Outer Sounds 007 - May 2021

The selection for May 2021 is Yoshi Wada’s The Appointed Cloud LP on Saltern (first released on CD in 2008 by EM Records / Edition Omega Point). After moving to New York from Japan in the late 60s, Yoshi Wada became a part of the Fluxus movement there and worked with La Monte Young and studied with Pandit Pran Nath. Yoshi began building his own instruments such as horns, pipe organs, percussion and others in the 70s which led to a number of works such as Earth Horns with Electronic Drone, The Lament for the Rise and Fall of the Elephantine Crocodile, Off The Wall and more. His recorded output is sparse but magnificent. During a residency in Berlin from 1983-84, he worked on the pipe organ system used for Off The Wall and it would culminate in The Appointed Cloud a few years later. After returning from Germany, Yoshi was feeling frustrated & limited by traditional performances and wanted to work on a long form sound installation. The Appointed Cloud was originally conceived as a sound installation built specifically for the acoustics of The New York Hall of Science, he began working on it in 1986. David Rayna would be instrumental in designing the primitive computer software used to control Yoshi’s instruments: the pipe organ, a giant sheet of metal, a siren and a pipe gong. This allowed Yoshi to program a score that would continuously play out over the course of the installation as well as allow for basic user input / interaction by visitors. The music we hear on this record was from the opening night on November 8th, 1987. Yoshi supplemented the installation sounds with a score for 3 bagpipers and a percussionist (playing timpani and gong). This performance alternates beautifully between the droning and shimmering tones of the sound installation and the expansive & ecstatic bursts of color from the bagpipes and percussion, all captured in the massive resonant acoustics of the great hall. While Yoshi Wada’s recorded output was sparse and difficult to track down for many years, this changed around 2008 when EM Records / Edition Omega Point started reissuing his albums on CD as well as issuing never before recorded works. This rediscovery and reevaluation of Yoshi’s music would heavily influence & inspire a younger generation of musicians and composers (myself included!). Saltern, run by Tashi Wada, continues to present Yoshi’s work to new audiences & Tashi carries on his father’s legacy in his own music (father and son collaborated on the excellent album, Nue, from 2018 on RVNG Intl). Check out my conversation with Tashi Wada about his father’s music, The Appointed Cloud as well the Saltern label & his own music below!