A very strong collaboration by three artists Keiichiro Shibuya (computer and keyboard), Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixing board), Norbert Moslang (cracked everyday-electronics) at the forefront of digital, noise and improvisation. In addition to 7 collaboration tracks, this disc premiers 6 pieces of the individual artists.

This release on Atak is recorded during the Swiss invasion of Japan. It must have been a busy time for the Swiss people with all these playing and improvising. This disc is a bit complicated: it contains seven tracks by all three, and then two by each solo, probably some rework of the original concert recordings - but perhaps not. In the trio-improvisations the computer, keyboard (Shibuya), cracked everyday electronics (Mo¨slang) and guitar, mixing board and headphones (Nakamura) bounce together in a pretty violent fashion. Not really noise in the strictest sense of the word, but in a more crude manner than is usual in the world of improvisation (at least this world), but all three keep their ears open for what the others are doing and the clashes work well. Interesting enough all three like their solo work to focus on rhythmic particles. Nakamura splices them through the use of a no-input mixer, Mo¨slang by creating loops out his own cracked everyday electronics and Shibuya makes them really short, ultra fast and ultra stereo to create a fine woven pattern of sound. I like the fact that these solo excursions are included, so we can our own math's and see who did what. Great release. Quite powerful. [Frans de Waard]

Toshimaru Nakamura: no-input mixing board
Sachiko M: sampler with sine wave

Toshimaru Nakamura and Sachiko M are two of the most prominent members of the burgeoning onkyo movement. Onkyo, a Japanese word meaning "reverberation of sound", places much more emphasis on sound texture than on musical structure, distilling elements of techno, noise, and electronic music into a unique hybrid. Nakamura plays the "no-input mixing board", connecting the input of the board to the output, then manipulating the resultant feedback. Since 1998, he's been exploring the possibilities of his instrument in contexts ranging from solo to collaborations with Taku Sugimoto, Keith Rowe, and the duo project Repeat with drummer Jason Kahn. Nakamura is also a co-founder of The Improvisation Meeting at Bar Aoyama, a monthly concert series in Tokyo, which recently changed its name and location to Meeting At Off Site. Sachiko M was a member of the seminal nineties band Ground Zero, led by her frequent collaborator Otomo Yoshihide. Since Ground Zero ended in 1998, she has developed a unique style utilizing a memory-free sampler, creating pure, piercing sine waves with the device's built-in test tones and noise. Sachiko has worked extensively as a solo artist, and in groups such as Filament, I.S.O., and Hoahio. She also founded and runs the superb Amoebic label. do is the second release from this duo, following 1998's un (meme). do consists of three live improvisations, recorded in the summer of 2000 at three separate concerts. The unique look of the artwork was created entirely from the output of a no-input video mixer by NYC designer Chris Harvey. do #1, the 37 minute centerpiece track, is a masterpiece of gradual progression, inducing rolling waves inside your head, while constantly, infinitesimally, inexorably creeping forward. "Toshimaru Nakamura and Sachiko M minimize their music to a gorgeous maximum. In its reduction to electronic signals, the music becomes very physical. Your speakers become an instrument, and when you move your head or walk around, your ears also become an instrument, you get involved, you can participate. Another prominent aspect is how time seems to escape and how the listener can escape into time simultanously. Not easy listening music for sure. Abstract music? No, to me it seems very concrete." * Günter Müller