Ikue Mori

Ikue Mori (森 郁恵[2], Mori Ikue) (born 17 December

1953), also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, Ikue Mori
electronic musician, composer, and graphic designer.
Mori was awarded a "Genius grant" from the
MacArthur Foundation in 2022.[3]

Biography
Ikue Mori was born and raised in Japan. She says she
had little interest in music before hearing punk rock. In
1977, she went to New York City, initially for a visit, Mori in 2017
but she became involved in the music scene, and has Background information
remained in New York since. Born 17 December 1953
Tokyo, Japan
Her first musical experience was as the drummer for
seminal no wave band DNA, which also featured East Genres Experimental · no wave ·
Village musician Arto Lindsay. Though she had little downtown[1] · free improvisation
prior musical experience (and had never played Occupations Musician · composer · graphic
drums), Mori quickly developed a distinctive style: designer
One critic describes her as "a tight, tireless master of Instruments Drums · drum machine ·
shifting asymmetrical rhythm",[4] while Lester Bangs sampler
wrote that she "cuts Sunny Murray in my book."[5] Years active 1977–present

After DNA disbanded, Mori became active in the New Labels Tzadik
York experimental music scene. She abandoned her
drum set, and began playing drum machines, which she sometimes modified to play various samples.
According to Mori, she was trying to make the drum machines "sound broken."[6] Critic Adam Strohm
writes that she "founded a new world for the instrument, taking it far beyond backing rhythms and robotic
fills."[7] In recent years she has used a laptop as her primary instrument, but is still sometimes credited
with "electronic percussion".

In 1995, she began collaborating with Japanese bass guitarist Kato Hideki (from Ground Zero), and
together with experimental guitarist Fred Frith (from Henry Cow), they formed Death Ambient. The trio
released three albums, Death Ambient (1995), Synaesthesia (1999) and Drunken Forest (2007).

Beyond her solo recordings, she has recorded or performed with Dave Douglas, Butch Morris, Kim
Gordon, Thurston Moore, and many others, including as Hemophiliac, a trio with John Zorn and singer
Mike Patton, as well as being a member of Zorn's Electric Masada. With Zeena Parkins, she records and
tours as duo project Phantom Orchard. She often records on Tzadik, as well as designing the covers for
many of their albums.
Mori has drawn inspiration from visual arts. Her 2000 release, One Hundred Aspects of the Moon was
inspired by famed Japanese artist Yoshitoshi. Her 2005 recording, Myrninerest, is inspired by outsider
artist Madge Gill.

Awards
Mori received a 2005-2006 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award. In 2022 Mori
received the MacArthur Fellowship award ("Genius Grant").[8]

Discography
Painted Desert (with Robert Quine and Marc Ribot; 1995)
Hex Kitchen (1995)
Garden (1996)
David Watson / Jim Denley / Rik Rue / Amanda Stewart / Ikue Mori - Bit-Part Actor (Braille
Records, 1996)
B/Side (1998)
One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (2000)
Labyrinth (2001)
Phantom Orchard (2004)
Myrninerest (2005)
Bhima Swarga (2007)
Class Insecta (2009)
Near Nadir (with Mark Nauseef, Evan Parker and Bill Laswell; 2011)
The Nows (Paul Lytton/Nate Wooley + Ikue Mori/Ken Vandermark; Clean Feed, 2012)
Scrumptious Sabotage (with Maja S. K. Ratkje; Catalytic Sound, 2013)
Highsmith (with Craig Taborn; Tzadik, 2017)
House of Vines (Catalytic Sound, 2020)
Sand Storm (with Kaze quartet; Atypeek Diffusion/Circum-Disc, 2021)
Crustal Movement (with Kaze quartet; Circum/Libra, 2023)
With Lotte Anker & Sylvie Courvoisier

Alien Huddle (Intakt, 2008)

With Mephista (Mori, Sylvie Courvoisier and Susie Ibarra)

Black Narcissus (Tzadik, 2002)

Entomological Reflections (Tzadik, 2004)
With Cyro Baptista

Infinito (Tzadik, 2009)

