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ORGAN PREVIEW: Yumi Hara Groove Study launch via a matinee performance at London’s Cafe Oto with Yumi Hara, Chris Cutler, Pierre Chevalier,  Toshiaki Sudoh, Chloe Herington, Tim Hodgkinson and DJ Marina Organ…  Yes, I know, should have posted this up days ago, there are only so many hours in the day and certainly not enough days in the week and this is happening today, this afternoon, 2pm on Sunday August 6th but hey, if you’re nowhere near Oto (or you can’t afford that not very friendly door price) you can still explore some of what Yumi and her friends are doing at the moment via this page.

TodaY sees the launch of Yumi Hara’s second solo album CD entitled ‘Groove Study’, consisting of her compositions exploring various aspects of rhythms while going back and forth between tonality and atonality including Reggae in 7/8, early music inspired song in 13/8, drum’n’bass played by pianos and Ekranoplan themed church organ epic as well as avant-rock treated Schoenberg’s unfinished piano fragment. She will perform a selection of tracks from the CD with recording members Chris Cutler and Toshiaki Sudoh (from Japan) plus Pierre Chevalier (from Belgium) and Chlöe Herington.  The performance is supported by School of Arts and Cutural Industries, University of East London as well as The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and there is a full support bill…

Cafe Oto is at 18–22 Ashwin street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL The performance starts at 2pm today, Sunday August 6th.
Performers:
– Yumi Hara / piano, harp, voice (Half the Sky, Lindsay Cooper Songbook, The Artaud Beats, you me & us, Frank Chickens, etc)
– Chris Cutler / drums (Henry Cow, HIMMEL, The Hyperion Ensemble etc)
– Pierre Chevalier / keyboards (Present, faUSt, Aranis, Univers Zero etc)
– Toshiaki Sudoh / bass, drums (Melt-Manana, Machine & the Synagetic Nuts, Eiko Ishibashi, Jim O’Rourke etc)
– Chlöe Herington / bassoon, electronics (Knifeworld, Chrome Hoof, VÄLVĒ)
– Tim Hodgkinson / clarinet, alto sax, lap steel guitar (Henry Cow, Konk Pack, The Hyperion Ensemble, etc)
– DJ Marina Organ (The Other Rock Show/Resonance FM)

The show will feature a performance from The Watts –

“THE WATTS (Yumi Hara, Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson) were formed to perform at the 25th anniversary event of Sakedelic Space Shuyukan in Oumi Hachiman, one of the most important venues for this kind of music in Japan, in 2017; after that they toured in Japan many times, played in the UK and France, and released the CD ‘Decoherence’.  THE WATTS make stuff up as they go along but it seems to have undeniable form. There are songs; of a sort – and there are a lot of unidentifiable sounds, extended techniques, pedal work, preparations…. But still the result seems determinedly organic, contra-virtual and human (with frailties).  Toshiaki Sudoh guests regularly when THE WATTS play in Tokyo and nearby cities, but this is his first appearance with THE WATTS outside Japan. THE WATTS with Toshiaki Sudoh’s unreleased track will be included as part of ReR Italia 40th Anniversary compilation album due to be out in autumn 2023″.

CHRIS CUTLER – “10 years in Henry Cow; founded or co-founded Art Bears, News from Babel, Cassiber, The (ec) Nudes, p53, The Bad Boys and The Science Group; permanent member of The Peter Blegvad Trio, Pere Ubu, The Wooden Birds, Brainville III, Himmel, The Watts The European Improvising Ensemble and Les Quatre Gutaristes; dalliance with The Residents, Gong, Faust; worked with dance, film, hoerspiel, theatre, symphony orchestras and radio; toured the world with his extended electrified kit and in countless improvising contexts with the usual suspects; ran a year-long daily soundscape project for Resonance FM (2003/4); founded and runs the independent label ReR Megacorp; author of File Under Popular and Not as we Choose, various articles and papers; stint on faculty at the Museum School in Boston; lectures irregularly on music related topics and is currently producing a series of podcast talks for the Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona (Probes)”.

PIERRE CHEVALIER “is a keyboard player based in Brussels. He has been involved with avant-rock bands such as Univers Zero, Present, and Aranis, and currently plays with  faUSt regularly.  He played with Yumi Hara at Cafe OTO for her 2-day residency in 2021, and Yumi stood in for him for faUSt play FAUST IV tour in the same year”.

TIM HODGKINSON – “Increasingly lauded as a contemporary composer, with works featured at international contemporary music festivals, and a set of pieces for ensemble out on the Mode label, Hodgkinson has also a powerful commitment to intense and highly energised performance practice. In over thirty years’ work he has placed himself in a series of definitive projects, whether as cofounder of the seminal Henry Cow group, as saxophonist with influential avant metal band God, or as bass clarinet soloist in the spectral compositions of Iancu Dumitrescu. His lap steel guitar playing remains completely uncategorisable bringing subdued and not so subdued echoes of rock musics and other ethnicities”.

YUMI HARA  -“Yumi Hara’s compositions have been performed by contemporary classical ensembles such as PianoCircus and the BBC Singers, but she has become increasingly well known as an improvisor and performer in the avant rock, Canterbury and RIO scene since releasing CD ‘Dune’ with Hugh Hopper in 2008. She has formed bands and projects such as The Artaud Beats (with Geoff Leigh, Chris Cutler, John Greaves), you me & us (with Daevid Allen, Chris Cutler), Jump for Joy! (with Jean-Herve Peron, Zappi, Chris Cutler, Geoff Leigh, Geraldine Swayne), THE WATTS (with Tim Hodgkinson and Chris Cutler) and Half the Sky / Lindsay Cooper Songbook. She is senior lecturer in music at University of East London”.

TOSHIAKI SUDOH “is a Japanese musician, bassist, drummer and engineer. He began his career in the 90’s as the original member of MELT-BANANA, and later became the drummer of MACHINE AND THE SYNERGETIC NUTS. He has also played bass in the works of Jim O’Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi, and others. He played at cafe OTO as a member of Eiko Ishibashi Band in 2016. He performs regulalry with Yumi Hara when she visits Japan, and he played bass and drums for CD ‘Groove Study’.”

CHLÖE HERINGTON “is a Nottingham-born bassoonist, saxophonist, composer and sound maker, based in Wiltshire. Classically trained through an arts scholarship in Nottingham and then studying for a BMus (hons) at Goldsmiths College, University of London, she soon ventured out of the concert hall to seek new ways of creating music, suddenly finding herself in a very different kind of orchestra, Chrome Hoof, in 2000, with whom she stayed throughout their career. VÄLVĒ  is the outlet for her compositional work using text and image as the starting point for scores. Regular other playing is currently bassoon, saxes and backing vocals with Knifeworld,  processed sax in Hirvikolari and in Lindsay Cooper Songbook with Chris Cutler, Dagmar Krause, Tim Hodgkinson and Yumi Hara, performing the music of Lindsay Cooper (Henry Cow/News From Babel) as well as occasional live performances with Teeth of the Sea and Daniel O’Sullivan’s live band. Chlöe has appeared on various recordings over the years by bands such as Guapo, Cathedral and Mothlite and has composed for and taken part in performance and sound artworks by Turner prize winner Tai Shani, Jonathan Baldock, Serena Korda/Daniel O’Sullivan and Circumstance”.