* En anglais uniquement
Experimental electronic musician
Kyoka began taking piano lessons as a preschooler and continued until she was a teenager. During this time, she experimented with tape recorders and itched to improvise and make music of her own. After she left her home to study economics in Tokyo, she purchased a Roland MC-505 -- a drum machine, sequencer, and MIDI controller -- and recorded tracks that led to her first releases for the Onpa label. A series of glitchy electro-pop albums titled Ufunfunfufu began in 2008, with 2 Ufunfunfufu and Ufunberlinfunfufuliveatnbi2009 following in 2009, and 3 Ufunfunfufu concluding the series in 2010. These releases brought about an association with German experimental techno label Raster-Noton, which released
Kyoka's EP
ISH (2012) and album
Is (Is Superpowered) (2014). A refined set that switched from gentle electronic pop to lean industrial techno,
Is (Is Superpowered) preceded an appearance on
CI, the debut full-length from Raster-Noton leaders
Byetone and
Alva Noto's
Diamond Version project. In 2016,
Kyoka released a brief experimental EP titled
SH. ~ Andy Kellman