Keiji Haino ( ''Haino Keiji''; born May 3, 1952) is a Japanese musician and singer-songwriter whose work has included rock,

free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician(s) involved. The term can refer to both a technique (employed by any musician in any genre) and as a recognizable genre in its ...

noise music Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical ...

, percussion,

psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, and cannabis to ...

minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

and

drone music Drone music, drone-based music, or simply drone, is a minimalist genre that emphasizes the use of sustained sounds, notes, or tone clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmon ...

. He has been active since the 1970s and continues to record regularly and in new styles.

History

Haino's initial artistic outlet was theatre, inspired by the radical writings of

Antonin Artaud Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...

. An epiphanic moment came when he heard

The Doors The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...

' "When The Music's Over" and changed course towards music. After brief stints in a number of blues and experimental outfits, he formed improvisational rock band Lost Aaraaf in 1970. In the mid 1970s, having left Lost Aaraaf, he collaborated with psychedelic multi-instrumentalist Magical Power Mako. His musical output throughout the late 1970s is scarcely documented, that is until the formation of his rock duo Fushitsusha in 1978 (although their first LP did not surface until 1989). This outfit initially consisted of Haino on guitar and vocals, and Tamio Shiraishi on synthesizer. With the departure of Shiraishi and the addition of Jun Hamano (bass) and Shuhei Takashima (drums), Fushitsusha operated as a trio. The lineup soon changed, with Yasushi Ozawa (bass) and Jun Kosugi (drums) performing throughout the 1990s, but returned to a duo with Haino supplementing percussion with tape-loops. Haino formed Aihiyo in 1998, principally playing a diverse range of covers (including

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

The Ronettes The Ronettes were an American girl group from Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. The ...

, and the

Jimi Hendrix Experience James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

), transforming the original material into Haino's unique form of

garage psychedelia Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelic subculture. Named after lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), the style is generally defined by heavy, di ...

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

, Japan's national broadcaster, banned him from broadcast from 1973 to 2013. Other groups Haino has formed include

Vajra The Vajra () is a legendary and ritual weapon, symbolising the properties of a diamond (indestructibility) and a thunderbolt (irresistible force). The vajra is a type of club with a ribbed spherical head. The ribs may meet in a ball-shape ...

(with underground folk singer

Kan Mikami is a Japanese folk singer-songwriter and actor. His music, heavily influenced by American blues, was popular in Japan in the 1970s. He re-wrote the lyric of the song "Yume wa Yoru Hiraku" for his cover version in 1972, which was banned for its ...

and drummer Toshiaki Ishizuka), Knead (with the avant-prog outfit

Ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

), Sanhedolin (with

Yoshida Tatsuya (born 9 January 1961 in Kitakami, Iwate) is a Japanese musician; drummer and composer who is the only consistent member of the renowned progressive rock duo Ruins, as well as of Koenji Hyakkei. He is also a member of the progressive rock trios ...

and

Mitsuru Nasuno Mitsuru (みつる, ミツル) is a unisex Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: Possible writings *, "full/fullness" *, "grow/raise" *, "light flow" People with the name *, Japanese manga author *, Japanese professional foot ...

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and

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) and a solo project called Nijiumu. He has also collaborated with many artists, including

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

, Boris, Derek Bailey,

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Lee Konitz Leon Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American composer and alto saxophonist. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool jazz ...

Loren Mazzacane Connors Loren Mazzacane Connors (born October 22, 1949) is an American guitarist who has recorded and performed under several different names: Guitar Roberts, Loren Mazzacane, Loren Mattei, and currently Loren Connors. His music has touched on many genres ...

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, Earl Kuck,

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, w ...

, Musica Transonic,

Stephen O'Malley Stephen O'Malley (sometimes referred to as SOMA; born July 15, 1974) is an American guitarist, producer, composer, and visual artist from Seattle, Washington, who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone doom, death/doom, and exper ...

, Makigami Koichi, Ayuo,

Merzbow is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...

Oren Ambarchi Oren Ambarchi (born 1969) is an Australian musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays mainly electric guitar and percussion. Biography Oren Ambarchi was born in Sydney to an Iraqi Jewish family. Ambarchi has been performing live since ...

, Jim O'Rourke,

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 ...

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Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...

, Charles Hayward and John Butcher.

Style

His main instruments of choice have been guitar and vocals, with many other instruments and approaches incorporated into his career's work. Haino is known for intensely cathartic sound explorations, and despite the fact that much of his work contains varied instrumentation and accompaniment, he retains a distinctive style. Haino cites a broad range of influences, including

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...

music,

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; el, Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde ...

Blue Cheer Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock or acid rock style, and ...

Syd Barrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, songwriter, and musician who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Barrett was their original frontman and primary songwriter, becoming known for his ...

