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Otomo Yoshihide

Member of: FEN

Otomo Yoshihide, born in Yokohama in 1959, is a Japanese guitarist, turntablist and composer who has moved through almost every corner of experimental music. He played in rock bands at college, took lessons from the guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi and turned to improvisation after discovering Derek Bailey and Kaoru Abe. At Tokyo University he studied ethnomusicology, focusing on Japanese wartime pop and on instruments of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, sounds that surface in his records.

On the Impossibility of Change
Live quartet of Keiji Haino, Otomo Yoshihide, Chris Pitsiokos and Tatsuya Nakamura, recorded at Goodman in Tokyo on September 1, 2024.
Through Hollow
Huge Tip! *300 copies limited edition* Solo, duo, orchestra. An extraordinary sonic spectacle exploring acoustic phenomena through three forms of performance.In early summer 2025, a collective sonic experiment took place deep within the vast reverberant space beneath the body of Uchinokura Dam, surrounded by the mountains of Shibata, Niigata, Japan. Led by two singular artists who continually transcend the boundaries of their respective practices—Otomo Yoshihide, whose work traverses diverse mus…
Élektrik Toboggan
René Lussier and Martin Tétreault meet Otomo Yoshihide at Victoriaville on 19 May 2008: two electric guitars, three turntables and a spy microphone in the trio's first performance together.
77 Individuals
Collective improvisations by 77 people of all ages, from seasoned musicians to first-time performers, with the Bon Odori song Eejanaika Ondo. Produced by Otomo Yoshihide.
Existence
Guitar solos by Shin'ichi Isohata and six duets with Otomo Yoshihide, electric and acoustic, 24 tracks recorded in Osaka in early 2013. Jigen Production.
Shutsumin
Shutsumin, the debut recording from the generation spanning duo of Japanese legend Otomo Yoshihide, toggling between guitar and turntables, and rising saxophonist Kei Matsumaru, a native of Papua New Guinea, who moved to Tokyo after studying jazz at the Berkelee College of Music in Boston, where he's become a close collaborator of Eiko Ishibashi in addition to leading his own genre-defying solo projects. Both musicians casually ignore lines between jazz, experimental music, and noise, fashioning…
live at Hall Egg Farm
*2015 release. 2026 stock* English living legend percussionist, Roger Turner plays in Tokyo lin 2015 and this is one of the live performance in Fukaya city, Saitama prefecture. Roger percussion solo, Otomo electric guitar added and Japanese free jazz patriarch, Sato added, then becomes intense and has musical speed.
Ramune And The Power Plant
"Ramune and the Power Plant" is the first duo album by Otomo Yoshihide and Ruike Shinpei, who have performed together many times in groups such as ONJQ. This recording captures almost the entire completely improvised live set held in October 2024 at the café-music gallery Kakululu in Ikebukuro. In this project Otomo primarily uses turntables as his main instrument and, on some tracks, electric guitar; Ruike plays trumpet as his primary instrument and employs electronics on certain pieces. Record…
Honnomajika~Naharu × Otomo Yoshihide
This is the second album by the trio "Honnomajika Naharu", consisting of Lapis (guitar & vocals), Hiroshi Higo (bass & vocals), and Masataka Fujikake (drums). This is their first release in about a year since their last album (Honnomajika - Naharu X Keiji Haino: FDR-1052), and is a live album with Otomo Yoshihide (guitar & vocals) as a guest. It is another miraculous work, completely different in type from the previous album, as if the multiple layers of expression have been crystallized into on…
Revolutionary Pekinese Opera
On Revolutionary Pekinese Opera, Ground Zero - under the ferociously precise direction of Otomo Yoshihide - detonates a cut‑and‑splice orchestra where free improv, noise, opera and plunderphonics collide with undimmed urgency.
