Test Tone

Test Tone vol. 47

A Molten Facelift of Impossible Rock

Featuring: Fratenn (Yoshiyuki Ichiraku/Masaya Kojima), Nikkasen (Mitsuru Tabata/Kelly Churko/Cal Lyall/Keiichi Nakano), Tacobonds+Mochizuki / VJ: onnacodomo / DJ: Evil Penguin

Test Tone Homepage

Cal Lyall and Yasufumi Suzuki Special Interview!! (JP only)

Artist info:

Fratenn

In early 2004, Fratenn started performing short improvisations using a stopwatch, cramming percussion, jangly guitar and weird vocalizations into short bombastic sets that belied their two-person lineup. As they continued to refine their sound, Yoshiyuki Ichiraku (drum, junk and voice) and Masaya Kojima (guitar, voice, and 'crushing frustration') developed a steady following (which may also be helped by the fact that Ichiraku happens to be the very talented son of drum legend Doravideo), and they now find themselves much in demand on the Tokyo live circuit. If you are a regular concertgoer, you may just find them anywhere and everywhere these days. In the words of Betty Crocker, get them while they're hot!

members:
Yoshiyuki Ichiraku (drum, junk and voice)
Masaya Kojima (guitar, voice, and crushing frustration)

Nikkasen

A brutal war erupts between Canada and Japan, resulting in cataclysmic destruction... Unlikely perhaps, but this is the impossible, very real and fake terror of Nikkasen (lit. Japan-Canada battle), a unit pitting two Japanese improvising musicians (in this case, Mitsuru Tabata from AMT/Zeni Geva and Keiichi Nakano from Motallica/2UP) against two cold-blooded Canadians (Kelly Churko from AKBK/Ossuary and Cal Lyall from Tetragrammaton/Jahiliyyah) for a round of rock sabotage. Self-described "Neolithic Period soul", Nikkasen seems less a call to war than a reminder of our common Inuit past, when the land mass was connected and we fought on glaciers. Get it while it's ice cold.

members:
Mitsuru Tabata (guitar from AMT, Zeni Geva)
Kelly Churko (guitar from AKBK, Ossuary)
Cal Lyall (guitar from Tetragrammaton Jahiliyyah)
Keiichi Nakano (drums from 2UP, Motallica)

YouTube: Cal Lyall & Kelly Churko & Keiichi Nakano

Tacobonds + Mochizuki (from Groundcover)

Since 2003, Tacobonds have been hard at work crafting a sound which now seems to sit somewhere between krautrock-inspired math-rock and angry post-punk. Lest we forget that these inadequate labels are created by equally imperfect writers, the music speaks for itself; this is rock at its finest, full of inventive form and beat-laden structures. Recently, following the departure of long-time vocalist Toshikazu Sasaki, Naoki Ogawa (guitar), Yukiyo Kitagawa (bass) and Arito Yano (drums) are taking the band into dangerous new territories with a roster of guest vocalists who join them impromptu for their brilliant live sets. This time around, veteran noise-punker Tsurio Mochizuki from Groundcover will do a more than adequate job of matching Tacobonds' driving sound.

Tacobonds members:
Naoki Ogawa (guitar)
Yukiyo Kitagawa (bass)
Arito Yano (drum)

onnacodomo (visuals)

Taking their inspiration from moments and objects from everyday life, visual unit onnacodomo make the ordinary decidedly extraordinary. Eschewing computer-generated graphics or recorded material, the three members (DJ Codomo, Yasuko Seki and Ruka Noguchi) perform in real time using a video camera to capture their spontaneous creations. Shimmering projections are created using water, mirrors and an array of lights, while a world of fantastic images is constructed with found photos, kitchen utensils, toys, stationary and improvised artwork. Kaleidoscopic, absurd and unreal, onnacodomo takes you into a slightly-unhinged world that is absolutely original in its conception.

About Test Tone...
Test Tone is a free monthly event that promotes varied and, we hope, interesting live music to a wider audience in Tokyo. We wanted to create an event that highlights the diversity of great music and visual art being made here and give more people an opportunity to see and hear it.

To make Test Tone as accessible as possible we wanted a central Tokyo space with a good sound system; a place where people would want to come and hang out, eat, drink and meet people. And listen to some live music that they may not otherwise get exposed to. As a further encouragement, we wanted to make the event free—not only for the audience, but for the performers too.

All this could easily have been an order too tall were it not for the exceptional people at Super Deluxe that made it all possible. Their enthusiasm for live music and visuals and faith in the event, allowing us complete creative freedom in booking artists, has allowed Test Tone to grow into something even broader in scope than we could have hoped for back in February 2005 when we proudly presented volume 1.

Our aim is to create a wider community. To further that, please get in touch if you are interested in playing, or want to be kept up to date with Test Tone events.

Finally, we'd like to say thanks to everyone that has been involved with Test Tone, especially all the artists that have made the events such a continuing success.