Photo by Sylvia Steinhäuser
The author of the mix is Kyoka, a Japanese composer and musician living between Berlin and Tokyo. In her childhood she was learning to play piano, flute and shamisen, later on she started exploring the possibilities of field recording and used to analyze/archive various radio shows of the time. In 1999 she began to examine the limits of synthesizer/computer generated sound and in 2001 she embarked on a tour across the globe (USA, Spain, France, UK etc.) thus delighting the audience with her mathematical sonic structures and playful DJ sets. However, only in 2008 Kyoka was signed to Raster-Noton record label. It was after Frank Bretschneider heard her playing in Berlin. In recent years Kyoka has released a couple records on onpa))))) imprint and an acclaimed 12" “Ish” on Raster-Noton. Her debut album called “IS (Is Superpowered)” is coming out in May and it should be a great discovery for those who seek for subtle, glitched and inventive electronic music. Her lightly chaotic, sometimes frisky, but at the same time rich and wide atmospheric sound mixed with rough and experimental, yet danceable beats creates an extraordinary listening experience. Kyoka says that she is inspired by “the way food changes color when you cook it. The smells and colors of each city. Tangled electrical cables, strings, hair and the shadows they cast” and it’s probably a good explanation why her music has so many different listening angles and interpretations at the same time. There is always something unnoticed and hidden behind her kaleidoscopic and creative compositions. Significant festivals such as CTM, Sonar and Volt are only a few places where Kyoka has performed live.
“Secret Thirteen Mix 112” is an ornamental and delightful audio selection that presents the beauty of abstract architectural rhythms, intense sound modulations and immense multiple atmospheres. To maintain a dense, lush and high-quality sound, this mix was recorded in the studio in Sweden. Even though the mix consists of 10 records released in the last decade, it sounds exciting, sometimes unpredictable, involving and fully accomplished. Gently balanced tracks by such electronic music grands as Autechre, Ryoji Ikeda, Emptyset, Andy Stott or Raime should immediately draw attention of every listener who is looking for nowadays sound. Mixing is passive, Kyoka is playing tracks almost till the final accord thus letting them fully grow, expand and radiate by showing their whole sonic microclimate, construction and ideas. Moreover, it indirectly reflects Kyoka’s own production motives too and partly reveals where her musical inspirations for distinctive creations come from. Finally, it is like a characteristic Gino Severini’s cubist style painting “Still Life” where abstruse, yet futuristic forms painted using subtly vivid colors create an energetic motion feeling and weird cosmic sensation.
Mix is followed by these lines written by Kyoka:
Wind cause waves on the surface of the water.
Stronger winds can cause larger waves.
Waves of water are only move up and down, never move horizontally.
Tides are periodic rises and falls of large bodies of water.
They are caused by the gravitational interaction of powers.
I feel "wind is sound itself", "wave is music", "tide is our feeling for music, beat or groove".
Tracklist:
01. Autechre - Flep [Warp Records, 2013]
02. Ryoji Ikeda - Supercodex 10 [Raster-Noton, 2013]
03. Raime - Exist In The Repeat Of Practice [Blackest Ever Black, 2012]
04. Aix Em Klemm - 3x2(Exit) [Kranky, 2000]
05. Emptyset - Fragment [Raster-Noton, 2013]
06. Autechre - 1 1 is [Warp Records, 2013]
07. Akiko Kiyama - My Day [Nervmusic Records, 2012]
08. Andy Stott - Luxury Problems [Modern Love, 2012]
09. Burnt Friedman & Jaki Liebezeit - 124-09 [Nonplace, 2013]
10. Gordon Monahan - Speaker Swinging (Part 1) [Clu Clux Clam, 2005]
