What: 1 man cmos techno unit oscilloscottie
Who: 安田よしひこ (Yoshihiko Yasuda)
Link: Oscilloscottie myspace page
Last time I saw him: Septima Gallery in Tachikawa
Well?:
Oscilloscottie is an electronics genius. If he lived anywhere else in the world, he'd probably be lecturing in electrical engineering at a decent University. In Japan where kids are as likely to build robots for a hobby as they are to collect insects, he doesn't stand out so much as a circuit geek and leads a quiet life in Shizuoka (to the south of Tokyo).
Using cmos logic, he has built his own idiosyncratic system of sequencing and digital synthesis devices. He also has a handy module which can essentially turn any television into an oscilloscope, providing a perfect visual accompaniment to his home-made electronica. His system sounds and looks fantastic, veering between abstract squelches to very raw techno with the television pulsing in response, but the cherry on top is that all his homemade devices are housed in soft toys, providing an additional element of surrealness to the odd music.
See also microfutoshi a trio including oscilloscottie.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
おにんこ!
What: おにんこ! (oninko!)
Link: oninko homepage
Well?:
Oninko are an all female three-piece, although they are currently playing as a two-piece (dubbed 二人んこ("futarinko")) while their drummer is away. If you listen to their latest recordings on their myspace page (follow the link from their homepage above), you might think that the "low-fi" label is very wrong. However, their first 7" - a split which Enban put out (enban shop link here) - is pretty much a dicta-phone recording, and their live show as a twosome includes a brutally primitive drum-machine backing. Perhaps this muffled recording constitutes proof? Whether they qualify as low-fi or not, their other characteristics put them in the same broad family. Off-tune vocals (yeah, I think I mean "off-tune"), barely handled guitar licks and a bratty vocal delivery. Then there are some aspects which are harder to define and make them harder to pigeon-hole too: For example, the "flow" of their lyrics is often quite exquisite - it definitely feels like they are coming from a distinctly Japanese place to me, rather than being modelled on western rock vocal styles. The song "Magma" is one example.
When they spell out the word "magma" ("emu-ei-ji-yu-emu-ei 'ma-gu-ma'") in the song, it kind of feels like magma rolling down a mountain! They also do a fair bit of self referencing in their lyrics and song titles, so maybe they're just studied in hip-hop. Another thing I like is that some of their songs have a dinky bass groove, which coupled with the slightly amateur guitar sound for some reason makes me think of 90's flying nun...?!
Link: oninko homepage
Well?:
Oninko are an all female three-piece, although they are currently playing as a two-piece (dubbed 二人んこ("futarinko")) while their drummer is away. If you listen to their latest recordings on their myspace page (follow the link from their homepage above), you might think that the "low-fi" label is very wrong. However, their first 7" - a split which Enban put out (enban shop link here) - is pretty much a dicta-phone recording, and their live show as a twosome includes a brutally primitive drum-machine backing. Perhaps this muffled recording constitutes proof? Whether they qualify as low-fi or not, their other characteristics put them in the same broad family. Off-tune vocals (yeah, I think I mean "off-tune"), barely handled guitar licks and a bratty vocal delivery. Then there are some aspects which are harder to define and make them harder to pigeon-hole too: For example, the "flow" of their lyrics is often quite exquisite - it definitely feels like they are coming from a distinctly Japanese place to me, rather than being modelled on western rock vocal styles. The song "Magma" is one example.
When they spell out the word "magma" ("emu-ei-ji-yu-emu-ei 'ma-gu-ma'") in the song, it kind of feels like magma rolling down a mountain! They also do a fair bit of self referencing in their lyrics and song titles, so maybe they're just studied in hip-hop. Another thing I like is that some of their songs have a dinky bass groove, which coupled with the slightly amateur guitar sound for some reason makes me think of 90's flying nun...?!
I have a bit of trouble making out their lyrical content. There is one song about the delights of chocolate and a few other scraps I've picked up which suggest they might be a bit twee for me if they were singing in English.
Overall, I think I actually prefer Oninko to their contemporaries ni-sen-nen-mondai, although that possibly just proves what a pop-tart I've become in the past few years.
Il Grand Silenzio
Name: Il Grand Silenzio
What: Duo of 小川敦生 (Atsuo Ogawa), 佐藤実 (Mionoru Sato)
Link: Il Grand Silenzio @ Myspace
When I last saw them: At loop-line, 2010/12/26, at a Madoka Kono organized concert
Well?:
Banjo (Minoru Sato) and machine (Atuso Ogawa) duo Il Grand Silenzio is a mysterious musical creature. Ogawa-san's banjo playing is incredibly sparse - he typically plays the same four notes at a few bpms worth of tempo for an entire 40 min. plus performance.
