Author: DC (Page 1109 of 1133)

‘The oscillations between listening and hearing, thus, describe a movement between foreground and background, between an object of attention and its context, between one and many. Given that sound is a movement of air pressure, in a continual state of flux, listening must, in a way, negotiate the sheer intrusiveness of sound – its restless and itinerant behavior. If we were to listen fully, at all times, we would most likely find ourselves unable to do much else. In this regard, the ear is a natural filter, open at all times yet continually pushing back against sound, to defend the body against such oscillations and energies. Listening may register where we are, precisely by shifting focus, locating presence as a backdrop that comes forward at times, certainly, but which we might also force back or resist: we hear also so as not to listen. Listening, in this regard, is an act by giving attention to events and people around us, and by also spatializing ourselves, drawing us out and away from the greater field of sound.

‘We are immersed in sound, as waves and oscillations of energy that envelope us, to touch a deep nerve. Sound, therefore, carries deep emotional force, often linking us to more ephemeral, ambient and embodied experiences. The self defined by listening is prone to a particular vulnerability, where the uncontrollable force of sound may invade the body, to haunt our environment with ambiguous and uncertain stirrings. Sound is, therefore, often a ghostly matter, linking to the spirit-world, to the dead, and other seemingly inorganic stuff. Sound, in other words, proposes that what lies underneath, or still and silent, may also at times, come to life.

‘The self as membrane, where sounds and musics may pass, lends to harmonious mingling as well as forceful rupture, a tearing apart that also «pluralizes» and multiplies: noise might be the very force that ruptures all forms of representation, that splinters each space into additions, that causes every communication to fragment into an array of possible trajectories, in support of multiple narratives. Listening moves between foreground and background, focus and distraction, to link life and death, organic and inorganic, and provide a voluptuous route for the imagination as it weaves together fantasy and the real.’. — Brandon LaBelle

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Grumbling Fur ‘Under Fur Moon’
‘Daniel O’Sullivan and Alexander Tucker are long time friends and collaborators. Both artists are veterans of the UK experimental underground: O’Sullivan as a member of Guapo, Ulver, and Aethenor (with Stephen O’Malley), and Tucker with imbogodom and as an eclectic (read: Yeti) solo artist. They have craft avant-pop assembled as one would a collage. This structural foundation is built up via an eclectic array of instruments, both acoustic and modified, to pulsating electronic sounds. Add to this mix the pair’s entirely modern shamanistic meta-narratives, and the result is a contemporary psychedelic pop delight. Yes, as their history attests, this is a group unbound from the restrictions of traditionalism and unafraid to shed the pretence of pure abstraction.’ — Thrill Jockey

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Baths ‘You’re My Excuse To Travel’, live in Tokyo
‘For mercurial L.A. music-maker Will Wiesenfeld, Baths has been a long time coming. The 21-year-old has spent the better part of his days living amidst “pleasant” and “unremarkable” in the suburbs of the San Fernando Valley, so perhaps it’s due to a general lack of local inspiration that Wiesenfeld’s own work has never fit into a prefab box of its own. Over the last six years, under the handle of [Post-Foetus], Wiesenfeld has gainfully explored the intersections and outer reaches of both electronic and acoustic music. With Baths, his eclecticism finds its greatest focus yet, in a hail of lush melodies, ghostly choirs, playful instrumentation and stuttering beats.’ — anticon

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Daniel Menche ‘Marriage of Metals 1’
‘In its history throughout millennia it is fair to say the Gamelan has never had an encounter quite like this. Marriage of Metals is a devastating extension of the harmonic properties found in the instruments of Indonesia. Menche was granted access to a remarkable Gamelan studio where he was given full privilege to record any and all of these rare and ancient gongs. Most notably the gigantic “Gong Ageng” that’s contains the deepest of deep of acoustic bass. Daniel Menche took the raw source material from this Gamelan gong session and launches into a heavily processed yet surprisingly sympathetic 21st Century take on this unique instrument. Marriage of Metals comprises two side long works where the purity of the sound source exists amongst the entire din. Metallic rhythms bounce alongside synthetic pops swaying from reality to fantasy, from pure acoustic tonality to fuzzed out distorted clatter. A distant feedback squall is teased amongst the foreground creating a clamorous din.’ — Editions Mego

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Teenage Guitar ‘Atlantic Cod’
‘A press release notes that despite the Teenage Guitar record being delivered under a new moniker, “this is pure high-potency solo Pollard,” and finds the Ohio rocker laying down vocals, guitars and pianos. Guided By Voices bassist Greg Demos, however, contributed drums to the set, while Joe Patterson occasionally takes up bass duties. The LP was recorded by Pollard at home on “a historic mid-’90s Tascam 488 cassette recorder,” and apparently the sessions bring to mind mid-’90s-era GBV releases like the Clown Prince of the Menthol Trailer EP. While lyrics were reportedly composed before Pollard hit the record button, “the music flowed spontaneously while the tape ran.”‘ — Exclaim

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Young Echo ‘Jupiter Rise’
‘Young Echo is a loose collective of Bristol producers that includes Vessel and Kahn, with an emphasis on the “loose” part. The group’s members have a common hunger for borderless experimentalism, but that, and their unruly radio show, is the only thing they share—though they’ve existed for years, Nexus is their first actual release as Young Echo. Considering their individual personalities, from Kahn’s fundamentalist dubstep to Zhou’s meditative drones, it’s hard to picture how they could all come together for a full-length. As its name implies, Nexus is where the group meets, but it’s not a simple convergence. Instead, it’s the uneasy centre of their already porous identities and projects, and ends up every bit the glorious mess it should be.’ — Resident Advisor

