KK NULL
(real name : KAZUYUKI KISHINO) was born
in Tokyo, Japan. Composer, guitarist, singer, mastermind of ZENI GEVA
and electronic wizard. One of the top names in Japanese noise music
and in a larger context, one of the great cult artists in experimental
music since the early 80's.
In 1981 KK NULL studied at Butoh dancer, Min Tanaka's "Mai-Juku" workshop and
started his career by performing guitar improvisations in the clubs
in Tokyo. He continued by collaborating with MERZBOW for two years,
and joining the band YBO2 (with Masashi Kitamura, the chief editer
of "Fool's Mate" magazine and Tatsuya Yoshida, the drummer of RUINS)
and starting the improvised noise/rock trio ABSOLUT NULL PUNKT (with
Seijiro Murayama, the original drummer of Keiji Haino's FUSHITSUSHA),
and also GEVA2 (GEVA GEVA) with Tatsuya Yoshida (RUINS) and Eye Yamatsuka
(BOREDOMS).
In 1985 he established his own label NUX ORGANIZATION to produce &
release his own works and subsequently the bands such as MELT-BANANA
and SPACE STREAKINGS. He also produced the series of "Dead Tech" (compilation
albums by Japanese bands) which heralded Japanese alternative music
boom internationally from the early 90's to date.
In the early 90's he gained world-wide recognition as the mastermind,
guitarist and singer of the progressive hardcore trio ZENI GEVA with
their extremely heavy sound, releasing five albums produced by STEVE
ALBINI (two on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label) and a few
more on other labels such as NEUROSIS's Neurot Recordings. Also ZENI
GEVA recorded twice for JOHN PEEL SESSION on BBC, and immensely toured
throughout Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, playing
hundreds of concerts.
All the while, KK NULL has worked on his solo career and collaborated
with other musical innovators such as Z'EV, CHRIS WATSON, KEIJI HAINO, SEIICHI YAMAMOTO, JON ROSE, MATMOS, FRED FRITH to name a few, and
has been invited to perform at international festivals such as "Sonar" in Barcelona (Spain), "Radar" in Mexico City (Mexico), "International Sound Art Festival" in Mexico City (Mexico), "Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF-6 & 8)" in St.Petersburg & Moscow (Russia), "Elevate" in Graz (Austria), "X-peripheria" in Budapest (Hungary), "Liquid Architecture" in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane (Australia), "Totally Huge New Music Festival" in Perth (Australia), "Avanto Helsinki Media Art Festival" in Helsinki (Finland), "All Tomorrow's Parties UK", "Roadburn" in Tilburg (Holland), "International Festival Musique Actuelle" in Victoriaville (Canada), "Electron" in Geneve (Switzerland), "Presences Électronique" in Paris (France) and more.
After playing the guitar as his main instrument for some twenty years,
KK NULL has gradually moved towards a more electronic approach. In
recent years he has concentrated his efforts on his solo & collaborative
recordings, exploring the outer territories of electronica, creating
intense clashing wave of noise, structured electro-acoustic ambience,
broken down rhythmics, scattered pitch sculptures, droning isolationist
material which could be described "cosmic noise maximal/minimalism".
