KK Null

KK NULL (real name : KAZUYUKI KISHINO) was born in Tokyo, Japan. Composer, guitarist, singer, mastermind of ZENI GEVA. One of the top names in Japanese noise music and in a larger context, one of the great cult artists in experimental music since the early 80's. In 1981 KK NULL studied at Butoh dancer, Min Tanaka's "Mai-Juku" workshop and started his career by performing guitar improvisations in the clubs in Tokyo.

In 1981 KK NULL studied at Butoh dancer, Min Tanaka's "Mai-Juku" workshop and started his career by performing guitar improvisations in the clubs in Tokyo. He continued by collaborating with MERZBOW for two years, and joining the band YBO2 (with Masashi Kitamura, the chief editer of "Fool's Mate" magazine and Tatsuya Yoshida, the drummer of RUINS) and starting the improvised noise/rock trio ABSOLUT NULL PUNKT (with Seijiro Murayama, the original drummer of Keiji Haino's FUSHITSUSHA), and also GEVA2 (GEVA GEVA) with Tatsuya Yoshida (RUINS) and Eye Yamatsuka (BOREDOMS).

In 1985 he established his own label NUX ORGANIZATION to produce & release his own works and subsequently the bands such as MELT-BANANA and SPACE STREAKINGS. He also produced the series of "Dead Tech" (compilation albums by Japanese bands) which heralded Japanese alternative music boom internationally from the early 90's to date.

In the early 90's he gained world-wide recognition as the mastermind, guitarist and singer of the progressive hardcore trio ZENI GEVA with their heavy & unique sound, releasing five albums produced by STEVE ALBINI (two on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label) and a few more on other labels such as NEUROSIS's Neurot Recordings. Also ZENI GEVA recorded twice for JOHN PEEL SESSION on BBC, and immensely toured throughout Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, playing hundreds of concerts.

All the while, KK NULL has worked on his solo career and collaborated with other musical innovators such as Z'EV, CHRIS WATSON, KEIJI HAINO, SEIICHI YAMAMOTO, JON ROSE, MATMOS, FRED FRITH to name a few, and has been invited to perform at international festivals such as "Sonar" in Barcelona (Spain), "Radar" in Mexico City (Mexico), "International Sound Art Festival" in Mexico City (Mexico), "Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF-6 & 8)" in St.Petersburg & Moscow (Russia), "Elevate" in Graz (Austria), "X-peripheria" in Budapest (Hungary), "Liquid Architecture" in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane (Australia), "Totally Huge New Music Festival" in Perth (Australia), "Avanto Helsinki Media Art Festival" in Helsinki (Finland), "All Tomorrow's Parties UK", "Roadburn" in Tilburg (Holland), "International Festival Musique Actuelle" in Victoriaville (Canada), "Electron" in Geneve (Switzerland), "Presences ?lectronique" in Paris (France) and more.

After playing the guitar as his main instrument for some twenty years, KK NULL has gradually moved towards a more electronic approach. In recent years he has concentrated his efforts on his solo & collaborative recordings, exploring the outer territories of electronica, creating intense clashing wave of noise, structured electro-acoustic ambience, broken down rhythmics, scattered pitch sculptures, droning isolationist material which could be described "cosmic noise maximal/minimalism".