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Paul Metzger ‘Of the Passing’
‘The idea to have 23 strings on a banjo was not a single “light bulb moment.” Some banjos have a fifth string, a higher string on the top end of it. Instead of just having a single accent string there, I added initially just one, another one and then a third one, just to see what would come of those sounds. Things that would become available to me by having some extra strings to use as an accent would then further inspire me to add something else to the instrument, or then play it in a different way than is expected. When I first heard the instrument and was interested in music, as far as a banjo goes, I liked the sound of the instrument more than the type of music that was being played on it. So I was listening to instruments from India and Iran and Afghanistan that have certain sounds that are really quite similar to what you get out of a banjo or a guitar, if it’s played a certain way.’ — Paul Metzger

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Kaffe Matthews ‘Mount Magnet’
‘Kaffe Matthews has been making and performing new electro-acoustic music since 1990. She is acknowledged as a leading figure and pioneer in the field of electronic improvisation and live composition making on average 50 performances a year worldwide. Kaffe has become known for making site-specific sound works live, playing in the dark in the middle of the space, the audience surrounding her, the sounds moving around them. She uses self-designed software matrices through which she pulls, pushes and reprocesses sounds live, using microphones, a theremin, and feedback within the space; the site then becoming her instrument.’ — The Jogwheel

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Julia Holter ‘World’
‘Classical and not-so-classical-at-all: Julia Holter’s music lies at a crossroads similar to the one where artists like Arthur Russell or Laurie Anderson reside. It’s the sound of an artist who has clearly been trained—in this case at Cal Arts with Michael Pisaro and in India singing with harmonium under guru Pashupati nath Mishra—and one that has no problem forgetting everything previously learned, if needed. Holter’s songwriting stems from a mythological reverence of that which is incomprehensibly beautiful.’ — Red Bull Music Academy

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Innode ‘Gridshifter 05’
‘Innode enters the world with an audacious debut of rhythm and sound, space and silence and an astonishing blend of the acoustic and the electronic. Spearheaded by Stefan Németh (co-founder of Radian, Lokai) in close collaboration with Steven Hess (Locrian, Pan.American, Cleared) and Bernhard Breuer (Elektro Guzzi, Tumido), Gridshifter is an intense, astonishing sonic experience which navigates the line between formal structures and experimental interplay. Conceived as a series of crossbred experiments where, on one side, a human rhythm triggers electronic signals whilst on the other electronic textures sculpt a platform for physical human engagement. The stark dynamics and Human/Non Human interaction manifests itself as a thrilling expose of 21st Century rhythm and noise.’ — Editions Mego

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Vår ‘The World Fell’
‘Vår is the project of four best friends from Copenhagen. Each member of the band is involved in several other Danish bands and all four members are also accomplished visual artists. What began as the extremely lo-fi two-piece of Elias Rønnenfelt and Loke Rahbek recording on 4-track has evolved into an experimental noise/industrial/techno pop quartet. Exploring themes of love, loss, vanity, hope, fear, sexuality and friendship and drawing more on literary influences than musical ones (Bataille and Shaffer, specifically), the band craft music which cannot be confined by any singular sub-genre. Words like “industrial” and “electronic” fall short here; they barely begin to scratch the surface of this work. This is soundtrack music for a play that has only begun to be imagined and is light years away from being consummated.’ — Sacred Bones Records

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The Durian Brothers ‘Planete Sauvage’
‘German trio The Durian Brothers are Stefan Schwander, Mark Matter and Florian Meyer. They play two pairs of Technics 1210s, prepared with elastic bands, sticky tape and Post-it notes, with Schwander on a sequencer and delay pedal, looping and layering sounds to create polyrhythmic patterns. The trio live in Brussels, Düsseldorf and Karlsruhe, and meet for a day at a time to record music. Previous to their current split release with Ekoplekz’s turntablist moniker on FatCat, they have also released a series of EPs under their own label, Diskant.’ — The Wire

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Idea Fire Company ‘live in Brooklyn’ (excerpt)
‘Idea Fire Company was formed in 1988 by Karla Borecky and Scott Foust and continues to this day, despite the odds. IFCO’s goal has always been to create experimental atmospheres to open up a more aesthetic approach to both the world and one’s own life. We strive to evoke possible alternative worlds as a direct opposition to the paucity of life under The Spectacle. IFCO has always been an open concept. As such, besides core members Karla and me, IFCO has included Matt Krefting, Graham Lambkin, Meara O’Reilly, Mike Popovich, Dr. Timothy Shortell, Jessi Swenson, and Frans de Waard, all friends, like-minded thinkers, and fine artists. IFCO’s relatively small catalog is partly due to Karla’s and my participation in other aesthetic endeavor, but it also reflects our ever increasing determination to craft each release into a diamond. And we don’t like to make the same diamond twice.’ — Scott Foust

