Test Tone

Test Tone vol. 56

Watersounds and Other Rumblings of the Terrior

Featuring: Chihei Hatakeyama + Corey Fuller, Kouhei Harada + Tetsuro Yasunaga, Koutaro Fukui, onnacodomo (visuals) and DJ Evil Penguin

Test Tone Homepage

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

Artist information:

Chihei Hatakeyama + Corey Fuller

Chihei Hatakeyama
With a string of releases on Kranky, Room 40 and Hibernate Records under his belt, Chihei Hatakeyama has emerged as a truly palpable figure in Japan's normally discarnate ambient scene. Expanding on concepts that he began with electroacoustic duo 'Opitope' (with Tomoyoshi Date), Hatakeyama creates dense, evanescent soundscapes using acoustic sources such as vibraphone, guitar, piano and a plethora of field recordings. Celebrating his latest release of Ian Hawgood's Home Normal imprint, we are happy clams to host this truly fine artist on what should be quite a special evening.
hp / MySpace / blog

Corey Fuller
MySpace

Kouhei Harada+ Tetsuro Yasunaga

In the midst of Tokyo's madness, you can find enigmatic, soulful musicians who supercede categorization and create captivating sounds that seem to transcend the city rush, taking you someplace altogether different. Kouhei Harada and Tetsuro Yasunaga are two such musicians, gaining recognition worldwide for their far-reaching work. As Sawada+Harada in 2007, Harada played the Faust-curated 'Avant-Garde Festival' in Germany and in 2009 undertook an Australian tour as a solo artist. His recent activity will culminate in two upcoming releases on 'slow release music'; an EP in May and and full-length in August. Tetsuro Yasunaga, besides his prolific activities in Japan with minamo, Voiva and helll, has also garnered a name through a range of overseas activities in the United States and Europe. We present a first time session between these two that is bound to be peculiarly imaginative.
Kouhei Harada hp
Tetsuro Yasunaga: Improvised Music from Japan site / helll

Koutaro Fukui

Introduced to us by good friend and fine musician Yukitomo Hamasaki (who also happens to head up the stupendous 'matter' label), Koutaro Fukui makes some downright inventive music, every moment worthy of a greater number of ears listening in. From vast minimal soundscapes to unadorned yet complex rhythms, Fukui has stripped the sound down to the essentials and created a refreshing music entirely free of cliche. With releases on Fat Cat, Commune Disc, unlabel, and his own on:do netlabel, there are plenty of places to find his work. His latest release 'Gently Touching the Conception' was released from the French label SEM. Highly recommended.
MySpace

onnacodomo

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.
onnacodomo hp

DJ Evil Penguin

Master of disguises, Mexican top-hats, ambient rockabilly to minimal Hawaiian Kumulipo chants, the Evil Penguin poses the primordial question of evanescence against a backdrop of New Wave folk. Celebratory, subliminal, moment-to-moment. A Tasmanian treasure with a penchant for open spaces.

About Test Tone

A monthly experiment offering irregular art, music and performance in Tokyo.
The Test Tone series aims to offer a venue for diverse and challenging artists to bring their ideas to a larger community. As a free event open to the public, we hope to bypass the old economies in order to create new ones, while encouraging collaboration in all forms. A collage of media, sound and art in a space available to anyone off the street, the event is a bazaar of potential collisions, where passersby are treated to the unexpected.
For all of this, we found our home base at Super Deluxe, a unique space in Tokyo's midtown, providing a relaxed atmosphere within its modular interior. The event continues to be a celebration of off-kilter creativity in the city: from installation pieces to performance art and visual collaborations; from noise, electronica, ambient sounds and free rock to disorderly jazz and manipulated field recordings. To date, close to 500 artists have been a part of the event, together creating opportunities for unexpected improvisation, collaboration, and festival spirit.