Colloid

Colloid is a band of five women hailing from Kyoto. The group features vocalist, Hiroko (Tayutau), who sings in a voice that seems to spin the air like yarn, violinist/composer, Akiko, who plays with a tone all of her own, from phrases that can make you cry through to progressive rock riffs, vocalist, Yoko, who has a voice that can overwhelm with it's sheer power in singing everything from jazz to traditional folk, a bassist/composer, Azumi, universally renowned for her warm sound and phrasing and percussionist, Ayuko, who has the ability to play across genres including Classical, Latin and African.

Focusing their gaze on words and melody, Colloid uses polyrhythm and polyphony to evoke emotional landscapes. They use intricate structures and highly attenuated improvisational sensibilities to combine strength and delicacy. Their music, which never completely looses the sense of each player as an independent creator of a collective harmony, makes for an experience that it is fair to say is capable of rocking you on a cellular level.

Tayutau

Formed 2002 in Kyoto, Tayutau is a unit consisting of Hiroko Nishimoto (guitar & vocals), with a bright voice like spun air, and Akiko Igaki, creating soundscapes with violin and other instruments. Singing about the light found within nature and everyday life, they are renowned for their performances that enable glimpses into sonic vistas.

To present, they have released three albums, that have included guest spots by the likes of Kei Tanaka (Shugo Tokumaru, Sakerock bassis) and Saya from Tenniscoats.

For their Melbourne tour, they played six venues in around a week with a specially put together band including Dan O'Sullivan (STELLA ANGELICO AND THE SWITCH - Bass) , Mathew Watson (Other Places - Drums), Sui Zhen (backing vocals & toys), Peter Joseph Head (t:dy t:wns - cello), Sayako Nakagawa (Sofa Soul - piano), Nick Browning (Seagull - accordion). Irregardless of their set being completely in Japanese, they were able to emotionally move their audiences to return home widely loved.

Karikirin

Karikirin is a duo made up of Yoko(vo.) & Azumi(cb.&vo). In a collection of children's poetry from 1948 there is a poem called "Kirin (The Giraffe)". Karikirin make music inspired by the innocence and honesty, and, at times, the incisiveness and cruelness of the poems within this collection. Yoko was raised on the songs from the folk song tradition of the villages of the beautiful mountainous regions of Kyoto. Departing from this tradition, she has developed her own voice to sing about all that can be sung and at the same time paint a picture of all the songs that can be listened to. With Azumi by her side for many years playing bass, their combined sound spreads, deepening and spinning new sonic landscapes. The syncronicity of the two performing is something to be truly enjoyed.

Ayuko Ikeda

Graduate of Osaka Univesity of the Arts - Performance/Percussion Stream. She plays in over 150 concerts a year across genres and across borders both within Japan and abroad. She also conducts workshops and instructs students in various locations. She has appeared at the Stockholm Jazz Festival, the Rochester Jazz Festival, and at the University of Chicago, played both live and on recordings with various artists including Fried Pride and Chikuzen Sato, and recorded for television programs.

In May 2013 she released an album Kodama (Echo) of solo percussion field recordings from Hakuba, Nagano. She is also a member of percussion performance group Beat JACK.

From April 2015 she has been active playing as in duo Arstile with 6 string bassist Ryusei Hattori and is currently touring Japan with the country's most recognised drummer Murakami Ponta Syuichi as Arstile Meets Ponta.