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Midday Veil ‘Great Cold of the Night’
‘Seattle multimedia ensemble Midday Veil began in 2008 as a collaboration between vocalist and visual artist Emily Pothast and analog synth head David Golightly (whose studies in composition and electronic music included courses led by Karlheinz Stockhausen), however the broad palette of Midday Veil’s characteristic sound owes much of its shapeshifting audacity to the addition in early 2009 of Timm Mason—a multi-instrumentalist obsessed with modular synthesis, musique concrète and Middle Eastern melodies—on baritone guitar. In 2011, the band added Jayson Kochan on bass and Sam Yoder on percussion. In 2012, original drummer Chris Pollina left the band and was replaced by Garrett Moore (Brain Fruit, Particle Being Trio).’ — The Stranger

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p.s. Hey. ** Rewritedept, Hi. Acid reflux sucked, for sure. The post-AR eternal maintenance routine is easy but annoying. I miss onion rings like you can’t even believe. Uh, I did this and that this weekend. Got stuff done, which is something of note considering that these sleep problems just will not get bored with me and bugger off. Any job moves or ideas or leads or whatever? Oh, I saw your second comment. Glad that things are sorted and/or getting there. The heatwave broke, yes. It’s not chilly, by any means, but the outdoors is a lot more doable. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. No, the Manif pour tous guys are not far-right violent thugs. They’re mainstream conservative religious young guys who know their shirtless antics will get their thing media attention and who think it’s an interesting and amusing strategy to try to turn on gay guys while simultaneously decrying them. Over here, people mostly just think they’re funny jerks. Social media users and bloggers Stateside seem to be conclusion jumping and confusing France for Russia or something. Yury thinks what’s going in Russia is horrendous, of course. Like a lot of Russians, he’s mostly cynical and resigned about how little can be done about it barring some kind of revolution. Yeah, I read that about Ben Wishaw. ** Mark Gluth, Hi, Mark! Thanks, man, re: the sleep thing. It’s totally weird. Never had this happen before where I can fall asleep with no problem but then wake up for good no matter what I do at about 4:30 am every day. I’m just waiting for my body clock’s current pattern to erode or give out. Not much else I can think of to do. I would completely love a goofy blog post from you, if you don’t mind. First, your sensibility is always god, and, second, these sleep issues are not so conducive to making blog posts, and I’m way behind again. Did you see Frozen Cloak, lucky you? Really great to see you, my pal. ** Steevee, Hi. Like I said to David, the US gay blogs and Facebook people can’t seem to distinguish the Russian situation from the situation here or something. Yeah, in a nutshell, that’s the basic idea: ‘akin to young, attractive women going topless to protest porn.’ It’s not exactly like that, but it’s near enough the comparison is useful when interpreting them. Never heard of Dreamwater, hm. Like I said, though, I can fall asleep just fine, it’s the fascistic body alarm clock thing that’s the problem, and I don’t know what can be added to me to fix that, and I don’t want to take sleeping pills in the mornings, if I can help it. Thank you a lot for the tip, though. I will look into Dreamwater, just in case. ** MANCY, Yeah, it’s so easy to take the ability to sleep for granted. Ouch, man, on the tooth thing. I broke two teeth while eating nothing especially challenging — tortilla chips in one case — a couple of years ago. Weird, no? I hope your gig last night went splendidly. ** Misanthrope, There’s just been a Dewaere bio published over here, and I would imagine it presents some kind of theory, solid or not, about why he killed himself, but I haven’t read it. I think every suicide is eternally inexplicable whether one leaves a note or has some contemporaneous real world problem or not. Okay, understood about story not-vs. novel. That’s curious because I can’t think of a single smoker friend of mine who happens to Black, past or present, who smoked/smokes menthol cigarettes. I wonder what it means. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. He’s a really good actor, if you ever get the chance to see pretty much any movie he’s in. Cool about the completion of profiling. Ooh, form decision time. I love that. Yeah, obviously, hook us up when the results are are visible. ** Statictick, Hi, N. Thanks about the post. Thank you eternally for being you in all your myriad ways, man. That’s sweet about your mom. Give her the best of all possible bests from me. Someone told me something vague about your ‘in jail’ thing. I didn’t fully understand, but, Jesus, man. I hope the outcome of that is as close to circumstantial perfection as possible. Love to you too, bud. ** œ, Hi. I’m glad you like conversation with me. The feeling is mutual. I only don’t wear bracelets because I don’t have bracelets to wear, I think. I don’t know. I’m so sorry about your health failings. I mean, how so, if you want to say? Oh, a post on ‘Snapshots’ would be great! I love that book, and it’s among the least noted and discussed of R-G’s books, I think. From what I see. I’m so pleased to hear that you’re enjoying working. That state is one of emotion’s greatest rulers. You have a great week too! ** Okay. Gig posts featuring music that I’m newly listening to, liking, and recommending tend to be the most skipped over posts among the constituency around here, but, hey, I seem to like making them, and this one is out of my hands, and the power is now in yours, and the rest is mystery. See you tomorrow.

