Noise Pollution at it's Finest: Yuko Imada

This is without a doubt my favorite band. Hailing from Anaheim, California and participating in the [seemingly] super active Santa Ana noise scene, I have been an avid Yuko Imada fan for going on a year now.

Yuko Imada, the name, stems from a fascination with the Japanese serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki. After raping, killing and mutilating 4 young girls between the ages of 4 and 7 Miyazaki was finally arrested while trying to insert the Zoom Lens of a camera into the vagina of a young girl in a park. Just with many a noise artist before, I believe, Yuko Imada uses the image of torture and violence as a parallel to the chaos he seeks to express through the rapidly oscillating beats and timbres of his craft. Not to mention the strong link to Japanese acts before him.

Splitting his time equally between raw ass harsh noise and soothing ambient Garrett Yim produces a project of such magnitude I often have to remind myself he's just some guy I met on the internet. This isn't just your pedestrian, ignorant, drive till we die harsh noise, this is touching emotional music that makes all the sounds of life seem significant. Drawing equally upon influences as diverse as Hijokaidan and Perfume, he is the icing on the yummy cake that is harsh noise. Plus he's about as big into Japan as I am it would seem :3.

This release is Garrett's first EP as Yuko Imada. It utilizes mostly found sounds and edits; it contains a lot of screams and talk radio noise. I can't describe the influence that this release and his other noise release, Ome, has had on my own work. I even did a cover of his track "Nylon Rope". If anyone remembers any of us in the up-and-coming U.S./California noise world, they'll certainly remember Garrett. This is the noisey side of things/life, the shit I just die for. My favorite band hands down. I love it, fucking love it.

Download オタク (Otaku)
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