Ongoing projects at present (2011) :
- Audio/visual performance trio with Julien Ottavi (France) and Gisle Froysland (Norway)
- Soundtrack for Japanese silent film "A page of madness [1926]"
- Composing/performing @ Visiting Tarab project in Sharjah (UAE)
- Dance theatre performance "Edging" with Guillaume Marie/TAZCORP (France)
Festivals :
- "All Tomorrow's Parties" 2002 | UK
- "Avanto Helsinki Media Art Festival" 2003 | Helsinki, FINLAND
- "Batofar cherche... Tokyo" 2001 | Paris, FRANCE
- "Beyond Innocence" 1998 | Kobe, JAPAN
- "Beyond Innocence" 2007 | Osaka, JAPAN
- "Beyond Music and Sound" 1999 | Los Angeles, USA
- "Electrofringe" 2008 | Newcastle, AUSTRALIA
- "Electron" 2008 | Geneve, SWITZERLAND
- "Elevate" 2009 | Graz, AUSTRIA
- "Exiles" 2000 | Berlin, GERMANY
- "Fringe" 1998 | AUSTRALIA
- "Hea Uus Heli" 2005 | Tallinn, ESTONIA
- "Heliosphere festival" 2011 | Tallinn, ESTONIA
- "Hyperstrings" 1996 | Vienna, AUSTRIA
- "Interferenz 06" 2006 | Linz, AUSTRIA
- "International Festival Musique
Actuelle" 2006 | Victoriaville, CANADA
- "International Sound Art Festival" 2001
| Mexico City, MEXICO
- "Liquid Architecture" 2010 | Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane, AUSTRALIA
- "Livid" 1997 | Brisbane, AUSTRALIA
- "Long-Arms Festival" 2005 | Moscow, RUSSIA
- "Nødutgang" 2008 | Bodø, NORWAY
- "Open Frame" 2008 | Brisbane, AUSTRALIA
- "Presences Électronique" 2008 | Paris, FRANCE
- "Presences Électronique" 2009 | Paris, FRANCE
- "Radar Festival" 2010
| Mexico City, MEXICO
- "Roadburn" 2009 | Tilburg, HOLLAND
- "Sergey
Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF-06)" 2002 |
St.Petersburg/Moscow, RUSSIA
- "Sergey
Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF-08)" 2004 |
St.Petersburg/Moscow, RUSSIA
- "Sergey
Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF-13)" 2009 |
St.Petersburg, RUSSIA
- "Sonar" 2001
| Barcelona, SPAIN
- "Sounds Unusual" 2006 | Darwin, AUSTRALIA
- "Supersonic" 2010 | Birmingham, UK
- "Tallinn Music Week" 2011 | Tallinn, ESTONIA
- "The 70 years Fylkingen Jibbolii" 2003 | Stockholm, SWEDEN
- "Totally Huge New Music Festival" 2003 | Perth, AUSTRALIA
- "Transmission" 2011 | Ravenna, ITALY
- "Voice++" 2006 | Victoria, CANADA
- "What Is Music?" 1998 | AUSTRALIA
- "X-peripheria" 2002 | Budapest, HUGARY
... and more.
2011
October ... KK NULL Europe tour as the audio/visual trio with JULIEN OTTAVI and GISLE FRØYSLAND (8 concerts) in France and Norway, and KK NULL solo concerts in Berlin and Brussels.
August ... Online digital release starts on NUX ORGANIZATION. Release 3 x new albums by KK NULL ("Cryptozoon 1, 2, 3") at the same time.
April ... KK NULL Japan (Chugoku & Kyushyu region) tour.
March ... KK NULL Europe tour as the duo with JULIEN OTTAVI/THE NOISER (9 concerts, including "Transmission" festival in Ravenna, Italy), and as KK NULL solo @ "Tallinn Music Week" in Estonia.
February ... KK NULL Europe tour as the trio TERMINAL HZ (19 concerts, including "Heliosphere festival" in Tallinn, Estonia).
January ... ZENI GEVA Japan (Chugoku & Kyushyu region) tour.
2010
October ... ZENI GEVA UK tour including "Supersonic" festival in Birmingham.
KK NULL UK & Europe tour including "Supersonic" festival in Birmingham and plus 10 concerts.
September ... ZENI GEVA tours in Australia. Also KK NULL plays in Melbourne and Sydney.
June-July ... KK NULL is invited to perform @ the festival "Liquid Architecture" in Australia (Brisbane, Sydney, Castlemaine, Melbourne, Hobart)
April ... ZENI GEVA 4 week Europe tour and KK NULL concerts in Spain.
March ... KK NULL is invited to perform at the festival "Radar" in Mexico City/Mexico and plus solo concert in Vancouver/Canada.
February ... ZENI GEVA mini tour in West Japan.
