KK Null - Vulcanoid (Love Earth Music)

Over the past 30 years, Kazuyuki Kishino has made his name in the Japanese experimental rock scene in bands such as Zeni Geva, Absolut Null Punkt and YBO2, as well as releasing a steady stream of noise releases establishing him as the reigning prince of Japanese noise, second only to Merzbow. With Vulcanoid, he effectively creates a visceral, even tactile, new world, solely through the use of electronic sound manipulation.

It begins with an interruption, going about our daily business until, suddenly, we’re jolted into another realm, beamed to some distant planet made of space junk where steel lives on the rapid pulse of electric current. “Vulcanoid 1” is a journey through this molten soundscape, where volcanoes gush lead and deadly storms of metallic dust threaten our very being. Eventually, we make it forward, through a barren gray desert of flat steel to a beach of rusted metal on an ocean of mercury and oil, before finding the electric forest full of sprightly sparks…

The soundscape changes and we’re out of uninhabited nature into the vast urban sprawl of “Vulcanoid 2.” Amid towering skyscrapers of stacked satellites, we see the vibrant nightlife of this megalithic city: neon public transportation tubes, deadlocked streets of roving vehicles, sidewalks crowded with energetic robots ready to enjoy the night. “When in Rome,” right? So we check out the scene, visit numerous bars and clubs, dance with the metal natives and make new friends. In passing conversation, we learn somebody knows the local mayor/king/shaman who knows a way to get us back, so off to visit him in his gleaming chrome palace where, indeed, he knows how to get us home and before we know it…

What makes a successful noise album is its ability to bring the listener out of their world into an entirely new dimension of three-dimensional space. In this regard, Vulcanoid succeeds at every level, encouraging multiple trips to its electronic realm. Who needs astral projection when you have KK Null?