Ami Yoshida and Utah Kawasaki are the tail end of a generation of experimental musicians that defined the minimalistic "onkyo" movement out of Tokyo since the mid 90's. Through numerous collaborations they both established an unique instrumentalism early on in their careers; Yoshida's faint but electric "howling" voice and Kawasaki's ever-evolving analog synth structures. Today they continue to be influential in Tokyo's subculture scene not only through their musical activities but also through writings and installation based work. This will be a rare European appearance of the duo in their third collaboration with dj sniff. Also performing on the bill is Sydney based sound artist and writer Gail Priest. Her sound work delicately weaves together processed voices with electronic textures creating sometimes eerie sometimes soothing soundscapes.
Artist Biographies
Astro Twin (Ami Yoshida & Utah Kawasaki)
Ami Yoshida, born in 1976. Originator of the "howling voice," Ami Yoshida strives for a barely audible sound that is perceived as sound itself rather than as vocalization. In May 1997 she released the solo CD Spiritual Voice, and since then has been active in wideranging projects including albums by Yoshihide Otomo. In addition to her solo work, current projects include the duos Astro Twin, with patching synthesizer player Utah Kawasaki, and Cosmos, with sine wave performer Sachiko M; and the "strange gal band" California Dolls, with Chihiro Wada.
Utah Kawasaki, born in Tokyo in 1976. Inspired by his visits to the Paris Peking record shop, Utah Kawasaki began producing music in 1994, and between '94 and '95 released so many titles on tape that he himself lost count. In '96 he released a solo CD on Zero Gravity, a sub-label of Transonic Records. Since then he has contributed to a number of compilation CDs. Astro Twin, a duo with voice performer Ami Yoshida, is one of his main projects. The duo's first album Astro Twin / Cosmos (a 2-CD set shared with Cosmos, the duo of Sachiko M and Ami Yoshida), was released on F.M.N. Sound Factory in 2002. Kawasaki toured Europe in October 2000 with the group Mongoose, which he formed wtih Taku Sugimoto and Tetuzi Akiyama. He also put out a solo CD utah.mod.radi. in 2002 on Radio, a sub-label of 360°.
Astro Twin is the duo of Ami Yoshida and Utah Kawasaki. It was started in around 1996. Yoshida gave the duo its name, taken from the manga of the same name by Keiko Takemiya. It comes from the astrological term for beings born on the same day--although these two have different birthdays. Their sign, however, is the same--Taurus.
Gail Priest
Gail Priest is a Sydney-based sound artist. Her practice involves sound design/composition for performance, installation and live laptop-based exploratory music. She is also a curator, writer and commentator on sound and new media arts.
"I seek to have a multi-faceted practice in which sound is the key material of communication and investigation. The outcomes of this may take the form of solo laptop improvisation, live audiovisual collaborations, soundscores for performance and dance, gallery installations, curation of exhibitions and concert events, and critical writing on sound and related media arts. Threading through my practice is an active engagement with the audience/listener to bring about an immersive experience. I have explored this through multispeaker saturated soundscapes for large audiences as well as intimate exchanges for the solo viewer—despite the scale there is always a performative essence. The voice also forms a lynchpin of my works. While it is sometimes unrecognisable, subjected to multiple manipulations, more frequently the extended voice, derived from improvisation, is arriving in the foreground of works exploring the raw and mediated, the visceral and the mechanistic."
dj sniff
dj sniff is listening to oOoOO and Evisbeats