Six String Sonics, The

Sometimes the best way for an established and accomplished artist to expand out into new territory is simply to use different tools, or to use old tools in completly new ways. Painting with a non-dominant hand, working in a completely new media, or, in the case of Six String Sonics, The, reinventing the wheel. Or, in this case, the guitar.

The project of evil genius Gil Kuno, Six String Sonics, The is as much an equipment demo in motion as it is a group of musicians. Kuno had the idea of breaking apart the standard guitar into six individual stings. Each of Kuno's unique instruments is a single string, mounted just like a regular guitar sting, on a thin metal body. Instead of one person being in control of all six strings, Kuno instead employs six people to play one string each. This gives them the rather herculean task of both playing together while playing apart. The sounds and chords created are like nothing and single player could attempt, let alone imagine. It's a dizzying blend of single, chirpy notes, backed by a drum machine and a two man bass.

Oh yeah, even the bass is treated in a new way. It's giant, needing two people to play. One, at the bottom, plucks the strings and the other, up above, frets the notes.

To top it all off, the players are often arranged in odd ways. One in case, all nine musicians are mounted on a giant metal frame, three to a side, with the bass players and drummer in the front. Kuno also runs a unique video feed over the performance, and sometimes dancers are also used to add yet another layer of chaos over the already frenetic mix.

While the live performances are a blitz of sound, their single mini-album is a bit more refined and listenable. While it lacks the total randomness of the live version, it still retains some flashes of pure alien-jams. Where it works best is when the band is working very closely to make something more like a regular song. Then it really does push the bounds of regular guitar sounds and feels more like a proper attempt at something new and not just a big mess of notes.

Obviously, Six String Sonics, The are very much and art-house project and not something you'll be seeing very often. While they do show signs of greatness, it's really just a chance for people to get together and make some noise and call it art,and really, that's not so bad.

Live



Official Site

Members:
Gil Kuno (Unsound, Wiggle)
Ken Takehisa (Kirihito, Group)
Sasaki Hisashi (ex Jam Jack, ex Ruins)
Ishikawa (Group)
Tetsuro (Volume Dealers, ex UG Man)
Murochin (Abnormals, Wiggle, Wrench)
Eiichiro (ex Hellchild, Wiggle)
Isobe (Abnormals)
Numata (NLK)
Matsui (D.M.B.Q.)
cba (ex Surfers of Romantica)
Takada Masako (Nisennenmondai)
Skank (Nibrol, ex Seagull Screaming KHKH)
Fujii (Music from the Mars)
Sakamoto (Wrench)
Ninomiya (Eastern Youth)
Tani (ex UG Man)
Nori (ex Nukey Pikes, Nightmare)
Keisuke (Charm)
Kyo (ex Garlic Boys)

Albums:
String Theory (200X)

Gil Kuno Interview


Gil Kuno Interview