Kansai Noise Now

[junkyardshaman]

Everybody knows Hidokaidan, but what goes on today? I'll post stuff as I have time and remember it, but to start with something here's a few names, not only noise but experimental stuff overall;

Juri Suzue has got a bigger name lately, she plays at my local Environment 0g (great venue for noise, experimental and electronic music, the owner Junya Hirano also runs Remodel label) often, but what I think everyone is still talking about is her show at Hokage few months back, where it was just intense harsh noise and samples of her listing the basement floors as they went deeper to 560th floor etc, it felt like descending into hell. Amazing show. Her method is usually fast paced cut up, modular synths and such.

Kurumi Kadoya is probably one of the most straight forward harsh noise acts I can think of and its always refreshing live maybe for that reason.

din-i-ilahi has been playing less often live now, but we'll play together at 0g this weekend, looking forward to it, I think his work is better live. Although I think all noise is better live anyway, hah. Modular synths, junk noise and feedback. He also runs Advaita Records, I do some album artwork and calligraphy for him sometimes! On the same link there's also Moenos on the last track, she has been more focused on her black metal band but her solo lives are also really great droning dark ambient noise!

KK MANGA is the shit! I love noisebands and especially more beat oriented stuff. The singer Hamachi is like a human bullet!

Banetoriko makes her own spring junk instruments and they sound awesome. Her sound, to me at least, is more or less perfect! She used to live in the US but recently moved back to Kansai. Thematically Banetoriko uses traditional Japanese ghost stories as a basis for making noise, which is interesting too, and fits the sound perfectly I think.

Mitei Narico is also quite straight forward noise, but I think quite paradoxically there are less and less that nowadays. The source of the link was a fun show to watch!

nulkvarcent is the leader of Weiches Loch and I think his solo stuff is something that should (and hopefully in the future will) be displayed at modern art museum too. There are no recordings, and I think it is kind of better because they wouldn't tell much about what goes on. The one I linked is something he called "electric music", as it is just rhythms played by running motors.
In my event last August he had strobolights and 30 emergency bells ringing at the same time and someone in the building got really angry (well, maybe understandably) and complained that emergency bells are not music. Great performance nevertheless, he had been gathering those bells for months through yahoo auction and the response was instantly that of "never do this again!", hah. I comforted him, that the next time we'll have this it will be at the Hyogo prefectural art museum and they will pay us to do it.

Hako uses acoustic instruments, voice, custom made droning noise boxes and pretty much whatever. I think we understand sound in quite similar way, so we play the same events quite often. Again, no recordings but it feels like she should have either no recordings at all, or a really large number of them to give you a enough idea of what it actually is that she creates. Interesting stuff nevertheless!


There's a LOT more of all kinds of interesting stuff but I need to get back to it later...

[adult human]

Amazing info! Keep it coming if there’s more. Going to check out each one of these artists.

[junkyardshaman]

I thought there was a great Statuszero live from 0g or Hokage in youtube but I can't seem to find it. Older lives seemed too basic noise compared to newer ones, his sound has got a lot louder and harsher lately I think, but I couldn't find them. Great stuff nevertheless!

サンサンタウン　(Sun Sun Town) is also just perfect, noise wall, junk percussion and a vocalist who is just beyond intense, the whole group is just so batshit crazy life that you want to abandon all in your life and just live in Sun Sun Town. This studio live is definitely worth the watch, although it still doesn't capture the sound quite as well I think. The stuff is quite composed and there are some mellow parts to it too, but every time I see them I just think that this displays all the good parts of first of all a composed set, and secondly what you can do when you don't make all of it alone.

This short Kayu Nakada interview is also good. He is a sound artist who builds these sculptural circuit bending monster structures, they are especially great when experienced live as you see them slowly build up and change sounds and occasionally they might collapse and become something else again, it really is noise as a performance art.

