For years, our writers have enjoyed not just Zeni Geva but the subsequent outpouring of solo and collaborative works from Kazuyuki “K.K. Null” Kishino, who wrangles operatic emotional conflicts out of pure sound distorted, twisted, echoed, and stretched into plaintive sounds.
With the release of his latest collaboration, Psychic Drones 3, Null has joined in the conversation that is music yet again, and was kind enough to take the time to grant us an interview.
How does your music differ from regular pop, rock, metal, and other forms which use a more conventional approach to notes, scales, chords, harmony, melody, and structure?
Because I don’t use a conventional method to compose my music. I have no academic background or musical education. Actually, I’ve never thought of myself as a musician. Just like Brian Eno calls himself a “non-musician,” I’m also a “non-musician.” When I compose music, I just start to improvise, play around with hardware and software to make pieces, find interesting interaction in-between them, develop ideas, build up structures and let chemistry happen.
I saw a quotation from you once that said that calling your music “noise” was sort of funny because you found regular pop to be “noise.” What is noisy about pop? Could noise music ever be made into pop? Do you consider your music “noise,” “noise music,” or “noisy music”?
There must be a misunderstanding with that quote, as the definition of “noise” is quite ambiguous. So, let me try to explain. First of all, in my opinion there’s no good music or bad music. I mean, you cannot judge, because it’s basically just a matter of personal taste. For example, it’s nonsense to say “King Crimson is better than Pink Floyd,” you know what I mean? Of course there is much pop music I like. To name a few, from Beatles, Carpenters, Kate Bush, to Amy Winehouse, FKA Twigs, Eartheater, and many, many more. So, my point is, that there is music someone likes or doesn’t like, no matter what genre or style it is. Now, about “noise”, I think when people in general say “noise,” it probably means just loud and noisy music or musical style. To me, “noise” is not just a music category, genre or style. It relates to something fundamental of existence, to the universe, including all from galaxies far deep in the space to my own soul.
Is there a naturalistic basis to your music, in the same way some classical aimed to fit in with the sounds of the wind and water more than the industrial city?
I love nature and used to do a lot of field recordings in various locations in Australia, Canada, Europe and Japan. You can listen to the outcomes on these particular albums, a series of Cryptozoon and Cryptozoon X (quadraphonic on Limited DVD).
Some are referring to the style of your music as “dark atmospheric.” Do you think your music has a dark or melancholic atmosphere, and what do you think makes you enjoy composing in this way?
Maybe it has some “dark atmosphere,” but it’s not that I’m trying to make it that way, it just happens. “Psychic Drones” has melancholic atmosphere at some parts, I feel it.
Can you describe the “nullsonic” for us and tell us how your use of it has changed over the years? Does working with sound-loops change how you view music?
It’s just a combination of effect pedals such as fuzz, delay, pitch sifter, ring modulator, etc, and I just called it “nullsonic”, as I thought it sounded cool, but nothing special actually. Using it without a guitar as an electric/electronic device was a kind of development process in between playing electric guitar (until 1999) to starting to use synthesizer (from 2001) and computer software (from 2009 – present).
You mention Fripp/Eno as an influence not just on the development of the “nullsonic” but on your composition. Can you tell us the history of your influences including Frith and Fripp/Eno?
King Crimson is one of my most favorite bands since I was a teenager, and Music For Airports is one of the most important albums to me, so it’s not enough to say “influence”; I would like to call it “spiritual nutrition” as I was brought up with their music.
And, you mentioned “Frith,” it’s Fred Frith? If so, he is the one who changed my conventional perspective about music and taught me how to play a guitar at the very beginning. I saw him doing guitar improvisation for the first time in Tokyo in 1981 or 82, it was so shocking and had a huge impact on me. I shouted to myself, “Yes, this is it! This is what I want to do!” He unleashed me to uncharted terrain. And, about ten years later I had a great honor to play guitar duo improvisation with him in Tokyo.
You have mentioned an interest in cosmology and astro-dynamics; did this influence your music-writing, and if so, how?
Astrophysics, Cosmology, Quantum Physics, etc, all these sciences are full of sense of wonder, pushing the boundaries of what we know, expanding our perspective, transcending space and time. It’s a bottomless source of my imagination and inspiration to create music. So important for me to get astonished by discovering new ideas from those sciences. It stimulates my brain and inspires my creativity, I’m not sure how it works though.
What does the “psychic” part of Psychic Drones 3 refer to, and do you mean it in a material/science or spiritual/religious context, or both?
