There’s a real funk hidden deep in the squelchy, super-lo-fi noise of Hiroshi Kumakiri (of the Japanese duo Nerve Net Noise). He tweaks his home-made synths, connected by a Silly String mess of audio cables and patch cords, into something that sounds a lot like robot babies crying for their batteries to be changed. The open-wire fritzes and short-circuit blurps are mere happenstance noises on first impression, but in time the internal rhythms become apparent: jokey, burpy, jolting passages that have an internal cohesion. And just as importantly, the tones he achieves are addictive, despite their seeming simplicity.
Thanks to the Rare Frequency podcast, Kumakiri can be heard both on his own and, later in the recording, collaborating with U.S.-based noisemaker and gadget-hacker Jessica Rylan, whose own emphasis on subtle if anarchic flurries make an inspired contrast to Kumakiri (MP3). Judging by some photos up on the Rare Frequency flikr.com page, Rylan’s equipment included her own home-brew device, the Little Blue Boy (more info on that in a previous Disquiet Dowstream entry). Visit Rare Frequency at rarefrequency.com.
PS: My error — Nerve Net Noise is no longer a duo. Tsuyoshi Nakamaru (aka Tagomago) has left the group. More on remaining member Kumakiri in an interview at rarefrequency.com. (Thanks for the additional info, Mike.)