KYUTAI 9 OPPORTUNITIES

An old friend of mine was once in a band where he was handling the rhythm box. He told me that pressing the start button was all that he had to do, and it was all about that timing.
On a letterpress printing machine, I mix ink, rub it onto the roller, and press the switch to start up the motor. Multiple rollers rotate at once, while the printing plate on the bed moves rhythmically to the left and right. The paper feeder involves air suction, and when the machine starts pressing and the drum rotates, it makes a clunking noise.
In order to breathe new life into that old decommissioned letterpress, I took the machine as an opportunity, and in an ad hoc operation, transformed it into a “musical instrument” that eventually “performed” on the tracks “INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION” and “IL TRENO” (guitar & piano). The outcome of that recording session is the double album “Kyutai 9 OPPORTUNITIES.”
These two records are at once a letter to my friend with the rhythm box.
Pressing music onto a vinyl disc.
Playing the music by putting a needle into the grooves of the spinning record.
Creating letters by pouring lead into the matrix. When combined and printed, they make up words.
These processes are what this work is supposed to embody, and that’s what my experimentation was all about. I am thankful for the fact that this rather odd project was picked up and honored, and I am happy to see that Tokyo TDC is an institution to do such kind of thing.
“IMAGINE PEACE”