A Waiting Room Creation
*300 copies limited edition* Xiang was born in 1984 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. She started her experimental music activities in earnest in Chengdu in 2017. In performances she uses field recordings, violin, noise and body as materials. She listens attentively to subtle changes in sound and space and carries out site-specific performances adapted to each environment. In addition to solo improvisation and composition, Xiang carries out many performances and collaborative projects with ot…
Pure Will, Without The Confusions Of Intellect
1991 release **  Ix-Ex-Splue – Shaped By Two / Three / FourEngineer – Ix-Ex-SpluePerformer – Babalu, Dani Meier, Kreie, Markus Jud, Remo HobiPerformer, Guest – Bummi Dislocation – Depth / On The MoveAlto Saxophone – Yoshinori YanagawaBass – Avant QuasiDrum Programming, Percussion – Avant SelassieEdited By – DislocationPDS 8000 – Syohei IwasakiElectronics – Toyohiro OkazakiEsraj – Fujio KimuraSampler – Robert HortonTrumpet, Violin – DJ No PGR – Invisible CitiesField Recordings, Extraction – Kim C…
Otomo Yoshihide Plays Christian Marclay
As the title suggests, the second installment of Otomo Yoshihide Solo Works is a collection of works that pay homage to Christian Marclay, the turntablist who was one of his biggest influences. Merkley was a pioneer of turntable improvisation in the early 80's in a way that was completely different from the context of hip-hop DJing, and at the same time, he is one of the leading contemporary artists. It is no exaggeration to say that the impact of encountering his performances and works is one o…
Heavenly Arms with Otomo Yoshihide
Heavenly Arms – featuring Otomo Yoshihide – is a bold new sonic journey that bridges experimental sound, improvisation, and emotional resonance. The record, released in collaboration with the visionary Japanese composer and guitarist Otomo Yoshihide, showcases a meeting of worlds where free improvisation collides with delicate melodic structures.   Across its tracks, Heavenly Arms captures the raw immediacy of live interaction while preserving an intimate, cinematic atmosphere. The album moves f…
4 x 4
*300 copies limited edition* FEN (Far East Network) is an improvised music ensemble made up of Otomo Yoshihide, who lives in Tokyo; Seoul-based Ryu Hankil; Yuen Chee Wai, who lives in Singapore; and Beijing-based Yan Jun. Since FEN's formation in 2008, the four members have gathered and performed in various countries on an intermittent basis. In 2018 FEN exhibited an eight-channel sound installation at the Gwangju Biennale 2018—an international contemporary art exhibition held in Gwangju, Korea—…
Japanese Avant-Garde
2002 release ** "Most music in Japan has little to recommend it; it is a sonic equivalent of those brutal concrete towers or the transitory chaos of multi-storey teen-fashion emporia in Aoyama. But a sonic underground thrives, creatively if not financially, and perhaps it should be compared with the shabby Golden-gai drinking dens of Shinjuku, faint reminders of a lost time when desire and transgression shared endless cups of sake with political and artistic radicalism... How is it possible to l…
Old and New Dreams Chapter-2
The second chapter of the project, "Break," marks the first encounter with Yosuke Yamashita & Hiroshi Yamazaki in 60 years since their first encounter at Ginpari. Guitarist/composer Otomo Yoshihide has been active all over the world, from movies, plays, TV shows to commercials, without being confined to the framework of free jazz. The live performance recorded on December 27, 2024 at Shinjuku Pit Inn, which has been his "core" since his teenage years, is not only a "milestone" in Otomo's career,…
Old and New Dreams Chapter-1
The opening of the pair of simultaneous releases, "Introduction," is a new wave of free jazz born from an intergenerational improvisation session with Takashi Sugawa (b) and Shun Ishiwaka (ds). Guitarist/composer Otomo Yoshihide has been active all over the world, from movies, plays, TV to commercials, without being confined to the framework of free jazz. The live recording of December 27, 2024 at Shinjuku Pit Inn, which has been his "core" since his teenage years, is not only a "milestone" in O…
All At Once At Any Time
David Moss, John King and Otomo Yoshihide on the Victoriaville stage on 20 May 1994: voice, drums and electronics against electric guitars, turntables and sampler, in a fast, cut-up set between song fragments, noise and improvisation.
Ten-Shi With Hirose Junji & Otomo Yoshihide
A live album featuring the unit Ten-Shi, consisting of Takayuki Kato and Masataka Fujikake, with two improvising giants, Junji Hirose and Yoshihide Otomo. From the beginning of the album, which begins with a guitar duo, the two groups respond to each other and express themselves in diverse ways one after another, developing a sound that is full of originality throughout.
