A session with Yoshimi

For decades, Yoshimi has been an inspirational figure in the international avant-garde, from her work with Boredoms and Kim Gordon’s Free Kitten to her own OOIOO. (Just ask the Flaming Lips, after all.) We found this old interview with Impose Magazine inspiring, too, as Yoshimi talks about what she finds mesmerizing and powerful about the sounds of the gamelan and how the people of Japan have learned to exist under the threat of nuclear radiation. “I don’t understand it when there is a sad incident that happens, and then someone makes sad music to express that,” she says. “I feel that music exists on a different and higher dimension. And I want to connect with other people on that higher dimension.” Give it a read, and see Yoshimi make a rare stateside appearance with her Yunohana Variations trio at Big Ears 2019.