2009
November ... KK NULL's "Extropy" CD launch party in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe.
October ... KK NULL 3 week Europe tour including "Elevate" festival in Graz/Austria and artist residence @ Extrapool in Nijmegen/Holland for recording with Z'EV.
September ... ZENI GEVA (including member's solo sets KK NULL, RUINS alone, TABATA) mini tour in West Japan.
April ... ZENI GEVA 3 week Europe tour including "SKIF" (St.Petersburg/ Russia), "Roadburn/Beyond the Pale" (Tilburg/Holland) festivals.
March ... KK NULL is invited to perform at the festival "Presences Électronique (INA/GRM)" in Paris/France and plus solo concerts in Geneve, Lyon and Marseille.
2008
October ... NULL is invited
to perform at "Open Frame" festival in Brisbane and at "Electrofringe" festival
in Newcastle and plus one solo concert in Melbourne, Australia.
June ... NULL is invited to perform at "Nødutgang" festival in
Bodo, Norway.
March ... NULL is invited to perform at "Electron" festival in Geneve,
Switzerland and at festival "Presences Électronique" at Maison
de Radio France, Salle Olivier Messiaen (INA/GRM) in Paris, France
as the [Number One] trio with CHRIS WATSON & Z'EV.
2007
July ... NULL is invited
to perform at "Festival Beyond Innocence (FBI)" in Osaka.
2006
October ... NULL
tours in Europe playing 8 concerts in Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam,
Groningen, Rotterdam, Brussels. also invited to do a performance & talk
at CCMCM (Centre for Computational Musicology and Computer Music), University
of Limerick and at Art Centres in Dublin, Ireland.
June ...NULL
is invited to perform at Festival "Sounds Unusual" in Darwin, Australia.
May ... NULL-PLIAKAS-WERTMUELLER
TRIO is invited to perform at "Voice++" festival in Victoria BC, and at
"International Festival Musique Actuelle" in Victoriaville, Canada, also
play 2 concerts in Vancouver.
April ... Tours
with Z'EV in UK playing 8 concerts and also in Budapest, Hungary & Paris,
France.
March ... Tours
in Australia, playing 7 concerts in Brisbane, Sydney, Wollongong, Wagga
Wagga and Melbourne.
February ... NULL
is invited to perform at "Interferenz 06" in Linz, Austria, and play duo
with KAZUHISA UCHIHASHI in Vienna.
2005
September-October ... NULL
teams up with MARINO PLIAKAS (e-bass / STEAMBOAT SWITZERLAND, PETER BROTZMANN
TRIO, etc) and MICHAEL WERTMUELLER (drums / PETER BROTZMANN TRIO, WILLIAM
PARKER TRIO, ALBOTH!, etc) and does several concerts (inc. "Long-Arms
Festival") in Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yaroslavl). And also
NULL performs with ALEXEI BORISOV as XENOGLOSSIA in Moscow and Yaroslavl
and solo performance at the festival "Hea Uus Heli" in Tallinn, Estonia.
2004
April ... The
reunited ANP (KK NULL & SEIJIRO MURAYAMA) are invited to perform at
"Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF-8)" in St.Petersburg & Moscow,
Russia and also play a few concerts in Europe (Austria, Italy, Switzerland,
France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Finland). XENOGLOSSIA (KK NULL
& ALEXEI BRISOV) makes their live debut in Moscow.
2003
March-April ... NULL
is invited to attend "The 6th Totally Huge New Music Festival"
in Perth doing concerts, DJ and workshops and also does several concerts
in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. In November NULL is invited to perform
at "The 4th Avanto Helsinki Media Art Festival" in Helsinki, Finland, and
"The 70 years Fylkingen Jibbolii" in Stockholm, Sweden. also play a few
concerts in Holland, Belgium, Austria, Swizterland and France.