Utsunomia Mix - 007 "Soul Boat"
In May 2023, the experimental music/acoustic project "Utsunomia" was launched by acoustic geniuses Yasushi Utsunomiya + Gallery Nomart + .es (dot es). MIX". Starting with the simultaneous release of their debut trilogy in May of the same year, Utsunomia Mix has released five albums in six months and two more in the following year, 2024. The Utsunomia Mix series is packed with unique features, including the first-ever combination of live performances, links with contemporary art, and unique recor…
Hummingbird and Four Flowers: Turntable and Harmonium Solo Live
The year 2022 was the 10th anniversary of the opening of Ftarri’s physical store in Suidobashi, Tokyo. To mark this milestone, several solo concerts by musicians with whom Ftarri has had close ties since the time of its predecessor, Improvised Music From Japan, were held in the Ftarri store performance space in autumn 2022. The musician who performed on October 3 was Otomo Yoshihide. That day Otomo planned to play turntable only, but when he spotted the store’s harmonium, he had the idea of usin…
Humankind
The fifth installment of Yasushi Utsunomiya's divine sound "Utsunomia MIX" series! Free, immaculate, and unrestrained, even a single note is a miraculous improvisation that is divine. Otomo Yoshihide and Isobata Shinichi, a guitar duo of two former students of Takayanagi Masayuki, Otomo and pianist sara's first duo, and lastly, a trio. An hour of intense human drama! It has been more than 30 years since Otomo and Isobata were students of legendary guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi (passed away in 19…
Asian Meeting Recordings #1
*2023 stock* Asian Meeting Featival" rose to the highest recent years. This is the studio recordings CD, finally put out via doubtmusic. Amazing musicians / artists from each country in Asia gathered in Tokyo, they played powerful improvisations under directions by dj sniff and Yuen Cheewai. We recorded, selected and edited them for completed the CD. We would like you to fell splender Asian improvisation and experimental music. This CD will be expected all over the world !!! The Asian Meeting Fe…
In Residency At Bitches Brew
*2023 stock* "In December 2018 I had a four-night residency at the Bitches Brew jazz club in Yokohama. These concerts were organized by Mr Kenny Inaoka, founder and editor-in-chief of the webzine JazzTokyo.com and a prodigious jazz record producer and Seiichi Sugita, the owner of the Bitces Brew. They managed to invite some of the greatest improvisers from the Tokyo area to join me for four concerts in a row. This album captures some sound memories of those unforgettable performances with fantas…
Duo-1
*2023 stock. 400 copies limited edition* Improviser Junji Hirose is not just a sax player; in the 1980s he started playing the SSI (self-made sound instrument), which he created by combining numerous devices and everyday objects from which noise sounds are produced in a scattered way. In 1989, Hirose recorded the SSI/turntables duo album "Silanganan Ingay" with Otomo Yoshihide and released it independently as an LP. Three decades later, in 2022, a new SSI/turntables duo album by Hirose and Otomo…
Solo Works 1 Guitar And Turntable
This album is a collection of 20 solo guitar and turntable improvisations performed and recorded by Otomo Yoshihide in his home studio in March 2023. Otomo has released solo guitar and turntable works in various forms in the past, but this is the first time he has recorded an entirely improvised studio performance. This will also be the first time that Otomo himself has illustrated the jacket.
Stone Stone Stone
*2023 stock* "This album, the first under the band's name in six and a half years, is a jazz alternative album with a multilingual and hardcore taste that differs greatly from previous albums.  The recording for this album started in June 2020, during a period when many of our activities were being cancelled due to Covid-19. It had been a while since I last met or played with the members of this band, with whom prior to the pandemic I would regularly get together for gigs at various venues or tr…
Super Single
*2023 stock* All music by Lasse Marhaug and Otomo Yoshihide. Recorded on the 6th February 2011 at Tokyo Superdeluxe. Limited to 300 plates with a big center hole (black labels) housed in an all black cover with gold pantone 876c printed letters.
