EXIAS-J
Formed around the nucleus of full-on guitarist and theorist Hideaki Kondo in 1999, Exias-J (shorthand for Experimental Improvisers Association of Japan) have succeeding in building up their own self-contained scene over the past three years. Working as a kind of collective, with members from a wide variety of musical backgrounds (classical, jazz, experimental film, acoustic design, philosophy) showing up on different electric and acoustic projects, their Bishop Records imprint has to date released nine CDs worth of impressively focussed free improvisation. The collective have taken it upon themselves to 'deconstruct and reconstruct Japanese music', freeing it both from the cult of imitation of Western avant-garde patterns and the idea that Japanese music must somehow be ethereal and beautiful.
Formed around the nucleus of full-on guitarist and theorist Hideaki Kondo in 1999, Exias-J (shorthand for Experimental Improvisers Association of Japan) have succeeding in building up their own self-contained scene over the past three years. Working as a kind of collective, with members from a wide variety of musical backgrounds (classical, jazz, experimental film, acoustic design, philosophy) showing up on different electric and acoustic projects, their Bishop Records imprint has to date released nine CDs worth of impressively focussed free improvisation. The collective have taken it upon themselves to 'deconstruct and reconstruct Japanese music', freeing it both from the cult of imitation of Western avant-garde patterns and the idea that Japanese music must somehow be ethereal and beautiful.
