Photo by Peter Gannushkin
Mieko Suzuki crafts a stunning mix using records that range from cloudy ambience to industrialised techno and including some of her own field recordings [social_warfare]
Mieko Suzuki is a Japanese dj and sound artist currently based in Berlin. Since 1998 she had been an active member of the Tokyo techno/house scene and organizing Garden Parties in Colors Studio. She moved to Berlin in 2007 and instantly found the techno capital a good match for her. Mieko started her own KooKoo night and her touring schedule started to span not only countries, but continents. Mieko’s live performances showcase her synesthetic abilities as she channels her perceived sense of color into sounds. Her dj sets are also very adventurous: Mieko does not hesitate to leap across various genres of experimental electronic music and use effect pedals to tweak and merge sounds, bringing her sets closer to live performances. She frequently adds field recordings or film samples to complement the narrative with additional twists. Mieko always tries to employ her artistic empathy, to feel the space and audience within it, and to create a connection between these components and the sound. Thus her forthcoming performance in A L’Arme festival (1-4 August, 2018) will undoubtedly be an exciting experience!Secret Thirteen Mix 262 reveals similar techniques to the ones she uses in her dj sets. Thus the narrative is closer to a collage than a regular mix. She has attentively merged and layered 24 tracks into less than 40 minutes. The tracks are further complemented with her own compelling field recordings. It is a vast sonic landscape with its own peculiar trajectories and twists - from creeping drones it turns towards vibrant ambience or immerses the listener into a storm of heavy rhythmics. At the same time this mix is a great atmospheric thriller that never loses emotional intensity and maintains the excitement. The tracks involved come from sonic explorers of diverse backgrounds - from tropical fourth world adventurer Lieven Martens Moana to the synthy ambient melancholics of Barnett And Coloccia, and from chamber voyager WSR to Alva Noto at his most cloudy and trippy. While listening to the mix you start to appreciate Mieko’s skill in detecting the essential sonic features and textures of all these tracks and carefully weaving them into a smooth and hypnotic continuum. Move your jobs and duties aside and let Mieko guide you across the vaults, chambers and open spaces constructed through rhythms, pulsations and harmonies.
Tracklisting
01. Mika Vainio - Tasanko [Sähkö Recprdings, 2008]
02. Michel Redolfi - Immersion Pacific Tubular Waves [INA-GRM, 1980]
03. Mieko Suzuki - 170217_06 - Field Recordings [2017]
04. Lieven Martens Moana - (Background Tape For) Le Tombeau De Robert Louis Stevenson [Pacific City Sound Visions, 2017]
05. Saturn & The Sun - Investigation Of The Current State Of Your Mind [iDEAL, 2016]
06. HEXA - There Never Was [Room40, 2016]
07. Barnett And Coloccia - Ash Grove [Blackest Ever Black, 2015]
08. Drew McDowall - Unnatural Channel(Part 1) [Dais Records, 2017]
09. Mieko Suzuki - 170217_01 - Field Recordings [2017]
10. Exoteric Continent - Transició [Hospital Productions, 2015]
11. Unknown
12. Rashad Becker - Theses IV [Pan, 2013]
13. Andre Kronert - The Random Eye (Introspective) [Stockholm LTD, 2014]
14. WSR - Descent [Contort, 2016]
15. Yves De Mey - Transfer #1 [Modal Analysis, 2013]
16. Mieko Suzuki - 150811_vox02 - Field Recordings [2017]
17. Tactile - Grief [Sentrax, 1999]
18. Pit Piccinelli, Fred Gales, Walter Maioli - Amazonia 6891 [Sound Reporters, 1986]
19. Konraad Ecker - Kreupelhout [Line, 2015]
20. Biomass & R.O.M - M.D.O.F#4 [Modal Analysis, 2013]
21. CindyTalk - To A Dying Star [Editions Mego, 2013]
22. Kondaktor - Signal 1 [Modal Analysis, 2014]
23. Alva Noto - Xerox Phaser Acat 1 [Noton, 2017]
24. A Sagittarium - Transmission from Terrence [Elastic Dreams, 2016]
