Sofheso

The author of the mix is Tohru Iioka, also known as Sofheso, a Japanese electronic music artist and bassist based in Sapporo. His musical career began in the late 1990s with the band Qodibop (1998-2012) where he was playing bass guitar and controlling all the electronic machines. From 2004 Iioka has started to focus mainly on his solo project Sofheso and DJing. Influenced by such unique experimentalists as Jan Jelinek, Frank Bretschneider, Vladislav Delay, Autechre or Mark Fell, Iioka has built his own complex and glitchy sound, which nowadays could stand in parallel with his beloved artists’ production. Sofheso works are quite minimalistic, but at the same time very dynamic, saturated with thousands of different sound particles, tense atmospheres and future-thinking modulations. Everything is made with precision and devotion avoiding to follow any current musical trend. We should thank now defunct Wird-Middle record shop, where Iioka found all the amazing records from the outside world, which lead him to develop his musical taste, style and technique. There are some interesting facts about Iioka too. The first one is that in each of his live performances he presents only brand-new works and the second one is that since 2012 he uploads a new track to his Soundcloud page each Monday. Moreover, from 2006 Iioka is running Yuritona imprint, which releases limited-edition CD-Rs and cassettes.

Records and connections

STM 144 is an architectural recording that connects two Sofheso live cuts which were exclusively prepared for the journal. Sofheso’s intention was to record a continuous live-set where he could put his favourite sound structures and also reveal his new recording techniques. Twisting rhythms, sparkling ambiance, multi-layered, but unobtrusive percussion patterns and the overall jewelry workshop type mood await the listener. In a nutshell, it is like an abstract Ellsworth Kelly’s painting “Seine” where the author, similarly to Sofheso, demonstrates unassuming techniques and emphasizes the simplicity of form. All these black and white rectangles in the painting that were arranged accidentally somehow reflect Sofheso working principles. This means that nothing is constant and each artistic turn could bring entirely new and inspiring textures or colours.