Avanto Festival 16.-18.11.2007
SUOMI / ENGLISH

Cacophony of a Thousand Pleasures

Pain Jerk, a one-man sound project founded by the Tokyo-based Kohei Gomi (1963–) at the beginning of the 1990s, is one of the most esteemed names of the ultra-energetic second/third wave Japanese noise music that was highly prominent in the 1990s. His music is a skilfully crafted, ecstatically mechanistic electronic storm that irresistibly pulls the listener into its colour-saturated flow. Over the years, Pain Jerk has released dozens of tapes (mostly on his own label AMP) and a sprinkling of more official releases on vinyl and CD. One of them, his 1997 Gallon Gravy CD (Creativeman Disc) is one of the milestones of the genre. During recent years, Pain Jerk has released new music at rather long intervals, but has meanwhile kept performing in his home country on a regular basis. Pain Jerk gave his first performance outside Japan in May 2007 at the No Fun Fest in New York. He is now also becoming more active on the recording front: a number of new releases are expected shortly, and enthusiasts of the genre are eagerly awaiting the retrospective CD-box compiled from his vast and increasingly rare tape releases.

Tommi Keränen

Avanto/Äänen Lumo Club in Kuudes linja on Friday, 16 November from 9 pm to 4 am

Pain Jerk

Pain Jerk
photo: Kohei Matsuki