Ground Zero and Otomo Yoshihide

La passione di Yoshihide per il collage si esprime compiutamente sul disco dei Ground Zero intitolato Null & Void (Tzadik, 1993), che e` praticamente una sinfonia per dissonanze e campionamenti solo vagamente imparentata con le jam improvvisate del free jazz. L'uso dei giradischi e la preferenza per i toni ostici sembrano ispirati al musicista d'avanguardia David Shea. International I, una sequenza trascinante di micro-eventi sonori, e` tipico della pirotecnica armonica di questo disco.

Monogatari - Amino Argot (september 1994) is a long-distance collaboration between Carl Stone and Yoshihide Otomo.

Il programma dei Ground Zero assume l'aspetto di un saggio postmoderno su Revolutionary Pekinese Opera (march 1995), che campiona e ricostruisce un disco che a sua volta campionava l'opera di cui al titolo, infittendolo anche di commercials e colonne sonore televisivi. L'operazione di Yoshihide e` radicale, ma molto meno "artistica" di quella, per esempio, di Grassy Knoll.

Chipfarm (november 1994) was a collaboration among Optical-8 (a Japanese quartet led by Hoppy Kamiyama on electronics and samples, and Otomo Yoshihide on guitar and turntables), Japanese rockers Melt Banana, Elliot Sharp and Zeena Parkins.

The Blue Kite (april 1993), The Day the Sun Turned Cold (Victor, 1995) and Summer Snow (november 1994) are three of the many soundtracks composed by Yoshihide for the cinema.

La trilogia di Consume Red (january 1997) esagera forse l'idea, in quanto consta di un brano composto da Yoshihide per essere campionato da altri, la stessa idea che aveva gia` avuto Nick Didkovsky dei Dr Nerve. I campionamenti degli altri finiranno su Conflagration (march 1997).

Plays Standards (january 1997), di nuovo accreditato ai Ground Zero, e` un disco tanto pretenzioso quanto infantile di sole cover, una girandola di parodie di generi. I Residents pero` avevano fatto di meglio, senza bisogno di scomodare le macchine di campionamento.

Yoshihide's Vinyl Tranquilizer (Noise Asia, february 1997) contains 60 tracks built on 60 samples of 60 different records.

Gravity Clock (february 1998), credited to ISO, a collaboration with sampling technician Sachiko M and rhythm technician Ichiraku Yoshimitsu.

The career of Yoshihide as a turntablist continued with Filament 1 (april 1998), a collaboration with Sachiko M on sampler (of the avantgarde ensemble I.S.O.), an experiment in electronic and digital noise that aims at creating massive sonic textures. Filament's third album, 29092000 (september 2000), documents a live performance for sampler, turntable and sine waves.

Otomo Yoshihide's Cathode (march 1999) is a pretentious set of compositions for others to play.

It was followed by Anode (june 2001), a more accomplished and occasionally imposing three-part concerto for noise (Taku Sugimoto on electric guitar, Annette Krebs on electro-acoustic guitar, Yoko Nishi on prepared koto, Tetuzi Akiyama on turntables, Sachiko M on electronics, and at least six percussionists) whose instructions recall John Cage (each movement contains instructions for the performers as to what and how they are allowed to play, with Yoshihide himself on guitar). The first movement (10:38) is simply an orgy of percussion: all instruments (and, presumably, whatever was available at the recording) is beaten and banged, turning the environment into a giant drum-kit. The second movement (13:06) is the exact opposite: a sparse, desolate stream of isolated, occasional, random sounds. The third movement (16:05) resorts to extreme dissonance, extreme contrasts and extreme dilation of time, but still in the context of a sparsely-populated soundscape.

More works for small chamber ensembles, prepared instruments and electronics, titled Cathode #3, Cathode #4 and Cathode #5, appear on Ensemble Cathode (Improvised Music From Japan, july 2001).

Bits, Bots and Signs (Erstwhile, march 2000) was a collaboration with Voice Crack.

