Junji Hirose

As a sax player, Junji Hirose has been a prominent figure on the free jazz/improvised music scene since the late 1970s. But he has another side: he collects odds and ends and everyday objects and puts them together to create instruments which he uses in noise performance. Hirose calls these noise instruments SSI (self-made sound instruments). He released the CD SSI-4 (hitorri-997) in 2013, and SSI-5 (hitorri-993) in 2015. This is Hirose's new release, SSI-6. In contrast to the roaring sounds of versions 4 and 5, version 6 of the the SSI instrument produces a white noise-based drone. The 15 tracks on this CD were studio-recorded in January 2016. Using two air compressors, Hirose repeatedly turns powerful blasts of wind onto PE tape attached to an oblong, creating white noise which restlessly and continually changes in subtle ways (track 1, 19 minutes). He also switches the materials on which he turns the wind (bottles, brushes, rubber bands, tape of different colors, etc.), exploring the sonic disparities produced through the differences in materials. These differences are recorded on 14 shorter tracks of 1 to 7 minutes. As time goes on, the fiercely blowing sonic gales become a jumble of clear and murky sounds, make a variety of transformations and sometimes take on a gentle aspect. No electric processing was used in this performance; this is Hirose-style unplugged noise at its best.