Atsuhiro Ito was born in 1965. He launched his career as a visual artist in the late ’80s, and in ’98 began presenting sound performances at art exhibitions and so on. Ito made use of fluorescent lighting (which is also an element of his art installations) in the creation of an original musical device called the optron. He continues to refine the instrument while approaching sound and music from a contemporary-art-based perspective. In addition to his solo exhibition and performance projects, Ito is active in a number of musical units. One of these is Optrum, the explosively loud “extreme optical noise core band” consisting of Ito and drummer Yoichiro Shin. Between 2000 and 2005 Ito presented various sound (music)/visual image-related events at Off Site, the now-defunct gallery/free space in Yoyogi, Tokyo. The Optrum album Recorded was released in June 2006 on the label Unknownmix (Headz).
Windscale
Windscale was formed in 2005 as the musical arm of the Birmingham based Circuit Bending company “Happy Robot”, and Guitar Effect Pedal company “Ghost” which are both run by Ian Sherwen. Needing some way of showcasing Ian’s handmade devices in a musical recording and performance context, Windscale seemed an ideal solution. Bassist Neil McAuley (Seeland) joined in 2006, leading to the recording of 2 albums – “Schwarzes Ei” in 2007, and “Conflicts in Time” in 2008.
In 2009 drummer Neil Spragg (Omnia Opera/Sand) joined making the band a 3 piece further emphasising the influence of Neu and Galaxie 500 on their sound.
www.myspace.com/00windscale00
www.happyrobotmusic.co.uk