Gak Sato ‘INFORMED CONSENT’ (TSPH 1900 CD/DLP) Temposphere

“Informed consent is a legal condition whereby a person can be said to have given consent based upon an appreciation and understanding of the facts and implications of any actions.”

With two albums in his discography (‘Post-Echo’ and ‘Tangram’) and many recordings created for special artistic projects and events, Gak Sato, after recent studio and live work with Vinicio Caposela, now releases a new CD with the usual vivid personality and eclectic approach.

Informed Consent is the result of collaboration with a series of musicians from different musical fields and cultural backgrounds. Creative interchange and interaction between different worlds form a common denominator found throughout the career of Gak Sato.

On this record Gak also interacts with non-musical instruments and musical instruments he ‘doesn’t know how’ to play, in pursuit of a new relationship with sounds.

- 1 Free Energy

Tribute to Nikola Tesla

Free Energy is a dream of humanity, though perhaps dreaming isn’t the issue. Free energy already exists; it is everywhere, just waiting to be utilized. This is the only real issue: to discover efficient ways to use the immense quantity of energy that exists in the universe.

To record this piece Gak Sato uses just two simple toys.

- 2  Repeating Same Mistakes

- 3  Clapsoy

Steve Piccolo guests on these two compositions created for the soundtrack of the DVD ‘50 Years of the Compasso D’Oro’.

‘Repeating Same Mistakes’ is based on an ‘improperly’ cut sample/loop. This is one of Gak’s provocative mechanisms. If you repeat a ‘wrong note’ at least three times, it starts to sound right.

‘Clapsoy’ is an anagram of Calypso. Two remixes of this piece will be released, respectively by Kid Loco and Jimmy Tenor.

- 4 Brainship

With special guest Elliott Sharp, who improvised three takes, each in a completely different way. The only constant is the tempo. After modifying the structure and adding other sounds, conserving the original character of Elliott’s playing, a different approach to improvisation emerges. This is one of the basic concepts behind the album.

- 5 Informed Consent

Created in collaboration with the Japanese duo Tica.

The method applied is the same as in ‘Brainship’, but the results are completely different.

- 6 Pistillo 

In this composition Gak tries to play the acoustic guitar. A very common musical instrument, but one he cannot play. The result is research on the various sounds that can be obtained by striking the instrument or rubbing the strings, etc.

- 7 One Good Turn

‘One Good Turn’ was made in collaboration with an acoustic duo from Kyoto called Mama! Milk. The night of the session was one of torrential rain. The rain can be heard in the recording.

- 8  Omniscape

An urban soundscape piece.

Gak recorded the sounds of different places in cities, such as the train stations in Milan, Tokyo, London and elsewhere. The ‘musical’ parts happened randomly, spontaneously during the act of recording, the contributions of anonymous players present at the sites.

The composition uses the same method as the other pieces on the CD, but in this case there are no protagonists.

- 9  Be quiet

Collaboration with Roberto Cecchetto.

The rhythm part seems to be played with the kick drum in 4/4. By shifting the sixteenth notes on the third beat, a skewed loop is created. Repeating this mistake, the beat becomes regular. Repeat a wrong note at least three times and it stops being wrong.

- 10 29A

29A is the number 666 expressed in base 16. The name of the famous creator of computer viruses.

This piece was composed for a DVD of “Photo Swiss”.

- 11 Voyage sur la Terre

Created for the soundtrack of the video of the same name by Gabriele Di Matteo.

A tribute to Jacques Tati.