Which brings me to my probably favorite person in the world, he is not noise artist or not in a noise scene or even a musician in any of those senses, but he is a performance artist whose performances often deal with sound or produce interesting sounds even when that is not the main purpose of it, and that is why I think he is so great; it comes to him so naturally. Katsuhiko Yamashita's performance with dry ice and metal objects is something I will never get tired of and it has inspired me in so many ways to search for approaches that don't require electricity at all. He is part of a group that used to assist the late great Sadaharu Horio, all of those artists are great and interesting, but I think Yamashita is the only one who clearly intersects with noise in such a direct way in his own work, so I thought I'd pick him up too. I have maybe half an hour of his performance recorded, 2 15 minute sets if I remember correctly, maybe I'll ask him if he'd like to be a published musician some day, hah. I try to have him perform in my events whenever his health and corona situation and other factors like that have allowed it.

Lastly for this post I'd like to highlight one thing from Makoto Kawabata's bandcamp, which is an endless treasurechest of live recordings and other interesting stuff anyhow, but especially this Ankoku Kakumei Kyoudotai, which was recorded in 1978, when he and his friends were just teenagers. I think it is super good and coherent work for anyone no matter what age it was done at, percussions that act more as a living pulse than any sort of rhythm, a droning synth that is more of a breath than any musical instrument or element. It's just the sort of noise that I like, primitive rhythmic sound, tribal in many meanings of the word.

[junkyardshaman]

There's a lot of modular synth noise and ambient in Japan, but I think Masayoshi Sakaguchi is among the best ones I have seen, usually starting from more abstract sounds and then moving towards more structured beats, it has a sort of gritty, noisy triphop feel to it at best times.

Which reminded me of AniquilacióN, didn't find any of it online so here's a show I recorded last year, I hope he doesn't get too mad for sharing it. If so, I'll remove it. He also has an ambient project called FeedbachOrchestra (I actually up to writing this just always assumed its Feedback Orchestra, huh.) and plays bass in the amazingly loud Noizegoat. This project is the best one though, heavy beat oriented industrial..triphop? and noise on top of it.

Path is a guitar noise focused artist from Wakayama, just quite recently saw him the first time but it was really good and intense where it should, dynamic in the sense that the silent parts made the noise feel even more intense and loud which I always like. Also the sense of space in the sound and the overall composition of the set was good.

[Lactating Tardigrade]

Which brings me to my probably favorite person in the world, he is not noise artist or not in a noise scene or even a musician in any of those senses, but he is a performance artist whose performances often deal with sound or produce interesting sounds even when that is not the main purpose of it, and that is why I think he is so great; it comes to him so naturally. Katsuhiko Yamashita's performance with dry ice and metal objects is something I will never get tired of and it has inspired me in so many ways to search for approaches that don't require electricity at all. He is part of a group that used to assist the late great Sadaharu Horio, all of those artists are great and interesting, but I think Yamashita is the only one who clearly intersects with noise in such a direct way in his own work, so I thought I'd pick him up too. I have maybe half an hour of his performance recorded, 2 15 minute sets if I remember correctly, maybe I'll ask him if he'd like to be a published musician some day, hah. I try to have him perform in my events whenever his health and corona situation and other factors like that have allowed it.

This is very inspiring and creative. Thank you for starting such an informative and well-developed thread. I'll be digging through all of these artists over the next few weeks.

[junkyardshaman]

Which brings me to my probably favorite person in the world, he is not noise artist or not in a noise scene or even a musician in any of those senses, but he is a performance artist whose performances often deal with sound or produce interesting sounds even when that is not the main purpose of it, and that is why I think he is so great; it comes to him so naturally. Katsuhiko Yamashita's performance with dry ice and metal objects is something I will never get tired of and it has inspired me in so many ways to search for approaches that don't require electricity at all. He is part of a group that used to assist the late great Sadaharu Horio, all of those artists are great and interesting, but I think Yamashita is the only one who clearly intersects with noise in such a direct way in his own work, so I thought I'd pick him up too. I have maybe half an hour of his performance recorded, 2 15 minute sets if I remember correctly, maybe I'll ask him if he'd like to be a published musician some day, hah. I try to have him perform in my events whenever his health and corona situation and other factors like that have allowed it.

