Ikue Mori

Ikue Mori moved from her native city of Tokyo to New York in 1977.She started playing drums and soon formed the seminal NO WAVE band DNA, with fellow noise pioneers Arto Lindsay and Tim Wright. DNA enjoyed legendary cult status, while creating a new brand of radical rhythms and dissonant sounds; forever altering the face of rock music, as we knew it.

In the mid 80ís Ikue started in employ drum machines in the unlikely context of improvised music. While limited to the standard technology provided by the drum machine, she has never the less forged her own highly sensitive signature style. She has subsequently collaborated with numerous improvisors throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, while continuing to produce and record her own music.

In the 90ís Ikue received a grant from National Endowment for the Arts to collaborate with film maker Abigail Child, producing a series of video vignettes based on Ikueís songs. (This collaboration continues with the "B-side" recording). Ikue has worked in regular collaborations with Zeena Parkins, "VIBLASLAPS" (with Catherine Janiaux), DEATH PRAXIS (with Tenko), Fast Forward, (PROTOTYPE, Mark Tomkinís Dance Company,) Joey Baron, Anthony Coleman and Shelly Hirsch, Fred Frith and John Zorn. Invited to the Intenational Percussion Festival in Berlin, she gave first workshops. She developed a solo performance adding the sampler, and performed at NY Symphony Space and Derek Baileyís Company Week in London in 93. Mills College in San Francisco asked Ikue to participate in Sound Cultureí96. She was invited to perform with Ensemble Modern as the soloist along with Zeena Parkins, and composer Fred Frith in 98. Ikue won the Distinctive Award for Prix Ars Electronics Digital Music category in 99. In 2000 Ikue started using the laptop computer to expand on her already signature sound, thus broadening her scope of musical expression.

Current working groups: "Mephista" with Sylvie Courvoisier and Susie Ibarra, electronica trio "Laptites" wth Kaffe Mathew and Marina Rosenfeld, a quartet with Kim Gordon, DJ Olive and Jim OíRourke, "Witness" ensemble with Dave Douglas, "ILE BIZARRE" with Diane Labrosse, Martin Tetreault, and a duo project with Zeena Parkins. Her own projects include: "Labyrinth" solo computer, "Moon Story" project and "Madge Gill" ensemble.