It’s definitely not in a religious context. As you know, ambient means atmosphere, circumstance, environment, something surrounding you, something outside of you, but when I say “Psychic” it means “Psychic Ambient,” which includes both inside and outside of you, and I believe our music sounds in space around you but also inside of you, in your body, brain, soul.
How did you pick Joel Gilardini as a collaborator, and what parts of the final product do each of you contribute?
Joel has been a serious fan and supporter of my music and we were connected through Bandcamp. When his solo album Tales of Forsakenness was released in June of 2020, I listed to it and loved it, just like fell in love at the first sight (hearing). Then I offered him to collaborate, that’s how we started to work together. He sent me some raw materials made by his Baritone guitar and other machines, then I added my sounds and other rhythmic elements on, mixed them together and composed the pieces. We have very good chemistry. I cannot explain but somehow it works super well. It’s always pure pleasure to work with Joel. I’m very proud of what we’re doing and happy with the amazing outcome (we have three albums so far, and more to come for sure).
Most metal-style fans connect to your work through Zeni Geva. Will this project continue, and did any metal music influence it? If so, what are your favorite metal artists?
Honestly, I myself have never been a “metal-music fan” at all, but two exceptions: Slayer and Meshuggah. I have several albums by Slayer on vinyl and CD from the early 80’s and Reign in Blood is one of my all time favorite albums. And, I just happened to find Meshuggah on YouTube sometime around 2015 or so, and sorry I don’t have any albums from them, but their music is just awesome, sounds like a mixture of King Crimson and Slayer.
Are you going to tour on this album, and what method should people who want to know more about you use to stay informed about your work?
No such plan at the moment. So, please enjoy the album at your home alone and immerse yourself deeply in the psychic audio experience.
Check our official Bandcamp and Facebook sites to follow our activities and to keep you updated with our works. Thank you very much.
- https://kknull1.bandcamp.com/music
- https://www.facebook.com/null.official/
- https://joelgilardini.bandcamp.com
- https://www.facebook.com/joel.giudift
Check out the latest from K.K. Null streaming below!
Tags: joel gilardini, k.k. null, noise, zeni geva
What are you guys’ favorite psy/goa albums? Here’s mine:
10 Ghreg on earth – Sigilweaver
9 Darshan – Awakening
8 Blisargon Demogorgon – Book of Magic
7 Dimension 5 – Transdimensional
6 Pleiadians – IFO
5 Midimiliz – Passages
4 Paradise connection – selftitled
3 Astral Projection – Another world
2 Etnica – Juggling Alchemists under the black light
1 Sandman – Witchcraft
Sounds fun…
1 Xenomorph – Cassandra’s nightmare
2 Cybernetika – Nanospheric
3 Deviant Electronics – Brainwashing is child’s play
4 Chi-ad – Virtual Spirit
5 Mubali – Cat’s at play
6 The Delta – Send in send back
7 Doof – let’s turn on
8 Kuro – Satisfaction
9 Electric universe – one love
10 Cosmosis – Cosmology
Hallucinogen – Deranger
Psykovsky – Debute
Logic Bomb – Unlimited
Cosma – Non Stop
Farebi Jalebi – Iridescent
Astral Projection – Another world
V/A – Mystery of the crystal skulls (TIP)
Beat Bizarre – Lewd
Sting – “Nothing Like The Sun” total peak of pop music.
Also from glorious Nippon, the second guitarist from Intestine Baalism’s third album, which Brett reviewed positively back in the day, has a new album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0DTAoBCf4A
Review it or you are a false.
Why are you deleting my comments coward
This was an interesting interview with several topics covered. The interviewer asked questions and the respondent answered. Nothing too unexpected, though some intriguing points were raised all the same. The interviewer could learn to ask more searching questions, and perhaps that would raise the standard of this website in general. I’m awarding this interview two horns – better luck next time.
Okay dude
More interesting than 99.99999% of metal going on these times.
It’s techno for non-normies.
I just wanna cum here and say that whiskey gives an “emotional wreck” type buzz and hangovers worse than hitler, making vodka its exact opposite (good buzz and almost no hangover).
I ain’t touching that rotten stuff again (blame the irish, always). Cognac tastes better anyway.
fuck you scotch is the best and vodka’s for chicks
Texas Yellow Screwdriver: 50% fresh OJ, 50% vodak. Serve with 2g of fine cannabis indica.
You are all wrong. Only rectified spirit 95%, pure, NOT diluted, just drink it with something if you really have to. Seriously. A complete possession. Quick and direct. Slightly psychodelic. With no symptoms of prolonged poisoning like with basically any other alcohol on the planet, because due to quantity and concentration it leaves your body as quickly as it first enters it.
