'Straight from the Throat' is available at https://blankforms.org/publication/kazuki-tomokawa-straight-from-the-throat-lp/, and as part of the Kazuki Tomokawa CD box set at
https://blankforms.org/publication/kazuki-tomokawa-kazuki-tomokawa-1975-1977/.

In the 1970s, Kazuki Tomokawa catapulted into Tokyo’s avant-garde scene with his cathartic and utterly electrifying performances. Straight from the Throat, Tomokawa’s second album, released in July 1976 by Harvest Records, finds the musician in his truest form: as the “screaming philosopher” he would come to be called—cynical but fair, cheeky and melancholic, and looking at the world with truth-seeking eyes. 

In Straight from the Throat, Tomokawa shrieks and shouts and wallows with ritualistic abandon—his avant-folk stylings are cosmic and, at times, swell to ground-shaking rock. He speaks of adolescence, passing hearses, and wedding chapel cars in a poem to his younger brother, Tomoharu, and watches ice melt on the Mitane River with spring’s turn. Tomokawa’s sound is, as Kiichi Takahara would later dub it, “I-music”: revelatory and deeply intimate songs that turn to the everyday and the interior. They are portraits of a man in search of meaning, who is taking stubborn control of his life by doing so. As he croons in “The Spring Is Here Again Song,” “I’ll drink till I’ve had my fill / And fall in love until I die.”

Kazuki Tomokawa (b. 1950) is a prolific singer-songwriter from Hachiryu Village (now the town of Mitane) in the Akita Prefecture area of northern Japan. Since his first release in 1975, he has recorded more than thirty albums. The 2010 documentary about his life, La Faute des Fleurs, won the Sound & Vision award at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, and that same year saw the Japanese release of the book Dreams Die Vigorously Day by Day, a collection of his lyrics spanning forty years. His most recent albums are Vengeance Bourbon (2014) and Gleaming Crayon (2016), both on the Modest Launch label.

Kazuki Tomokawa - Footbridge

Bright sin of the ether
Blurry in the ambit, like a red shield
With a ray, opens up to the eye
Divided sky in two
Eastern, despicable poison
Gathered in an instant

There are fields ready yet unrecognized sky
Like a felon in broad daylight
Bitterness, hurries down - burns behind the marshes
This fleeing distance of the corners - It throws a weak beam.

Over all these years, going through the motions in busy streets, courts and ballrooms, marching along with the parade, one will see an endless gallery of facades, masks, faux costumes, and contrived personas. Only a sensitive hand can tear down this adhered wallpaper of imitation. Standing under this gleaming sunrise is not an act of defiance, anger, or detachment; it is invitation, albeit a futile one, to see what lies beneath.

Copenhagen-based visual and musical artist øjeRum presents 'Lav Sol', an album of symbolistic landscapes seen through intuition. In his music, Paw Grabowski effortlessly combines traditional, classical themes and motives into contemporary poetic forms. The three long-take recordings of Lav Sol inspire to look for the truth under the surface.

*Vocals by @iunaniva

Lav Sol

øjeRum - Lav Sol

From the album: øjeRum - Støvfald

Physical copies and digital downloads available here:
http://soundinsilencerecords.bandcamp.com

Sound In Silence is happy to announce the return of øjeRum, presenting his new album Støvfald.

This is his second album on the label after the highly acclaimed Alting Falder I Samme Rum in 2019.

øjeRum is the solo project of musician and collage artist Paw Grabowski, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. For over a decade, he has been producing his sublime music, ranging from atmospheric ambient to experimental folk, having released several albums and EPs on labels such as Fluid Audio, Eilean Rec., Shimmering Moods Records, Champion Version, Unknown Tone Records and many others.

Støvfald consists of two long-form compositions of dark ambient, with a total duration of 60 minutes, captivating the listener with its atmospheric textures and hypnotic soundscapes. The album, built around layers of swelling hypnotic drones and minimal guitar melodies, started taking shape last year on Grabowski’s birthday when he was watching Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker while playing and recording some music inspired by the film.
Støvfald is an evocatively atmospheric album with a dreamlike quality, carefully mastered by George Mastrokostas (aka Absent Without Leave) and highly recommended for devotees of Windy & Carl, Eluvium, Benoît Pioulard and Fennesz.

