Chikanari Shukuka (sound / dance / feedback / performance)

Ask anyone who has seen her perform and chances are, they will remember Chikanari Shukuka in all of her jaw-dropping instensity. Working with microphone feedback, extended vocal techniques, clanging cymbals, multi-effectors, and erotic elements of modern dance, Shukuka's performances are at once sensual and dark, challenging and captivating.

Gaining attention internationally, she recently performed at Alternativa Festival in the Czech Republic and at 'The Japanese Experience', hosted by Theatre de Nimes in France. She has also been invited to perform at the 16th edition of Sibiu Internation Theatre Festival in Romania next spring.

While describing her method of expression as "improvised sound and dance creating melted space and time," she adds, "When I dance, I dance to my sound. What else to do?"

Shukuka Chikanari

Ome Zombie + Cleaning Lady (Australia) + ... aka Nikola Mounoud (Switzerland)

Ome Zombie is the tumultuous hell-child of mercurial saxophonist Akihiko Ando (Kuruu Crew) and shambolic drummer Emi Nobuko (Tsurubami). Traversing the unpaved musical landscape of hardcore, noise-rock, free jazz, and lo-fi psychedelia, Ome Zombie crashes into mountains of sludge, stumbles through swamps of viscous drone, and twists through valleys of beautifully tangled harmonies.

Every performance features the duo with a guest musician in tow, and this time around, Australian multi-tasker Stephen Richards aka Cleaning Lady will provide the necessary skronk and splatter as he alternates between saxophone and no-input mixing board. For the second half of the set, "..." (aka Nikola Mounoud, from Swiss extreme performance/noise duo Overload Collapse) will add a layer of industrial-sized mulch to the proceedings.

A rare chance to see three heavy units battle it out on (relatively) foreign soil.

Ome Zombie

Cleaning Lady

...

Eli (Kenji 'Noise' Nakamura + Kousuke Sone + Hiroshi Takahashi)

Taking the definition of free jazz to a whole new level, Eli will be sure to offend most music purists. But for those who like their jazz scattered with artillery fire, clusterbombs and landmines, this saxophone trio will quench the most tilted depths of your soul. Frontman and tireless promoter of the groundbreaking 'Black & Gold' event, Kenji 'Noise' Nakamura is well-known for his napalm-laced sax improvisations (and overall punk-ass attitude). With Kousuke Sone on bass and the grindcore drumming of Hiroshi Takahashi, Eli will both awaken and devastate your senses, leaving you excited (and maybe a bit frightened) about the future of free jazz.

Eli

Death-logic (Analogic + DEATHANOVA)

With a multi-faceted presentation mixing epileptic visuals with furious drumming, Death-logic might just live up to their name. A mad collaboration between audiovisual research unit Analogic (Takuya Sakamoto + Osamu Nakamura + Shin Oshiro) and Optrum's frenetic drummer Yoichiro Shin, the sensory experience might be likened to watching that Pikachu episode that sent a number of children into convulsive seizures.

Total visual overload matched with deft musicianship to deliver an experience that is difficult to capture in one sitting. Seconds anyone?

Analogic

DEATHANOVA