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.
Live document 2003-2005
Third release on PSF by Exias-J (Experimental Improvisor's Assocation of Japan), Japan's most conceptually determined improvising collective and their first DVD. Containing three performances from Tokyo and New York, this is a challenging clash of methodologies and sonorities, hugely exciting in its electric power and formal heft.
Balance of chaos
Thrilling document of seriously wired Japanese improv collective, raising electric ghosts and phantom sonorities live in New York. Exias-J (short for Experimental Improviser's Association of Japan) have been around since 2000, and this is their second release on PSF. The group express a dedication to bringing the sounds of classic euro free improv into collision with free jazz, minimalism, electronic music, scalp-raising rock improv and a dozen other musical discourses. Balance of Chaos captures…
Avant-garde
This live recording presents Exias-J as a quintet (Hideaki Kondo and Takuo Tanikawa-guitars, Shin-Ichiro Kanda-piano and synth), Tetsuya Miyazaki-computer and electronics, Naoto Nishizawa-drums). In a huge departure from their previous releases, this is a massively loud--alternating with pin-dropping quiet--dark, cavernous work.