Music Night with Japanese, British and Vietnamese Bands

Sat 27 Jul 2013, 7.30 pm
Hanoi Rock City

(Zeni Geva also plays in HCMC on Sunday 28 Jul)

From The Onion Cellar:

The Onion Cellar presents to you: ZENI GEVA (Japan), KK NULL (Japan), RUINS ALONE (Japan), AUGUSTORY (Vietnam), GENTLE OHM (UK).

ZENI GEVA (JAPAN)

Before it became hip and trendy to like bands from Japan there were a handful of artists from this country pushing the sonic envelope, de-constructing and then re-building ‘music’ and were, in general, part of a new vanguard of noise makers. One such pioneering group of innovators is ZENI GEVA (roughly translated as ‘someone who would do anything to get money’), whose current line-up includes Kazuyuki Kishino (guitars, vocals, Kaoss-pad) – one of Japan’s most well-known ‘noise terrorists’ alongside Merzbow and Keiji Haino; and Tatsuya Yoshida (drums, Kaoss-pad) – ‘master drummer of the Japanese underground’.

One of Japan’s more eccentric and intriguing extreme music exports ever since the late ’80s and the ’90s, self-professed progressive hardcore duo ZENI GEVA fuses elements of death metal, hardcore, industrial music, noise rock, progressive rock and avant-garde music, gaining no small underground recognition in the process while getting described as ‘Motorhead meets King Crimson’ and recording/collaborating with the legendary studio engineer Steve Albini (who has been producing records for all sorts of luminaries of alternative music: Nirvana, Pixies, MONO, Neurosis, Slint, Shannon Wright, Melt-Banana, etc).
Their popularity in the West enabled them to be one of the first Japanese ‘underground’ bands to tour the States on various occasions with bands like The Pain Teens, Melvins, Crash Worship, Ed Hall and Shellac, and to play at a number of cult music festivals the names of which should by now, perhaps, be familiar with readers of Onion Cellar’s press releases: All Tomorrow’s Parties, Supersonic Festival, and an upcoming appearance at this month’s Poland’s Unsound Festival (at a stage curated by Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley).

In 2009, second original drummer Tatsuya Yoshida (who was part of ZENI GEVA in 1989/1990 and contributed to their debut album “Maximum Money Monster”) came back and brought with him even more complexity and hyper energy. As they continue to create and innovate, ZENI GEVA remains in the forefront of this still-emerging global scene of underground outfits.

KK NULL (JAPAN)

KK NULL (real name : Kazuyuki Kishino) is one of the top names in Japanese noise music and in a larger context, one of the great cult artists in experimental music since the early 80′s.

In 1981 KK NULL studied at Butoh dancer Min Tanaka’s ‘Mai-Juku’ workshop and started his career by performing guitar improvisations in the clubs of Tokyo. He continued by collaborating with Merzbow for two years, and joining the band YBO2 (with Masashi Kitamura, chief editer of Fool’s Mate magazine and Tatsuya Yoshida, drummer of RUINS) and various other projects of the underground scene.

In the early 90′s he gained world-wide recognition as the mastermind, guitarist and singer of the progressive hardcore band ZENI GEVA.

After playing the guitar as his main instrument for nearly thirty years, KK NULL has gradually moved towards a more electronic approach. He has concentrated his efforts on exploring the outer territories of electronica, creating intense clashing waves of noise, structured electro-acoustic ambience, broken down rhythms, scattered pitch sculptures (for installations), droning isolationist material which could be described as ‘cosmic noise maximal/minimalism’.

RUINS ALONE (JAPAN)

A one-man performance that has to be seen to be believed.

Without a doubt, Tatsuya Yoshida has been one of the most important drummers of the Japanese music scene since the final decades of the 20th century, having spearheaded at least a half dozen of that country’s most important groups. Perhaps best-known among these would be RUINS: this group’s unique basic instrumentation of drums and bass was no less than a palace revolt against the established role of the rhythm section.

RUINS plays a unique form of manic and twisted progressive rock. Bandleader/drummer/singer Yoshida credits such diverse influences as progressive rock stalwarts Magma, Pink Floyd, Gong, King Crimson, Yes, classical composers like Chopin, and traditional throat singing from Tuva. Though these influences often come through in the RUINS sound, there is no mistaking RUINS for anyone else. Many RUINS compositions employ odd time signatures, sudden tempo changes, and passages of heavily processed noise. Vocals are meant to be nonsensical (and that’s how they sound) and are usually improvised, as are portions of the songs. The overall sound is chaotic yet precise, noisy yet harmonious, catchy yet repelling, frenetic yet disciplined.

After the departure of fourth bassist Hisashi Sasaki, Tatsuya Yoshida forged on with RUINS as a solo act, performing live as RUINS ALONE and releasing the album Alone in 2011. RUINS ALONE has no bassist – Yoshida samples and synthesises sounds to accompany his ballistic drumming and singing, using elements of everything from sheer noise to disco and pop.

AUGUSTORY (VIETNAM)

Music for the breezy midsummer nights of adolescence.

Consisting of 5 young musicians that have been playing important roles in the success of CUỘC SỐNGS, NURANIUM and other Hanoian projects in recent years, alternative rock band AUGUSTORY brings in some much-needed freshness to the Vietnamese rock scene. With a melodic yet powerful approach that recalls, at the same time, the minimalism of Interpol and early-U2 (when that band used to be ok) as well as the edgy riffs of hardcore groups, with lyrics inspired by their own youth and seemingly the youth of a whole nation, the band immediately garners a considerable fanbase through performances at Battle of the Bands 2013. Meanwhile, singer Nông Tiến Bắc appears on the Vietnam edition of The Voice as a contestant (this might be one of the only times ‘Onion Cellar’ and ‘The Voice’ appear in the same paragraph).

At Onion Cellar, we dig young passionate talented people who dare to think and dream. Very pleased to have 5 such people at this show, where AUGUSTORY will be premiering a whole set of new unreleased songs. COME SUPPORT THEM.

GENTLE OHM (UK)

Taking its name after a unit of electrical resistance which took its name after the German physicist Georg Simon Ohm, GENTLE OHM is and is not quite what it says on the tin. A new project from Hanoi-based noise enthusiast Josh Kopecek, GENTLE OHM could easily be amongst the British composer’s (who, in the past, has been writing contemporary classical suites, playing Brazilian music with his band Xeomistas, or bending out of homemade circuit boards) most electronic, adventurous and elaborate offerings to date.

But are they ‘gentle’? Of course not. What we encounter is an ominously cavernous blanket of noise, interwoven with hauntological samples from bygone eras of traditional Vietnamese music, dipped in modern industrial colors, then manically live-processed in between dub-like beats into elaborate streams of consciousness. The resulting maelstrom is a canopy of dappled light over and through the sound with which he works.

Listen to their soundcloud.

TICKETS

EARLY BIRD: 50K VND
(please register for early bird tickets – DEADLINE: 23:59 ON JULY 18)
CONCESSION for holders of valid Vietnamese student IDs: 100K VND (available at doors)
Everyone else: 150K VND