‘To some extent, traditional Japanese art has been less occupied with originality as an aesthetic standard by which to evaluate works of art than their European peers have been. According to the tradition of Iemoto-seidō (the master-apprentice system) a skilled artist was a person that could imitate his master down to the most minute detail. Individual expression was never encouraged and students were in fact forbidden to expose their personal interpretation until they became authorized teachers. Whereas the West valued individual expression in art, the Japanese focused on copying their masters. One of the most prevailing stereotypes of the Japanese is that they are ‘highly collectivistic or group-oriented, by the same token anti-individualistic’, especially in comparison with Western cultures. This behaviour is perhaps best summed up in the proverb, ‘The nail that sticks out must be hammered down’, and is by many Japanese and Westerners alike considered to be uniquely Japanese. Even the Japanese word for ‘individualism’ (kojin shugi) carries with it negative connotations and may imply selfishness and egotism. However, some scholars disagree. Research fellow Miyanaga Kuniko points out that individualism, although historically and culturally distinct from the Western interpretation, has always existed in Japan. Typical examples are monks and artists that chose to drop ‘out of established groups for the purpose of self- realization’. Befu Harumi says that the idea of Japanese ‘groupism’ has merely been derived from comparing Japanese behaviour with Western individualism.

‘Nevertheless, the prevailing assumption is that the Japanese are culturally handicapped in expressing themselves individualistically, and this may undermine any effort to come across as authentic. Personal authenticity concerns a person’s subjective relation to the world and cannot be achieved by repeating a set of actions or taking up a pre-established set of positions; it requires of an individual that he or she acts in accordance with his or her own morals and that the impetus to take action arises within the self.

‘Some of the musicians interviewed in the book Japanese Independent Music seem to share this perception. Oshima Dan, one of these musicians, explains: ‘To tell the truth, in Japan, we can’t be original. Everybody must be part of the boring mass’. If the Japanese cannot create anything new but rather reinterpret and mix, it can be seen as both a restriction and a source of greater freedom. They treat Western music at hand simply as information, because it is not part of their own cultural roots. They don’t need to consider historical circumstances or ideologies and this allows for more experimentation. Furthermore, because the expression of choice is not culturally linked to their ethnicity, they, in a sense, start with a blank slate. Oshima explains further: ‘Japanese indie music is based on an absolutely absurd spirit. It is built on nothing. It contains no culture. In Europe music is based on a long history’.

‘The point of departure seems to be different for Western and Japanese experimental musicians. While European musicians seem to be carrying on a tradition, the Japanese seem to think that they are on the sideline merely commenting and reinterpreting this tradition. Many of the artists interviewed in the book Japanese Independent Music make a clear distinction between European music and Japanese music. European music may be original and innovative but it is always coming from within a certain tradition, regardless of whether it chooses to follow or reject the rules of this tradition. Japanese music on the other hand is built on nothing, and in that sense does not necessarily have to mean anything. In an interview with the counter-culture magazine PlanB, Melt Banana, one of the most successful of Japanese experimental bands, recalls how they were faced with the western academic approach to music when playing in France: “In France we played this festival and they wanted members of each band to join this debate and discuss what they were trying to express,’ says Agata. ‘We told them we didn’t want to do it, but they said in France people expect artists to explain and if we didn’t do it then they might think we’re fake. I thought that was strange’.

‘Composer and multi-instrumentalist Ōtomo Yoshihide, involved in a wide range of musical expressions from jazz, noise, and electronics to classical composition, takes a similar stance when asked about the intention behind his music: “I don’t really understand the idea of a valid reason to make music. Why do you have to explain in words why you make music? It’s the same as not being able to explain in words why you live.”

‘The idea that music must have at least some kind of message is rejected in both of these statements, and Melt Banana, who use mostly English in their lyrics, claim that they base their lyrics on intonation only and that there is no meaning behind them. This may be equally true for many Western musicians as well, but some of the Japanese musicians interviewed claims that the ‘meaninglessness’ in their music is somehow related to their ethnicity. Japanese noise artist Merzbow has said that “Western noise is often too conceptual and academic. Japanese noise relishes the ecstasy of sound itself.” When asked about the difference between American/ European and Japanese styles, Jibiki Yuichi of Eater and Telegraph Factory replied: “Pure emotion. For example in case of noise music, European music is conceptual and logical, meanwhile Japanese noise is meaningless, coming from emotions within the soul.”

‘The tendency to view European musical tradition as based on logic and concepts in contrast to Japanese music, which is mainly emotional, is an extension of thoughts found in Nihonjinron literature. Japanese culture is believed to be emotional and asymmetrical. Furthermore, Japanese culture is regarded ‘spiritual’ in contrast to the ‘material’ West. There is not necessarily any expressed meaning or intention, and emotion is emphasized over logic.’ — Fredrik Andreas Larsen

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Boris ‘My Neighbor Satan’
‘Dark dangling participles of noisy rock is what this Japanese hard rock trio known simply as Boris offer up album after album. Experimental twists and turns around every avenue of creative heaviness seem to be second nature with this crafty group of relative unknowns. Boris pop and weave between psychedelic rock, proto punk, drone metal, and experimental full-blown jam sessions–sometimes as lengthy as a full 70 minutes. Somehow the group continues to surprise with every album, quietly releasing juggernauts on smaller metal labels and boasting a tremendous deep back catalog. Often compared to the likes of Earth and Sunn 0))), there’s no doubt that Boris is at the top of the class of experimental heavy music. After years of turning heads in the underground Japanese scene, Boris has been making headway in the American heavy music scene in the last five years or so with releases on Southern Lord Records and other American imprints.’ — Smother Magazine

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Toshimaru Nakamura ‘nimb#37’
‘To fans of free improvisation and the Japanese onkyo, or noise scene, Toshimaru Nakamura needs no introduction; to newcomers, the name of his instrument – the no-input mixing board – may sound forbidding, as if its output would sound more machine than music. But for over a decade, Nakamura has cultivated a world of tones from this unlikely instrument, both harsh and mesmerizing, humanist and expansive – with something to lure in music fans of any stripe. Nakamura discovered the no-input mixing board while searching for a better balance between himself and his tools. After many “unhappy years” playing guitar in rock bands, he set that instrument aside. “I think I was not moving away from the guitar itself, but from my own attitude when I played the guitar. I had a problem with the idea that I have to be the one who starts the music. You have to play the guitar first, otherwise the music can’t exist. … Then at some point around 1997, I discovered that internal feedback within the mixing desk fit me very well. I think I was seeking an equal relationship with my instrument, instead of putting myself above my instrument. The instrument could lead me.”’ — samadhisound

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OOIOO ‘Grow Sound Tree’
‘OOIOO is an all-female outfit headed by Yoshimi P-we, a founding member of Japanese experimental psych innovators The Boredoms. OOIOO’s earliest music was minimal and digital, but its sound has evolved over four albums and lineup changes. New wave poppy grooves gave way to chaotic plateaus and psychedelic freak-outs. Their current manifestation has derived a rhythm-based soundscape; spacious, spiritual and elevatory, intended as a communication with the Earth and motivated by nature. They use a wide array of instrumental sounds and textures, focusing on accentuating the driving rhythms that get the toes tapping and the hands dancing. It’s next to impossible to describe their sound, because — by design — it rarely follows consistent patterns”. Some of their music has been described as having “a majestic ebb and flow that suggests natural wonders” or a “witchy, tribal side”. Either way, at any one time it may incorporate chanting and punchy drums, dancey polyrhythms atonal composition or psychedelia.’ — collaged

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Taku Sugimoto ‘Bell’
‘Taku Sugimoto may be absolutely unknown to the mainstream media, but this Japanese guitarist has become a legend in avant-garde circles. He has reinvented himself from head to toe a couple of times already, going from a psychedelic/noise rocker persona to ultra-minimal free improvisation. He is one of the key artists of what has been dubbed the “onkyo” movement, Tokyo’s own form of Berlin reductionism — music built on silence instead of sound. Since 1995, but even more since 1999, he tours regularly in Europe and America and leaves behind him a trail of albums. His first recording was a 7″ single with the psychedelic rock group Piero Manzoni in 1986. In 1991, Sugimoto turned his career around by dropping the guitar altogether to pick up cello. He played this instrument in Henkyo Gakudan, a high-energy improv group comprising saxophonist Hiroshi Itsui and guitarist Michio Kurihara that lasted two years and self-released two cassettes. Back on the guitar in 1994, Sugimoto reversed polarities and explored ever-more quieter areas in music. He gradually stripped down his playing, first going through a period in which he played short, unstitched tonal lines and later moving to greater extremes, playing the body of the guitar or just slowly running his fingers on the freeboard.’ — collaged

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Melt Banana ‘Lost Parts Stinging Me So Cold’
‘Out of the old ashes sizzle and scream a new wave and realization simply called MELT-BANANA. A maelstrom of experimental heart surgery, Melt Banana walk on water, They effortlessly juggle all of those sharks that think they’re swimming in new, unexplored territories. Here are the imported children of the no waves gone by, a hardcore-informed, audio info overload from Tokyo’s ferocious underground. MELT-BANANA sweat out a super-adrenalized, maxi-caffeinated collision of frenzied drum rhythms and torturous guitar squeals through tiny, frantic, hyperrhythmic little songs. Frontwoman Yasuko O.’s ultra-high-pitched screeches and Agata’s screaming slide guitar vie for supremacy across a rhythmic frenzy that is so ridiculous and precise, it will crush you with it’s brilliance. Here are the cerebral gnashing guitars, the aggravated pep squad proclamations and the neck-snapping rhythm change-ups irresistible to those seeking a new musical truth.’ — Skin Graft Records

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World’s End Girlfriend ‘We are the Massacre’
‘World’s End Girlfriend is a Japanese composer whose work blends complex sound structures with beautiful melodies, reaching from electronic glitch to jazz-infused rock to modern classical. Captivating, enthralling and like nothing you’ve heard before, WEG makes for a surprising yet central addition to London contemporary music label Erased Tapes. World’s End Girlfriend hails from Nagasaki Kyushu, Japan and currently resides in Tokyo. Fascinated by his father’s classical music collection, he began his foray into sound at the tender age of 10, creating his early compositions on keyboard, guitar, tape recorders and computers. To date he has composed more than 600 songs, for the most part unreleased testaments of his early experimentations.’ — collaged

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C.C.C.C. ‘Loud Sounds Dopa’
‘The core line up of C.C.C.C. consisted of Hiroshi Hasegawa (also of the bands Astro & Mortal Vision) and former bondage-porn star Mayuko Hino. Hino would occasionally, during live shows, reprise this element of her past into her performances by engaging in such acts as onstage striptease. Another notorious feature of their live shows was the plastic bags of urine that were thrown into the audience. Other members were occasionally and variably brought in for work on single albums, but had no permanent membership in the band. Aesthetically, the band – and Mayuko Hino in particular – advocated a very emotive and cathartic approach to noise music as opposed to the conceptual and intellectual approaches advocated by many European noise musicians, most notably within the “power electronics” subgenre. Mayuko Hino believes that an emotional, rather than an intellectual, approach to noise not only creates more interesting sounds, but reveals much about the personality of the noisemaker.’ — discogs

