Noguchi Junya Guitar and Vocals
Koyano Keisuke Bass guitar,
Yamada Hideaki Drums
Jan Kochanowski Powszechny Theatre in Radom, 04-05.10.2022 19:00
Formed in 2006 with Noguchi Junya on guitar and vocals, Koyano Keisuke on bass guitar, and Yamada Hideaki on drums. Performing as a three-piece, its tracks are made through a process of editing, replicating, and deliberate error.
The music played in the form of three piece band (guitar, bass and drums) is created based on their idea of mixing edit, copy, repeat and error. Such twist and musical restraint in live performance makes their music to be strict, but humorous.
The trio has proactively worked with various artists who are cutting-edge in their own genre. In October 2015, they organize an event ‘Kūkangendai Collaborations’ to present the culmination of these activities. The event aims for rebuilding the live performance from the point of view of words / sound / technology.
The band is in charge of music for Brecht’s play Fatzer performed by a Chiten Theatre Company Kyoto since its premiere in 2013. The play which is staged with their live performance enjoys good reputation, and tours in Moscow, Beijing and Germany. They collaborate with Chiten and its director Miura Motoi on different occasions and projects, including: Mystery-Bouffe, Goodbye or Gambler.
Kūkangendai is a kick ass rock trio from Kyoto (Tokyo transplants). When I first hear this band live I was instantly transfixed by their minimalist yet illusory primitive, polyrythmic and structural, memory evoking rock narratives. Their energy is completely and transparently palpable yet handled with restraint of the pleasure of a disciplined form dealing with time and articulation. They are a power trio of bass, drums and guitar but the music they play is as much the limbic system of a forest than it is a geode. They started in 2006. They left Tokyo to Kyoto and started the cult venue Soto (‘Outside’) ‘to listen to music they hadn’t heard yet’ a few years later. They collaborated with Ryuichi Sakamoto last year. They reminded me of James Brown on a heavy binge of Bastro, there’s a deep current of both archaic musical tastes and the human desire for articulating that archaism in there, but you shake your ass and get the shouting in… in a punk basement 13th century version of Breadwinner, the bare soul version. I’m honoured and proud to work with this tribe, and to count them amongst friends.
-Stephen O’Malley, February 2019, Paris
Releases
2009 Kukangendai
2012 Kukangendai 2
2013 LIVE
2016 Jimen
2019 Palm
2021 Tentei
Compositions for Live performance
“Sakka”(2016)
“Organ”(2017)
“Zou”(2020)
Collaborations
ECD ＋ Kukangendai
“Live at Waseda ”(2010)
Kakuya Ohashi & Dancers × Kukangendai
”Whispers”(2012)
“Dangai”(2012)
“Rhino”(2013)
Chiten × Kukangendai
“Fatzer”(2013)
“Mystery-Bouffe”(2015)
“Romeo and Juliet”(2017)
“На дне”(2017)
“Good Bye”(2018)
Moe and ghosts × Kukangendai
“Rap Phenomenon”(2016)
Gozo Yoshimasu × Kukangendai
”The Voice Between : The Art and Poetry of Yoshimasu Gozo”
Perfomance at MOMAT(2016)
contact Gonzo × Kukangendai
“Performance at Soto”(2017,2018)
Norimizu Ameya × Kukangendai
”Uma”(2018)
Ryuichi Sakamoto × Kukangendai
“ZURERU”(2018)
Ryu Mieno × Kukangendai
“ZOU”(2020)
Exhibitions
contact Gonzo × Kukangendai
“Aftermath”(2018)
Ken Furudate × Kukangendai
“Mure”(2019)
Gozo Yoshimasu × Kukangendai
“Reverse”
