Masami Tada | 1974–79: Formed an improvisation group; LP GAP. 1975: Took part in Takehisa Kosugi’s workshop at Bigakko. 1978: Shot the same tree everyday for 365 days, which would be exhibited in the Netherland 22 years later. 1994: Solo exhibition and performance at Het Apollohuis and CD Ne. 1996: Serious Circus exhibition, where audience peeped into a tent in a gallery. Since 2002: Stayed in Nepal during the Rato Machhendranath festival, and 2006: “Art-Full Nepal” with local artists. 2012: A photobook/essay, Is Landscape Photography? (Kyuryudo). “What is it to establish the fundamentals of art? The act to gravitate to sound itself, or to be nonverbally and properly thorough about an idea. What has been left from used and broken Western-folklore instruments: materials such as Japanese bamboo, dead branches (stems), round stones, pieces of wood, rubber bands or piano wires. There is air, when touching and giving vibrations to these materials: the body, sense of touch and hearing. It is impossible to explain the balance between them and how to take ‘pauses.’ Presentation of a “space” in the total environmentm, rather than creating ecoes in the electronic circuit, by grabbing the experience: that happens only for a moment.”

Gaiamamoo | An improvisation unit formed in 2012 by two young musicians based in Tokyo, Shogo Haraguchi and Mehata Sentimental Legend. They started to play around Koenji, toured four nothern and southern cities in Spain next year, and was featured by Spanish TV and radio. In 2013, a Spanish art magazine “ARTICULATE” introduced their activity. Employing diverse technologies and expressions and exploring visual images inspired by “abstract” colors, shapes, patterns and movements as well as synchronization of sonic stimulations from tones and noises, they musically compose through improvisation.

ana-g | “We bask in and are washed off by chaos of sounds that spontaneously emerge from daily life and cluster around us. We want to find music that is floral and aromatic like a commercial film of new cosmetics.” Although they are inclined to electronica, in live performances, they play in a light style like Peruvian street musicians or shishi-mai (lion dance) door-to-door entertainers. Chaotic sampling tracks, vocals in between poetry reading and rap, and comfortable sonic image that is rather drowsy than psychedelic. Apparently avant-garde, neither aggressive nor complicated, and uniquely gentle. You have to listen to it anyway, since their music cannot be compared to anything else. (Atsushi Horibe, Seikosha)

Takehito Kinoshita | Influenced by electronica and improvisation scenes, he started in 2005 to create tracks and perform mainly in Tokyo and Yokohama. He has also contributed compositions to visual and dance works and performed as an actor in contemporary dance, theatre and visual works.

Joe Morris | He began playing guitar in 1969, double bass in 2000. He co-founded Boston Improvisers Group (BIG) in 1981, then started Riti Records and released his first recording in 1983. He cites Cecil Taylor, Eric Dolphy, Leroy Jenkins, Thelonious Monk, Jimi Hendrix, Anthony Braxton, Jimmy Lyons, Ornette Coleman and traditional West African string music as major influences. He has performed and recorded with many of the leading figures in free music. Morris has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe. He currently leads various groups and performs in collective ensembles, as well as performing solo, and as a freelance guitarist and double bassist. He is featured as leader, co-leader, and sideman on more than 120 recordings to date. In addition to his own Riti Records, he has recorded for Soul Note, AUM Fidelity, Incus, Hat Hut, ECM, Clean Feed, ESPdisk, and many more. He is the author of the book, Perpetual Frontier: The Properties of Free Music. He is currently on the faculty at New England Conservatory, and Longy School of Music of Bard College.

Tatsuhiko Asano | Born 1966 in Gifu. Began playing the guitar and home recording at the age of 14. While studying painting at Tokyo University of the Arts, played with bands and worked on multi-track cassette recording. Released a solo multi-track piece bonjour from MOODMAN’s 7-inch label M.O.O.D / donut in 1996, and contributed other solo pieces to a number of compilation albums by TRANSONIC, Daisy World, etc. Also, played with such units as GPP and Pacific 231 as a guitarist. Presented the soundtrack, In the Wake of Doshin the Giant, of a video game produced by Nintendo, Doshin the Giant 1 in 2000. In 2001, after hearing bonjour, Alec Empire released Asano’s first full-length album Genny Haniver from Geist Records. Produced the music for “Yayoi Kusama’s Avant-Garde Fashion Show!” in 2004. Took part in David Sylvian’s remix album Blemish Remixes in 2005. Released the second album Spacewatch from AKICHI RECORDS in 2008. Currently working on a new album.

Eiko Ishibashi | Born in Mohara, Chiba. After playing with several bands and composing for films, she started her solo activities as a multi player who plays the piano, drums, flute and vibraphone and has released four solo albums. She has been drifting across genres and fields as a singer / songwriter, session player and producer. Recently took part in works by Kenichi Hasegawa, Kenta Maeno, Tonchi and Ogre You Asshole. Along with solo live performances, she plays with her band Eiko Ishibashi and The Already Dead (Jim O’Rourke, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Toshiaki Sudo, Atsuko Hatano). The first piano solo album in her career I’m armed was released in 2012.

