Interview by Robert Becraft

        K.K. Null, the renowned purveyor of new music in Japan, can be mysterious. He forms songs with improvisational whim as well as with constructive care; his recordings are fraught with both goading and soothing stimuli. Null's creative activities cross the line between club and gallery culture, performance and entrepreneurship, regional and international derring-do. Last year, he provided sound for the exhibition Grinding the Wind: the Kinetic Sculpture of Alison Kuby Netz, and performed at the Exiles festival in Berlin. In May, his band Zeni Geva will release its 13th full-length album, recorded by Steve Albini. A solo album, The Peak of Nothingness, was recently released by the Canadian label hushush, and three more solo recordings are to follow. In a recent and strange email interview, Null responded to questions on sound aesthetics, collaborative tactics, and musical taste with answers tinged with a humor that was almost but yet not at all terse or rash. More than likely, the questions were too much about the intrinsic and ignored elements of his music-or else he deemed them unimportant, I don't know. Perhaps Null is a genuine performer rather than a self-promoter.

Robert Becraft: Many of your solo works achieve paroxysms without linear progression or obvert tension-and-release. Is this a conscious decision?K.K. Null: Honestly, your question is a bit too abstract to me. Therefore, I'm not sure exactly what you mean. Basically I don't have any abstract concepts, a philosophy, or an ideal goal before creating sound or playing music. So, maybe it's unconscious.

RB: Deep, terrene reverb and seemingly celestial drones emanate in your soundscapes. Can this be perceived as an approach towards the realm of metaphysics? KN: If you think so, that's fine with me.

RB: How do you view the trend in ambient music towards quirky, irregular clicks and pitch modulations? KN: I'm not a trend analyst or a music journalist. I don't exactly know what you mean by "ambient music." If you can give me a concrete sample, maybe I can give you my opinion.

RB: Your highly textural soundscapes souse listeners in a feverish furry, in reverie, and ultimately in self-reflection. Could this be attributed to an empathy-over-understanding kind of aesthetic? KN: Could be...

RB: What explains the international recognition and praise of the Japanese musical avant-garde? KN: I don't know.

RB: What distinguishes Japanese noise/experimental artists from Western contemporaries? KN: I have no idea.

RB: Do you see different veins of experimental noise/free jazz in Japan? Should bands like Shibusa Shirazu be distinguished from well-known names like Merzbow, Masonna, or Fushitsusha? KN: Yes, I do. I've never heard the music of Shibusa Shirazu, but Merzbow, Masonna, and Fushitusha are all different to me.