Masaki Batoh - Brain Pulse Music

Tickets : £10 adv / £12 on the door

Masaki Batoh - perhaps best known as the singer and guitarist for legendary Japanese psych folk ensemble GHOST - presents a live performance of his Brain Pulse Music in Octaphonic sound. BRAIN PULSE MUSIC is the result of years of research into the bioelectric functions of the human brain combined with the traumatic aftermath of Japan’s Great East Earthquake.

All seven BRAIN PULSE MUSIC tracks are a prayer/requiem. They are a “tamashizume” (a requiescat) and "tamafuri" (reinvigoration of the withered soul) to the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Two pieces are composed of BPM machine recordings; the remaining five are rhythms and melodies commonly heard in religious rituals and provincial festivals using traditional Japanese instruments. This seems to have been a natural reaction for Batoh, considering these rituals were quite often carried out to appease gods thought to cause epidemics and disasters — for instance, the famous Gion and Aoi festivals held in Kyoto both originated as a purification ritual addressing the gods that bring about calamity upon the people.

The BPM recordings are the furthest incursion Batoh has made into the deep space and mystery of the human condition. The acoustic recordings are the purest expressions of his traditional folk influence that he has released in over twenty years of music-making, a deep and soulful expression intended to calm and aid in the healing of all around him. And so from the rubble of Japan’s damaged bodies and minds, the power of BRAIN PULSE MUSIC has emerged.

A concomitant objective of BRAIN PULSE MUSIC is to donate the proceeds from the sales of the album to the disaster victims through Japan Red Cross.