DJ Pica Pica Pica Biography

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Biography DJ Pica Pica Pica

Yamantaka Eye (????, real name Yamatsuka Tetsuo (????), born 1964 in Kobe) is a Japanese vocalist and visual artist, best known as a member of Boredoms. He has changed his name three times, from Yamatsuka Eye, to Yamantaka Eye, to Yamataka Eye, and sometimes calls himself eYe or EY?. He also DJs under the name DJ ??? or "DJ pica pica pica" ("pica" means "bright" or "shiny"), and has used other pseudonyms on occasion.

Music

Boredoms

Eye is a founder of the influential rock music band, Boredoms, whose first major label release came out in the early '90s. The closest thing Boredoms have to a frontman, Eye offers a variety of vocal techniques: gurgles, screams, grunts and occasionally, relatively conventional singing. In the later days of Boredoms and in today's V?redoms he plays electronics and open reel tapes.

Other

Yamantaka Eye is also a member of the bands Hanatarash, UFO or Die, Puzzle Punks, and Destroy 2, though he is notorious for his vast, confusing discography, and countless guest appearances. In 1993, he recorded an EP with Sonic Youth called TV Shit for Thurston Moore's label, Ecstatic Peace. He also collaborated with Yamamoto Seiichi & Yamazaki Maso in the project "(Triple) Yama's" which was titled for their shared namesake. He released two albums, Live! and Live!!, with Japanese turntablist/improviser Yoshihide Otomo, under the moniker "MC Hellshit & DJ Carhouse".

Other notable collaborations include his work with Bill Laswell's Praxis, his work with top sound experimenter Otomo Yoshihide, and with John Zorn's groups Painkiller and Naked City, both of which helped him form his current musical nature. Eye and Zorn also recorded the album Zohar as the "Mystic Fugu Orchestra." This latter compilation, which both commemorates and satirizes Jewish culture, also draws strength from Eye's earlier influence from the Oomoto religion in Japan, a sect claiming to possess visions of an emerging world order. Several generations of Eye's family belonged to Oomoto, which was at times brutally suppressed by the Japanese government. Yamantaka participated in the Boredoms 77 Boadrum performance which occurred on July 7th, 2007 at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, New York.

Art

His art usually utilizes multiple mediums including airbrush, marker pen and collage. In 1996, a full color collection of his artwork, entitled Nanoo, was published. Eye's artwork has adorned a number of records, including most albums by Boredoms and Beck's Midnite Vultures. His early artistic style was very abstract, almost dadaist. However, similar to the Boredoms' musical direction, Eye started incorporating a much more psychedelic style into his work, evident on the covers of many of the later Boredoms albums.

When discussing Eye's art style, Stylus Magazine writer Mike Powell commented:

See also: Stylus Magazine feature about his art