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By Dan Grunebaum
Hoppy Kamiyama
Drivel dominates Japan’s airwaves, but the avant-garde
musician is confident there’s an audience for A Meaningful
Meaninglessness
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“Humor is very important
for music [and] a convenient communication tool”
Dan Grunebaum |
Although his music may be complex, the ideas
behind it aren’t. “There are only two kinds of music:
good and bad, interesting and uninteresting,” says Hoppy
Kamiyama, warming to his subject and putting writers like
this one on notice. “I don’t distinguish between
genres. I want to make good, interesting music. And if it’s
interesting I want to listen even to pop music.”
Long known in underground music circles from Tokyo to New
York as an unpredictable composer of music that finds a home
in the “new music” or “experimental” sections
of record stores, Kamiyama is equally as comfortable citing
influences from the Rolling Stones as he is from Stockhausen.
But for his new album, A Meaningful Meaninglessness, the influence
is American freak-genius and muso-political provocateur of
the ’60s-’90s, Frank Zappa. Last winter, Kamiyama
assembled the dozen or so co-conspirators that he calls the
God Mountain Orchestra (“God Mountain” is the literal
translation of Kamiyama) and recorded a series of Zappa-inspired
songs with names like “Spasm#2” and “Ol’
Lady Grubb.”
“Frank is like my teacher,” explains Kamiyama alternately
in English and Japanese from across the table at the offices
of Tower Records’ Intoxicate magazine. “In the ’70s,
when I started listening to Western music, his music was strange
and scary at first. I was very surprised. I was listening
to Pink Floyd, Yes, Led Zeppelin...but Frank Zappa was different.
His style was very free. I got a fresh feeling from his music
and attitude.”
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Another element Kamiyama may have received
from Zappa is a penchant for cultivating an eccentric image.
He’s known to dress in women’s clothing, calls his
keyboards “Digital Emperor,” and, while not sharing
Zappa’s political bent, regrets that there isn’t
more of Zappa’s “Dancing Fool” brand of humor
in music. “I don’t need a serious message,”
he says. “Humor is very important for music [and] a convenient
communication tool.”
Brimming with quirky arrangements and raucous rhythms that
recall Zappa’s hyperkinetic fusion of rock, psychedelia,
jazz and experimental music, A Meaningful Meaninglessness
comes with a companion DVD featuring animation created by
Beck collaborator E*Rock that echoes Zappa’s zany films
in its surrealism. Words like absurd, bizarre and, well, meaningless
come to mind.
Also like Zappa, Kamiyama works with a cast of highly able
musicians who can perform his difficult scores. Many of them,
including avant-rock prima donna Emi Eleonola, are institutions
of Japan’s underground music culture. He also expects
his musicians to express their own identities by going beyond
what’s written. “The most interesting sessions are
when things don’t go according to plan. I don’t
like musicians who follow the score 100 percent. The extent
to which the musicians can run with it, can ‘trip’
out on their own—that’s what makes it exciting for
me.”
Kamiyama had a few piano lessons as a child but is mostly
self-educated. He became interested in music, listening not
only to pop stars like The Beatles and the Rolling Stones,
but also to classical composers like Stravinsky and Bartok.
Of all places, the source was NHK FM radio, which he says
was a fount of free-thinking at the time. Kamiyama composes
in rapid bursts directly from his imagination to paper. He
says that after he wrote it, he checked the score for A Meaningful
Meaninglessness on a keyboard and was surprised to find some
parts too difficult to play.
Despite the corporate Hamasaki/SMAP fodder that passes for
music on the charts, Kamiyama thinks plenty of people will
“get” the album, if given the chance. “I’m
sure young people are interested in strange and energetic
music. They want more new music, and strong music, different
from J-pop. But every day they watch TV: It’s very stupid,
just idoru. If they have another media—not just TV, which
is now the No. 1 info tool—I think they will listen to
strange music like mine.”
A Meaningful Meaninglessness is available
on Creage Records.
Would
you like to comment on this article? Send a letter to the
editor at letters@metropolis.co.jp.
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