Otomo Yoshihide


Otomo Yoshihide is a Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist. He mainly plays guitar, turntables and electronics.
He first came to international prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental rock group Ground Zero, and has since worked in a variety of contexts, ranging from free improvisation to noise, jazz, avant-garde and contemporary classical. He is also a pioneering figure in the EAI-scene, and is featured on important records on labels like Erstwhile Records. He has composed music for many films, television dramas, and commercials. In 2017, Otomo became the 2nd Guest Artistic Director of The Sapporo International Art Festival 2017.
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Biography

Early years

Otomo was born in Yokohama in 1959, but due to his father's job, moved to Fukushima when he was nine years old. In high school, he frequented jazz cafés and started his own band. After entering university, he began studying under the improvisational jazz guitarist, Masayuki Takayanagi. He began performing around the world and released his first album in 1991 in Hong Kong. It was when the music he composed for a 1994 Hong Kong film was well received at the Cannes Film Festival that he also began to work as a composer.

Film and television

Otomo has composed music for a number of films and television programs, including Naoki Kato's Abraxas, Tsuyoshi Inoue's The Town's Children, and Ryuichi Hiroki's Yellow Elephant. He composed the music for the 2013 NHK morning television drama Amachan and it became his most commercially successful work up to that point. The soundtrack for Amachan reached number 5 on the Oricon Albums Chart, and Kyōko Koizumi's version of the song Shiosai no Memorī from the drama, composed by Otomo, reached number 2 on the Oricon Singles Chart. He performed live on New Year's Eve at the 2013 Kōhaku Uta Gassen.

Selected discography

Studio albums

Otomo Yoshihide Problem Duo with Junji HiroseSilanganan Ingay with Junji HiroseNo Problem with No ProblemWho Is Otomo Yoshihide? Visions of Japan with Yuji Katsui and Hiroshi HigoGround-0, No. 0 Terminal-Zero We Insist? Turntables Solo Memory Disorder Peril with PerilThe Night Before the Death of the Sampling Virus Ground Zero with Ground ZeroEarly Works 1: 81-85 Monogatari: Amino Argot with Carl StoneBalance of Power: Variety with Hiedaki SasakiAll at Once at Any Time with David Moss and John KingMultiverse with PerilNull & Void with Ground ZeroTatakiuri with Jon RoseRevolutionary Pekinese Opera with Ground ZeroRevolutionary Pekinese Opera, Version 1.28 with Ground ZeroDuo Improvisation with Yasuhiro Otanip53 with p53Twins!! with Bob OstertagUtutu: Doppo Jukyo-at no Ho e Atelier El Sur with Kiwao Nomura and Keiki MidorikawaMy Dear Mummy with Masahiko ShimadaMemory & Money with Les Sculpteurs de VinylConflagration with Ground ZeroConsume Red with Ground ZeroPlays Standards with Ground ZeroSound Factory Melted Memory Vinyl Tranquilizer Filament 1 with FilamentConsummation with Ground ZeroGravity Clock with I.S.O.Memory Defacement Television Power Electric with Jim Baker, Aeron Bergman, Todd Carter, Brent Gutzeit, Michael Hartman, Ernst Long, and R. WilkusFilament 2: Secret Recordings with FilamentI.S.O. with I.S.O.Bits, Bots and Signs with Voice CrackMetal Tastes like Orange with Masahiko Okura, Günter Müller, and Taku SugimotoCathode Plays the Music of Takeo Yamashita Four Focuses with Martin Tétreault, Yasuhiro Otani, and Sachiko M21 Situations with Martin TétreaultPanty Christ with Justin Bond and Bob OstertagPilgrimage with MicrocosmosWithout Kuryokhin with Kenny MillionsMoving Parts with Christian MarclayMusic for Dance Art Hong Kong's "Memory Disorder" Anode Flutter with Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet29092000 with FilamentThumb with Keith Rowe, Oren Ambarchi, Sachiko M, and Robbie AvenaimEnsemble Cathode Les Hautes Solitudes: A Philippe Garrel Film: Imaginarry Soundtrack with Taku Sugimoto and Sachiko MMiira ni Naru made: German Version with Masahiko ShimadaPulser with Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz QuintetInvisible Architecture No. 1 with Philip Jeck and Martin TétreaultAjar with Almá Fury, Yasuhiro Otani, and Xavier CharlesDreams with Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz EnsembleTails Out with Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz QuintetONJQ + OE with Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet and Tatsuya OeONJQ + OE: Short Density with Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet and Tatsuya OeTurntables and Computers with Nobukazu TakemuraStudio—Analogique—Numérique with Martin TétreaultTime Travel with Günter MüllerWarholes or All Andy Would Enjoy / Warhol Memory Disorder with Lengow, Heyermears, and Sachiko MSoup with Bill Laswell and Yasuhiro YoshigakiLoose Community with Park Je Chun and Mi YeonThe Crushed Pellet with Eiichi Hayashi and Yoshisaburo ToyozumiTurntable Solo Compositions for Guitars Vol. 2 with Tetuzi Akiyama, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Taku UnamiBrackwater with Korber, Tomas, eRikm, and Toshimaru NakamuraGood Morning Good Night with Sachiko M and Toshimaru NakamuraIntonarumori Orchestra with Intonarumori OrchestraFilament Box with Filament1. Grrr with Martin Tétreault2. Tok with Martin Tétreault3. Ahhh with Martin Tétreault4. Hmmm with Martin TétreaultOut to Lunch with Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz OrchestraSee You in a Dream with Yuki SagaTrace Cuts with eRikm, Martin TétreaultOtomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra with Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz OrchestraTime Magic City with BusRatchEpisome with Bill Laswell and Tatsuya YoshidaSora Prisoner: A Film by Adachi Masao: Original Soundtrack Multiple Otomo Encounter with Itaru OkiModulation with 2 Electric Guitars and 2 Amplifiers Modulation with 2 Electric Guitars and 2 Amplifiers: Alternative Version Core Anode Country Kill with Joy HeightsLes Archives Sauvées des Eaux with Luc FerrariGuitar Duo with Seiichi YamamotoSweet Cuts, Distant Curves with Choi, Joonyong, Hong Chulki, and Sachiko MMonte Alto Estate with SimGuitar Duo x Solo with Shinichi IsohataShinjuku Crawl with The ThingGood Cop Bad Cop with Derek Bailey, Tony Bevan, and Paul HessionUltra Miracle Love Story Book from Hell with Zai Kuning and Dickson Dee3-Part Inventions with Jim O'RourkePiano Solo Existence with Shinichi IsohataQuintet/Sextet with Sachiko M, Evan Parker, John Butcher, John Edwards and Tony Marsh,

