During the pandemic, Nonsequitur instead of hosting in-person concerts at the Chapel Performance Space commissioned Wayward in Limbo inviting artists to release a performance in podcast form instead. I had been working my way through the catalog of over 100 performances, downloaded from SoundCloud. It functions as a good “who’s who” of experimental, improvisational, and noise musicians from Seattle and beyond. To try and summarize my experience listening to this catalog of music in only a few words is not easy. So I won’t. For music to stand out to me, it has to strike me in a certain way. When I listened to the episode with Kaori Suzuki, the intense drones left me speechless. A uncommon sensation of discomfort but at the same time in awe.
Naturally I must indulge in my curiosity. Who is Kaori Suzuki? What more can I find out beyond the short bio descriptions? She was born in Japan in the late 80s but moved to Olympia in 2004. At the moment she is based on Oakland teaching at Mills College. Other projects she has been involved in include minimalist psych-punk group, Night Collectors and cello and electric guitar in the ever-intense amplified string ensemble, Ecstatic Music Band. An interview by 15 Questions provides some insight into her process.
It’s tricky sometimes to understand what someone is all about; thankfully Dave Segal wrote a highlight for her 2018 release, Newsun:
Former Seattle synthesist/instrument-builder Kaori Suzuki (now based in Oakland) is one of the best academic composers in the country at generating long-form pieces that rivet and then blow your mind with a few scrupulously chosen tones and modulations. “Audabe” is a pulsating Möbius strip of what her label calls “mirrored signals from analog oscillators, creating changing pattern variations and stereo effects from their respective idiosyncratic signal paths.”
Solo releases include:
- 2018 - Newsun
- 2018 - Conduit
- 2022 - Music for Modified Melodica
- 2021 - Night Angel Of Dual Infinities (with John Krausbauer)