Test ToneTest Tone

Test Tone 73

Tones in Grand Scale

Featuring: Giovanni di Domenico + Daysuke Takaoka + Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Ellen Weller (winds, from USA) with Tetsuro Yasunaga (keys, electronics), polyphonic parachute +, onnacodomo and DJ Evil Penguin



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Artist information:

Giovanni di Domenico + Daysuke Takaoka + Tatsuhisa Yamamoto

Musical nomad extraordinaire, Giovanni Di Domenico has been on the road with music for as long as he can remember. From his birthplace in Rome, he has traveled far and wide, playing with a range of musicians (amongst them Arve Henriksen, Akira Sakata and Jim O'Rourke) in a myriad of contexts, from modern jazz to free improv and experimental pop.
On this evening, he has loaded his caravan with two of Tokyo's finest improvisors, mercurial tuba player Daysuke Takaoka and drumming man-in-demand Tatsuhisa Yamamoto.
Be prepared for some nomadic music at its most extraodinary.
Daysuke Takaoka (Homepage / myspace)
Tatsuhisa Yamamato (Profile)

Ellen Weller with Tetsuro Yasunaga

Wrapping up a two-week tour of Japan, Test Tone is the last stop for multi-reed wizard Ellen Weller. As a professor of world music at Palomar College in San Diego, Ellen covers a lot of musical ground in her playing, effortlessly hopping from Klezmer to classical to free improvisation all in the same breath. She has also performed with a long list of fine musicians the likes of George Lewis and Mark Dresser. 
Joining her will be one of the most wonderful musical minds from the Tokyo scene; curator, bandleader and improvising musician Tetsuro Yasunaga, who besides his prolific activities in Japan with the bands minamo, Voiva and helll, has also garnered a name through a range of overseas activities in the United States and Europe.  
Ellen Weller (winds, from USA, wellermusic.com)
Tetsuro Yasunaga (keys, electronics, Tetsuro Yasunaga Jimusgutsu)

polyphonic parachute +

(yuki kaneko, takahisa umehara, yasunori tani, asuka tanaka, KO.DO.NA., ikeda takumi, satoshi kanda and friends)
In their most ambitious collective project to date, polyphonic parachute (yuki kaneko & takahisa umehara) have assembled an orchestra of superlative musicians to realize their electroacoustic concept on a grand scale. Using toy pianos, electronics, guitars, field recordings and cassette tapes, the band merges minimal folk music with primeval electronic sounds for some breathtaking organic creations.
With a stage setup that may look a bit like a Sunday flea market, polyphonic parachute's array of gifted musicians will no doubt offer some shimmering treasures that you won't find anywhere else.
myspace

onnacodomo

Taking their inspiration from moments and objects from everyday life, visual unit onnacodomo make the ordinary decidedly extraordinary. Eschewing computer-generated graphics or recorded material, the three members (DJ Codomo, Yasuko Seki and Ruka Noguchi) perform in real time using a video camera to capture their spontaneous creations.
Shimmering projections are created using water, mirrors and an array of lights, while a world of fantastic images is constructed with found photos, kitchen utensils, toys, stationary and improvised artwork. Kaleidoscopic, absurd and unreal, onnacodomo takes you into a slightly-unhinged world that is absolutely original in its conception.
onnacodomo.com

DJ 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.