Test ToneTest Tone

Test Tone vol. 59

Sounds of Precision and Autonomy

Featuring: Martijn Tellinga (Netherlands), Chris Cobilis (+special guest Kouhei Harada), zAwAvAtA (Ryusaku 'Rutang' Ikezawa + Ryuta Kawabata) / DJ: Evil Penguin



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

Artist info:

Martijn Tellinga (Netherlands)

Dutch composer Martijn Tellinga explores engaging ways in which the sonic arts can effect listeners, action and environment. His vanguard studies have taken him around the globe, collaborating with architects, filmmakers, musicians and artists working in a wide range of media. Using algorithms, acoustics, space and movement, much of his work looks at how the sonic observer picks through emerging information, while at the same time trying to engage their imagination as a listening participant. As an artist-in-residence at Tokyo's Youkobo Art Space, Martijn will spend the month introducing his work to new audiences in performance and lectures. On this evening, Martijn joins Test Tone for a multichannel performance that guarantees to be both gripping and immersive.
hp

Chris Cobilis (+special guest Kouhei Harada)

Chris Cobilis (Australia)
With a musical vocabulary stretching from the spartanly abstract to the hauntingly beautiful, Chris Cobilis approaches his art with abundant pop sensibility, yet incorporating a fine sense of composition for some truly fine music. In addition to collaborations and performances with the likes of Jon Rose, Ikue Mori and Taiwanese composer Kueiju Lin, he also performs solo and with longtime indie rockers The Tigers on his home turf in Perth, Australia.
Since 2006 his musical activities have become a worldwide pursuit, with performances in the UK, US, Taiwan, Greece, France and Japan. Although this is not his first (nor last, we expect) time touring Japan, it is a rare chance to see Mr. Cobilis live and in person.
Chris Cobilis hp
Kouhei Harada hp

zAwAvAtA (Ryusaku 'Rutang' Ikezawa + Ryuta Kawabata)

It's been a year or so since I've had a chance to wax poetic about Ryuta Kawabata and it's long overdue. Since coming back from his South American tour (where he subsequently had all of his gear stolen, and played bare-bones unamplified electric guitar at times), he was hard at work on a DVD+CD set, entitled "phenomenon, information." Not only is this mind-blowingly good, it is also offered as a free download (!) from his myspace page.
The DVD contains a mixture of multimedia and performance work, one in particular being a collaboration with bent-genius drummer Ryusaku 'Rutang' Ikezawa, which took place at the legendary East Tokyo loft space Highti at the end of 2008. These two are now back in a unit called 'zAwAvAtA', which will pit Kawabata's austere 'blues' guitar with Ikezawa's extraordinary inventiveness. Come along to watch them drive forward into the great unexplored.
Ikezawa myspace
Kawabata myspace

Evil Penguin

Master of disguises, Mexican top-hats, ambient rockabilly to minimal Hawaiian Kumulipo chants, the Evil Penguin poses the primordial question of evanescence against a backdrop of New Wave folk. Celebratory, subliminal, moment-to-moment. A Tasmanian treasure with a penchant for open spaces.

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.