With Dave Douglas

Freak In (RCA, 2003)

With Erik Friedlander
 Claws and Wings (Skipstone, 2013)
With Fred Frith and Ensemble Modern

Traffic Continues (Winter & Winter, 2000)

Later... (Les Disques VICTO, 2000)
A Mountain Doesn't Know It's Tall (Intakt Records, 2015)
With Maybe Monday

Unsquare (Intakt, 2008)

With Rova::Orchestrova

Electric Ascension (Atavistic, 2005)

With Kim Gordon and DJ Olive

SYR5: ミュージカル パースペクティブ (Sonic Youth Recordings, 2000)

With George Spanos

Dreams Beyond (Evolver Records, 2014)

With John Zorn

Locus Solus (Rift, 1983)

The Bribe (Tzadik, 1986 [1998])
Godard/Spillane (Tzadik, 1987 [1999])
Filmworks III: 1990–1995 (Toy's Factory, 1995)
Filmworks VI: 1996 (Tzadik, 1996)
Cobra: John Zorn's Game Pieces Volume 2 (Tzadik, 2002)
Hemophiliac (Tzadik, 2002) with Hemophiliac
Voices in the Wilderness (Tzadik, 2003)
The Unknown Masada (Tzadik, 2003)
50th Birthday Celebration Volume 4 (Tzadik, 2004) with Electric Masada
50th Birthday Celebration Volume 6 (Tzadik, 2004) with Hemophiliac
Mysterium (Tzadik, 2005)
Electric Masada: At the Mountains of Madness (Tzadik, 2005) with Electric Masada
Filmworks XVI: Workingman's Death (Tzadik, 2005)
Six Litanies for Heliogabalus (Tzadik, 2007)
Femina (Tzadik, 2009)
Interzone (Tzadik, 2010)
Rimbaud (Tzadik, 2012)
In Lambeth (Tzadik, 2013) with the Gnostic Trio
On Leaves of Grass (Tzadik, 2014) with the Nova Quartet
With Medicine Singers
 Medicine Singers(Joyful Noise Recordings)

References
1. Carlin, Matthew. "Ikue Mori" (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/ikue-mori-mn0000084160/biogra
phy). AllMusic. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
2. "Ikue Mori - TOWER RECORDS ONLINE" (http://tower.jp/artist/173938/Ikue-Mori).
3. Stevens, Matt (12 October 2022). "MacArthur Foundation Announces 25 New 'Genius' Grant
Winners" (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/arts/macarthur-foundation-genius-grant-win
ners.html). The New York Times. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
4. Robbins, Ira; Mark Fleischmann; Robert Payes. "DNA" (http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.p
hp?a=dna). Trouser Press. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
5. Bangs, Lester (1988). Greil Marcus (ed.). Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung. New
York: Vintage Books. p. 303. ISBN 0-679-72045-6.
6. Frank J. Oteri (1 August 2009). "At Home in Strange Lands, Ikue Mori in conversation with
Frank J. Oteri, July 16, 2009" (http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/ikue-mori-at-home-in-str
ange-lands/). NewMusicBox.
7. Strohm, Adam (20 October 2004). "Dusted Review: Zeena Parkins & Ikue Mori - Phantom
Orchard" (http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/1741). Dusted Magazine. Retrieved
12 April 2010.
8. "Ikue Mori" (https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2022/ikue-mori#searchresults).
MacArthur Foundation. 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.

External links
IkueMori.com (official site) (http://www.ikuemori.com)
Ikue Mori (myspace) (https://www.myspace.com/ikuemorimusic)
Discography of Ikue Mori (http://www.discogs.com/artist/Ikue+Mori)
Ikue Mori, Interviewed by Theresa Stern, November 1997 (http://www.furious.com/perfect/ik
uemori.html)
Phantom Orchard (http://www.frontporchproductions.org/artist/phantomorchard)
Discography by Patrice Roussel (http://nyds-discographies.com/mori.htm) Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/20140903114916/http://nyds-discographies.com/mori.htm) 2014-09-03
at the Wayback Machine

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