Cal Lyall | Musical nomad since first discovering the malleability of 4-track tape, Cal Lyall is a guitarist and sound artist currently based in Tokyo, Japan. An early interest in diverse musical forms led to intense travel and study throughout Southeast Asia and the Subcontinent, including lengthy visits to India, Pakistan and Iran. Creating a musical universe constructed from field recordings, stringed instruments, microphone systems and other electronic debris, he continues to explore the possibilities of traditional forms in numerous projects (Tetragrammaton, Jahiliyyah, Palimpsest, Missing Man Foundation), incorporating influences ranging from free-flowing drone to ecstatic improvisation. He also performs as a solo artist with a number of distinctive artists, such as Tetuzi Akiyama, Tim Olive, Chihei Hatakeyama, Kelly Churko, Yoshio Machida, Government Alpha and Chie Mukai, among others. With an active performance schedule in Japan and past tours through Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, China, Korea, Australia and the US, he also heads up the Subvalent record label, oversees the Tokyo Hub of Jolt Sonic Arts (Australia) and the long-running Test Tone series at SuperDeluxe, Tokyo.

Takako Minekawa | From Roomic Cube ~ a tiny room exhibition ~ in 1996 to Maxi On in 2000, she released eight albums in Japan and abroad. In May 2013, her collaboration with guitarist Dustin Wong Toropical Circle (PLANCHA / Thrill Jockey) was released, and they started to perform as a duo unit. Their second album Savage Imagination was released in 2014, and they toured 24 cities in the U.S. She has also come back as a solo artist and performed in such projects as BOOMBOX-MELLOTRON PROJECT at VACANT, Live Performance for the Promotion of Cassette & Boombox at Asakusabashi Tensai Sansujuku, Ai Aso / Takako Minekawa at Nanahari and PROJECT A#2 Voice Issue at SuperDeluxe.

Jim O’Rourke | Born 1969 in Chicago. O’Rourke encountered the music of Derek Bailey as youngster and began visiting him in London at the age of 13. Eyes opened to the power of improvisational guitar, he released several of his own highly experimental works and has worked closely with John Fahey and Loren Mazzacane Connors. During his long association with the Chicago experimental and improv scene O’Rourke participated in several bands and projects including Gastr Del Sol and Loose Fur. His work with Takehisa Kosugi music director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company as well as Tony Conrad, Arnold Dreyblatt, Christian Wolff and others built bridges between contemporary and popular music. O’Rourke’s release of landmark albums Bad Timing and Happy Days in 1997 and Eureka in 1999 garnered much attention. From 1999 to 2005 he was a member of Sonic Youth, playing bass, guitar and synthesizer as well as recording and mixing the band. In 2004 he won a Grammy Award for his production of Wilco’s A Ghost is Born. O’Rourke has also earned a loyal following for his participation in numerous albums by various artists around the world. He has a deep knowledge of Japanese culture and currently lives in Tokyo. Some of his many production credits in Japan include Quruli, Kahimi Karie, and Eiko Ishibashi. He also continues to be a consummate collaborator, working with Akira Sakata, Merzbow, Yoshihide Otomo, Seiichi Yamamoto, Boredoms and others. His recordings of Toru Takemitsu’s Corona for pianists Tokyo Realization was awarded the Agency for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival Award for Excellence in 2006. He has also scored films by Werner Herzog, Olivier Assayas, Shinji Aoyama, Koji Wakamatsu and others. His own short films have been part of the 2004 and 2006 Whitney Biennial and the 2005 Rotterdam Film Festival. O’Rourke is a diverse and powerful artist. Always searching, his borderless activity goes beyond the common labels Alternative, Post-rock, Experimental-pop, Film music, Free music, Jazz, Americana, Contemporary music and continues to defy classification.

Phew | Debuted with a punk band Aunt Sally in 1979. After the group disbanded, she collaborated with a number of musicians internationally. Currently focusing on the electronic solo unit she launched in 2013 and a punk band MOST. Solo album release planned in December 2015.

Takuro Shibayama | Born in Tokyo in 1971. MA in music at Tokyo College of Music Graduate School and Ph.D. in the fine arts at the Graduate School of Fine Arts (Intermedia Art), Tokyo University of the Arts. Having kept a certain distance from the movements of Western contemporary music since he was a student, he sticks to monotonous and qualitative approaches that resist development of temporal structure. Selected in the 62nd Music Competition of Japan and in the Akiyoshidai International Composition Award in 1994 as well as in the 34th Concours International de Bourges in 2007 and ICMC (International Computer Music Conference) in 2012 and 2014. He has created a number of installations in collaboration with fine artist Hisako Inoue, which has continued for fifteen years. Currently, together with engineering, psychology and cognitive science scholars, he is studying issues around a system that generates itself, i.e., how human inference and emotion with expectation forms a new system that generates the future and a social order. An associate professor at Tokyo Denki University and part-time instructor at Osaka University of Arts, Tokoha University, International Christian University and Joshibi University of Art and Design.

Taro Yoshihara | Born in Tokyo in 1968. BA in composition at Showa University of Music and MA at the University of Yamanashi. Studied composition under Tatsuji Toyozumi and Yoshibumi Fujiwara and electronic music under Kazuko Narita. Participated in the electronic music atelier of INA-GRM (Institut National Audiovisuel — Groupe de Recherches Musicals) in 2001. Since 2002, he has gradually grown involved in 24-channel digital multi-track three-dimensional sound pieces. His works and activities have been featured by Japanese and French festivals, televisions and radios. He worked on a large-scale acousmonium with 53 channels and 70 speakers in FUJI Acousmatic Music Festival 2014, and has been involved in the development of original omnidirectorial loudspeakers (ION SPACE, SOKEN inc), tweeter enclosure (Kai no Takumi Odagiri) and a system for controlling acoustic space (NILE, TAMON Co., Inc.). Currently a member of Japanese Society for Electronic Music, executive committee member of acsm116, advisor for Gallery Nakamura, representative of SPACE VISION, member of SPEAKERS ORCHESTRA, artistic director of FUJI Acousmatic Music Festival, and instructor at the Faculty of Education and Human Sciences and Center for Education Research of the University of Yamanashi.