"Space Invaders," an exhibition of cutting-edge architecturally inspired design from the United Kingdom currently showing at the TN Probe space in the Hanae Mori building, explores the way visual design shapes and defines space. Space Invaded, an evening of electronic-based music featuring Janek Schaefer, Main and Nobukazu Takemura, pushes this brief into the realm of sound, reworking concepts of space with the laptop and synthesizer rather than the backhoe or plasterer.
U.K.-based electronica artist Schaefer studied architecture in college, so the underpinning of his spatially inspired sound is rather obvious. But he's not quite given up building tactile, rather than just sonic, constructions. His handmade Triphonic Turntable is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's "most versatile turntable," but for this performance he'll be using a more portable one, which features two tone arms and the ability to play backward and forward anything from 1 to 70 rpm.
If Schaefer's music is an attempt to sculpt space with sound, then Robert Hampson, through Main, is trying to create new environments altogether. Hampson began his musical career as a guitarist for the late '80s trance-rock group Loop. Main also began as a guitar-based project, but one that pushed the limits of the instrument via effects and distortion. By the time of the "Firmament" series of recordings in the late '90s, Hampson had cut most ties with traditional music, jettisoning all hooks and vocals in favor of spare, beautiful atmospherics.
An evolution toward simplicity has also been the hallmark of Kyoto-based ambient artist Nobukazu Takemura. After stints as a hip-hop DJ and bossa nova producer, Takemura has segued into a spare, yet warm, style influenced by contemporary classical composers such as Terry Riley or Steve Reich. He invades space, but very gently.
