C.C.C.C. is a noise band from Japan, alongside such bands as Merzbow and Incapacitants. // Merzbow (Japanese; メルツバウ) is the name used by Japanese musician Masami Akita (秋田昌美 Akita Masami) for most of his experimental noise records, and is considered by many to be the earliest project among others in what has become known as the Japanese noise scene. He has released many CDs, LPs and cassettes... Incapacitants (インキャパシタンツ) are a Japanese noise music group formed in 1981. ...

The core line up of this band consisted of Hiroshi Hasegawa (長谷川洋) (also of the bands Astro & Mortal Vision) and former bondage-porn star Mayuko Hino. Hino would occasionally during live shows reprise this element of her past into her performances by engaging in such acts as onstage stripteases. Other members were occasionally and variably brought in for work on singular albums, but had no permanent membership in the band. Astro is the solo project of Japanese musician Hiroshi Hasegawa of the influential noise music group C.C.C.C. Astros music is made using a Moog synthesizer and covers a wide range of styles in the experimental psychedelic music field, from space music to psychedelically tinged harsh noise. ... A pornographic actor or a porn star is somebody who appears in pornographic movies, live sex shows or peep shows. ... An album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. ...

Aesthetically, the band, and Mayuko Hino in particular, advocated a very emotive and cathartic approach to noise music as opposed the conceptual and intellectual approaches advocated by many European noise musicians, most notably within the "power electronics" subgenre. Mayuko Hino believes that Noise, when done emotionally rather than intellectually, not only creates more interesting sounds, but reveals much about the personality of the noisemaker. Sonically, C.C.C.C.'s first release, "Cosmic Coincidence Control Center" was much quieter and much less distorted than most "Japanese noise" releases, bordering on being experimental ambient. Later releases, such as "Rocket Shrine" and "Love and Noise", however, took the psychedelic ambiance and oddball sounds of early C.C.C.C., but amplified the volume and distortion levels to easily be as loud, and harsh as other Japanese noise bands, if not more so. The band's later releases rank among the more sonically diverse of noise albums, exploring an incredible variety of sonic dissonances, while still maintaining a consistently ear-splitting loudness. “Instrumentalist” redirects here. ... For the Irish mythological figure, see Naoise. ... In music, a band is a company of musicians, or musical ensemble, usually popular or folk, playing parts of or improvising a musical arrangement on different musical instruments. ...

The band eventually broke up. Hiroshi Hasegawa has returned, by all appearances, to doing experimental ambiance, this time under the name Astro. In 1995, Mayuko Hino released an album called "Chaos of the Night", which also starred Monte Cazazza of "Industrial Records" fame. Astro is the solo project of Japanese musician Hiroshi Hasegawa of the influential noise music group C.C.C.C. Astros music is made using a Moog synthesizer and covers a wide range of styles in the experimental psychedelic music field, from space music to psychedelically tinged harsh noise. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... An album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. ... Monte Cazazza is an American artist and composer best known for his seminal role in helping shape the early landscape of industrial music through recordings with the London-based Industrial Records in the mid-1970s. ...

As of early 2007, C.C.C.C. have announced a new CD release entitled "Chaos Is The Cosmos" which is forthcoming on Cold Spring Records.

Partial discography

• Reflexive Universe (1991)
• Phantasmagoria (1992)
• Cosmic Coincidence Control Center (1992)
• Amplified Crystal (1993)
• Loud Sounds Dopa (1993)
• Test Tube Fantasy EP (1994)
• Community Center Cyber Crash (1994)
• Flash (1996)
• Love & Noise (1996)
• Early Works 4CD Box (2007)
• Chaos Is The Cosmos (2007)

Collaborations

The Beauty of Pollution (with Nocturnal Emissions) (Endorphine Factory, 1996) Nocturnal Emissions is sound art project that has released numerous records and CDs in music styles ranging from electro-acoustic, musique concrete, hybridised beats, sound collage, post-industrial music and noise music. ...

External links

• Pictures of Hiroshi Hasegawa as discogs.com
• Japanoise.net's entry on C.C.C.C. (in Japanese)
• C.C.C.C.'s page on Cold Spring Records