RuinsZu

A collaboration of legends of Western and Japanese noise avant-garde – RuinsZu will perform as part of their European tour on 23 May at Akropolis Palace.

The RuinsZu project is include bassist Massimo Pupillo and saxophonist Luca T. Mai from the band Zu, along with drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, who performs under the name Ruins Alone. RuinZu's repertoire consists of both Zu and Ruins songs in new arrangements and new songs.

Formed in Ostia, west of Rome, in 1997, Zu is known for its broad synthesis of avant-garde genres. While their line-up is typical of a jazz band, their hard-edged sound owes much to punk rock, and their work defies easy categorization. Noise, math rock, industrial, avant-garde, drone and ambient have all been mentioned in this context. Thanks to their focus, they found dozens of kindred musicians in bands such as Einsturzende Neubauten, Sonic Youth, Can, The Stooges, The Ex, and solo artists such as Mike Patton, Ken Vandermark and Mats Gustavsson, with whom they collaborated over the past two decades. The latest, and therefore current, continuation of this mosaic is the Italian-Japanese line-up RuinsZu, which can also be seen as the culmination of a long exchange of impulses between Japan and the West.

When drummer Tatsuya Yoshida founded the duo Ruins, the Japanese avant-garde scene, inspired not only by European experimenters like This Heat and Magma, was in full force. Ruins, where the bass guitar was the second instrument alongside the drums, was one of the most radical groups in Japan. The duo performed with dozens of luminaries including Fred Frith, John Zorn, Derek Bailey, Bill Laswell. After replacing 4 bassists, Yoshida's music became so thick that instead of a human bandmate, only electronics could become a competent partner. Thus the Ruins Alone project was born. Critics write, "It is an experimental laboratory, a direct interface between the drummer's brain and his drumsticks. The result is music so concentrated that you could dilute fifteen rock records from one Ruins album." In addition to avant-garde directions, punk rock is also a hearty inspiration for Tatsuya Yoshida, especially in its intensity.