Squidco: Murayama, Seijiro / Soundworm: Space & Place

Space & Place

Percussionist Murayama and Soundworm (Hiromits Shoji) in a work following a score that switches between clusters of live microphones as Murayama improvises to the resulting sound.

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Product Information:

Personnel:

Seijiro Murayama-snare drum, cymbal, objects

soundworm-sound engineering, suggestions

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Numbered limited edition of 500

Label: Ftarri
Catalog ID: ftarri-998
Squidco Product Code: 12171

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2009
Country: Japan
Packaging: Cardboard sleeve
Tracks 1 and 6 recorded live by Vincent Rioux at the Monastery of Sainte-Marie de La Tourette, France October 2008. Tracks 2-5 recorded by soundworm in Koganei, Japan, February 2008.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Since relocating from Japan to France in 1999, percussionist Seijiro Murayama has been performing both as a soloist and with musicians like Jean-Luc Guionnet, Eric La Casa and Eric Cordier. Soundworm is the pseudonym of sound engineer/musician Hiromits Shoji.

In all six tracks of this CD, Murayama uses a cymbal, a snare drum and small objects (as well as his voice on track 6). Four of the pieces (2-5), recorded in Tokyo, were composed by Murayama based on collaborations with soundworm (Shoji). Several clusters of two or three mikes were deployed in different areas of the studio, with one of the mikes of one cluster placed outdoors. (The other two were contact mikes attached to the snare.) While soundworm switched the groups of mikes on and off at certain intervals according to instructions in the score, Murayama listened through headphones to the sound being recorded, and improvised without looking at the score. In the works thus realized, Murayama's sounds seem to subtly shift from place to place at regular intervals. The special character of both his sound and his compositional structures are showcased in these pieces. The two other tracks (1, 6) are from a performance at the Monastery of Ste. Marie de La Tourette near Lyon, France (which is well known for its Le Corbusier-designed structure). The monastery's echoing acoustics feature prominently in the majestic, awe-inspiring sound."-Ftarri

Numbered limited edition of 500

Artist Biographies

• Show Bio for Seijiro Murayama

"Percussionist Seijiro Murayama was born in 1957 in Nagasaki, Japan. He started performing improvised music in 1972, under some influence of Vinko Globokar and musicologist Fumio Koizumi. After graduated from Tokyo University in 1982 in Urdu studies he toured the USA with Keiji Haino as part of the seminal psychedelic band Fushitsusha. Returning to Japan after a period in NYC he continued playing drums and electronics in K.K. Null's noise/rock band A.N.P. (Absolut Null Punkt), while further exploring free improvisation. A relocation to France in 1999 led to collaborations that extended into dance, theatre and performance as well as ongoing partnerships with musicians Jean-Luc Guionnet, Eric Cordier, Michel Doneda, Mattin, Lionel Marchetti, among many others. After over a decade in Europe he relocated back to Japan in 2013.

His artistic principal is to work with the idea of the plural or inter-disciplinary relationships between music and other disciplines of art: dance, video, paintings, photos, literature etc. In this way, he collaborates with musicians, composers, and sound artists. Improvisation is always the major concern for him, even if it is not his artistic goal. His approach is based on the attention to space and place, to the energy of the audience and to the quality and perception of silence on various levels."

-Fort Process (http://fortprocess.co.uk/seijiro-murayama/)
1/22/2026

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Track Listing:

1. snow's sunc 13:47

2. composition for recordings 1 8:37

3. composition for recordings 2 8:45

4. composition for recordings 3 9:00

5. composition for recordings 8:41

6. nothing is everything 16:28

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