Variously described as the undisputed master drummer of the Japanese Underground, a rhythm section gone ballistic and trekker of the outer limits of weirdness, Yoshida Tatsuya is the protagonist of the erstwhile, hyperactive, prog-punk, hardcore, art rock, heavy metal, disco, psych and funk, drums and bass duo, RUINS.

As John Zorn’s Tzadik has stated, the band ‘are masters of quick-change, stop/start tempos, time-signatures and textures, their explosive and intricately composed tunes sung in a peculiar language of their own invention’, making ‘bass and drums sound like an orchestra of synchronized jet engines’. Eugene Chadbourne has described their unique, rudimentary instrumentation as ‘no less than a palace revolt against the established role of the rhythm section’.

As a central force of the effervescent Japanese underground, Yoshida has recorded and performed prolifically with a host of equally significant and influential acts, including guitar legend, Derek Bailey, Makoto Kawabata and Acid Mothers Temple, K.K. Null, Elton John collaborator, Elton Dean, Ground Zero’s Mitsuru Nasuno, Fushitsusha’s Keiji Haino, Bondage Fruit’s Kubota Aki, Boredoms’ Seiichi Yamamoto and ‘Senzuri’ champion, Juntaro Yamanouchi’s seminally transgressive Gerogerigegege. He also performs and records with Zubi Zuva, a ‘freewheeling a cappella vocal trio, running the gamut from Gregorian Chant and Buddhist Shomyo to Doo-wop, hardcore and barbershop Looney tunes’, typically under Yoshida’s own maniac and inventive direction.

Since reforming Ruins Alone as a solo project, replete with manically express bass-lines triggered by a sampler (a suitable partner), and his own adrenaline-fuelled voice, Yoshida's project has become a flickering apparition of piled-up beats and stratified riffs that unfold at a staggeringly blistering speed. For his live audience, it’s a breathtaking prospect.

Radical éminence grise of the New Zealand experimental underground, Stella Corkey and Alan Holt’s WHITE SAUCER takes disorderly cues from what has been described as the triple threat freedoms of free jazz, 20th century avant-garde and psychedelic, improvised rock music. Their work has appeared on Freedom-From (Hair Police, Sightings, Harry Pussy, Jackie O, Thurston Moore), Drunken Fish (Bardo Pond, Roy Montgomery, Lee Ranaldo) and their own Pink Air, while Corkery has operated both solo as Sweetcakes and Arrows, and in collaborative shapes in Siltbreeze and Xpressway groups such as Queen Meanie Puss with Rachel Shearer and Hot Buttered Soul with Roddy Pain (Snapper, Evil). The multi instrumental duo slip between grubby and warbled extraterrestrial psych sorties to buzzed out Kosmische retreats

In an evocation of the ghost of a forbidden ideology which puts free music, shamanism and cohesive forces of resonance all on the same level - SIGN OF THE HAG is Wgtons Fredrick Street Sound and Light Exploration Society founder Daniel Beban.

Established in 2001 and now organized by committees in every major city in New Zealand under the Audio Foundation, Altmusic is an ongoing series of audio events, regularly bringing a vital injection of contemporary and experimental music from around the world to New Zealand. This year, the programme continues with each city curating its own event and touring this around NZ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLT2bb903zg&feature=related
http://www.undertheradar.co.nz/utr/show/SID/13067/N/Altmusic-Presents:-Ruins-Alone-(JP).utr
http://altmusicnz2010.blogspot.com/