Video History Project

People

Ikue Mori

Ikue Mori moved to New York in 1977. She started playing drums and soon formed the seminal NO WAVE band DNA. In the mid 80s met John Zorn and was introduced new world of improvisation.

Ikue started to employ drum machines in the unlikely context of improvised music. Throughout the 90s, she subsequently collaborated with numerous improvisors throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, while continuing to produce and record her own music. In 2000 she was commissioned by the KITCHEN ensemble to write and premiere the piece =Aphorism.=

In 2003 she was commissioned by RELACHE Ensemble to write music for silent film by Helen Levitt "In the Street". In 2000 Ikue started using the laptop computer to expand on her already signature sound, thus broadening her scope of musical expression and recently incorporating live visual manipulation. Current working groups include =Mephista= with Sylvie Courvoisier and Susie Ibarra, a quartet with Kim Gordon, duo project with Zeena Parkins, and various projects with John Zorn.

Cite this record

"Ikue Mori." Video History Project, Experimental Television Center, 2011. https://www.videohistoryproject.org/ikue-mori.

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Summary

Ikue Mori moved to New York in 1977 and began playing drums, soon forming NO WAVE band DNA; in the mid 1980s she met John Zorn and entered improvisation. She began employing drum machines and in the 1990s collaborated across the US, Europe and Asia while recording her music. The KITCHEN ensemble commissioned =Aphorism.= in 2000 and RELACHE Ensemble commissioned music for Helen Levitt's In the Street in 2003; from 2000 she used a laptop and incorporated live visual manipulation, with current groups including Mephista, a quartet with Kim Gordon, a duo with Zeena Parkins and projects with John Zorn.

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Last modified 18 June 2011

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