Støvfald comes in two distinct editions.

The first one is a deluxe limited edition of 100 handmade, hand-stamped and hand-numbered collectible copies. The disc of this edition includes three exclusive bonus tracks, not included in the other edition or the digital download. It is packaged in a lovely sewn fabric envelope, which includes a 4 panel insert sheet containing tracklist and information printed on a 250 gsm olive yellow recycled cardboard and the front cover image printed on a polaroid style photo paper. It also comes bundled with a download code coupon and a Sound In Silence card.

The second one is a limited edition of 200 handmade and hand-numbered collectible copies. It is packaged in a lovely hand-stamped 127mm x 127mm 250 gsm olive yellow recycled cardboard envelope with the front cover image printed on a polaroid style photo paper and an insert sheet containing tracklist and information printed on a 170 gsm mocha brown cardboard. It also comes bundled with a download code coupon and a Sound In Silence card.

øjeRum - Aftenrøde (excerpt)

SSS & love horsin' - fancy town.mp3.exe

SenSen - SnowBoy

Live concert at Tyska kyrkan, Stockholm. 3/10/14
Performed by Johan Graden and Marcus Pal.

DISQUIET (heart)

Creeping Flower

Philip Brophy - Drums
Mitsuru Tabata - Guitar, Guitar-synthsizer
KK Null - Algorithmic beat, Noise

Mixed & produced by Kazuyuki Kishino @ prima natura studio May 2020

Brophy x Tabata x Kishino / Devil's Square

Old Civilization

Taken from the album Synopsis Seriation released as 2CD and Digital

Hecker 'Synopsis Seriation (2/2) (excerpt)' (EMEGO 256)

KK NULL (real name : KAZUYUKI KISHINO) was born in Tokyo, Japan. Composer, guitarist, singer, mastermind of ZENI GEVA. 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 in Tokyo. He continued by collaborating with MERZBOW for two years, and joining the band YBO2 (with Masashi Kitamura, the chief editer of “Fool’s Mate” magazine and Tatsuya Yoshida, the drummer of RUINS) and starting the improvised noise/rock trio ABSOLUT NULL PUNKT (with Seijiro Murayama, the original drummer of Keiji Haino’s FUSHITSUSHA), and also GEVA2 (GEVA GEVA) with Tatsuya Yoshida (RUINS) and Eye Yamatsuka (BOREDOMS)

In 1985 he established his own label NUX ORGANIZATION to produce & release his own works and subsequently the bands such as MELT-BANANA and SPACE STREAKINGS. He also produced the series of “Dead Tech” (compilation albums by Japanese bands) which heralded Japanese alternative music boom internationally from the early 90′s to date.

In the early 90′s he gained world-wide recognition as the mastermind, guitarist and singer of the progressive hardcore band ZENI GEVA, releasing five albums produced by STEVE ALBINI (two on Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles label) and a few more on other labels such as NEUROSIS’s Neurot Recordings. Also ZENI GEVA recorded twice for JOHN PEEL SESSION on BBC, and immensely toured throughout Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, playing hundreds of concerts.

All the while, KK NULL has worked on his solo career and collaborated with other musical innovators such as Z’EV, CHRIS WATSON, KEIJI HAINO, JON ROSE, MATMOS, FRED FRITH to name a few, and has been invited to perform at international festivals such as “Presences Électronique” in Paris (France), “Sonar” in Barcelona (Spain), “All Tomorrow’s Parties UK“, “Radar” in Mexico City (Mexico), “International Sound Art Festival” in Mexico City (Mexico), “Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF-6 & 8)” in St.Petersburg & Moscow (Russia), “Elevate” in Graz (Austria), “X-peripheria” in Budapest (Hungary), “Liquid Architecture” in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane (Australia), “Totally Huge New Music Festival” in Perth (Australia), “Avanto Helsinki Media Art Festival” in Helsinki (Finland), “Roadburn” in Tilburg (Holland), “International Festival Musique Actuelle” in Victoriaville (Canada), “Electron” in Geneve (Switzerland), and more.

