark Eyed Kid、Toshiba EMI,1993)
 * Les jours de vacances en Provence : (as NORIKO, Portazul, 1994)
 * Tribute to NEW WAVE (as PGF, For the independent magazine "MEGABANK", 1995)
 * TASTE OF SWEET LOVE V/A : Heidi 5(TRYCLE, 1997)
 * Voice From Tokio (hoarfrost feat. as nOrikO, Limited Records, 2000)
 * Hub Compilation Album (Kaz Mashino feat. POiSON GiRL FRiEND, Nekon Records, 2016)
 * Reality (Sigh Society & POiSON GiRL FRiEND, Single, 2023)

Reissues and Compilaitions

 * POiSON GiRL FRiEND – Collection (7th Heaven, 2022. Cassette Limited Edition)
 * Melting Moment (Victor Entertainment, 2023, Vinyl LP)
 * POiSON GiRL FRiEND – exQuisxx (Nippon Columbia, 2023. Vinyl LP Compilation Limited Edition)