Masaki Batoh, he of legendary Japanese psych outfit Ghost, is bringing his Brain Pulse Music (TMT Review) project to the US for a series of live installations and performances starting a week from Friday (April 26). As we previously reported, Batoh set out to create music by directly tapping into human brain waves, cutting out the conscious self in order to access an individual’s true output. To do this, Batoh developed a machine to read brain waves and transmit them into sound. When the earthquake of 2011 hit Japan, though, the project morphed into something different altogether. As a practicing acupuncturist, Batoh noticed an increased level of stress and anxiety in his patients following the natural disaster and wanted to use his brain pulse machine to help. The resulting album that came out in February of last year was a combination of music resulting from Batoh’s unique ‘bio-electric procedure’ as well as a series of acoustic requiems that harken back to traditional prayer songs normally performed to appease gods once thought responsible for inflicting natural disasters upon the earth.
That’s all well and good, but how will this translate into a live show? The press release gives little info on what’s to come, but here’s hoping audience members will get the opportunity to volunteer to be hooked up to Batoh’s machine. The instructional video below explains how to use the machine, and it seems pretty straightforward as long as you can tap into your ‘Satori,’ or meditative state. The machine apparently blocks brain waves collected when a user is focused on materialistic endeavors, but works somewhat like an effects pedal once you’re mentally connected and get past the ‘gate.’ Even if volunteers aren’t involved, seeing Batoh use the machine to produce music should at least be a unique experience. As Batoh notes at the end of the video, come on out and, “Enjoy BPM.”
Tourdates:
04.26.13 - Boulder, CO - ATLAS Institute Black Box
04.27.13 - Austin, TX - Austin Psych Fest
04.28.13 - Oceanside, CA - Craftlab Gallery
04.30.13 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
05.02.13 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
05.05.13 - Vancouver, BC - Electric Owl
05.06.13 - Portland, OR - Star Theater
05.08.13 - Calgary, AB - Broken City
05.09.13 - Winnipeg, MB - West End Cultural Centre
05.11.13 - Cedar Rapids, IA - CSPS
05.13.13 - New York, NY - Spectrum
• Masaki Batoh: http://www.dragcity.com/artists/masaki-batoh
• Drag City: http://www.dragcity.com
More about: Masaki Batoh