Otomo Yoshihide Live in Shenzhen
Over the years, Otomo’s music has spanned across Free Jazz, Noise, Free Improvisation, Sound Art, popular music, film scores, and compositions for large amateur ensembles. Carrying the lineage of the Japanese Free Jazz movement that developed in the 1960’s, Otomo has exploited the sonic possibilities of both the electric guitar and turntable. He is one of the key figures who defined a now internationally recognized genre of Japanoise. His band Ground Zero, which was active throughout the 1990’s,…
Plays Standards
** 2LP exclusive 25th Anniversary release **  Finally this day has come - Not Two Records together with Wschodnie Triady and No Earplugs proudly present you special edition of Ground Zero Plays Standards 2-LPs exclusive 25th Anniversary release! Legendary Ground Zero Plays Standards has been released in 1997 for Nani Records, then reissued for DIW (2000) and ReR (2002). So far it has only been released on CD, until this day. Vinyl edition is available now in limited copies. The vinyl master was …
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Out To Lunch
Much-needed repress. First-time vinyl release. Old-style gatefold LP with liner notes by Kahimi Karie, Otomo Yoshihide & Tonoyama Taiji. Reissue, originally released on CD in 2005. Eric Dolphy's final studio album is hailed as one of the finest examples of mid-60s post-bop. Dolphy, having recorded the album in February 1964, was in Europe less than six weeks later and his all-too-brief life ended less than two months after that. It marked his last flurry of original compositions and is considere…
Big Can
*In process of stocking* "There was this large, abandoned, cylindrical metal object, maybe an oil tank. In 2009, several people cam to the site and made some noise. They were Otomo Yoshihide, Ryu Hankil, Yuen Cheewai, Yan Jun, Sachiko M, Yang Ge, Xian Qiang, Hong Qile, Gogo J, Olivier Heux and Junyuan. The sounds chosen are refreshingly non-obvious, no fist-banging on the interior walls. There are soft clocks and drips as well as a number of sustained sounds–whistling, moaning, keening–that don’…
Live In Europe 2016
Stunning duo comprised of two of the most important musicians of the Japanese underground/avant-garde, Otomo Yoshihide in a duo with the great Japanese drummer, Hiroshi Yamazaki – who has Kaoru Abe among his extensive list of past collaborators, and was also a member of Masayuki Takayanagi’s pioneering New Directions group. This album is dedicated to Masayuki Takayanagi.Otomo Yoshihide moves between free jazz, noise, improvisation, composition and the unclassifiable with a generosity that opens …
Duo / Timing
** 2021 Stock ** Meeting at GOK Sound studio in Kichijoji, Japan in front of a small audience, Swedish baritone saxophonist Mats Gustafsson (The Thing, Fire!) also performing on flutephone and live electronics, and Otomo Yoshihide (Ground-Zero, Regenorchester) performing on guitar, turntable and banjo, recorded these eight amazing improvisations of unusual and unique attitudes and timing. After 2 years it materialized on CD work at all. Mats Gustafsson's strongest baritone saxophone, self-made i…
Soto
Tip! *2022 stock* Sploosh Records presents Soto by Otomo Yoshihide and Martín Escalante. Recorded by Kota Uematsu at Soto, Kyoto on 05/30/19. Mixed and mastered by Lasse Marhaug. Thanks to Kukangendai, Miho, Jonas. Artwork by Ron Regé Jr.Otomo Yoshihide - GuitarMartín Escalante - Sax
Live in Florence
* Edition of 175 * Recorded on May 30th, 2018 at Tempo Reale Festival in Florence, Italy. Mixed & Mastered by Ryan Power. Performed by Otomo Yoshihide - guitar and turntables and Chris Pitsiokos - alto saxophone and electronics. Layout & Cover Art by Jaime Zurverza.
Eastern Saga: Live at Tusk
Turkish free jazzers Konstrukt continue their series of exciting collaborations with Otomo Yoshihide, highly repudiated multi-instrumentalist and composer in the experimental world. #4 in the continuing series of Konstrukt collaborations on Karlrecords is a live document of the concert by the Turkish freeform group with the Japanese experimental musician Otomo Yoshihide from the TUSK Festival 2018. Konstrukt, the Istanbul based free jazz/freeform group founded and led by Umut Çağlar and Korhan F…
Trace Cuts
eRikm: 1 turntable + FXMartin Tetreault: modified turntable + surfacesOtomo Yoshihide: 1 turntable + guitarRecorded on 22th may during Musica Genera Festival 2004 by Artur Nowak.Edited & mix : erikm.Cover artwork : Trace Cut / eRikm
Unreleased Recordings 1975 - 2012
Unreleased Recordings comprises 5 previously unreleased tracks by Otomo Yoshihide, both electric and acoustic, recorded in different locations in Japan between 2002 and 2012.  Side A (Electric Side) features Otomo’s earliest ever recordings. Recorded at home in Fukushima in 1975 when he was only 16, Organ features the Japanese musician on organ and electronics. A must-have for any fan of hardcore Japanese improv/noise.