Kato Hideki

In the early '90s, Kato was core to Japan's seething and infamous, if undefined, NOISE scene. Along with co-founding the seminal NOISE rock band Ground Zero, he kept a busy live schedule, playing with such artists as Yamatsuka Eye (of the Boredoms) and Yoshida Tatsuya (of Ruins). His activity on the vanguard of musical experimentation led him to meet kindred spirits across the Pacific in the U.S. (many of whom had spent time in Japan), bringing about his move to New York City. Kato has since produced daring and encapsulating work both on his own and in collaboration with other musicians including John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Arto Lindsay, Anthony Coleman, Nic Collins, William Winant, Haino Keiji, Christian Marclay, and Zeena Parkins. In 1995, Death Ambient, a trio he formed with Ikue Mori and Fred Frith, released its epoch-setting self-titled debut. The band's second album, Synesthesia, followed in 1999. While the lines between edgy and fusty, extreme and pretentious, can seem unclear at times within the musical avant-garde, Kato clearly makes fresh, genuinely experimental music, exploring sound for sound's sake. It's difficult to pin down exactly where Kato's work is rooted, which is what makes it so appealing. To be sure, it is somehow intrinsically Japanese, but also something undefinable and matchless. He is progressive, not subversive. By its sheer quality, his work punishes the pesky bulk of the art world. The album (on Extreme Records), which he composed and plays on, and his solo effort Turbulent Zone (released on Kato's own label, Music For Expanded Ears) are prime listening for anyone interested in hearing Kato's graceful use of NOISE, space, and ambient sound. Those who doubt the bass as a solo instrument will be surprised and smitten by the sonic spectrum Kato brings to these and other recordings, both acoustically and electrically.