Inner resonance of planets... harmonies made from the distances between planets... melodies generated by their circular dances...
Our bodies can become a receiver of cosmic music when we connect our roots to certain places on earth. However the electromagnetic field on the surface of the earth is unduly interfered nowadays. So our sympathetic ability is heavily oppressed by the violent moiré.
First, shall we let ourselves synchronize with the flow of the earth’s fundamental magnetic field, immerse ourselves into the tonal dance with the sun and the moon? Then each of us will spontaneously begin to oscillate a unique vibration according to our character. It is the fundamental tone that becomes part of the universal harmony, and the first step to participate in the circular dance of the celestial orbs.
The Japanese born, Belgium resident, Hitoshi Kojo describes himself as a 'sound-painter'. It suggests an audio exploratory form of abstract expressionism - a far less cluttered and confused realm than the more constricting, less meaningful tribal genre tags he undoubtedly encounters such as drone or dark ambient.
'High Tide Mirror', recorded live between 2010 and 2011 in Vevey, Switzerland and his current home of Brussels, has an idea of the music of the spheres at its core. His website presents a 'Preface' to the work - a great idea for a conceptual release that's confusingly omitted from the packaging. It states "Our bodies can become a receiver of cosmic music when we connect our roots to certain places on earth... to participate in the circular dance of the celestial orbs". This sense of universal animism permeates the six pieces on offer here, while remaining 'rooted', as his preface suggests, thanks to the raw qualities endowed by recording the pieces live.
The controls are set for the heart of the moon with opener 'Interstellar Creepers', its processed bird calls painting an outdoor environment where powerful kosmische chords streak the night sky. It's a howling invocation, a tuning-in, perhaps, to the vibrations of the universe.
Primed and ready for "the tonal dance with the sun and the moon", 'Seminal Weavers' follows with surprisingly musical matter. Here a jew's harp, harmonica and fiddle melt into each other in a resonant, cosmic hoe-down. The long breaths of harmonica lead onward into 'Unlaced Constellations', less of a celebration and more of a journey, as its tonal waves ebb and flow, gaining energy as the piece travels steadily onward. Midway through, Kojo's voice emerges as a devotional chant whose vibrations linger within the amassed vortex of sounds. The combination, with its delightful sruti box qualities, brings a sense of eastern religions and philosophies.
Finally reaching the moon with 'Lunar Germination', the sparse landscape is lent a more stately mode with uneven backward piano slices plotting a reverent melody gilded by scintillating string motifs. The hymn becomes submerged under building layers of suspended tones to suggest a kind of terra forming where growing signs of life cry out (occasionally reminding of the iconic language of The Clangers).
It's back to earth for the last two pieces as the moon's magnetic field conducts our planet's aquatic movements. The title piece begins with droning strings, reminding of Tony Conrad's New York experiments in the Sixties. Their subtle nuances shining brightly like dappling light on restless waters, then blending with the rich waves of an exhaling harmonium.
While Kojo's concept (and this written extrapolation, for that matter) may discourage those for whom a whiff of patchouli, or a yogic position rings post-punk alarm bells, the work is highly enjoyable on a purely musical level. Indeed, far from being merely abstract sonic artistry that the job title of 'sound-painter' infers, 'High Tide Mirror' has a highly melodic charge. Kojo's blend of recognisable, live instrumentation with natural found sounds and magical manipulations has far more to offer than mere hippy vibes - it is an unusual, highly personal musical statement on our relationship to the world around us and the mysteries of the surrounding universe.
Musique Machine
Gorgeous new CD from Kojo, one-half of the amazing environmental drone/ritualists Kodama, presented in a deluxe silkscreened card package with inner screened sleeve and die-cut detail in a hand-numbered edition of 200 copies: this is cosmic, organic drone work that moves through violent storms that sound like distant recordings of the surface activity in variously imagined universes through the sound of whale song in space and a gloriously hi-fi take on the kind of epic ascension style of early Skaters.
There are various nods to Taj Mahal Travellers, Coil and the deep field visions of Hermann Nitsch but this is a singularly beautiful statement of psychedelic/cosmo bliss that lines up with classics of the form like Axolotl’s amazing Telesma in terms of a profound reconciliation of fleshy cosmic eternities and brain-razzing electro detail.
Sudden rushes of microtone thick drone trail into the distance while ancient sounding horn calls, mouth harp, hurdy gurdy tones and forlorn morse code melodies circle like the Third Ear Band soundtrack Space Is The Place in a higher key specifically designed to ‘speak’ to aquatic alien life-forms. And when Kojo adds the odd human gasp or held vocal tone the effect is tectonic.
Sublime organic eternal music with one foot in ritual folk forms and the other in the pool of the cosmos. An amazing side, highly recommended!
David Keenan
Active as Plexia, Plexus, Spiracle and member of Bloxus, Juupala Kaapio, Libellula, Revenant and Turquoise (to lift off some info from discogs), but mostly reviewed here under his own name, Hitoshi Kojo with a new album here, of sets recorded in Vevey (Switzerland) and Lyon (France), edited later on in Brussels, where he lives these days. I must admit I never studied his website before, but now I did and learned he’s into music, composition, installation, performance, painting, sculpture, video and photo ‘and those mixtures’ of which ‘the extensive activities are based on his animistic sensitivity that all the matters and the spaces have their own memories. Touching the objects, Talking to animals and plants, Resonating with atmosphere in the space. Such daily activities since the childhood are the basis of his works.’ His work is best described as drone like I should think and this new release is a fine example of that. Its hard to say however what he uses to create his drones, but my best guess would be that it is some sort of mixture of acoustic instruments and electronics, perhaps with the use of objects of an electro-acoustic nature. Something like that. It sounds pretty good, altogether. The six lengthy pieces here display a fine sensitive character, without falling too much in the trap of ‘easy’ drone music – the ‘cigar wave form’ as someone once called it. Kojo mixes together his sources in an elegant way, with ringing and singing overtones, bowing cymbals, strings and god knows what else. A delicate yet not always necessarily quiet release – powerful drones yet smooth when necessary. Excellent stuff.
omnimemento is a sound archive of Hitoshi Kojo since 2005 to present, after the move to Europe from
Japan.
The titles are in chronological order of the original works/releases, not by the release dates of the digital editions here.
So some new releases might be displayed in the lower part of this page.
Official debut of French solo artist Richard Francés. Sci-fi influenced synth work, recalling pioneers like Tangerine Dream and Terry Riley. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 7, 2017
The North Carolina singer and multi-instrumentalist translates the "story of lightness" into nine experimental ambient spirituals. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 8, 2021
The noted audio engineer, who's worked on records for Superchunk (among many others), dreams out loud with the Buchla Music Easel. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 29, 2016
Canadian producer and multi-instrumentalist galvanizes bowed guitars, cellos, and synths into an off-kilter exploration of heat and desire. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 25, 2024
Written in response to the climate crisis, “Leviathan” is a brooding and beautifully unsettling batch of dark ambient songs. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 16, 2023