This is very inspiring and creative. Thank you for starting such an informative and well-developed thread. I'll be digging through all of these artists over the next few weeks.

Yeah, few of his other performances have also been quite interesting soundwise, one of which was him filling up a cardboard box with ceramic pieces, glass and stone and little by little you could hear the sound change as the box was getting filled and the acoustics of it change.

We have a habit of occasionally sending each other letters and ending them with Ryoukan poems we like, hah.

[junkyardshaman]

One really interesting artist is Fuji-Yuki, a singer whose vocal drones and ritual ambient works are really good. She has a new album One Butoh out through Akuphone and this CD of a live performance with Makoto Kikuchi, who is also an artist who uses guitar noise and theremin, usually under the title andmo . I really liked his guitar sound live, the feedback was somehow just right!

Closely connected to Fuji-Yuki is Wamei, who uses hurdy gurdy and some synthesizers. I didn't find any recent recordings of his own, but here is a collaboration with Chie Mukai, who is not only a legendary improvisation artist, but also I think her work has brought quite a lot of different sorts of collaborators together, the worth of which is immeasurable. I have got to known quite a lot of my regular collaborators through her workshops and our live events, so I am forever in debt to Mukai (as I am to many, many other people who have supported me and wanted to play with me anywhere). Chie Mukai is best known for her group Ché-Shizu. There are also quite good recordings of our events with didgeridoo player Takeshi Sakurai, and visual artist Nobuko Yamashita, held in the old Guggenheim house in Kobe and Spinning Mill in Sakai, both were very nice events I think.

[junkyardshaman]

Kazue Asano uses self-made instruments to create sometimes noisy, industrial ambient soundscapes. I always enjoy seeing other people use self-made "junk" too, and in that sense I think her approach is quite close to mine; take something ordinary and make something very unordinary out of it. Everyday things making mystical or strange worlds.

Kozue Sugiura also uses everyday things and householf objects to make noise performances for example out vacuuming or cooking, sometimes she also plays just pure noise shows or collaborates with other people. She has lately been building noise synths on tupperware boxes and small plastic balls that react to light, which are interesting.

Masataka Nagano is also impressive, at least the show I played with him last time was fun due to the sheer amount of stuff he had on the floor, the floor was flooded with EVERYTHING a noisemaker can imagine, it all sounded broken and worn out and it was really great! The performance in the link seems to have more minimalistic approach though.

nuee is a visual drone artist who performs both as visual artist and as a musician. His sound performances are nice, I always think in the beginning that he could have more clear or louder sounds, but then 20 minutes later realize I have had my mouth open for the last five while I am staring at some Kubrick movie-like audiovisual masterpiece, hah. I have him do the visuals in my events everytime it is possible, because he has a great sense of composition and understands the flow of for example working with a dancer. He also has a unit Kokuten with the great dancer Mayu Shirai (who is actually going to travel Europe from next month on and might be interested in some chances to perform, although the schedule is quite loose and undecided).

By the way, a great channel for live streams on experimental music on Kobe is Space Eauuu channel, they have some streaming shows every week. There's also my recent show still on the channel, they sometimes remove or hide the streams afterwards.

[Joie de la Blumpy]

Katsuhiko Yamashita's performance with dry ice and metal objects is something I will never get tired of and it has inspired me in so many ways to search for approaches that don't require electricity at all.

That performances is awesome! He sorta reminds of Kiyoshi "white gloves" Mizutani, aka Mr Noise Scientist (East!) but something other. Also, the dry ice metal objets made me think of Kuwayama Kiyoharu aka Lethe, but again, something else. Grrrrrreat stuff.