After playing the guitar as his main instrument for nearly thirty years, KK NULL has gradually moved towards a more electronic approach. Since the late 90′s he has concentrated his efforts on his solo & collaborative recordings, exploring the outer territories of electronica, creating intense clashing wave of noise, structured electro-acoustic ambience, broken down rhythmics, scattered pitch sculptures, droning isolationist material which could be described “cosmic noise maximal/minimalism”.

---------------

Commissioned works （主な委嘱作品） :

- "Cryptozoon" surround composition for "Festival Presences Électronique 2013" by Ina GRM | Paris, FRANCE

- "Edging" music for dance theatre by Tazcorp | Paris, FRANCE

- "Visiting Tarab" live performance piece by Sharjah Art Foundation | Sharjah, U.A.E.

- "Aria, Acqua, Fuoco, Terra" sound for exhibition "Andar Par Stelle" by Cesare Berlingeri | Padova, ITALY

- "A Page Of Madness" soundtrack for a Japanese silent film "Krutta Ichipeiji" (directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa 1926) by Buda Arts Centre | Kortrijk, BELGIUM

---------------

本名：岸野一之（キシノ カズユキ）。東京生まれ。プログレッシヴ・ハードコア・ロックバンド ZENI GEVA（ゼニゲバ）のリーダー、ヴォーカリスト、ギタリストにして作曲家、エレクトロニクス他マルチ楽器奏者。1980年代初期より活動を始め、日本のノイズ・ミュージック・シーンのみならず、世界屈指のカルト的なアーティストのひとりである。

1981年、舞踏家田中泯が主宰する舞踏ワークショップ「舞塾」修了後、ギター・インプロヴァイザーとして活動を始め、ソロ活動と並行してメルツバウとのコラボレーション、ハナタラシへのライヴ参加、YBO2のギタリストやインプロヴァイズド・ロックトリオ ANPのリーダーとして活躍。また吉田達也（ルインズ）、山塚アイ（ボアダムス）と’87-’88年の間結成していた伝説のバンドGEVA2（ゲバゲバ）での活動もある。

1985年、レーベルNUXオーガニゼーションを設立し、自作のみならずメルトバナナやスペースストリーキングス等バンドのプロデュース、さらには日本のオルタナティヴバンドを初めて海外へ紹介したオムニバスレコード『DEAD TECH』シリーズをプロデュースし、アメリカとドイツのレーベルより共同リリースする等、早くより海外を視野に入れた活動を展開する。

1987年、ZENI GEVA（ゼニゲバ）を結成、90年には初のUSAツアーを行い、スティーヴ・アルビニをプロデューサーに迎えてアルバム『全体去勢』を制作。その後アルビニと共同制作したZENI GEVAのアルバムは5枚を数え、アメリカとヨーロッパを中心に精力的に海外コンサート・ツアーを行ない、イギリスBBCの「ジョン・ピール・セッション」にも2回出演。

バンド活動と同様ソロおよびコラボレーションも活発で、KK NULL個人としてこれまでにライヴ共演またはレコーディングを行なった主要なアーティストは、スティーヴ・アルビニ、フレッド・フリス、ジョン・ローズ、アレクセイ・ボリソフ、ビル・ホリスト、ゼヴ、クリス・ワトソン、ダニエル・メンシェ、ジョン・ウィーズ、マトモス、秋田昌美（メルツバウ）、吉田達也（ルインズ）、灰野敬二、山本精一等枚挙にいとまがない。

近年はギター中心の音創りからより純粋なエレクトロニック・サウンドへと移行し、いわゆるノイズという一言では括りきれない多角的かつ重層的アプローチで深遠な電子音響世界を創造し、そのユニークなサウンドは、「ミクロ宇宙からマクロ宇宙までを網羅し、銀河の果てからはらわたの中までをリンクする」と形容され、「コスミック・ノイズ・ミニマリズム」等とも表現されている。海外の音楽及びアート・フェステイバルへの出演も多く、国際的評価は高まる一方である。またこれまでにリリースされた作品は（バンド、コラボレーションも含め）100タイトル以上に及ぶ。

Brophy x Tabata x Kishino / Devil's Square

KK NULL / NUX ORG

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