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Christine 23 Onna ‘Fantastico’
‘The world of “Acid Eater” was imagined by the refreshingly warped minds of Christine 23 Onna. This Osaka-based duo features Fusao Toda on electric guitar and Maso Yamazaki on drum programming, analog synthesizers and an echo machine. They refer to themselves as a “space mondo psychedelic group.” Toda is best-known for her work with the all-female psychedelic rock band Angel in Heavy Syrup, which has opened for such space-psychedelic heavyweights as Hawkwind and Gong. Yamazaki is a major figure in Japan’s noise scene, and counts Beck and Sonic Youth among his many fans. He first became known around 1987 in Osaka, from where he built his reputation, as the one-man show of Masonna, a bizarre distillation of grind-core, death metal, ’60s psychedelia and serious electronics. Starting in 1991, Masonna found its expression in intensely violent gigs during which Yamazaki invariably inflicted “damage to both equipment and flesh.” Apparently, performances were regularly curtailed minutes after they began.’ — Earls Psychedelic Garden

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Happy Family ‘Rock & Young 130427’
‘Happy Family explodes with American rock & roll and prog in the way only Japanese bands seem to be able to do — the record’s tracks are quite simply rocking, taking frantic post-punk guitar noise, new wavey synth lines, syncopated, jerky song constructions, and incredibly tight changes to extremes most bands could only dream of. The result may have the same insane energy as a Melt Banana record, but its lack of abrasion makes it far more listenable — the band has the amazing ability to veer toward extremes without ever forfeiting the straightforward appeal they’re amplifying. This makes Happy Family an incredible, incredible record — it would not be an exaggeration to suggest that this might be one of the finest albums of the decade. Even more amazing is the fact that Happy Family’s later work progressed upon this in even more interesting ways.’ — collaged

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Eksperimentoj ‘Note’
‘As I load Eksperimentoj’s home page, “The sound of silence” flashes across my screen. I’m worried. Already, I can smell the pretentiousness dripping out of my computer monitor. The Flash opening continues and the band’s name fades into view. Twice. In two different fonts. I’m worried. Once I figure out that I need to click on one of the names to progress, I move into another flash animation, and the solar system unfolds itself into more links including one to a section of the site called “liberalism,” which leads to a section of random links to random drawings like an archaic Radiohead website. I’m worried. Taking a look at the tracklist, I see a variety of track names that at least make the solar system layout make sense, with songs like “Planetalium” and “Solaris.” But I’m still worried, there’s a song dedicated to Kurt Cobain. Moving along to their MySpace, I see they have Sonic Youth, Blonde Redhead and Godspeed You! Black Emperor on their top friends, yet their two main genres are rock and progressive. Now I’m not just worried, but confused as well.’ — sputnik music

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Merzbow ‘Woodpecker No. 1’
‘In a lot of circles, Merzbow’s 1996 album Pulse Demon was one of the verifiable foundations of noise, the final proof that the pythonic wall of sound was scalable. This is a gross overstatement, of course, as journals from the Sixth Century also indicate the presence of noise, but it’s not an entirely deceitful one. It came after a string of near-apocalyptic releases that were far more severe and atrophic, but also entertaining, heterogeneous, energizing, malleable. Pulse Demon is simply pure sound, viciously unadulterated static. The earlier releases stimulated the imagination; Pulse Demon decimates it. It also has a bit of a beat that would be further dismantled in the succeeding years. Pulse Demon is Meet the Beatles, where you start to understand Masami Akita’s appeal before the relentless experimentalism period. And, in this sense, the record is probably one of the most archetypal Merzbow albums, the one most resolutely and incorrigibly reluctant to dilute itself with free jazz, industrial, world, or musique concrete.’ — collaged

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Acid Mothers Temple ‘Dark Stars In The Dazzling Sky’
‘In 1996, Makoto Kawabata banded together with a bunch of communal friends, musicians, farmers, dancers and fisherman from the Acid Mothers “soul collective” to create what he thought would be a non-continuing outlet for his musical freak-outs. Dubbing the group Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (Underground Freak Out), Kawabata decided to unveil his astrophysical clatter with a 1997 self-titled release on PSF. From the beginning, there were always these goofball, cartoonish elements to the Acid Mothers. Members would receive credit in the liner notes for things like “guru and zero,” “erotic underground,” “sleeping monk,” “cheese cake” and “cosmic ringmodulater” alongside “electric guitars” and “drums.” Also, take note of the album covers: a communal mass of fuzz and hair, hippie costumes and monks with skulls. Not to mention the naked women, which appear to be everywhere in the AMT universe. Listening to the band’s music and reading interviews with Kawabata, it is apparent that the oddball eccentricities of the band are just a part of the whole. What’s at the core of everything is the music, which can easily shift from acid-fueled guitar orgies to acoustic meditative drones.’ — Pitchfork