, and

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

. At a young age, he had an epiphany through his introduction to

. His recent foray into DJing at Tokyo nightclubs has reportedly reflected his eclectic taste. He has had a long love affair with early blues music, particularly the works of

Blind Lemon Jefferson Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929)Some sources indicate Jefferson was born on October 26, 1894. was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues sing ...

, and is heavily inspired by the Japanese musical concept of "Ma", the silent spaces in music (see

Taiko are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming m ...

for more information). In a 2012 interview with ''Time Out Tokyo'', he described his approach as "defying the notion that you can't create something from nothing." He also has a keen interest in

Butoh is a form of Japanese dance theatre that encompasses a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement. Following World War II, butoh arose in 1959 through collaborations between its two key founders ...

dancing and collecting ethnic instruments. Haino's uniqueness extends to his lifestyle: he has sported the same long hair, black clothes and sunglasses throughout his career, and is a strict

straight edge Straight edge (sometimes abbreviated sXe or signified by XXX or X) is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs, in reaction to the excesses of punk subculture. For some, thi ...

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

who has refrained from alcohol, tobacco and recreational drugs for his entire life.

Discography

Solo albums

*Kaii Abe (collaboration with unknown musicians) (1982) *Live in the first year of the Heisei, Volume One (with

and

Motoharu Yoshizawa Motoharu Yoshizawa (吉沢元治) (1931 – September 12, 1998) was an influential Japanese bassist known for playing in a distinctive free jazz and free improvisation style, sometimes deploying electronics and using the unusual self-designed five ...

(1990) *Live in the first year of the Heisei, Volume Two (with Kan Mikami and Motoharu Yoshizawa (1990) *Live at Lazyways, Koenji, Tokyo (with Toshi Ishizuka) (1992) * 30 – June – 1992 (1992) *Execration that accept to acknowledge (1993) *Ama No Gawa (Milky Way) (1993) *Guitar Works (7")(1994) *Hikari=Shi" (light=death) ( Maki Miura, Keiji Haino, and Ogreish Organism) (1994) *Two strings will do it (

Barre Phillips Barre Phillips (born October 27, 1934, in San Francisco, California, United States) is an American jazz bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he moved to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972, he has been based in south ...

, Keiji Haino, and

Sabu Toyozumi Yoshisaburo "Sabu" Toyozumi (born Tsurumi, Yokohama; 1943Rusch, Bob "The Questionnaire", ''Cadence'' Volume 15, Number 2, 1989) is one of the small group of musical pioneers who comprised the first generation playing free improvisation music in Jap ...

) (1994) *Live at Downtown Music Gallery (Keiji Haino and

) (1995) *A Challenge to Fate (1995, reissued 2004) * Tenshi No Gijinka (1995) *I said, This is the son of nihilism (1995) *Twenty-first Century Hard-y Guide-y Man (1995) *Etchings in the air (Barre Phillips and Keiji Haino) (1996) *Evolving Blush or Driving Original Sin (with

) (1996) *Gerry Miles (with

Alan Licht Alan Licht (born June 6, 1968) is an American guitarist and composer, whose work combines elements of pop, noise, free jazz and minimalism. He is also a writer and journalist. Biography Licht was born in New Jersey in 1968. His earliest mus ...

) (1996) *The Book of "Eternity Set Aflame" (1996) *Saying I love you, I continue to curse myself (1996) *Drawing Close, Attuning—The Respective Signs of Order and Chaos (with Derek Bailey) (1997) *Vol. 2 (Keiji Haino and Loren Mazza Cane Connors) (1997) *Keeping on breathing (April 21, 1997) *Sruthi Box (promotional release) (April 21, 1997) *So, black is myself (May 1, 1997) *The 21st Century Hard-y Guide-y Man (1998) *Incubation (with Musica Transonic) (1998) *Black: Implication Flooding (with Boris) (1998) *Even Now, Still I Think (June 24, 1998) *An Unclear Trial: More Than This (with

Greg Cohen Greg Cohen (born July 13, 1953) is an American jazz bassist who has been a member of John Zorn's Masada quartet and worked with numerous other noted musicians for over four decades. Career Cohen plays traditional jazz and other styles, includi ...

and

) (November 1998/January 1999) *Y (with Jean-Francois Pauvros) (January 2000) *The Strange Face (with Shoji Hano) (September 2000) *Shadow – Live in Wels, Austria (with Shoji Hano and Peter Brötzmann) (September 2000) *Ichioku to ichibanme no inori o michibiki daseba ii (with Coa) (October 2000) - translation: You should draw out the billion and first prayer *Songs (with Derek Bailey) (December 2000) *Abandon all words at a stroke, so that prayer can come spilling out (May 2001) *Until Water Grasps Flame (with