Sato-san's machine is a kind of home-made player piano device - a roll of paper circulates slowly through a device with 5 hanging metal contacts. The paper insulates the contacts from making a circuit with 5 metal strips below. By punching holes in the paper, a temporary contact is created. Ogawa connects small motors to this system and punches holes in the paper to create a composition in real-time. When a hole in the paper passes through the device, the motor is set off - temporarily jangling a piece of metal or an empty bottle.
This is a surprisingly good pairing with the Banjo. The result is a sparse soundscape which over time transforms your mental state; I always end up imagining that I'm in a desert littered with metal junk when I see these two play.
What: Duo of 小川敦生 (Atsuo Ogawa), 佐藤実 (Mionoru Sato)
Link: Il Grand Silenzio @ Myspace
When I last saw them: At loop-line, 2010/12/26, at a Madoka Kono organized concert
Well?:
Banjo (Minoru Sato) and machine (Atuso Ogawa) duo Il Grand Silenzio is a mysterious musical creature. Ogawa-san's banjo playing is incredibly sparse - he typically plays the same four notes at a few bpms worth of tempo for an entire 40 min. plus performance.
Sato-san's machine is a kind of home-made player piano device - a roll of paper circulates slowly through a device with 5 hanging metal contacts. The paper insulates the contacts from making a circuit with 5 metal strips below. By punching holes in the paper, a temporary contact is created. Ogawa connects small motors to this system and punches holes in the paper to create a composition in real-time. When a hole in the paper passes through the device, the motor is set off - temporarily jangling a piece of metal or an empty bottle.
This is a surprisingly good pairing with the Banjo. The result is a sparse soundscape which over time transforms your mental state; I always end up imagining that I'm in a desert littered with metal junk when I see these two play.
1st Post
The name of this blog is a bit pretentious, and is meant as more of a parody of academic journal titles than an accurate description of the contents.
I have lived in Koenji, Tokyo for about four years, and the music I regularly experience over here is from 3 broad scenes: The Enban live scene (too mixed to categorize), the improvised music scene based around the soon-to-be defunct loop-line and the punk/metal scene that is based around Dom studios (the little brother of the Earthdom live house). I also go to shows at Koenji's Penguin house fairly often and sometimes I end up at Tokyo's premiere avant-music space Superdeluxe.
I also take part in the three scenes listed above, and I won't even rule out writing about projects I'm involved with if I'm feeling self-indulgent, but my main goal is to briefly document some acts/people/spaces that I haven't seen written about outside of Japan.
I've given up on blogs before, and I decided to entrust this one to the google-brain in part so that I could be incredibly lazy about maintenance, etc. Hopefully, that sets the entry level for posting low enough that I'll continue for a while, although expect most posts to be pretty terse.
Japanese name policy: In English, I will write Japanese names in first name/surname order. I'll include the Japanese (in the Japanese order of surname/first name) as well. If I know the person a little bit, I might refer to them as surname-san, but usually I'll just refer to people by their surnames.
As for band names, bands here often have a katakana equivalent that they use even if their name is in English. I'll try to write the most commonly seen version in the title of the post with the English/Japanese alternative in parentheses.
Comments welcome, posts from other Tokyo-dwellers (past and present) welcome too!
I have lived in Koenji, Tokyo for about four years, and the music I regularly experience over here is from 3 broad scenes: The Enban live scene (too mixed to categorize), the improvised music scene based around the soon-to-be defunct loop-line and the punk/metal scene that is based around Dom studios (the little brother of the Earthdom live house). I also go to shows at Koenji's Penguin house fairly often and sometimes I end up at Tokyo's premiere avant-music space Superdeluxe.
I also take part in the three scenes listed above, and I won't even rule out writing about projects I'm involved with if I'm feeling self-indulgent, but my main goal is to briefly document some acts/people/spaces that I haven't seen written about outside of Japan.
I've given up on blogs before, and I decided to entrust this one to the google-brain in part so that I could be incredibly lazy about maintenance, etc. Hopefully, that sets the entry level for posting low enough that I'll continue for a while, although expect most posts to be pretty terse.
Japanese name policy: In English, I will write Japanese names in first name/surname order. I'll include the Japanese (in the Japanese order of surname/first name) as well. If I know the person a little bit, I might refer to them as surname-san, but usually I'll just refer to people by their surnames.
As for band names, bands here often have a katakana equivalent that they use even if their name is in English. I'll try to write the most commonly seen version in the title of the post with the English/Japanese alternative in parentheses.
Comments welcome, posts from other Tokyo-dwellers (past and present) welcome too!
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