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Tujiko Noriko ‘Fly’
‘Mixing capriciousness with prettiness and outright experimentalism in a manner gently reminiscent of avant-pop genius Haco, Tujiko Noriko’s introduction to the world at large was one of the most astonishing of the last years. Maybe second-best behind Björk (the Icelandic elfin pop-princess is probably a better comparative form-guide than the Mego reference) and alongside the mysterious turns and deturns of Cologne based Niobe (tom14). For her solo albums on Mego Tujiko Noriko has worked at fusing digital sounds into pop-song forms, but not as some quaint modernist exercise, rather as some raw, enveloping, loving artistic craft. Now much more confident vocally, she assumes a profoundly expressive position as a singer and is much closer to pop music than ever before. Tujiko Noriko forges an awkward musical beauty that sets her apart from the no-fun out-electro underground, or shiny/happy Japanese pop-kids, or any other measuring sticks that fail to measure up.’ — Tomlab

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Yasunao Tone ‘Part I’
‘In his 1960 manifesto, Gustav Metzger defined auto-destructive art as “art which contains within itself an agent which automatically leads to its destruction within a period of time not to exceed twenty years. Other forms of auto-destructive art involve manual manipulation. There are forms of auto-destructive art where the artist has a tight control over the nature and timing of the disintegrative process, and there are other forms where the artist’s control is slight.”1 Metzger, who would later join the Fluxus collective, then went on to list all the materials and techniques that one could use to produce an auto-destructive work of art. The list included adhesives, feed-back, and cybernetics, all of which were present to some extent in Yasunao Tone’s earliest experiments with modified Compact Discs and Compact Disc players in 1984, barely two years after the medium’s public release. However, these experiments, arguably the first attempts to take CD technology out of its context and force it into a creative space, were not so much about destruction but rather about manipulation. By placing tiny pieces of scotch tape on the disc’s data side, Tone was humanising an instrument that promised its users perfection, flawlessness and uncanny clarity.’ — Roc Jimenez De Cisneros

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Manierisme ‘マニエリスム’
‘Manierisme is an one-man black metal project from Japan. As goes for all raw black metal, it isn’t for everybody and this is certainly an extreme version of raw. In fact, I haven’t really heard anything with such piss poor production. But it really works well. Manierisme takes poppy melodies, twisting them in all sorts of screwed up ways that are almost dizzying to hear. While Mütiilation aimed for the darkest possible sound, Manierisme’s riffs sound much more lunatical. “Maniérisme” is French for “Mannerism”, a period of European art (16th to 17th century), that encompasses approaches influenced by, and reacting to, the harmonious ideals and restrained naturalism; is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial qualities.’ — collaged

