Formed in 2006 by Tatsuya Yoshida (drums) and Ono Ryoko (alto Sax) to perform Ruins's songs, they have restructured the orchestration of Ruins with the involvement of the saxophone with the result sounding like a big band playing progressive Jazz Core.

Ono Ryoko is actively working as an improvisational musician in Nagoya, Japan. She also plays in jazz, rock, funk, rhythm & blues and hip hop bands, as well as working as a studio musician. In 2007, she formed her own band, "Ryorchestra." Ono has created her own musical language, "Language R," to compose and write lyrics. Some tracks have dramatic movements like progressive rock, and some have clear classical influences. Lately, she uses "non-breath" circulation technique and multi-phonics to explore and pursue endless, rich and complex sounds.

Tatsuya Yoshida is one of the most innovative drummer/composer/improviser in the Japanese avant-garde music scene. Yoshida is the founder and drummer of Ruins. Yoshida crafts a new, complex and concentrated style, incorporating the expressiveness of prog rock, the freedom of jazz and the energy of punk with Sax Ruins. This group's unique basic instrumentation of drums and bass was no less than a palace revolt against the established role of the rhythm section. As if setting the basement servant headquarters aflame and then tromping upstairs to take control of the house, the two musicians let their amazingly intricate rhythmic patterns become the music -- not that "rhythmic patterns" is much of a description of what most of it sounds like, kind of like calling the Thames River "water." He also plays in numerous groups; he needs to, to sustain sufficient space for his overflowing creativity. Yoshida has worked with many musicians such as John Zorn, Derek Bailey, Bill Laswell, Keiji Haino, Otomo Yoshihide etc. and has been released more than 100 CDs.

This album has been reviewed on our magazine:


The Squid's Ear!