I’m back in Japan! And I have an exciting round of shows coming up, with incredible musicians like Relative Pitch label-mate Masayo Koketsu and Ayako Kanda. I’ll also be performing with new projects, like my trio with Yasu EY and Shota Mizuguchi, and DOE, a trio with Nazomicchan and Micro Davis (both very good stage names).
If you’re in the Tokyo or Yokohama area, come check one of these shows out! And stay tuned for round 2 coming in March and April!
As I’m quite awful at updating this blog, let me quickly summarize the big points of 2023! In roughly chronological order!
I performed a nine-show “tour” of Tokyo in the spring, collaborating with many incredible musicians, thanks to a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts
I recorded shamisen (and gottan!) for an exciting project which will be officially announced in early 2024
My band Throwaway opened not once, but TWICE for the legendary experimental rock band Deerhoof
I reunited and recorded my Uroboros Sextet project, featuring incredible musicians from Chicago, Detroit, and NYC
I was asked to give The One Piece Podcast a musical makeover - writing, arranging, and recording two new themes and a bunch of new bumpers. I also came on the podcast for the “Shamisen Shamismas Special” to talk about the usage of the shamisen during the anime’s Wano arc!
2024 will be exciting - I’ll be wrapping up recording on Throwaway’s rock opera, releasing a new album with Aaron Edgcomb on Relative Pitch Records, revealing the identity of the mysterious shamisen project, and much more! Stay tuned, and thank you for a wonderful year!
Wow, I forget about the existence of this website. Oops! Follow me on social media if you want more timely updates: www.instagram.com/kircareygtr
Anyway, I received an Emergency Grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts to fund a nine-show tour around the improvised music scenes of Tokyo and Yokohama. I played with many absolutely incredible local musicians. The scene in Tokyo is generous, beautiful, and amazing. Thank you to everyone who helped, attended, and performed!
Hello there!
Just a quick note to say that I’ve released a recording of my new long-form solo piece, A Thousand Rivers, for Bandcamp Friday! The piece is for guitar, voice, and sound environment. To make the environment, I curated recordings of settings in Japan which symbolize what I love and miss so deeply about that country and its people. A few of the recordings were taken by myself and my partner on Throwaway’s 2019 tour of the country.
The Incredibly Nice Person tier and upwards of my Patreon will be receiving an alternate take of the piece!
Why, hello there!
First thing’s first: you’ll very likely see me post more than twice a year in this space, because I am now being held accountable for telling the good people who like what I do what I’m up to. And the reason for that is because I have launched PATREON! Check it out here!
I have a couple goals with this Patreon. First, to create a tighter bond with you all, the people who enjoy the strange antics I get up to - and for this tighter bond to inspire me and give me a nice little kick of accountability to propel my projects forward. Additionally, it’s no secret that the last 18 months have been rough for all of us. With this Patreon, I hope to cultivate an environment where difficult, emotional topics can hold ground, but also where we can all find little spots of absurd joy and revel in them, even for just a moment.
The primary vehicle for the latter will be a weekly newsletter for the $3/tier. In this newsletter, I’ll talk about corners of pop culture I’m presently enjoying or finding intriguing - usually in the gaming and anime spheres, because that’s what I’m into and what the likes of Crunchyroll and Screen Rant have employed me to talk about.
So, anyway, that’s my Patreon. I hope you find something on there you like! Maybe, together, we can help each other get through the sludge of this weird period. Is that so idealistic? Probably. But it’s a nice thought, innit?
Anywho, I have other news as well! In July, I journeyed forward to the incredible Firehouse 12 to record a duo record with the inimitable Tyshawn Sorey. There will absolutely be more on that soon. But know it has happened and that you’ll get to hear it.
While I was on the east coast, I also went to NYC to play a show with my dear friend Aaron Edgcomb, another incredible drummer. The show was chronicled by Don Mount, one of the patron saints of the NYC experimental scene, so you can watch it RIGHT HERE!
There is much, much more to come. Things are brewing! And, honestly, the Patreon is going to be the best way to keep abreast of the latest. Whoohoo!
Hello hello! I have two quick, yet deeply exciting, announcements for you today!
For one, my band Throwaway is partnering with Leesta Vall Recordings for a very, very special run of one-of-a-kind Shut-In Session lathe cuts! Think of it like an “audio postcard” from drummer Jonathan Taylor and I to you: you'll preorder your record, tell us what song you want, and then we - from our delightfully socially distanced rehearsal space in Detroit - will record that song, live, SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU. You alone shall own this song - each lathe cut is its own master.
Especially in the absence of shows, I was elated when Leesta Vall reached out to me - I think this is such a genuine, unique way to connect directly with people through music during all this pandemic pandemonium. Dibs your record here - the orders are only open for a week!
Additionally, Rodney Ascher’s A Glitch in the Matrix, which I did sound effects on, is out in wide release today, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures! Check it out! And check out this review on Polygon, which I particularly enjoyed.
Now for some non-music news: I am beyond excited to announce that I contributed sound effects to Rodney Ascher’s upcoming film, A Glitch in the Matrix, which will be distributed by Magnolia Pictures and streamable on February 5! But before that, it will be competing at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival! I hope Martin Scorsese enjoys my spaceship sounds.
Many thanks to Jonathan Snipes for adding me onto the sound team for this incredible film. Check out the trailer!
Oh, hello there! Long time, no see. In many, many ways.