And I abso-lute-ly agree with-

Banetoriko makes her own spring junk instruments and they sound awesome.

Missed her when she played here last year but then, I miss everyone these days so all's well!

Lots of other projects I clearly need to catch up on, keep em coming!

[junkyardshaman]

Metal percussion stuff!

Kinzoku Taiko usually playes as duo with Sandersonia Muh on violin, which makes an amazing GY!BE-like ambiance, but he also collaborates with other kinds of people and plays solo things too. I don't know why I can't seem to fish out any newer clips but am too tired right now to spend too much time on trying.

Weiches Loch. I used to be part of this until last August, and will still be playing on the upcoming split LP, I think this is one of the best bands I have ever had the honor to be part of. Combines Japanese traditional percussion music with german industrial approach. The first shows were lovely when we could still have fire indoors.. :(

Atsushi Sano is also part of Weiches Loch, and plays metal percussion in Birushanah, but has lately been playing a lot solo and improvisation groups. Here's an recording of a show with Makoto Kawabata.

Tatsumaki Taro, I am not sure whether it is metal percussion, but his solo shows combines percussion, some primitive synth, and a fucking awesome, junk looking laundry machine that makes beats. He is the drummer of Turtle Island. One strange but lovely person!

[junkyardshaman]

Katsuhiko Yamashita's performance with dry ice and metal objects is something I will never get tired of and it has inspired me in so many ways to search for approaches that don't require electricity at all.

That performances is awesome! He sorta reminds of Kiyoshi "white gloves" Mizutani, aka Mr Noise Scientist (East!) but something other. Also, the dry ice metal objets made me think of Kuwayama Kiyoharu aka Lethe, but again, something else. Grrrrrreat stuff.

And I abso-lute-ly agree with-

Banetoriko makes her own spring junk instruments and they sound awesome.

Missed her when she played here last year but then, I miss everyone these days so all's well!

Lots of other projects I clearly need to catch up on, keep em coming!

I just saw her few hours ago and it was great! Always a pleasure.

Yamashita and other Kuki- group members are an interesting bunch, as they were in a direct link to Gutai art through Horio and many other artists, they are really wild and free in their expression and I just love being around all of these people and participate in any way.

[junkyardshaman]

BBVGC is a trio with Guilty Connector, Hanochi from Ferocious X and the third person I only know from this connection, but I am sure they have other bands too that I am not aware of. Live it's always awesome in it's primitivity and loudness, really just a fun bunch to watch!


Kanda Oboo is an experimental duo with vocals with effects and noise, and bass. Sometimes last year they used to play with the drummer from Boredoms and those shows were just intense and trance like experiences but I haven't seen him around lately. Not a lot of recordings I think, but they will release a split LP with Weiches Loch soonish I think. On this live there's also Nobuhiro Okahashi show, which is just great ambient, also in the beginning there is a dj set by Junya Hirano from Environment 0g and shakuhachi live from Seiji Iso of Birushanah.

Actually this Naniwa Ambient live (and the channel too) is a recommendation, there were streaming shows during corona which was great. This one features orhythmo, whom I saw again after a while last Sunday, it is really trance-inducing bass drone, occasionally noisier, but the emphasis is on the heavy, physical drone which I like a lot. The main act for this is guitar solo performance of Solmania's Masahiko Ohno. I regret not going to his exhibition last year, there were instruments and other stuff on display but I was too busy and it was a short while only.

[luciferjonez]

Thank you for this.

[junkyardshaman]

German videoartist Maxime Lethelier did some amazing work by shooting several live performances at Environment 0g few weeks back, I'll post them all as they appear.

Juri Suzue

[junkyardshaman]

Junkyard Shaman
This one is mine. Not so much noise, but not music either I guess. Maybe noise or music for those who are tired of noise or music or both, I don't know.

[luciferjonez]

I was introduced to triorgan thanks to the noise extra podcast. Another great artist from Japan!

[junkyardshaman]

Sarry