We Don't Care About Music Anyway (2009) - full transcript

WE DON'T CARE ABOUT MUSIC ANYWAY

TOKIO
20?? D.C.

Conformity is defined

by social consensus.

Specially here,

in Japan.

It's hard to explain.

Our acts are dictated
by this hypocritical norm,

that represses the will to change.

As far as I'm concerned,

this situation
is very frustrating,



and I'm convinced

that there are many alternatives
and more attractive possibilities.

I believe too that my role
is to look for them.

This might be too abstract.

Of course not Yamakawa.

Now we now
why your hair grows so much.

It's true that the japanese have
a poor notion of happiness.

Exactly!

Happiness in a box.

Work, build your house,

Go to the supermarket
do your shopping.

It's a set path.

That's the definition
of happiness here.

It's been like this
for a long time.



We are led to believe
in this form of happiness only.

Personally,

I believe that's foolish.

Everyone has to find
their own kind of happiness.

Until the sixties,

thanks to economic growth,
this way seamed feasible.

Current generations
can't expect the same.

It can't be expected
for economy to improve.

Under these circumstances,
it's normal to do what you want.

When you choose to be a musician,

you choose a lifestyle.

In our bodies

there are two different zones:

one that we can control,

and another we cannot.

The zone that we can
consciously control is called

the central nervous system.

Inversely,
there are zones in our body,

that we can't consciously
control.

Our heartbeat, for example.

This unconscious territory

is the autonomous nervous system.

I use a breathing technique to
control the rhythm of my heartbeat.

The notable thing about
the respiratory system

is that, besides being
controlled consciously,

it also works in an
autonomous way.

Attention please.

Turn off your cellphones if
you're close to the priority seats.

For the safety and comfort
of other passengers.

To all cyclists.

Attention please...

Blood types A, 0, B and AB

Blood types A, B.

Danger.

-Otomo, are you there?
-Ken, are you there?

Cute batik.

Times have changed.

-This was the 20.000 V.
-This print looks old.

Do you remember when this happened?

In the twentieth century. Right?

Definitely, in the twentieth century.

You're using a Vestax platform.

So it seems.

Yes, it is a Vestax.

One of the first models.

What kind of sampler
did you use first?

An Akai.

The S2000.

Was it the mid nineties?

Yes. More like the end
of the nineties.

Did you use it with a
synthesizer?

Yes.

Did you ever learn
to play an instrument?

No, I've never played an instrument
in my whole life.

Is one of your songs called
"Game Over"?

"Game Over Generation".

With the vocoder,

and the melody inspired by
the video games of our childhood.

It's a song about the first
generation of video-gamers.

Did you belong to that
first generation?

In elementary school,
I used to go to the arcades

to play Space Invaders
and stuff like that.

It was against
school rules.

Many brought their rulers

to play like this.

To push the buttons?

To fire faster.

Amazing!

I like it's shape.

-The feminine shape?
-Yes.

I can't play an electric cello.

Without this shape,

it's impossible for me.

Do you like breasts?

Breasts?

It's more like a butt, isn't it?

What is it you like?
The curves?

I think this shape
is quite perfect.

The metal mast,

symbolizes european modernism.

I don't want to change
the shape of the cello.

If I changed the shape,

It would be like if I was
outside looking in.

Denying modernism
while we're living modernly,

is what I'm trying to achieve.

I saw there were useless things
what could become useful.

The many lights on the Vespa,

for example.

You don't need that many,

but it only takes shape
when you have them there.

Everything becomes more expressive.

The same happens with seafood
restaurants.

Fried noodles, for example.

They're expensive, but if you
eat them there they taste better.

That's our concept.

Exactly that.

When I eat by the sea,
instead of something fancy

I prefer junk food
like instant noodles.

?l wanted me to play guitar,

this time he didn't want to
play it himself.

He said: "Take my place
as guitarist".

I thought it could work that way.

The guitar is at the max volume,
no matter who plays it.

This is practically all.

Many times you add a spring
to the audio arm, right?

I love this kind of home made audio.