) (January 2002) *Mazu wa iro o nakusouka!! (November 5, 2002) *Free Rock ( Doo-Dooettes + Keiji Haino + Rick Potts) (November 25, 2002) *"C'est parfait" endoctriné tu tombes la tête la première (January 2003) *Hikari yami uchitokeaishi kono hibiki (December 24, 2003) *Koko (December 24, 2003) *Live at Cafe Independents Friday 23. January. 2004 (Keiji Haino, Tatsuya Yoshida & Mitsuru Natsuno + Bus Ratch) (June 2004) *Tayu tayu to tadayoitamae kono furue (with

Michihiro Sato Michihiro Sato (wikt:佐藤, 佐藤wikt:通弘, 通弘, ''Satō Michihiro''; surname Sato; name sometimes listed as Sato Michihiro; (born 1957), is a prominent Japanese player of the ''Tsugaru-jamisen''. Born in Machida, Tokyo, Japan, his mother ...

) (July 2004) *Next Let's Try Changing the Shape (April 2004, January 2005) *Black Blues (soft version) (May 2004) *Black Blues (violent version) (May 2004) *Uchu Ni Karami Tsuite Iru Waga Itami (March 10, 2005) *kono kehai fujirareteru hajimarini (August 25, 2005) *Reveal'd to none as yet – an expedience to utterly vanish consciousness while still alive (December 2005) *New Rap (with Yoshida Tatsuya) (March 2006) *Homeogryllus japonicus Orchestra 2004 (with

Mamoru Fujieda is a Japanese composer associated with the postminimalist movement of contemporary classical music. Biography He received a Ph.D. in music from the University of California, San Diego in 1988. His composition instructors have included Joji Yuasa ...

) (April 2006) *Animamima (with Sitaar Tah!) (May 2006) *Yaranai ga dekinai ni natte yuku (August 15, 2006) *Mamono (with KK Null) (November 2006) *Cosmic Debris, Vol.III (with My Cat Is An Alien) (August 2007) *Uhrfasudhasdd (with Yoshida Tatsuya) (May 2008) *Pulverized Purple (with

Masami Akita is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists. The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...

) (July 2008) *Imikuzushi (with Jim O'Rourke and

) (2012) *Nazoranai (with Oren Ambarchi and Stephen O'Malley) (2012) *Now While It's Still Warm Let Us Pour in All The Mystery (with Jim O'Rourke and

) (2013) *Only Wanting to Melt Beautifully Away… (with Jim O'Rourke and

) (2014) *Light never bright enough(with John Butcher) (CD/LP 2017) *''

American Dollar Bill – Keep Facing Sideways, You're Too Hideous to Look at Face On ''American Dollar Bill – Keep Facing Sideways, You're Too Hideous to Look at Face On'' (Japanese: , and occasionally shortened to just ''American Dollar Bill'') is a collaborative album between Japanese free improvisation/noise music artist Keiji ...

'' (with

Sumac Sumac ( or ), also spelled sumach, is any of about 35 species of flowering plants in the genus ''Rhus'' and related genera in the cashew family (Anacardiaceae). Sumacs grow in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, including Eas ...

) (2018)

Fushitsusha

Vajra

*Tsugaru (1995) *Chiru-Ha/Ozakijinjya (CD-single) (1995) *Ring (1996) *"Sichisiki" (The Seventh Consciousness) (1997) *Sravaka (1998) *Mandala Cat Last (2002) *Live 2007 (2007)

Aihiyo

*untitled (1998) *Second Album (2000)

Black stage

*untitled (with Natsuki Kido & Yuji Katsui) (1996)

Purple Trap

*Soul's True Love (4CD) (1995) *Decided... Already The Motionless Heart of Tranquility, Tangling The Prayer Called "I" (1999)

Knead

*1st (May 2002) *This melting happiness – I want you to realize that it is another trap (July 2003)

Sanhedorin

* Manjoicchi wa muko (August 10, 2005) * Sukino Godaburyu Ichieichi (December 25, 2013)

Lost Aaraaff

* untitled (1991)

Nijiumu

* Era of Sad Wings (1993) * Live (part of Driftworks 4 CD box-set)

References

External links

Haino's Official page (Japanese)Unofficial Keiji Haino Homepage (English)Discography reviewed at Arcane CandyNippop Profile , Keiji HainoExhibition featuring Keiji Haino
*
A Critical Analysis of Keiji Haino by Costas Kontas (PhD thesis, University of the Arts London)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haino, Keiji Japanese guitarists Avant-garde singers Experimental guitarists Noise musicians Butoh 1952 births Living people Alien8 Recordings artists P.S.F. Records artists Blast First artists Musicians from Chiba Prefecture Incus Records artists Tzadik Records artists RareNoiseRecords artists Thrill Jockey artists Sub Rosa Records artists