Che Chen (from New York) + Tetuzi Akiyama

Following a whirlwind tour of Western Japan with improvising pioneer Mukai Chie, New York sound artist Che Chen will be landing in Tokyo just in time to join forces with ramblin' guitar-man Tetuzi Akiyama on this special evening. Using stringed, wind, reed and percussion instruments, reel to reel tape machines, oscillators and other musical and "non-musical" objects, Che's work explores his interest in a range of perceptual phenomena and global folk music traditions. Aside from his solo work and collaborations, Che also plays in a duo with multi-instrumentalist Robbie Lee, in Jozef Van Wissem's Heresy of the Free Spirit, and in True Primes, his duo with singer/percussionist Rolyn Hu.

Part-iconoclast, part-bluesman, and one of the leading players in modern Japanese improvisation, Tetuzi Akiyama has taken his guitar far and wide, gaining a large international following while influencing countless younger musicians in the process. With a certain stark minimalism, Akiyama forged a name for himself in the onkyo scene in the late 1990s with the likes of Otomo Yoshihide and Toshimaru Nakamura. These days, he explores the full resonance of his instrument from a myriad of musical gateways, from primitavist leanings to drone and even some hypnotic guitar boogie.

Che Chen

Tetuzi Akiyama

Mukai Chie + Nobunaga Ken

For the past 25 years, Chie Mukai has been an active force in the free improvisation scene both in Japan and around the world. Since taking up the kokyu (a traditional Japanese stringed instrument) in the mid-70s, Mukai has earned a reputation as a powerful and original voice on her instrument, from her captivating solo performances to her improvised and song-based work with a number of legendary groups (East Bionic Symphonia, Ché-SHIZU, Enkidu, dadunr). Over the past decade, she has been examining collective improvisation in a large-scale format as curator of the Perspective Emotion international multimedia art festival and workshop.

In the collaborative spirit of her work, Mukai will be making an appearance at Test Tone accompanied by percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Nobunaga Ken. Aside from his wide range of music-based work with a number of bands (Tetragrammaton, 00, hisspiss, etc.), Nobunaga also collaborates with dancers in the contemporary and butoh styles, visual artists, 'ikebana' flower arrangers and filmmakers. His musical activity has taken him worldwide, previously touring in Spain, Germany, Korea, Hong Kong and China.

Mukai Chie

Nobunaga Ken on Myspace

Hattori Masatsugu + Ikezawa Ryusaku

With a firm grasp of jazz tradition, drummer and vibraphonist Masatsugu Hattori took his percussion work straight into the new millennium with a range of projects, such as electroacoustic unit Ryusenkei Body, jazz-electronica unit Zycos, and conceptual electronica with Aktion Directe. These days he has taken a minimal musical approach while focusing on solo and collaborative work.

As such, he'll match his modus operandi to the mercurial drumming of Ryusaku Ikezawa (aka Giev Rutang), another multi-faceted musician who keeps his playing schedule jam-packed with a number of other improvising projects, such as Oncenth Trio, Denki Slime and Real Blue.

Head-to-head, this twosome might just take their kits some otherwise inaccessible places.

Hattori Masatsugu

Ikezawa Ryusaku

Evil Penguin

Master of disguises, Mexican top-hats, ambient rockabilly to minimal Hawaiian Kumulipo chants, the Evil Penguin poses the primordial question of evanescence against a backdrop of New Wave folk. Celebratory, subliminal, moment-to-moment. A Tasmanian treasure with a penchant for open spaces.