Yoko K. is an electronic musician, whose self-produced debut album "012906" (Asahra Music, 2006) was nominated for "Best Album in Electronica" by the 6th Annual Independent Music Awards. Acclaimed by Adam Harrington (Whispering & Hollerin, UK) to be “truly the work of a visionary,” the first single cut, “searching,” received Grand Prize in the electronic jazz category by the Artists Forum Electronic Music Competition (2006). As a recipient of Young Artist Grant (2006) and New Media and Audio Grant (2007) from the Washington DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Yoko has presented her music / performance / collaborative works at Irvine Contemporary, Corcoran Gallery of Art, National Gallery of African Arts at Smithsonian Institution, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2008, Yoko was commissioned to perform for the “Promoting Tolerance through Arts” project by Meridian International Center; “Cultural Hybridity” seminar, as a part of the Communication, Culture, and Technology Project at Georgetown University; Hirshhorn Contemporary Acquisition Council, as a part of an art happening “Fixation.”
Weaving the layers of hypnotic soundscape, Yoko aspires to mediate between the sensual and spiritual life through the sound she defines as "organic electronica." Born and raised in Japan, Yoko began the study of classical piano at the age three; played soprano clarinet and saxophone in a junior high school‘s symphony band; and started to take voice lessons and sing jazz during the high school years. Immersed in the underground club culture, Yoko taught herself how to produce, program, arrange and mix electronic music, while experimenting the use of her voice as a layered texture. Yoko is also a keyboard player / backing vocalist for Dust Galaxy, a solo project of Rob Garza from Thievery Corporation, and toured across the United States and Europe in 2006-7. Currently, Yoko works in Washington DC as a full time artist. For more information, please visit www.aphrodizia.net / www.myspace.com/aphrodizia. For inquires, please email info@aphrodizia.net
2nd album is scheduled for release in April 2009. Sign up on the email list at info@aphrodizia.net.
AON Sessions: Yoko K. / Aphrodizia, "(Untitled)" from All Our Noise on Vimeo.
"hello hello" (2006)
video by megasleepyhead
music by Yoko K. (in the album "012906" - Asahra, 06)
"blues of grande chai" (2006)
video by megasleepyhead
music by Yoko K. (in the album "012906" - Asahra, 06)
"from nothing" (2008)
Multimedia performance by Ayo Ngozi at National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, on May 31, 2008. The performance was in conjunction with El Anatsui's "Gawu" exhibition, featuring Ashley Brockington, Tosha Grantham, Takeyah Young (live human sculpture); Yoko K. (original music and sound design); Basel Action Network (video). Video / edit by Eric Channing (Dissident Display).