Live albums

Live at Aketa-no-mise in Tokyo, July 28, 1989 Solo Live in Kyoto 93 Revolutionary Pekinese Opera, Tokyo 1995 with Ground ZeroLive! with Eye YamatsukaLive!! with Eye YamatsukaSession 18 Oct. 1997 with Seed MouthLive at Otis! with Sachiko M and Yoshimitsu IchirakuLive with I.S.O.Last Concert with Ground ZeroGuitar Solo Live 1 Live with Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz QuintetTurntables Solo Live, 28 Feb 2002 in Tokyo Soup Live with Bill Laswell and Yasuhiro YoshigakiErst Live 004 with Christian Fennesz, Sachiko M, and Peter RehbergErst Live 005 with Keith Rowe, Sachiko M, and Toshimaru NakamuraConcert in St. Louis with Grnr Coleman, Franz Hautzinger, and Sachiko MGuitar Solo: 12 October 2004 @ Shinjuku Pit Inn, Tokyo + 1 ONJQ Live in Lisbon with Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz QuintetLive 1992 with Ground ZeroLive Vol. 1: Series Circuit with Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz OrchestraLive Vol. 2: Parallel Circuit with Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra

Singles

Otomo + Mao Revolutionary Pekinese Opera, Version 1.50 with Ground ZeroLive Mao '99 with Ground ZeroUntitled with Eye YamatsukaMuseum of Towing & Recovery with Steve BeresfordLupin the Third: Ending Theme Split 7" with Christian MarclayRe/cycling Rectangle Digital Tranquilizer Ver. 1.0 Digital Tranquilizer Ver. 1.01
  • ''4 Speakers''

DVDs

Dark Room Filled with Light with FilamentMusic
  • ''Ensembles 09: Pre-opening Live at Shinjuku Pit Inn''

As sideman

With Rova::Orchestrova

Film scores

Film

Television