While a lot of projects are quietly percolating under the surface, I’m pleased today to tell you that my composition “TwentyTwenty TwentyYears” will be featured in Latitude 49’s Bagatelle Project! The livestream will take place on March 5 and 19!
A “bagatelle” - I learned - is a one-minute composition, and mine is written for percussion, vocals, and distortion, all to be performed by Latitude’s percussionist and my frequent collaborator, Chris Sies.
All proceeds of the concerts go to the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts - so treat yourself to some joy for a good cause!
Hello, everyone. What an exhausting, intense year this has turned out to be. Here’s hoping for the safety and health of you and your loved ones.
If you’ve navigated yourself here, you may be wondering how I’ve spent these past months. Like many of you, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and simply coping. A lot of that coping has involved Animal Crossing.
On a more serious note, a lot of that thinking has been about systemic racism and police brutality. As a Detroit-based artist, I’d like to take this moment to encourage you to donate to the legal fund for our local protest organization, Detroit Will Breathe. DWB is filing a lawsuit against the City of Detroit, its mayor, and its police chief after the Detroit Police Department has continuously displayed excessive force against peaceful protesters - including beating a volunteer nurse with a baton so hard that the nurse suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung. You can read more about other violations that form the base on the lawsuit over on the Detroit MetroTimes.
Since this is a catch-all, I’ll move on to more selfish, personal matters. Of course, because of COVID-19, I was unable to travel to Japan this spring to study shamisen as planned. But I have begun private lessons with Reigen Fujii and - soon - Hidejiro Honjoh, and plan to travel to Japan whenever the situation allows. These lessons have become the highlight of my week, and I fell quickly and deeply in love with the shamisen. I’m definitely not good enough yet to share my progress, but I look forward to showing off once I have anything show off-worthy!
So these past few months have been one of incubation, and the project with the most in the fire is Throwaway. We’ve released a number of VidDitties, have an EP in the works for a winter release, and have begun production on a multimedia variety show-style YouTube series.
I have also started doing a few outdoor shows with the new music ensemble InterroBANG, which is lead by Andrew Alden - who, not-so-coincidentally, directed Throwaway’s “Bonathan Jyers” video. These shows entail playing live music to accompany silent films in the courtyard of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. We’re doing Nosferatu next month - so if you’d like to come, get your tickets early, bring a blanket, and wear a mask.
A few other random irons are in the fire, too! I was just commissioned to compose a one-minute piece for percussionist (and favorite human) Chris Sies of the new music group Latitude 49. I contributed a very understated long tone to a song on clipping.’s new album, There Existed an Addiction to Blood, which will be out on Sub Pop this October - which I mention more because clipping. is the best, and you should be excited that they have a new album. And I’ve begun production on a new podcast project… that I won’t talk much about yet. But fans of the beloved anime / manga One Piece and/or socio-political analysis should get excited.
The recordings for the Uroboros Sextet has been put on temporary hold, as I figure out the logistics of both funding and how to get six people + a producer safely in one room during these new, challenging times.
I think that’s about all I can divulge for now. Take care, stay safe, wear a mask and stay distanced, and, in the wise words of Dale Cooper, give yourself a present every day.
Blogs: turns out, I’m bad at updating them. Oh well.
I have been very busy in the past year I have not been updating this blog, however. In particular, Throwaway released its debut album, toured in Japan, and was named one of the best albums of 2019 by Ghettoblaster Magazine and Organ Thing.
But I’ll take this opportunity to make an exciting announcement: I’ve been awarded a grant by the Asian Cultural Council to travel to Japan for three months in spring 2020. For what purpose, you might ask? To study the shamisen, of course! I’ll be primarily in Tokyo, in residency at the Youkobo Artspace and studying with Reigen Fujii and Hidejiro Honjoh.
The Asian Cultural Council does amazing work and continually astounds me with their kindness, generosity, helpfulness, and enthusiasm. I cannot thank them enough for this incredible opportunity.
I would also like to give a huge shout out to Bachido - they’re a LA-based website helping Westerners have access to the shamisen, and their founder Kyle has been ridiculously helping in fielding all my questions.
Onward!
Why hello! If you’re reading this, that means you’re looking at my brand-new website! Huzzah!
As such, all previous blog posts have been deleted except for the last one - we’re starting afresh here. Also, truthfully, it was highly inconvenient to copy and paste all that biz.
Also, the show archive has been trimmed, and now stretches back only about a year.
Welcome to a new era of joy and cleaner interfaces!
A roundup of news!
First of all, Throwaway has been doing many things that I'm not posting about here. Go to the Throwaway website for all that biz.
Second, I'll be heading to Columbus next Friday, February 1, as one of the featured performers at The Fuse Factory's incredible Frequency Fridays series. Also performing is my good friend, the extraordinary koto player Kozue Matsumoto! If you're anywhere near Columbus, come on out! Plus, you can be treated (??) to a giant picture of me on the Facebook event.
Next, Uroboros is up to things. I just wanted to let you know that. Moving on.
Lastly, I'd like to announce my involvement in and co-leadership of an incredibly exciting new project: The Seven Sages, a band that exclusively plays the music of the Legend of Zelda. Our first show will be a huge bash on February 21st (the anniversary of the first Zelda game) at Ziggy's in Ypsilanti, MI.
So many more shows are occurring - including a set at Ziggy's on February 15th opening for the incredible Chicago bass clarinetist, Jason Stein. More info on the shows page!