Susumu Hirasawa
Susumu Hirasawa is a Japanese experimental electronica artist. In 1972, he enrolled at Tokyo Designer Gakuin College. From1972 to 1978, he performed in his first band Mandrake, a progressive rock group influenced by King Crimson and Yes. In 1979,he formed an experimental electronic-based band called P-Model, along with two former members of Mandrake. They releaseda string of albums through the 1980s, and in 1989, Hirasawa began releasing solo work, while also continuing to work with thereactivated P-Model beginning in 1992. The P-Model project continued until 1999; in 2004 Hirasawa started a n ...read more
Susumu Hirasawa is a Japanese experimental electronica artist. In 1972, he enrolled at Tokyo Designer Gakuin College. From1972 to 1978, he performed in his first band Mandrake, a progressive rock group influenced by King Crimson and Yes. In 1979,he formed an experimental electronic-based band called P-Model, along with two former members of Mandrake. They releaseda string of albums through the 1980s, and in 1989, Hirasawa began releasing solo work, while also continuing to work with thereactivated P-Model beginning in 1992. The P-Model project continued until 1999; in 2004 Hirasawa started a new unit knownas Kaku P-Model, which is effectively a solo continuation of P-Model.His subject matter can be equally unusual. A constant source of inspiration for his music has come from Thailand. In fact, theconcept behind his 1995 album Sim City was drawn from his experiences travelling there, and more specifically, from Thaitranssexuals. Guest Thai vocalists appear throughout that and proceeding albums, including 1996's Siren, which was also aconcept album based on Thailand. As for his lyrical inspiration, Hirasawa references the philosophies of yin and yang, histravels and the principles of nature vs. machines.Hirasawa occasionally stages interactive live performances. They merge computer graphics with his music to tell interactivestories, and involve heavy use of computers, particularly Amiga systems, motion capture cameras and video projectors. Theflow of each live show is determined by audience participation; for example, Interactive Live Show 2000 was formatted as amaze, and the audience was allowed to choose which path to follow. Sometimes, audience participation plays a part in theperformed music, as it did in Interactive Live Show 2000. He provided the phone numbers to four cellular phones during onesong, and the audience was allowed to call the numbers to have him play the corresponding ringtone. This provided animprovised harmony between the background music and the ringing phones. « hide |
