KAZUYUKI KISHINO, AKA Japanese electronic noise wizard KK NULL, talks to GREG HAINGE on the eve of his performance at LIQUID ARCHITECTURE.

GREG HAINGE: So, how would you describe what Brisbane is going to witness on June 24?

KAZUYUKI KISHINO: For the Powerhouse show I’ll be performing some older work as well as a new project. Recently I’ve been working on a series of new pieces which I call ‘Cryptozoon’. According to Wikipedia, ‘Cryptozoon’ means literally ’hidden animals’ in Greek and also, in more precise scientific terms, “an extinct genus of algae from Precambrian and Cambrian times” such as Stromatolites in Shark Bay, Western Australia (although these still exist there today!). The reason why I took this scientific term for my compositions is, firstly, because my music is hard to categorise or describe, so it also is like an unknown life form; and secondly, my compositions consist of many layers, like strata which stretch across many different times and spaces. Also, I just like this word as it sounds a bit mysterious! Anyway, in these new pieces I use some field recordings that I’ve made at various locations in Australia such as Kakadu National Park, Stradbroke Island, Otway National Park, the park near the Powerhouse in Brisbane and so on, as well as some other recordings from Europe and my neighbourhood in Japan too. With these I try to create unknown sonic worlds by mixing both concrete materials such as the sound of birds, insects, water, wind, human/industrial noise with abstract sounds generated by electronic tools, such as synthesizers, using the methods I’ve developed over my career. But I don’t want to give you a biased opinion! I just hope that people come with an open mind and appreciate it in their own brain and soul.

GH: Is there any such thing as noise music? Can noise be music? Can music be noise?

KK: It depends on what your definition of noise is. What is music to you? Play Mozart at maximum volume on your iPod, then for sure you can easily make it noise.

GH: Is there any difference between noise in the analogue realm and noise in the digital realm?

KK: From my experience, digital sound is controllable because you can simply say that it’s based on mathematics, but on the other hand you cannot control analogue sound 100%, it’s more spontaneous, unpredictable, uncontrollable...

Witness the abstraction, chaos and complexity at the Brisbane Powerhouse as part of the Liquid Architecture Festival, Jun 24-25. See www.myspace.com/00kknull  for more.

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