Japanese Noise Project

I sat down with musician, artist and friend Hisham Bharoocha a little over a month ago while he was in Tokyo for a few shows and fresh off a Boredoms performance in Australia. You may know Hisham through his solo music project, Soft Circle (myspace here), and you may know he's been a key creative partner of EYE- increasingly in recent years- with creative direction and co- production of the mammoth Boadrum perfomances in New York (7/7/2007) and Los Angeles (8/08/2008). I thought I'd ask Hisham for a few comments about his long relationship and experiences of working with EYE as well personal thoughts on the artist, some of which I'd like to consider appending to the rise of The Boredoms.

EYE and Hisham recently spoke together at the ICA in London where Soft Circle (with its new member, Benjamin Vida) performed. Check it out here:
http://www.ica.org.uk/26459/Talks/Boadrum-in-Conversation.html
and here:
http://www.ica.org.uk/26457/Music/Soft-Circle-EYE-Boredoms-Nedry-Baths.html

We're approaching another sit down with EYE Yamataka in the coming year and I'll be heading to Osaka for a few days for another couple of interviews with some artists and key figures (but don't want to mention them just yet!).

More later.

The Boredoms will stop by Tokyo for a now sold-out performance with the following collaborators. We're looking forward to being back in Tokyo, catching the show and talking closely with EYE and Hisham of Soft Circle. The line up is as follows: EYE, YOSHIMI, YOJIRO, Hisham Bharoocha (Soft Circle), Zach Hill (HELLA), Butchy Fuego (Pit Er Pat, NA FUEGO), Kid Millions (Oneida), Jeremy Hyman (Ponytail) and Shinji Masuko (DMBQ).

The Boredoms will also be playing this years Sense of Wonder Festival too.

Thanks to Jason Bergman for the photo of The Boredoms at Terminal 5.

We're finally back in town and back on the beat. Just got through a few days of shooting with Atsuhiro Ito and Hiroshi Hasegawa, who's first time ever collaboration we were excited to catch. Now we're just in time to catch Hisham's jam with EYE tonight. The two perform under the name Gatax and are averaging about one performance every two years.

This is a super quick update so please check the link below for more info on the show tonight (yes, tonight- excuse the last minute post) as well as the exhibit which Hisham is curating featuring some of our friends and favorite artists like Zach Hill, Brian Degraw, Bjorn Copeland, EYE and the list goes on.

http://www.n0idea.com/vacant/menu.html

New videos and interviews to be posted soon, still getting through hours of footage.

Thanks.

While The Boredoms are preparing for a series of performances this summer and fall, EYE has also been busy getting together a set of new artworks for an exhibition at one of our favorite galleries, The Magical Artroom in Ebisu, Tokyo.

Upon entering the reception at the opening party, I was surprised to see the primary medium EYE had utilized for these works- car hoods. Catching up with EYE, the story goes that he was driving his car on the winding roads of Nara and had a bit of an accident. When the estimate made it clear the the car would be too expensive to repair, EYE had set the abandoned car hood on the side of his house. Eventually weeds and other plant life began to grow up alongside the crumpled surface and created a series of lines at which point EYE decided to take the hood indoors and draw his own lines, swirls and segments. After completing a landscape-themed image rendered by thin lines in an array of bright colors, EYE's excitement led the artist to purchase a few more hoods via Yahoo auctions. While at the opening reception, Sebastian and I had fun catching up with EYE and talked about The Boredoms upcoming performance on a cruise ship for 3 nights with Gang Gang Dance, Zach Hill and Goma in addition to a long list of other DJs and VJs.

The title of this exhibition, taken from the words “Art Coming Soon,” hinges on the idea that the works presented here are in progress. In progress because they were and are constantly formed, and reformed. These intensely visual expressions are a collage from the sounds, lines and everyday objects the artist has encountered in his somewhat prolific history. In the basement of the NADiff bookstore is a smaller exhibition of vinyl records and other music-related visual media EYE has chosen to create and recreate through a pop-charged mash up of realia. All of the records on the wall are for sale via a priced scale and can also be listened to for your visual and audio pleasure (This text adapted from my blog post at Shift).

Here are the details of the exhibit:
EYE Yamataka “& Co Soon” at Magical Artroom
Date: June 21st - July 18th, 2009
Open: 12:00-20:00, Closed on Sunday, Monday and Public Holidays
Place: magical, ARTROOM at Nadiff
Address: NADiff A/P/A/R/T 3F 1-18-4, Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 150-0013
Tel : 03-3445-8988
Admission: Free!