Ground Zero was a Japanese

noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

band during the 1990s led by the guitarist and "turntablist"

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 ...

that had a large and rotating group of performers with two other regular performers.

History

Ground Zero was formed to play the

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...

game piece ''Cobra''. They first played in August 1990 and last played in March 1998. The band's last project was in 1998 when they re-worked material from a 1992

Cassiber Cassiber were a German avant-rock group founded in 1982 by German composer and saxophonist Alfred 23 Harth, Alfred Harth, German composer, music-theatre director and keyboardist Heiner Goebbels, English drummer Chris Cutler from Henry Cow and G ...

concert in Tokyo; it was released on the second CD of Cassiber's double CD, ''Live in Tokyo'' (1998).

Musical style

The band performed on such instruments as

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

s, sampler,

shamisen The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usual ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

koto Koto may refer to: * Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group * Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument * Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana * Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women * K ...

omnichord The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate known as "Sonic Strings", preset rhythms, auto-bass line functionality, and buttons for ma ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

and two

drum kit A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player ( drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsti ...

s. They were the one of the first free improvising musicians to use turntables. Their music mixed

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

. Their albums include ''Revolutionary Pekinese Opera ver. 1.28'', a

sound collage In music, montage (literally "putting together") or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where newly branded sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage. This is often done throug ...

piece combining noise music and samples of

peking opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognize ...

by the

Duo Goebbels/Harth The Duo Goebbels/Harth (1975–1988), combining German composer, music-theatre director and keyboardist Heiner Goebbels and German composer, multi-media artist and saxophonist Alfred 23 Harth became famous for its adaptation of and departure fro ...

, and ''Consume Red'', on which the performers improvise around a short sample of ''

hojok The ''taepyeongso'' (lit. "big peace wind instrument"; also called ''hojok'', ''hojeok'' 호적 號笛/ 胡笛, ''nallari'', or ''saenap'', 嗩吶) is a Korean double reed wind instrument in the shawm or oboe family, probably descended from t ...

'' music played by the

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

n holy musician Kim Seok Chul.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Ground Zero'' (1992) * ''Null & Void'' (1995) * ''Revolutionary Pekinese Opera'' (1995) * ''Revolutionary Pekinese Opera Ver. 1.28'' (1996) * ''Consume Red'' (1997) * ''Plays Standards'' (1997)

Compilation albums

* ''Conflagration'' (1997) * ''Consummation'' (1998)

Live albums

* ''Last Concert'' (1999) * ''Live 1992+'' (2007)

Singles

* "Live Mao '99" (1995) * "Revolutionary Pekinese Opera Ver. 1.50" (1996)

References

External links

* *
Ground-Zero
at

Improvised Music from Japan Improvised Music from Japan is a website and record label. The website was originally known as ''Japanese Free Improvisers''. As its name suggests, it concentrates on Japanese and Japan-based improvisers, particularly free improvisers. In Dece ...

Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 1998 Musical groups from Tokyo Noise musical groups Free improvising musicians {{Japan-band-stub