Otomo Yoshihide plays guitar in the eleven-unit ensemble Date Course Pentagon Royal Garden, led by guitarist, saxophonist and keyboardist Naruyoshi Kikuchi, that recorded Report From Iron Mountain (P-Vine, 2002), a bizarre exercise in electronica, free-jazz and muzak (Mirror Ball).

Otomo Yoshihide, Keith Rowe and Taku Sugimoto recorded Ajar (december 1999), avantgarde music for three guitars. He has also recorded electroacoustic improvisations with Gunter Muller.

The New Jazz Ensemble, formed in 1999, includes vocalists Jun Togawa and Phew. They released: Flutter (Tzadik, february 2000), that interprets jazz standards, and Dreams (Tzadik, november 2001). A subset, the New Jazz Quintet, was credited with Pulser (2002), that collects recordings from 1975 to november 2002), New Jazz Quintet and Tatsuya Oe (january 2003), Short Density (january 2003), Tails Out (july 2003).

Invisible Architecture #1 (Audiosphere, july 2000) documents a live collaboration among Yoshihide and turntablists Philip Jeck and Martin Tetreault. Studio Analogique Numerique (Ambiances Magnetiques, november 2000) is another collaboration with Tetreault.

Yoshihide's Blue (Weather, october 2001) is a movie soundtrack.

Turntables and Computers (Headz, march 2003), one 46-minute glitchy jam, is a collaboration between Nobukazu Takemura on laptop and Otomo Yoshihide on turntables.

The three albums Grrr (Ambiances Magnetiques, april 2003), TOK (2005), Ahhh (2005) and Hmmmm (2006) are the result of a collaboration between Martin Tetreault and Otomo Yoshihide, both on turntables.

Episome (Tzadik, december 2005) was the power-trio of Otomo Yoshihide (on electric guitar), Ruins' drummer Yoshida Tatsuya and bassist Bill Laswell.

Yoshihide the guitarist and band leader indulged in a post-electronic kind of free-jazz on New Jazz Orchestra (january 2005), that employed a 18-piece unit (including Axel Dorner and Mats Gustafsson) to perform some Yoshihide originals and some classic compositions (Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus), and on Plays Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch (Doubtmusic, 2006), with the New Jazz Orchestra performing one of jazz's all-time classics except that Dolphy's group was a quintet, whereas Yoshihide's ensemble consists of 15 musicians (including bamboo flute, tubes, sho, sinewaves, microphone, mixing board, computer).

The same mixture of free-jazz improvisations and jazz standards appears on Guitar Solo (Doubtmusic, october 2004).

Modulation With 2 Electric Guitars and 2 Amplifiers (may 2007 - Doubt Music, 2007) showed the extent of Otomo Yoshihide's science of sound with a 40-minute suite of noise a` la Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music.

The New Jazz Orchestra was documented on the double-disc Live Vol. 1 (Doubtmusic, september 2006) and Live Vol. 2 (Doubtmusic, september 2006).

Yoshihide's "solo" Prisoner (april 2006), originally conceived as a movie soundtrack, was a collection of noisy vignettes for electronics, turntables, guitars and assorted guests.

Otomo Yoshihide also conducted the performance of Masahiko Shimada's Miira Ni Naru Made (november 1999) for small ensemble (Fritz Ostermayer on vocals, Yagi Michiyo on koto, Andrea Neumann on piano, Taku Sugimoto on guitar, Ishikawa Ko on sho, Gnter Mueller on percussion and electronics, Sachiko M. on sinewaves, Eto Naoko on piano, Werner Dafeldecker on bass).

RegenOrchester XII (december 2006) was a quintet with Franz Hautzinger on quartertone trumpet, Christian Fennesz on guitar and computer, Otomo Yoshihide on turntables and guitar, bass and drums.

Report From Iron Mountain (P-Vine) debuted saxophonist, guitarist and keyboardist Naruyoshi Kikuchi's eleven-piece band Date Course Pentagon Royal Garden, featuring most of the New Jazz Quintet including Otomo Yoshihide on guitar.

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