Through his solo project KK Null, Kazuyuki Kishino (also known for the band Zeni Geva) has for the past 40 years been creating some of the most interesting and daring music conventionally categorized under the “noise” genre (for a lack of more specific terms due to its unclassifiable nature). Starting from pure sound, he weaves expansive and immersive landscapes that can be simultaneously trance-inducing and tenebrous. We had the chance of interviewing Mr. Kishino, who labels himself as a “Non-musician”, and inquiring about his unique creative endeavours.
KK Null defies all rules of common music, starting with the fact that you work primarily with raw sound rather than notes or chords. Do you start with an idea, a theme or a bundle of sounds and effects and try to develop a piece from there?
Because I don’t use conventional method to compose my music. I have no academic background, no education, actually I’ve never thought myself I’m a musician. Just like Brian Eno calls himself “Non-musician”, I’m also a “Non-musician”. When I compose music, I just start to improvise, play around with some hardwares and softwares to make some pieces, and find interesting interaction in-between, develop ideas, build up structures and let chemistry happen.
Do you feel that working in the more or less free-form “noise” genre allows you for more freedom than other, more conventional musical formats?
Yes, of course.
The soundscapes of KK Null explore a wide range of emotions, going from quiet, almost naturalistic ambient pieces to what appear to be soundtracks to hellish planes of existence. Do these distinct registers come naturally or do you actively push yourself to experiment with different ideas and states of mind?
Basically it’s coming up naturally, and then I try to deepen and expand it, mix with different ideas.
Are your “harsher” and more “industrial”-sounding albums (such as “Atomik Disorder”) meant to reflect the dizzying buzz of omnipresent machinery and the highly industrialized world we live in?
I think no one can escape from influence by the environment either consciously or unconsciously.
Your album and song titles are replete with psychological and psychedelic suggestions. Is there an intention of leading the listener into altered states of consciousness or inducing a type of trance-like effect?
Yes. I hope it works.
Similarly, there are also multiple references to astronomy and science. What part do these elements play in your music?
Astrophysics, Cosmology, Quantum Physics, etc, all these sciences are full of sense of wonder, pushing the boundaries of what we know, expanding our perspective, transcending space and time. It’s bottomless source of my imagination and inspiration to create music. So important for me to get astonished by discovering new ideas from those sciences. It stimulates my brain and inspires my creativity, I’m not sure how it works though.
Over the years you have collaborated with a variety of artists, from Fred Firth to Merzbow. How does the collaboration process usually work in this type of music?
It starts with improvisation. As I mentioned before I am “Non-musician”.
Your musical creations are highly unique. How do your listening habits play into your own work? Are there any artists or bands that you would call influences?
I’m not sure about influences but I got inspiration and sympathy with the ideas of Brian Eno and Captain Beefheart, in the way of their doing music. They’re both “Non Musician”. They taught me there’s no mistake or error, if you can improve it and make it into something interesting. The Beatles and Pink Floyd showed me music can be ART, not just entertainment. When I was 19 years old I went to London to see the WALL show by Pink Floyd and that totally changed my life. And a couple of years later I saw Fred Frith playing guitar improvisation in Tokyo, that changed my conventional perspective about music. I shouted to myself, “Yes, this is IT! This is what I want to do!”. He did unleash me to uncharted terrain of music and sound. And, about 10 years later I had a great honor to play guitar duo improvisation with him in Tokyo. Miles Davis showed me complexity of rhythms and multiple sound layers and dimensional structure make coolest harmony in space and time.
What are the differences between the creative process behind KK Null and that of the more structured and conventional collaborative approach of your other project Zeni Geva?
KK NULL is totally up to me, I can do whatever I want to do. Absolutely free. ZENI GEVA is a band, so it has to be democratic, collaboration with other people.