You create your sound
well in advance.

That's the idea. The sound of a
record is picked up by the needle,

and I wanted to experiment
adding other objects.

I broke many cartridges trying.

Then I saw it would be easier
using a contact microphone.

After many failed attempts
I made this work.

What about you, L?K?O?

I use three contact microphones
on my mixer.

How?

To get the clatter
when I'm scratching.

Are you talking about the fader?

Yes, the Vestax mixers produce
a metallic sound I like.

But I always end up hitting.

Like a metal oil drum.

The most primitive sound you
can get with this system.

The contact microphones allow
for amplifying microscopic phenomena.

That's really interesting.

I put a basic contact
microphone here,

close my mouth

and perform a diaphonic singing

Chatter the teeth,
hit my skull,

and I send all the sounds
through a guitar amplifier.

The results are amazing.

It's really fascinating to
discover things

you are not conscious
you have inside.

When you hear Yamakawa talk.

you get the impression
that he is very thoughtful,

But on stage he's an animal!

One time he was bashing his
head like a madman,

while I was hitting my mixer.

He ended up rubbing his guitar
against my record.

I don't remember that.

The guy is crazy!

Composing is recording things
that get inside of us.

Memories travel through
our bodies and minds,

and their shapes shift
inside the prism

of our idiosyncrasy
and personality

to resurge in the shape
of a composition

or some other form of expression.

That's why,

when you listen to a sound
of any kind

more than listen to it,
you remember it.

To me, radio, CD's or television

are memory triggers.

I spontaneously remember
sounds and many other things.

Do you remember sounds?

Yeah, thanks to those
small stimuli.

When you remember more
than one thing once,

You create something new.

All the water in the world

Ocean water
and the fish that swim there,

The water from the rivers
and the fish that swim there,

sing to the glory
of Jesus Christ the creator

I sing to His glory.

Yes, I sing to His glory.

Citizens!

This year

let's make the city
bright

and nice for everyone.

More that feeding it's own culture,
I believe Tokyo

It's a crossbreed of all
the cultures of the world.

The consequence of the
flow of information,

to which we are exposed
constantly,

is the decadence
of our own culture.

The modern Japanese pop songs

can't be described as neither
Japanese nor songs.

As an artist you're
almost totally defined

by the environment
you grew up in.

You're attached to your surroundings.

The music that I create today

is influenced by the environment
in which I grew up

with my parents,

by the music I enjoy,
the films.

Everything is interconnected
and shapes my music.

In Japan.

The cello is considered
a bourgeois instrument.

That image has
discredited the instrument.

Probably it can be used in
a certain way,

but to me
that image is a burden,

and the best way I found of
getting rid of it

was to use a sanding disk
on the cello.

-The sander!
-The fire!

It's the image of the cello that
makes the sanding so intense.

Sparks flying from the cello,
it's so romantic.

During a show,

the memories of the audience
come back to them.

It's not about the sound.

Our music interacts
with the mind of each spectator.

Like to memories
committing to each other.

My aim is to convoke
the memories of the crowd.

It's part of the performance.

My strategy is to get to
that confrontation of memories

to create something chaotic.

Each time I perform
the diaphonic singing.

I try to pierce the audience
with the vibrations.

I don't have a vocation for the
traditional lyricism of the steppes,

but I appreciate their beauty.

Did you ever go in
that direction?

I went there of course.

I met amazing singers

that taught me many things.

But I live here,

and my way of expressing myself
must take that into account.

When I recur to spontaneity,

I put a contact microphone
on the bridge of my nose,

I plug it to the amplifier
and I increase the volume.

How can I call the deepest
memories?

Today it would seem

that urban landscapes that
stimulate our memory

are disappearing.

In this day and age
you don't feel anything.

Those landscapes are being erased.

Now, as you walk through Tokio,

there's nothing that marvels.

Only time will tell,

but apart from their influence
over our memory,

I wonder if those landscapes
will still exist in ten or twenty years.

Can these buildings really
last for ever?

I don't believe they will
last for so much time.