FLOATING WEEDS
KEN IKEDA (JP)
RIE NAKAJIMA (JP)
MAKOTO OSHIRO (JP)
FLOATING WEEDS
63'18''
CD + DIGITAL RELEASE
CATALOG: 9ED005
RELEASED MARCH 5, 2019
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DESIGN: MOTE STUDIO
Japanese-born and London-based sound artist Ken Ikeda has previously appeared on the label’s project “Quark: How Does Invisible Sound?” (Q06). He now teams up with Rie Nakajima and Makoto Oshiro for a series of collaborations included in this CD alongside his solo opening track. The album title is borrowed from the 1959’s movie by Yasujirō Ozu called Ukikusa (Japanese word for Floating Weeds).
The album contains three different recordings, a solo concert by Ken Ikeda called “Early Spring” recorded in Fukuoka at Konya 2023 as part of Duenn’s Experimental Forum event; the second track “Middle Spring” which sees Ken Ikeda and London-based Rie Nakajima collaborating for the Resonance FM broadcast, curated by Gwait Swan at Aces & Eights in London and recorded by Paul Freeman; and the last one “Late Spring”, in which Ikeda and Tokyo-based Makoto Oshiro played a liveset at Iklectik in London for the ‘Yo No Bi with KILT’ event, recorded by Jeff Adron (Saint Austral Sound).
Motors, sound objects, automated gestures, mixed materials as opposed to synthesizer-generated sounds meet up, overlap and create dialogues. An exceptional way to have three of the most interesting contemporary sound artists united in a record and a picture of today’s Japanese sonic research all at once.
All tracks recorded in 2017. Designed by Mote Studio, Berlin. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Ken Ikeda is a composer and performer, born in Tokyo. After studying at Berklee College of Music, he has exhibited sound art and visual installations around the world, and has worked with John Russell, Eddie Prevost, David Toop, Simon Scott, Toshimaru Nakamura, Tetuzi Akiyama, Taku Sugimoto, Chihei Hatakeyama and many other improvising musicians. He has collaborated with, amongst others, artists Mariko Mori, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Tadanori Yokoo; and composed and recorded for film maker David Lynch. He released CD albums from Touch, Spekk, Baskaru, White Paddy Mountain and Home Normal. Ken Ikeda currently lives and works in London, UK.
Rie Nakajima works with installations and performances that produce sound. Her works are most often composed in direct response to unique architectural spaces using a combination of kinetic devices and found objects. She has exhibited and performed widely both in the UK and overseas and has produced ‘Sculpture’ with David Toop since 2013. With Keiko Yamamoto she has a music project 'O YAMA O' which explores music with no genre. She also has a collaborative project ‘Dead Plants/Living Objects’ with Pierre Berthet.
Makoto Oshiro (b. 1978, Okinawa) is a Tokyo-based performer and artist. His primary medium is sound, but he also combines other elements including light, electricity and movement of objects. In live performances, he uses self-made tools and instruments that are based on electronic devices, every day materials, and junk. His installation work handles sound as a physical and auditory phenomenon, and focuses on characteristics such as vibration and interference. He is also a member of the the live installation / performance group The Great △ with Takahiro Kawaguchi and Satoshi Yashiro.