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p.s. Hey. ** Empty Frame, Whoa, dude, hey! Long time no … ! Awesome to see you! I’m real good, I think, thanks! Yeah, I’ve been adventuring afar. It’s the new me. And I think ‘The Pyre’ went really well and is going well on its tour so far, as far as I can tell. We’re trying to get it to the UK. I think it’s the usual moolah-impairment issue. I’m seeing Gisele today, and I’ll ask her where we are vis-a-vis the UK. So sorry to hear you’ve been down, man, and that you had to give up your studio. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have to give up my paper and pen, or to only have, I don’t know, post-its to write on and a dirty fingertip to inscribe with, which I guess is me commiserating. Obviously, I hope you can get that loss sorted asap and by whatever means. Recent reading recommendations? I have one of those ‘3 books’ posts coming up in a couple of days. Oh, yeah, ‘Corrections’ by Bernhard is incredibly great. In fact, he pretty much always is. Definitely. I hope I’ll get to see you more. Lots of love for now. ** Kingdom slide, Yay! I’m still in the ‘very excited that your back’ phase. I so clearly hope that your resurfacing isn’t a shorty too, D., you bet. I’ll try to do my part in, I don’t know, re-addicting you? Fascinating to read your thoughts on the Tiqqun book, thank you so much. I see what you’re saying. The book kind of jazzed me up. It broke some stuff loose. The form and many voiced writing appealed to me, and I’m a bit of sucker for the tone it used or something. I don’t know. Great thoughts too on the Cookie Mueller book. I’d love to reread that. I haven’t since it first got born. Anyway, yeah, you’re being immensely inspiring, as always. Mm, I think I’ve never gotten so far into a novel and had to abandon it before, no. Or, yeah, not since I started the Cycle. ‘The Sluts’ took me ten years to finish, and I thought it was a dead duck a bunch of times along the way. Maybe the George material/ novel will eventually get itself figured out. But I’ve never tried to write a novel like that before where it was restricted by being both a recounting of and duty bound to something that actually happened, and the impetus has never been so entirely emotion-based, and the subject/goal so intimidating. What went wrong was complex, I think. Having to do with my deep dislike of fore-fronting myself in my work without utilizing fictional elements and overriding structural machinations as a kind of secret-izing and universalizing strategy. And I wanted the book to be as artless as possible as a way to make George more important than me. It’s very, very hard to write emotionally and effectively without involving poetics and things, or it is for me, and the novel wasn’t mining what it would need to have mined to work. A lot of problems like that and others. Oh, shit, that Whedon spooky house is only at the Orlando Universal? That’s so disappointing, as I plan to be in LA and do the spooky house grand tour, including the Universal shebang, this year. Oh, well. Anyway, I hope the rest of your day was a textbook example of fulfillment. ** Un Cœur Blanc, Hi! Thank you a lot for your very interesting read and off-shooting thoughts re: the Tiqqun book. Such a pleasure. I don’t know that Danielle Collobert book. Huh. I’ll investigate it. Thank you so much again! ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Thank you re: the failed George novel. Yeah, it was, is painful, but, luckily, I have new, similarly very difficult novel I’m trying to write now, so I’m doing my best to be in phoenix mode. ** Scott Foyster, Hi, Scott. The new job sounds really interesting or, I don’t know, an interesting combination of challenging and sweet and magical in some weird way and devotional. I’ll be very curious to hear how you find the work, if you feel like sharing the experience in some way. ** Monsieur Roubignoles, Hello, greetings, welcome. I got your email, and I wrote back to you, and I hope you got it. Thanks! ** Steevee, Oh, urgh, about the shoes’ late breaking unpleasant surprise. I see, about the cats cafe. And thank you for the link. I don’t know, I’m not much of a cat person, I guess. Or I mean cats are cool, but I don’t get the cat-inspired emotion or particular interest that other people do. I guess maybe I have friends with cats, and it’s not unusual that I can and do have that experience, so I’m not as intrigued by the concept maybe. I’m more sorry that I missed going to the Robot Restaurant. ** Tosh Berman, Hey, Tosh. Well, yeah, living in Paris has certainly paid off in myriad ways, and, right now, it’s the best place for me. The building with coffee cup balconies, yes! ** Ken Baumann, Ken! I still look at HTMLG pretty much every day, I just … mm, maybe I’ll leave my take/issues on/with the place for a private conversation. Oh, sure, you can put Shola in contact with me. I’ll … I’ll send you the correct phone number. Right now, in fact. Hold on. Done. Don’t get her hopes too up, though, because getting a residency at the Recollets that quickly would be very difficult. The place has gotten very popular and booked up in the last year or so. But I’m happy to talk to her and help if I can. ** Chris Goode, Hi, Chris! I’m so glad that the Tiqqun book spotlight paid dividends inside you. Not that I know what ‘dividends’ are, now that I think of it. It’s weird how one will just parrot things that seem to make sense at a glance in order both to communicate something quickly and to put some kind of curlicue in the communicating sentence or something. Oh, man, you should so go to Tokyo. And, yeah, with someone, ideally. It’s not really as alien as it seems. It’s more like a place that’s fantastical and which adorns and is mutated from a thing, the city, a place that’s inherently familiar and comfortable. The language thing isn’t such a great problem because, one, most people there speak at least a little English, and, two, because people there are so bizarrely kind and helpful, so if you’re in a situation where no one speaks English, someone in that situation will invariably do whatever it takes to find someone who speaks English to help the situation transpire as you wish it to. I had no problem at all eating there. In fact, I had a lot of the best meals I’ve ever had there. Wales, I see. Oh, the thing with Johnny sounds, yes, wrenching, maybe in both the hard direction and the ultimately refreshing one. I don’t know. What you said or inferred made me feel scared, and then I remembered that being scared accompanies everything important, but, yeah, try not to be too scared. I love you, man. ** Robert-nyc, Thanks for coming in, R. I just yesterday got the release date for ‘The Weaklings (XL)’, and I got excited, so I thought I’d put that news there. I think that’s the final cover. It’s a photo by Joel Westendorf of the living room of the house where I grew up. I urge you to pursue your consideration of going to Japan. Take care. ** Rewritedept, Hi, dude. Uh, yeah, it’s nice being home, I think. Yeah, it’s okay. It’s necessary or something. I have to a lot of stuff to do: novel attempting, three upcoming trips to be arranged, at least two collab. projects to work on, etc. Good to know about the cat cafe stuff. Thanks. I just don’t find the cat cafe thing interesting in the slightest. I have a feeling that that’s boring of me or something. Should be able to Skype soon, yeah. I’m almost basically around for a while. Good records I’m listening to? I’ve been listening to the stuff spotlit in the post today, for instance. The new Pollard. Moonface stuff. New Boards of Canada. EVOL. ** Esther Planas, Esther, my dear pal and hero! How are you? I’m excited by how the post made you write such awesome things and by your excitement and everything else. What are you working on? How did the Five Years event go? Bunches of love to you from Paris! ** S., Hey. The new coasters rock, man. Or the good ones do. They make the old ones seem merely charming, which is kind of nice. You’re on Facebook? I don’t think I knew that, did I? Are we ‘friends’? Reading fragments or backwards is usually the way I read. Thanks a lot for the super-rich read and digression re: the Tiqqun book. My brain got suitably fireworky. I’m really sorry to hear about your uncle. I’m really sorry. My uncle blew his brains out when I was in my 20s. Ugh. Hugs, buddy. ** Misanthrope, Hi there, G! Ariana’s always at it. Yeah, I hear you, about David, and I never even talked to him except for here and voicelessly. That obituary was incredibly depressing. Jesus. Lives are so much more than heavily edited factual trajectories. I’m sorry to hear that about Justin, but it really seems like the silent treatment won’t last. I’m sure he misses you and is waiting impatiently to find a way back to you. Scunnard is JP-K, yes. Well, as far as I know, which is fairly far. I also am 2″ tall. Under 2″, actually. And I could take you down with one of my teensy hands tied behind my back. Don’t tempt me. ** Armando, It was a very nice room, for sure. I miss it. There’s a movie based on ‘The Notebook’? Really? Holy shit, I didn’t know that. Wow, I’ll go see what I can find out about that. I’m super wary given that it’s one of my most favorite books, but, yeah, you never know. Thanks a lot for that tip and for everything, my friend. ** Okay. Today you get a gig packed with music out of Japan that you might find very interesting, at least in parts, should you deign to attend said gig. See you tomorrow.