Music of Sound

I mean foggy video in a good/interesting way! Tomorrow I am going to go check out an installation at the ICC Gallery in Shinjuku, Tokyo featuring the work of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shiro Takatani… The project is called LIFE and features “a grid of 3 x 3 acrylic aquariums, 30cm high and 1.2m square are hung, in a darkened room. Each carries a thin film of water inside. Each has speakers affixed at both ends. Inside of each a fog is artificially created using ultrasonic waves, percolating fluid patterns which hover between transparency and opacity. Imagery transmitted down into these tanks from projectors attached above them–at times synchronizing all aquariums, at times decoupled and seemingly autonomous–shines down through this screen of kinetic patterns woven of water and fog, connecting the imagery while ceaselessly melting, floating endlessly between flows of meaning and meaninglessness, the concrete and the abstract.”

“I wanted to distance myself from the curse of time.” (SAKAMOTO)
“I wanted the imagery to project completely free of control.” (TAKATANI)

Both are intriguing statements on the release of ultimate control of their respective mediums and based on the video clips from a previous iteration, these statements are also indicative of the ultimate form of appreciation – you must be there to experience it. My perceptions will savour the experience!

then dont watch this:

From the brilliant movie Flight Club – I’ve often since wondered if this film would get funded if it was made now, in the current political climate? Hmmmmm…

And incase you haven’t seen it, here is a plot analysis of Fight Club created in lego

Note Red = Chapter divisions, Blue = Narrator, White = Tyler Durden, Yellow = Marla Singer, Orange = Violence/Fight Club, Cornflower Blue = Bosses/Work/The Huddled Masses of the World, Green = Big Bob/Support Groups, Light Green = Space Monkeys/Project Mayhem, Black = Death/Mortality & height = intensity…

Four more days, 12 hours tempting gravity & I will wake up in Tokyo! Yahoooooooooo! I’ve been researching lots of what I will be doing while in Japan & heres a few video clips & links that give some indication musicwise… & thank god for Google Earth or I would never find some of these bars etc…

Cokiyu is playing at O-Nest bar with Moskitoo

And at loopline bar Zegunder is playing with Taro Kawasaki

I wish Sawako was playing in Japan (her album on 12k is so beautiful) but alas no…. Anyway check out some excerpts from her new album on the anticipate label

And same for Tujiko Norito – sadly she is touring elsewhere… but check these youtube clips

And aside from all that lovely melodic electronic music, i think I’ll also go see Optron who ummmm… plays fluroescent tubes!


note to self, take ear plugs!

Ok heres two videos, both not so recent (the first was made in 1902, the other in 1996) but see if you can spot any other similarities… by the way the first one is a silent film, so best to mute the sound!

I just came across this most beautiful of albums: Yasujiro Ozu – Hitokomakura and I shall quote from the record labels description….

“This is the second of a series of label projects pertaining to film directors… This release turns its focus upon Yasujiro Ozu’s use of “pillow shots” (i.e. short poetic pauses that appear between the acting segments of his films. The term “pillow shot” was not coined by Ozu himself, but several years after his passing in the early 1960s by a Japanese journalist who was trying to draw a comparison of the intermediate scenes to “pillow words” found in traditional Japanese poetry.

Each artist who appears on this release was asked to choose one or more “pillow shots” to use as inspiration for their pieces. A link to web pages containing a large assortment of pillow shots” was provided, and accordingly, the pillow shots were reserved on a first come, first served basis. The artists also watched the films from which the pillow shots came from in order to get a sense of how their chosen pillow shots were employed by Ozu.”

“The sound work featured represents a wide range of artistic approaches, but as always with these projects, the artists were chosen specifically, based on their previous work and on how it might contribute to the collective whole of each project.”

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Ozu-san’s films have had a major influence on audiences & directors alike, often sited by people such as Jim Jarmusch & Wim Wenders, this album is well worthy of investigation.. available worldwide via forced exposure

Yasujiro Ozu’s site, imdb filmography, wikipedia page and selected filsm by Midnight Eye