About Haco

Vocalist, lyricist-composer, multi-instrumentalist and sound-artist, Haco has been recording solo or in groups/projects such as After Dinner, Hoahio, Happiness Proof, Mescaline Go-Go and View Masters since the early '80s. At her studio, Mescalina, in Kobe, Japan, she has created numerous recordings both as producer and engineer. As a musician and sound-artist, Haco has also given performances and created live installations throughout Japan and the world. With her unique sensibility, Haco has developed her own genre of art, based on principles of post-punk, electroacoustics, the avant-garde, improvisation, post-rock, environmental sound, and technology. Haco also frequently lectures and gives workshops on various sound-related topics. In 2005, her CD Stereo Bugscope 00 was awarded a prize in the digital music category at Prix Ars Electronica in Austria. Following formal studies in acoustics, electronic music and recording technology Haco came to international attention fronting the group After Dinner (active between 1981-1991), helped by their association with the "Rock in Opposition"-related label Recommended Records. Haco would later appear in "Step Across the Border", 1990's documentary film on Henry Cow's Fred Frith, as well as contributing music to the soundtrack. Haco released her first solo album in 1995, embarked on her first solo European tour a year later, and more recently has recorded or performed with countless other artists, such as Otomo Yoshihide. In addition to her more conventional album releases Haco has also worked in the fields of sound art; curating exhibitions and installations and establishing the sound art project View Masters (with focus on the environmental sounds of daily life), later beginning the production and curation of a four-year series of View Masters lectures, concerts and workshops in 2002.