Ikue Mori

Ikue Mori relocated from Tokyo to New York in 1977 and quickly established herself as a central figure in the city’s downtown music community. She launched her professional path as the drummer in DNA, the landmark no-wave trio she assembled alongside guitarist Arto Lindsay and keyboardist Tim Wright. When that short-lived yet pivotal ensemble disbanded in 1982, she turned to free improvisation and studio work with experimental artists including Fred Frith, Tom Cora, and, above all, John Zorn. By 1985 she had set aside the conventional drum kit entirely, replacing it with a personal configuration of drum machines and samplers. Over time this rig developed into a custom array of three independently programmed units that she could activate in real time for both concerts and recordings.

An NEA grant awarded in 1990 for a project with filmmaker Abigail Child initiated Mori’s long involvement in scoring moving images. During the following decade she took part in numerous ensembles and releases, among them Death Praxis with vocalist Tenko, Painted Desert alongside guitarists Marc Ribot and Robert Quine, and Death Ambient with Frith and bassist Kato Hideki. Her own Hex Kitchen, issued in 1995, featured commanding contributions from frequent associates such as electric-harpist Zeena Parkins, vocalist Catherine Jauniaux, and trombonist Jim Staley. Mori issued her first all-drum-machine solo album, Garden, in 1996; two years later came B/Side, a set of pieces first created for Child’s films. Additional partnerships in the late-nineties avant-garde and electronic spheres encompassed trumpeter Dave Douglas, Mr. Bungle vocalist Mike Patton, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, and free-jazz bassist William Parker, while her association with composer-saxophonist Zorn deepened considerably. Standout 1999 appearances included a guest spot with Sonic Youth, the premiere of new pieces with DJ Olive in New York, and an improvised duet with Chicago electronic musician Jim O’Rourke.

In 2000 Mori began incorporating laptop computers to trigger and reshape sounds, thereby expanding an already wide sonic range. She maintained a steady pace of performance, composition, and recording, fulfilling commissions from the Kitchen Ensemble, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Tate Modern, and the New England Conservatory. A set of newly written scores for Maya Deren’s experimental films premiered in 2007; the next year she marked three decades in the United States with a special concert at New York’s Japan Society. Beyond solo endeavors she has sustained close ties with Zorn and performs regularly in Mephista (with Sylvie Courvoisier and Susie Ibarra), Phantom Orchard (with Parkins), and Twindrums (with Yoshimio). In 2016 Mori joined Courvoisier, Mark Feldman, and Evan Parker to compose and record Miller’s Tale, a suite of musical responses to playwright Arthur Miller’s work. The following year she released Highsmith, a duo project with jazz pianist Craig Taborn. Within the downtown milieu Mori is widely esteemed as a composer, improviser, and pioneer in electronic music.