Artists | Ikue Mori (JP/US)

Ikue Mori (born 1953 in Tokyo, Japan) is an Japanese/American drummer, composer, and graphic designer.
She went to New York City in 1977, fell into the music scene and has remained in New York since.
Her first musical experience was as the drummer for no wave band DNA with Arto Lindsay and Tim Wright.
After DNA disbanded, Mori became active in the New York experimental music scene. She abandoned her drum set, and began playing drum machines, which she sometimes modified to play various samples.
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 Fred Frith they formed Death Ambient.
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, which expands to the Phantom Orchard Orchestra. She often records on Tzadik, as well as designing the covers for many of their albums.
In 2006, she was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award.
In 2007 the Tate Modern commissioned Ikue to create a live sound track for screenings of Maya Deren’s silent films. In 2008 Ikue celebrated her 30th year and performed at the Japan Society. Recent commissioners include the Montalvo Arts Center and SWR German radio program. Current working groups include Mephista with Sylvie Courvoisier and Susie Ibarra, Kibyoshi project with Koichi Makigami and Mark Nauseef and various ensembles with John Zorn.