|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CD
|
|
RM 4179CD
|
Toshimaru Nakamura's No Input Mixing Board instrument is without question one of the most personal and experimental explorations of its kind. Over ten volumes, Nakamura has stretched the capacities of the mixing console in ways that both shock and delight. He maintains a tireless sense of curiosity, seeking to constantly expand the range of the instrument and subvert its preconceived role. On Culvert - NIMB 10, Nakamura's work takes on an incredibly dynamic and at times volcanic quality. Each piece, moves between passages of deep rhythm and pulse which give way to caustic swaths of feedback, noise, and, at times, a deep sense of harmony. The compositions are minimalist in their form, but remain unconstrained, often veering into unexpected moments of deep quiet or explosive post-techno like grinds. Culvert, the tenth volume in the No Input Mixing Board (NIMB) instrument series, expands the languages and approaches outlined on his previous effort, the ninth volume, which was released by Room40 in 2018. It is a testament to Nakamura's skills as a producer, but moreover a recognition of his incredible craft and aesthetic sensibilities when it comes to creating something profound from literally nothing at all. Played, recorded, edited, processed and mastered by Toshimaru Nakamura at his home in Tokyo from April to June, 2021.
From Toshimaru Nakamura: "There used to be several small streams in west Tokyo, where I live. Some of them were natural rivers flowing from springs in this area. Others were from further west. Towards the east, down to the sea of Tokyo Bay, there are others which were man-made, created to distribute water. Now, most of these rivers are covered by concrete lids and many parts of them are converted into pathways with nicely lined-up trees and benches. Some stretches of these rivers even have an artificial brooks on top of the lids to recreate the landscape of the old days. Sort of a 'double decker river'. Sitting on one of those benches, I think of the water flowing below, in the dark."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
RM 494CD
|
Re-Verbed (No-Input Mixing Board 9) is the latest edition from Tokyo-based artist Toshimaru Nakamura. The "No-Input Mixing Board" is a unique instrument pioneered by Nakamura. As its name suggests, it is a mixing console within which external no input exists. The instrument is fueled only by its own feedback. Initially used by Nakamura as a more tonal instrument, creating incredibly high frequency outputs, over time the mixing board has become decidedly more rhythmic and harmonic. It is this sonic territory that is the focus of this edition. Re-Verbed (No-Input Mixing Board 9) is by far one of Nakmura's most musical recordings. The board's tonality is front-and-center; low pulses and cavernous pulses fizzle and murmur with a subtle but frenetic energy. Drifting into decidedly dub-oriented directions, Nakamura allows the instrument to breathe; specifically he finds new dimensions to the ways interference can be brought into harmony within the pieces. While the instrument might suggest a sense of indeterminacy, Nakamura's intimate relationship with it means he can maintain an unerring sense of control over it. Re-Verbed (No-Input Mixing Board 9) is evidence of his intense capacity to create profound work with this most unusual of devices. A conjuring of something truly unique from literally nothing. Toshimaru Nakamura's instrument is the no-input mixing board, which describes a way of using a standard mixing board as an electronic music instrument, producing sound without any external audio input. The use of the mixing board in this manner is not only innovative in the sounds it can create but, more importantly, in the approach this method of working with the mixer demands. The unpredictability of the instrument requires an attitude of obedience and resignation to the system and the sounds it produces, bringing a high level of indeterminacy and surprise to the music. Nakamura pioneered this approach to the use of the mixing board in the mid-1990s and has since then appeared on over one hundred audio publications, including nine solo CDs. From 1998 to 2003 Nakamura and Tetuzi Akiyama ran the concert series Improvisation Series at Bar Aoyama and then later the Meeting at Off Site series of concerts. Both these concert series were crucially important in exposing a new manner to improvised music (referred to as Electro Acoustic Improvisation) to the Japanese public and to foreign musicians visiting Japan, making Tokyo one of the global hotspots for this new approach to music.
|