Keiji Haino, Jim O’Rourke & Oren Ambarchi
Thursday, September 16th at 8pm ET, ISSUE & AvanTokyo are pleased to stream a new piece by the legendary trio of Keiji Haino, Jim O’Rourke & Oren Ambarchi. This online presentation is a streamed iteration of the in-person installation of the recording, taking place at ISSUE’s 2021 Fall Opening concert on September 9th, 2021 at First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn Heights.
While many of the trio’s recent works have seen them focusing primarily on their core guitar/bass/drums power trio format, their recent release on Ambarchi’s Black Truffle imprint shows the three multi-instrumentalists striking into new territory, utilizing an almost entirely electronic set-up, with Haino on electronics, drum machine, and suona (a Chinese double-reed horn), O’Rourke on synth, and Ambarchi on pedal steel and electronics. Still in development, this new piece will feature Haino and Ambarchi on percussion, and O’Rourke on electronics.
Keiji Haino was born in Chiba, Japan on May 3rd, 1952. Inspired by Antonin Artaud, he aimed to participate in theatre, but an encounter with The Doors stimulated him to pursue music, where he has examined and absorbed a wide range of music—from the early blues (especially Blind Lemon Jefferson), to European medieval music, to popular songs across the world. In 1970 he joined a group “Lost Aaraaf” as a vocalist, named after Edgar Allan Poe’s poem. Meanwhile, he started to work on home recordings and self-taught the guitar and percussion. In 1978 he formed a rock band “Fushitsusha,” and since 1988, after a recuperation period from 1983 to 1987, he has been internationally active in various forms including solo, groups such as Fushitsusha, Nijiumu, Aihiyo, Vajra, Sanhedrin, Seijaku, Nazoranai or The Hardy Rocks and DJ as “experimental mixture,” as well as collaborations with artists from different backgrounds, drawing the performance of the guitar, percussions, the hurdy gurdy, diverse wind and string instruments, local instruments from across the world and DJ gears to the extreme through unique techniques. He has released more than 200 recordings and performed live at least 1,800 times.
Jim O’Rourke has been involved in music and film since the late 80’s, as composer, producer, engineer, and collaborator . He has produced records for Stereolab, Sonic Youth, Wilco, John Fahey, amongst others. His own music has been released by Drag City, Tzadik, Editions Mego, and others. He has scored films for Werner Herzog, Koji Wakamatsu and others. Since 2013 he has released the bulk of his own work on Steamroom.Bandcamp.com
Hailing from Australia, Oren Ambarchi has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists such as Fennesz, Charlemagne Palestine, Sunn 0)), Thomas Brinkmann, Keiji Haino, Alvin Lucier, John Zorn, Annea Lockwood, Alvin Curran, Loren Connors, Manuel Gottsching/Ash Ra, Merzbow, Jim O'Rourke, Keith Rowe, David Rosenboom, Akio Suzuki, Phill Niblock, John Tilbury, Richard Pinhas, Evan Parker, crys cole, Fire! and many more. He has released numerous recordings for labels such as Touch, Editions Mego, Drag City, PAN, Southern Lord, Kranky and Tzadik. His acclaimed trio with Keiji Haino and Jim O'Rourke performs in Tokyo annually with many of their concerts documented on Ambarchi's Black Truffle label. Ambarchi's latest release is Simian Angel (Editions Mego) and it features the legendary Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista.
