In addition to playing percussion for the legendary
Boredoms, jamming with Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon's Free Kitten, being a mom, and battling pink robots in the Flaming Lips epic
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, multi-instrumentalist Yoshimi P-We also finds the time to front the all-girl group OOIOO. Pronounced "oh-oh-eye-oh-oh", OOIOO expands on the tribal, repetitive areas sometimes explored by the
Boredoms in a dynamic beat driven music that defies categorization, but contains elements of trance, new wave, and free-form jazz. Starting out as a fictional band, cobbled together for a 1996 photo shoot for Switch magazine, OOIOO had the uncommon privilege of playing their first shows opening for Sonic Youth when they toured Japan. Excluding Yoshimi, who handles guitar and vocals in the group, the members of OOIOO (Kyoko on guitar and vocals, Maki on bass, and Yoshiko on drums - they don't go in for family names) had limited musical experience when they released their first album in 1997. Entitled
8, the album was a rough but promising set of songs that set the stage for their brilliant second release,
Feather Float, which appeared in 1999. More cohesive and heavier on the funky beats, OOIOO's second set also saw release on the Birdman imprint in the United States, where it helped to garner them a strong fan base. 2000 saw the release of
Gold & Green, a more subdued, tranquil affair that often drifted toward ambient. The group went withou...
Read More
In addition to playing percussion for the legendary
Boredoms, jamming with Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon's Free Kitten, being a mom, and battling pink robots in the Flaming Lips epic
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, multi-instrumentalist Yoshimi P-We also finds the time to front the all-girl group OOIOO. Pronounced "oh-oh-eye-oh-oh", OOIOO expands on the tribal, repetitive areas sometimes explored by the
Boredoms in a dynamic beat driven music that defies categorization, but contains elements of trance, new wave, and free-form jazz. Starting out as a fictional band, cobbled together for a 1996 photo shoot for Switch magazine, OOIOO had the uncommon privilege of playing their first shows opening for Sonic Youth when they toured Japan. Excluding Yoshimi, who handles guitar and vocals in the group, the members of OOIOO (Kyoko on guitar and vocals, Maki on bass, and Yoshiko on drums - they don't go in for family names) had limited musical experience when they released their first album in 1997. Entitled
8, the album was a rough but promising set of songs that set the stage for their brilliant second release,
Feather Float, which appeared in 1999. More cohesive and heavier on the funky beats, OOIOO's second set also saw release on the Birdman imprint in the United States, where it helped to garner them a strong fan base. 2000 saw the release of
Gold & Green, a more subdued, tranquil affair that often drifted toward ambient. The group went without a release until 2003, when it dropped the uneven but inspired
Kila Kila Kila, later released on Thrill Jockey in the United States. With
Kila Kila Kila, the group drifted away from their trademark tribal grooves and more into free-form territory, to mixed reactions from fans, but the album's spectacular "On Mani" is possibly the OOIOO's most fully realized song. Maintaining a full touring schedule both in Japan and overseas, OOIOO remains a force of nature, and one of Japan's most beloved musical exports.
Collapse
