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Test Tone Anthology Disc 2

Test Tone Anthology Disc 2

Test Tone Anthology Disc 2 Surrounded by murmurs, footsteps and other environmental accompaniment, these recordings capture the immediacy of resplendent sound on location. This disc could be as much an acoustic exploration of the performance space as it is an aural exploration of the ambient and meditative forms in each track. Beautifully packed into this second disc in the Test Tone Anthology series, steelpans, kalimbas, bells, metronomes and family-sized tuning forks all seem to find a resounding home within the walls of Tokyo's SuperDeluxe.

Track List

Track 1: Ryuta Kawabata

2006.05.16 "Up" live at Test Tone 13

Ryuta KawabataIf you haven't heard of Ryuta Kawabata, it is likely because he seems keeps a low profile, quietly making works of transcendent beauty, eventually emerging from the woodshed with a recording that blows you away with its depth, individuality, and profound musicality. Using field recordings, electronic manipulation and guitar, Kawabata creates subtle soundscapes that bear no comparison to anything to out there (perhaps Todd Dockstader could come close), and that makes them all the more fascinating.

Track 2: Marko Ciciliani + Yoshio Machida

2008.10.14 Live at Test Tone 38

Marko Ciciliani + Yoshio MachidaA tireless explorer of new forms, composer and musician Marko Ciciliani has taken his extensive academic experience, garnered in such diverse places as New York, Hamburg and The Hague, and applied it to a myriad of contexts. He is joined by steel pan player Yoshio Machida, who has taken his instrument to magical new levels, moving through worlds of ambient minimalism, post-rock or electroacoustic dub with equal fluidity.

Track 3: Tenniscoats + Ikuro Takahashi

2009.05.19 Live at Test Tone 45

Tenniscoats + Ikuro TakahashiNever content to be easily classified, Takashi Ueno and Saya of Tenniscoats are musical nomads par excellence, traveling between the sounds of folk, psychedelia and the avant-garde, including everything in-between. Frequent tours and collaborations with a kaleidoscope of artists take them ever further into new terrain, and this session with protean drummer Ikuro Takahashi (High Rise, Fushitsusha, Ché-SHIZU) is no exception.

Track 4: KO.DO.NA

2008.10.14 "soof" live at Test Tone 38

KO.DO.NAA spellbinding treat. Innovative trumpeter/multi-instrumentalist Kazutaka Kuroki and his 'partner in music' Yuichiro Kinoshita, make lush ambient soundscapes under the name KO.DO.NA.

Track 5: Samm Bennett + Hiroyuki (Kalimba)

2008.02.17 Live at Test Tone 42

Samm Bennett + Hiroyuki (Kalimba)If you believe music to be a language, there would be people who seem to speak it with a rare fluency, like it was always their native tongue. Kalimba (African thumb-piano) virtuoso Hiroyuki and singer/songwriter/percussionist/drummer Samm Bennett are two of these special souls. With a perfect combination of fine musicianship and an inventive approach to their chosen instruments, both move effortlessly through a number of musical contexts.

Track 6: Tsuki no Umi

2007.12.11 Live at Test Tone 29

Tsuki no UmiTsuki no Umi raise the bar for rock-band instrumentation with a strong combination of jazz, psychedelia and afrobeat, featuring songwriting that focuses on dynamic repetition and tremendous rock freakouts. Cosmic introductory passages give way to infectious rhythms and explosive climaxes.

Track 7: Lead Sister II

2009.09.08 Live at Test Tone 49

Lead Sister IIUsing a collection of self-crafted musical instruments, Lead Sister II exorcises swampy rhythms, barrelhouse melodies, and the whirr and whizz of clocks arranged in a kalimba countdown. The performance could be likened to something part circus-tout delivery, part gospel preacher, and the sounds are thick indeed.

Track 8: Chie Mukai + Tetragrammaton (TOMO + Cal Lyall + Nobunaga Ken)

2008.10.14 Live at Test Tone 38

Chie Mukai + Tetragrammaton (TOMO + Cal Lyall + 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. Free-rock/drone mavens Tetragrammaton (TOMO, Cal Lyall, Ken Nobunaga) kick their addiction to overblown noise freakouts and adopt a more conciliatory tone in this rare collaboration.

Track 9: Nick Hoffman + Takahiro Kawaguchi

2009.06.09 Live at Test Tone 46

Nick Hoffman + Takahiro KawaguchiMusical explorer Nick Hoffman takes noise, silence and drone as investigation points, with overlapping musical ideas that seem to devour each other over time. He joined by improvising artist Takahiro Kawaguchi, who has been active in sound art, installation and performance since 2000, playing in units such as Hello and Off Cells (with Seijiro Murayama and Taku Unami).

Track 10: Yusuke Kamijima (Yorune Yolearn)

2008.06.10 "Hikari/Hana" live at Test Tone 34

Yusuke Kamijima (Yorune Yolearn)Step into the expansive sonic world of Yusuke Kamijima (aka Yorune Yolearn) and you'll find ethereal melodies, unspoken languages in hushed tones, and teetering layers of dense harmonies, all which seem to come in waves, disappearing into the outer reaches of the music in subtle, unfurling echoes. In short, he makes music you want to hear.

Track 11: Yuki Kaneko

2007.09.18 "rut" live at Test Tone 26

Yuki KanekoKaneko Yuki describes himself as a musician, sound designer and soundtrack creator. The landscapes he creates, based on a mix of field recordings, laptop processing, guitar, outboard effects, toys and Casiotone, could well serve as the backdrop for a road movie through the deserts of Arizona. The crackles and splinters and hints of analog devices on the brink of feedback form an intricate net over the rolling Casiotone chord progressions and the chop & start bass lines.

Video Summary

Listen in to sample audio from all 11 tracks.