Test ToneTest Tone

Test Tone vol. 51

Night of the Heavy Liftoff

Sounds from Terra Firma into the Hellish Cosmos
Featuring: Helll (Tetsuro Yasunaga, Sakio Tobita, asuna, Jason Funk, Jeff Fuccillo), Cojo (Mitsuo Sakaguchi, Kenji Kariu, Yoshihiko Takeda), Space Baa (Tatsumi Mitsuhide, Daisuke Fuwa, Jimanica), ROKAPENIS + vextaQ (DaDa KingZ), DJ Evil Penguin



Test Tone Homepage

Cal Lyall and Yasufumi Suzuki Special Interview!! (JP only)

Artist info:

Helll

As ethereal harmonies, languid melodies and somnambulist rhythms crawl along in slow-motion, you find yourself being pulled ever-deeper into the world of Helll, a five-piece 'slowcore' unit exploring beautiful and controlled improvisational forms. The music is wonderfully curious, like walking backwards through a Tarkovsky film acted out by your friends. The current lineup includes Tetsuro Yasunaga (minamo, cubic music, 12k), Sakiyo Tobita, asuna, Jeff Fuccillo and drummer Jason Funk.
MySpace

Cojo

A high-octane collision of Brazilian rhythms, electronic wizardry, and prodigious piano playing, Cojo might be a laboratory result of the merged DNA of Hermeto Pascoal and Miles Davis (circa Bitches Brew). With Mitsuo Sakaguchi (Alan Smithee's MAD Universe, Otani Yoshio MJQT, etc.) on piano, Kenji Kariu (OWKMJ) on guitar and Yoshihiko Takeda (OWKMJ) on drums, we are treated to a veritable supergroup of veteran musicians playing the music they love.

Space Baa

With the stellar drumming of Jimanica (d.v.d, World's End Girlfriend, nhhmbase) serving as the penultimate backbone, Shibusashirazu bassist/leader Daisuke Fuwa and trumpeter Tatsumi Mitsuhide then overlay other-worldly musical delights, ranging from free-funk freakouts to rhythmic collage culled from 70s psychedelia and electric jazz. Following the late-summer release of their first album 'with love from a planet', the members have been hard to pull together due to intense overseas touring schedules. This night will have the full unit back in Tokyo to help brace you against the chilly weather.
MySpace

ROKAPENIS + vextaQ (DaDa KingZ)

Since 1999, visual artist Yohei Saito has been active with a bewildering array of video work, from his longstanding collaboration with dance group Baby Q, to handling big-screen visuals at the Metamorphose outdoor festival, to his mind-bending speed collages with grind-metal karaokeist Maruosa. He will be joined by visual satirist and DaDa KingZ member vextaQ in a first-time collaboration.
ROKAPENIS HP
vextaQ (DaDa KingZ)

DJ Evil Penguin

Grand wizard of vinyl and interstellar treasure hunter, the Evil Penguin makes the perilous journey to the forbidden archives, extracting the tastiest gems from a cosmic vat of recordings long forgotten.

About Test Tone

A monthly experiment offering irregular art, music and performance in Tokyo.
The Test Tone series aims to offer a venue for diverse and challenging artists to bring their ideas to a larger community. As a free event open to the public, we hope to bypass the old economies in order to create new ones, while encouraging collaboration in all forms. A collage of media, sound and art in a space available to anyone off the street, the event is a bazaar of potential collisions, where passersby are treated to the unexpected.
For all of this, we found our home base at Super Deluxe, a unique space in Tokyo's midtown, providing a relaxed atmosphere within its modular interior. The event continues to be a celebration of off-kilter creativity in the city: from installation pieces to performance art and visual collaborations; from noise, electronica, ambient sounds and free rock to disorderly jazz and manipulated field recordings. To date, close to 500 artists have been a part of the event, together creating opportunities for unexpected improvisation, collaboration, and festival spirit.