Kazuya Ishigami – Mind Liberation (Album – Dada Drumming)
Genre/Influences: Experimental, Electro-Acoustic, Noise.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Japanese sound engineer & -performer plus label owner Kazuya Ishigami strikes back with a new opus, which this time has been released by the American label Dada Drumming.
Content: “Mind Liberation” features 2 tracks, which each lead you into a sonic turmoil for nearly 29 minutes. The work is a sonic collage, mixing dark atmospheres with different noises. It’s a dark universe of sounds, which are progressively evolving into a soundscape of Noise. Both tracks are clearly into improvisation.
+ + + : Kazuya Ishigami is holding on some sound formula from the ‘Japanese Noise school’, which he intermixed with a very own style. It’s a sonic labyrinth wherein the Ambient touch makes the work more accessible. This album is appealing for lovers of Experimental music and reminds me of the ‘anti-music’ approach from 80s experimentalists. The digipak format of the CD looks pretty cool.
– – – : This work remains a challenging listening, which is clearly meant for an experienced audience. I already heard more convincing works from this artist.
Conclusion: Kazuya Ishigami remains an artist for extreme souls, but always has something intriguing.
Best songs: “Mind Liberation 1 – Anger, Sadness, Apathy”.
Rate: 6½.
Artist: www.facebook.com/kazuya.ishigami.5
Label: www.dadadrumming.org / www.facebook.com/dada.drumming.9
About Kazuya Ishigami
Kazuya Ishigami is a Japanese composer, sound performer, sound engineer and programmer, born on 18 March 1972 in Osaka. He studied electronic music with Satoshi Shimura and computer music with Kazuo Uehara at Osaka University of Arts. He runs the Kobe-based label Neus-318 and its sublabel Omodaru and is co-producer at C.U.E. Records. Discogs lists releases under his name since the late 1990s, most of them on Neus-318.
Side-Line reviewed Cleaner 583 (Slowdown Records, 2016) in June 2017 and Canceller X (Kyou Records, 2017) in February 2018. “Mind Liberation” was released on CD by the American label Dada Drumming; Discogs dates it to 4 April 2021 and notes a production period from August to December 2020 and a clear-tray digipak. The two tracks are “Mind Liberation 1 – Anger, Sadness, Apathy” and “Mind Liberation 2 – Vanity, Pride, All Emotions”. The album has no Bandcamp page.
Later releases include “Unrealistic Memory” (2022) and “Fragmented Memories” (2024) on Falt, “Circulating Memories” (Neotantra, 2023), “Phenomenological Memory I” (Omodaru, 2023), “Just Everyday Life” (2024) and “Through Glass” (2025). “Mind Liberation” is the third Kazuya Ishigami album reviewed on Side-Line.
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