2002
April ... ZENI
GEVA is invited to play at the "All Tomorrow's Parties U.K." and also play
a few shows in Switzerland, France and Belgium. in May NULL is invited to
play at the "Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF-6)" in St.Petersburg
& Moscow, Russia and the "X-Peripheria" festival in Budapest, Hungary. And
also plays a few shows in Austria, Croatia, Bosnia/Herzegovina and Slovenia.
2001
NULL
tours in Japan with PHILIP SAMARTZIS and starts a unit with MASONNA called
ULTIMATE SPACE MACHINE NULLSONIC. Also starts trance drum'n
noise unit MONSTER DVD with MITSURU TABATA (ZENI GEVA) & YASUTOSHI
YOSHIDA (GOVERNMENT ALPHA). NULL is invited to perform at "Sonar"
festival in Barcelona, Spain in June and at "International Sound Art
Festival" in Mexico City, Mexico in July. MONSTER DVD is invited to
play at the festival "Batofar cherche... Tokyo" in Paris in November, and
also plays 15 shows in Austria, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France and Switzerland.
NULL does solo sets as well.
2000
NULL
contributes music for "Grinding the Wind", an exhibition of kinetic
sculpture at Rider University (USA), curated by JAMES DICKINSON. NULL starts
several collaborative recordings with such as JON ROSE, PHILIP SAMARTZIS.
ZENI GEVA supports the first Japan Tour of NEUROSIS and NULL organizes the
first Japan Tour of EMIL BEAULIEAU (Ron Lessard) and ZIPPER SPY from RRRecords,
USA. ZENI GEVA records its new album "10,000 Light Years" in Chicago
by Steve Albini, and does a live radio session at KFJC and live show with
NEUROSIS at the Great American Hall in SF. NULL tours in Europe with JON
ROSE, playing 8 shows (inc. "The Exiles" festival in Berlin, playing
with such as KEITH ROWE, TONY BUCK, KATO HIDEKI, ANNE LA BERGE, ROBYN SCHULKOWSKY)
in Germany, Holland, Belgium & France.
1999
NULL
is invited to play at "Beyond Music and Sound" festival in Los
Angeles and opening for the artspace DEADTECH in Chicago, and
tours in USA playing 20 shows, with support by DAMIAN CATERA (CONDEMEK).
NULL & SEIICHI YAMAMOTO form guitar/techno unit ONTOKO
and releases the 1st CD from Ummo Records (Japan).
1998
ZENI
GEVA records KRAFTWERK's "Sex Object" for a tribute album to KRAFTWERK
"Muisque Non Stop" on Toshiba EMI (Japan). NULL starts several
collaborations with such as ZBIGNIEW KARKOWSKI, SEIICHI YAMAMOTO (BOREDOMS),
DAVID BROWN and KEIJI HAINO. Also, NULL starts to play drums in his new
band GUGAN with MITSURU TABATA. NULL tours in Australia playing 15 shows
(inc. "What Is Music?" & "Fringe" festivals) and
collaborates with ANDREW GARTON, MATTHEW THOMAS, GREG KINGSTON. Also, NULL
supports SONIC YOUTH in Melbourne & Adelaide. NULL is invited to play
at "Beyond Innocence" festival in Kobe.
1997
NULL
tours in Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania) and records with TERMINAL
HZ at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology). ZENI GEVA does the
2nd Australia tour and plays at "Livid" festival in Brisbane.
NULL supports MIKE PATTON (ex-FAITH NO MORE) at his Melbourne show. In Tokyo
NULL plays as a part of noise orchestra MELTDOWN OF CONTROL organized by
ZBIGNIEW KARKOWSKI (SENSORBAND).
1996
ZENI
GEVA tours in USA with BLAKE FLEMING (drummer from ex-DAZZLING KILLMEN),
and also does radio session at WFMU & KFJC. NULL is invited to play
at the festival "Hyperstrings" in Vienna, Austria. NULL starts
experimental jazz/rock band TERMINAL HZ with DAVID BROWN & SEAN BAXTER
in Melbourne, Australia. ZENI GEVA tours in USA again with new drummer MASATAKA
FUJIKAKE and in Europe, playing in many countries for the first time including
Norway, Poland, Czech, Slovenia, Croatia and Portugal.
