Monthly Archives: October 2011

Akino Kodoh film exhibition in Tokyo

For those of you in Tokyo, NY-based Japanese artist Akino’s first solo exhibit “KiyaKiya” is being held at Mizuma Art Gallery in Tokyo from Oct 11 to Nov 12.

Her beautiful drawings can be seen in a new animation movie with music by John Zorn and I actually worked on the music and the sound design for this film with Zorn.

The present exhibition includes Kondoh’s new animation work “KiyaKiya” as
well as drawings, oil paintings and sketches. The term “KiyaKiya” comes from
the old Japanese expression “mune ga kiyakiya suru.” Kondoh first
encountered it in Shibusawa Tatsuhiko’s “Introduction to the collection of
girls”in the chapter written about “childhood experiences.” This expression,
which describes “an enigmatic, nostalgic, disturbing feeling,” or an
impression of “deja-vu”, is at the origin of the “KiyaKiya” series.

In the animation, a girl is performing “kamishibai” (a traditional Japanese
picture-story show). When the artist noticed the time gap between the front
and the back of the illustration cards (the episode of the story the
audience is listening to is written on the back of the previous card; that
is to say there is a 1 page difference between the front and the back of the
“kamishibai” cards) she says she felt the possibility of a different
dimension hidden right behind the everyday life.

Three worlds simultaneously develop in the work. The same girl, who exists
in the three of them, lives all three different times. These tracks curve
slowly, eventually colliding and switching directions and she continuously
circle these orbits in an endless repetition.

In the present exhibition, you will experience a uneasy and nostalgic
feeling, as if you had long forgotten an important something and were about
to remember it. Some memory locked down in your heart might very well
resurface.

At the exhibition, her first catalog “KiyaKiya” will be presold at the
gallery.

Title:Akino Kondoh Sketch Collection “KiyaKiya”
Book design:Bunpei Yorifuji
Release Date:2011/10/25
ISBN:978-4-904292-16-7
Product Dimensions:deformed A5/paper back/single-side/4 color/rounded
corners
Page:402page
Price:2,300JPY(no tax included)

It’s the first catalog by KONDOH Akino
with 200 sketches for new animation “KiyaKiya”.
Book designed by very popular designer Bunpei Yorifuji.
recreated original drawings with 4 color on a sheer paper
is beautifully overlapped as one book.

Exhibition information
KONDOH Akino “KiyaKiya”
October 11 (tue) – November 12 (sat), 2011 (closed on Sun., Mon. & Holidays)
Opening Reception: October 11 (tue): 18:00-20:00

Mizuma Art Gallery
2F Kagura Bldg., 3-13 Ichigayatamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0843 JAPAN
tel: +81.3.3268.2500/fax: +81.3.3268.8844
http://mizuma-art.co.jp

http://mizuma-art.co.jp/gallery_info/index_e.html

KiyaKiya
2010-2011
single channel animation video
6 min. 39 sec.
Courtesy the artist and Mizuma Art Gallery

Mike Patton’s Mondo Cane South American tour and video

I’ve just returned from a 2 week long tour in South America doing FOH sound for Mike Patton’s Mondo Cane project. It was a great experience made even better by the amazing musicians and amazing people that made up the band and the crew. The musicians were just incredible, as you’d expect, half of them from Italy and the other half from the US. Enrico Gabrielli on wind instruments (sax, flute, clarinet, harmonica, whistle, recorder and even glockenspiel), Alessandro “Asso” Stefana on electric, acoustic and nylon guitars, Trevor Dunn on electric and upright bass, Scott Amendola on drums, Willy Wynant on percussions (congas, bongos, woodblocks, timbales, timpano, orchestral bass drum, glockenspiel and toys), Matt Rhode on samplers, Vincenzo Vasi on theremin, samplers and vocals, Enrico “Senza” Zavalloni, Valeria Vasta, Roberta Lizzo and Claudia Puglisi on background vocals and Cheche Alara conducting the 12 string orchestra that we hired locally in the different countries we played in.

We also had an amazing but small crew made up of Niccolo’ “number one” Antonietti on monitors, Jim Stewart stage manager and Tim Mooooooooooooooossss tour managing us.

Patton was the greatest!!! I have so much respect and admiration for him. He simply sings perfectly in tune for hours at a time and he always gives 100%, even during the long rehearsals we did before every show. Plus his interpretations of these great italian classics from the ’50es and ’60es are just incredible. Authentic, tasteful and sophisticated! What a unique show!

Although I was familiar with the record, I had never seen this show before and so mixing it for the first time was definitely a handful but very exciting. There is nothing better than mixing a show you like! I had to have two mixing boards to fit all the channels because with 24 musicians on stage there weren’t enough channels on a regular mixing board (the total track count was around 72). This got even more complicated in Brazil where we played with the Heliopolis favela orchestra, which was made up of 25 people instead of 12 (track count 85).

This was an exceptional show and I wish everyone could have seen it so I am very happy to be able to share this video with you because it was professionally shot by the Chilean TV station Via X. Sadly they just took a board feed from me so the audio never got re-mixed properly for this video and is simply the same audio everyone in the theater heard from the PA.

Mondo Cane will be in Australia in January and hopefully many other countries in the future so people will get to see this amazing show!

Mike Patton rules.

Here’s the full show: