New Japan
Ground Zero :  Null and Void
Cat. # 7204
Released 1995
cd time - 48:25
US Price $16.00
 
Led by turntable wizard/guitarist/composer Otomo Yoshihide, the fast and furious Ground Zero combine creative juxtapositions and oddball sampling with the raw power of a live six-piece band. Null & Void jumpcuts from samples of Chinese flutes and German military rhythms to ridiculous out-of-context media bites to Funhouse style guitar/sax explosions. It's a hysterical and unbelievably wild ride. Null & Void is this excellent Tokyo group's first American release, and features a new Ground Zero line-up, including the amazing young guitarist Uchihashi Kazuhisa, from the band Altered States. The album also features haunting themes from Otomo's soundtrack to the award-winning Chinese film, The Blue Kite (directed by Tian Zhuang Zhuang).
 
 
Personnel:
Hirose Junji: Saxophones
Uchihashi Kazuhisa: Guitar
Kimoto Kazuyoshi: Bass, Violin
Uemura Masahiro: Drums
Chino Syuichi: Piano, Synthesizer
Otomo Yoshihide: Turntables, Sampler, Guitar