Sonic Youth Gossip - Tetragrammaton

Japanese free psych/drone unit Tetragrammaton is one part free improv and one part new millennium blissed-out drone/noise. With a choice mix of hurdy-gurdy, soprano saxophone, drums, percussion and (tabletop) guitar, the instrumentation might be well-suited to the folk-music of Eastern Europe and middle east, but falls more decisively into the camp. The three members, TOMO, Cal Lyall, and Ken Nobunaga are also involved in a number of other projects, ranging from harsh noise to world folk music to electronica. Forming in 2006 with a bare-bones free improv lexicon, the band has moved towards dense drone-based structures and an increasingly multi-layered approach to thematic development.

TOMO(Transcendental Organic Magical Objective)
(soprano sax, hurdy gurdy, and theremin)

Born in Tokyo. At the age of 17, he moved to the U.S, played with some local bands. In 1998, he went back to Japan after spending 8 years in the U.S, and from year of 2000, started his solo performances and session works mostly in Tokyo. His music is influenced by "temperament" such as musical tunings, pitches, and harmonic overtone from many of various traditional and early music in all around the world, While his understanding of traditional music has been enthusiastic, on the other hand, he pays attention to the relationship between "temperament"and "stream of consciousness" which is derived from sound, and uses aspects of minimalism, drone, ambient, and electronica as musical factors based on his own interpretation. On the basis of these influences, he aims to reach the essence and roots of music.

Cal Lyall
(guitar and electronics)

Guitarist and electronic musician based in Tokyo since 1998. Currently active in Japan's free improvisation scene and member of drone-psych trio Tetragrammaton, ecstatic choral unit Jahiliyyah, electro-acoustic duo Missing Man Foundation and avant disco unit FDF. Other projects include Golden Parabola, Palimpsest (with Kelly Churko), Auraboris (duo with TOMO from Tetragrammaton), Aktion Directe (with Akira Yamamichi and Masatsugu Hattori), Nikkasen (with Mitsuru Tabata, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto and Kelly Churko), zycOs (with Masatsugu Hattori, Keigo Iwami, and Kouzou Komori), Electroacoustic Jazz Quartet (with Peter Slade, Akira Yamamichi and Jimanica) and has also performed as a solo artist with distinctive artists such as Tetuzi Akiyama, Chie Mukai, L?K?O, Samm Bennett, Ikegami Hideo, Morishige Yasumune, Yoshio Otani, Yoshio Machida, Damo Suzuki and many more. He is also known as the event organizer and lable owner of "subvalent" and "soundispatch".

Nobunaga Ken
(drums and percussions)

Improviser, plays wide range of music from sensitively micro tone to explosively loud sound. His exploration of music seeks out the relationship among space, time and action. He uses various kinds of instrument such as percussions, drums, peacock harp, guitar, flute, and voice. He has been active on his solo and collaboration with musicians, dancers, and painter. He is a member of improv psychedelic unit “Tetragrammaton“(with TOMO and Cal Lyall), noise drone unit “hisspiss” (with Shunichi Sakai), and constantly plays the session with other musicians. On the other hand, he has collaborated and joined with unit “Shizuku (drops)” (with Butoh dancer “Dakei”), performed in South Korea, and organized their own event “Ike no Shizuku (Drops from pawn)” here in Tokyo. Also, he continuously organized his own event “Sekai no hate Sekai no owari (Beyond the world End of the world)”. He was a former staff of “Denshi Zatsuon”. His commitment to music can be explained as “Cognition, Observation, and Awareness with well concentration”.

http://www.myspace.com/tgmtn
http://tetragrammaton-official.com/