1995
ZENI
GEVA records "Freedom Bondage" in France before touring in France
& Italy,and plays with SHELLAC in Chicago. ZENI GEVA tours in Australia
and New Zealand for the first time. NULL plays also solo in Melbourne &
Sydney. ZENI GEVA does the 2nd Europe tour of two months and plays at JOHN
PEEL SESSION again.
1994
NULL
records YONA-KIT with JIM O'ROURKE, DARIN GRAY (ex-DAZZLING KILLMEN) &
THYMME JONES (CHEER ACCIDENT) in Chicago with ALBINI and at the same time
NULL produces MELT-BANANA's debut album "Speak Squeak Creak" on
NUX ORGANIZATION. ZENI GEVA tours in Europe for the first time, playing
more than 40 shows in Germany (inc. POP-KOMM), Denmark, Sweden, Finland,
Holland (inc. VPRO), Belgium, Italy, France, Austria, Switzerland and England
(inc. JOHN PEEL SESSION on BBC). NULL organizes the first tour of JIM O'ROURKE
in Japan.
1993
ZENI
GEVA records "Desire For Agony" with ALBINI in Chicago before
the 3rd USA tour. NULL organizes the first tour of SHELLAC in Japan and
ZENI GEVA supports them.
1992
ZENI
GEVA & STEVE ALBINI record "Nai-Ha" in Tokyo. This album is
subsequently selected as one of the best Japanese rock albums of the year
(1992) by The Music Magazine. ZENI GEVA & ALBINI also play live together
in Tokyo & Osaka. ZENI GEVA does their 2nd USA tour with support from
CRASH WORSHIP, DAZZLING KILLMEN, etc. NULL plays live with JIM O'ROURKE
in Chicago and releases "New Kind Of Water" CD (Charnel Music).
1991
ZENI
GEVA records "Total Castration" in Chicago. This heralds the beginning
of working with STEVE ALBINI. ZENI GEVA makes the live debut in USA (Chicago,
Madison, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco) with support from MELVINS,
NEUROSIS, PAIN TEENS.
1990
NULL
tours in USA for the first time and meets JELLO BIAFRA (ex-DEAD KENNEDYS)
who offers to release ZENI GEVA on his label Alternative Tentacles. In Tokyo
NULL plays with JOHN ZORN & FRED FRITH.
1988
NULL
starts GEVA2 (GEVA GEVA) with TATSUYA YOSHIDA (RUINS) and EYE YAMATSUKA
(BOREDOMS).
1987
NULL
starts ZENI GEVA with ex-HANATARASHI drummer IKUO TAKETANI & guitarist
MITSURU TABATA (ex-BOREDOMS, LENINGRAD BLUES MACHINE).
1985
NULL
starts his independent label NUX ORGANIZATION and releases his 1st solo
LP "Saishu Bushitsu (Ultimate Material)" . This album is later
reissued via USA magazine Forced Exposure.
1984
NULL
joins noise/prog rock band YBO2. Releases one 7'EP "Dogla Magla"
& two LPs "Alienation" & "Taiyo no Ouji" on
Trans Records (Japan). NULL starts improvised rock trio A.N.P. (ABSOLUT NULL PUNKT) and releases "Killsonic Action" LP on Dossier Records(Germany).
Also, NULL produces "Dead Tech" LP (compilation of Japanese alternative
bands) which heralds to cause Japanese alternative music movement in western
world.
1983
NULL
collaborates with MERZBOW for two years and does many live performances
and produces tons of cassette tapes. Also joins HANATARASHI at one of their
legendary live performance in Osaka.
1981
Prior
to beginning his music career, NULL studies at Japanese Butoh dancer MIN
TANAKA's "Mai-Juku" workshop. NULL starts to perform as an electric
guitar improviser at clubs & galleries in Tokyo.