There are two different artists under the name Minamo: An electro-acoustic rock group and a Free Jazz/Classical Duo. 1. In 1999, the electro-acoustic group Minamo was formed by Keiichi Sugimoto and Tetsuro Yasunaga. In 2000, minamo's self-released CD-R "wakka" was reissued by the New York label Quakebasket. This release was selected by Matmos as one of best sounds in 2001 in The Wire magazine.
In 2001 two new members joined, Yuiichiro Iwashita (guitar) and Namiko Sasamoto (sax, organ), to make the band a quartet. In 2002, first CD album ".kgs" has released by the Tokyo label 360 records.