Tuesday 1 September 2015, 8pm
The dark enigma of the Japanese avant-garde makes a long overdue return to Cafe OTO for the first time in over three years for an ever-unpredictable evening of hallowed blues, noise assualt and spry improvisation.
“What shone through the entire, hour-long performance was the sheer beauty of Keiji Haino’s vision. It doesn’t matter if he’s mauling a guitar, hovering over an air synth or shredding his throat with that punishing vocal style, he’s always himself, always focused and always able to transport his audience.” – Joseph Burnett, London Ears, review of Haino's 2012 OTO performance.
Born in Chiba on May 3, 1952. Inspired by Antonin Artaud he aimed for the theatre, but an encounter with The Doors stimulated him into music, where he has examined and absorbed a wide range of music from the early blues especially Blind Lemon Jefferson or European medieval music to popular songs across the world. In 1970 he joined a group “Lost Aaraaf” named after Edgar Allan Poe’s poem as a vocalist. Meanwhile, he started to work on home recordings and self-taught the guitar and percussions. In 1978 he formed a rock band “Fushitsusha,” and since 1988, after a recuperation period from 1983 to 1987, he has been internationally active in various forms including solo, groups such as Fushitsusha, Nijiumu, Aihiyo, Vajra, Sanhedrin, Seijaku, Nazoranai or The Hardy Rocks and DJ as “experimental mixture,” as well as collaborations with artists from different backgrounds, drawing the performance of the guitar, percussions, the hurdy gurdy, diverse wind and string instruments, local instruments from across the world and DJ gears to the extreme through unique techniques. He has released more than 200 recordings and performed live at least 1,800 times.
Russell Haswell is a restlessly forward-thinking, multi-disciplinary artist, performer and curator. With a background steeped in computer music, black metal, noise, techno and solo improvisation, his practice is renowned for broaching the extremities of visual and sonic arts. He’s performed in noted live and HDJ [hard disc jockey] actions with Aphex Twin, Gescom, Pan Sonic and Masami Akita (Merzbow), among others, and worked with Florian Hecker on Iannis Xenakis’ UPIC system in their Haswell & Hecker duo, whoseBlackest Ever Black LP is widely considered a milestone of modern electronic music composition—and zweikommasieben Magazin has been a fan ever since.
http://haswellstudio.com/
https://twitter.com/russellhaswell