Sounds at least a lot cleaner than the usual alcohols.
It is. After that, regular vodka tastes oily and contaminated.
Good whisky and scotch is meant to be savored, not binged on. You can get a good buzz going with two 60 ml drinks (I can do it with less, there’s an art to imbibing for maximal effect) if you can make them last through two-three albums. After that, you don’t need to be drinking any more because you obviously have to work or work out the next morning.
I can relax with scotch and suffer a little hangover or none at all. Whiskey is unpredictable. I may feel nothing the next morning or have to make out with the toilet. I think the sweeter the whiskey, the worse the hangover. Southern Comfort is vomit inducing going down, but it’s worse the morning after.
The sweeter the alcohol in general, the worse the hangover. It’s why experienced alcoholics™ choose vodka.
Vodka is good if you’re a fat fuck since it’s just water and ethanol, comes often cheap too.
It’s not sweetness as much as it is the amount of tannins it picked up in the barrel. More time in barrel means more tannins means bigger hangover. It’s why a scotch aged in ex-sherry casks can be very sweet and not give much of a hangover — the sherry got most of the tannins out of the wood, and the Scottish climate forces the liquid into and out of the barrel wood less than most other climates where alcohol is barrel aged, so you end up with very few tannins but still a lot of character from the cask.
I was like fuck it and got a bottle of reasonably priced Cognac, and I tend to agree that there’s something magical about the aftertaste. There’s a reason why this stuff is expensive.
Top 10 most overrated (even ugly) looking celebrity women of all time, go!
10 Audrey Hepburn
9 Taylor Swift
8 Scarlett Johansson
7 Jennifer Lopez
6 Paris Hilton
5 Julia Roberts
4 Pamela Anderson
3 Angelina Jolie
2 Kim Kardashian
1 Marilyn Monroe
Swift: Very Good
Anderson & Johansson: OK
Rest: Fertilizer etc.
Swift is painfully mediocre, women are supposed to have big eyes, I’ve seen guys with bigger eyes than hers.
Katherine Hepburn looks Eastern? That’s just an excuse, she’s obviously of western stock… (gone wrong).
She’s a lesbian. That’s a genetic condition. Homosexuals are basically intersex hormonally and have other little genetic glitches. She and the football player are beards for each other. If they try to have sex she will end up with pustule hemorrhoids.
Who are these people? I know the big names, but really why we aren’t talking about Katherine Hepburn is beyond me.
She looks like an Eastern European seasonal worker, the kind you hire to work in the fields, cleaning tenancy by the day houses, such stuff. May just be up to the eye of the beholder though..
Hah! no one knows who the mythical Aryan westerners are… If there’s a discrepancy, blame it on the east. I mean, hollywood’s been convincing the general public for decades that the boogyman is Russia, so by all means knock yourselves out.
The “mythical” Aryans were the Nordic-Germanic nomads who wandered through Asia, Europe, and the Middle East leaving behind descendants who became modern southern EuroPeons.
Russia is a third world nation of shitheads with partial Asian ancestry who have allied with China, who are like the Italians of Asia, basically crafty and clever criminals who will rape and eat your dog if you don’t watch them.
Id kill to fuck Scarlett, starting with you.
Is Kamala barren like my perpetually sodomized sister? Is this how she climbed the ladder? At least Ash has an excuse. She is poorly educated.. What’s Harris’ excuse? Will it boost her chances if she just comes out and confess she had her ovaries tied against her will, at her Handlers demand? Male Supremacy – Patriarchy – Victimhood..
She’s a career woman. No time for kids between climbing that corporate ladder, punching out the glass ceiling, getting divorced a few times, and sending the annual tribute of cheese pizza to China.
The only sensible incentive in amassing wealth & rising in hierarchy is to get the best possible mate and expand biologically.
Best Zeni Geva album, Brett?
I liked Total Castration but was more echanted by the K.K. Null works.
Okay. I’ll check that album out.
UNDERRATED good looking celebrity women top 5, since I can’t think of that many… (and when they were young mind you)
5 Carolyn Jones
4 Francesca Annis
3 Jenny Wright
2 Sean Young
1 Virginia Madsen
Why isn’t this site praising Last Action Hero more? It’s an intelligent parody of everything hollywood before Idiocracy and Borat, without losing that tongue-in-cheek fun 90’s feel. I think this goes for everything in life – the balance between fun and serious.