ichigatsu_oyster_cmp007 (2007)

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Ichigatsu is the Japanese word for ‘January’, and this word represents the musical projects created by experimental musician John Biebel. Based in Boston, U.S., Ichigatsu began recording and producing songs since 2003. Previous to this project, John worked with the multi-national band Squid to create two albums. Ichigatsu’s music is based primarily in the rhythms of acoustic percussion, filled with the metallic sounds of Iranian santur, Cambodian Tro-So and other stringed instruments. John has traveled with portable recording devices to capture environmental sounds that are key to the vision of Ichigatsu. Along with a strong affinity to Eastern folk music, electronic mixing and production are equally part of the music from beginning to end.

John traces his musical origins back to early lessons with piano, slide brass trombone and clarinet. He played for years in a school jazz band, and placed music aside for a while when he studied fine art at the Cooper Union in New York City, U.S. During that time, however, when making Super 8 mm films for his film class, he began recording with his brother’s 4 track analog recorder and his sonic journey began.

It was a relocation to London, U.K. in 2001 that Ichigatsu found its beginning. John was recording sound on trips back to the U.S, and soon the blend of U.K., Greek and U.S. music was born in the form of Squid. At that time in the early 00’s in London, sparse electronica was the primary sound of experimental music, and John was influenced by this, but also sought out the sounds of live music, particularly percussion. Living with a group of musicians, filmmakers and artists in London’s Hackney neighborhood was very influential as well.

‘There is something amazing about Hackney; it’s almost like a neutral ground where music and ways of life from all over the world can be experienced side-by-side with British working-class straightforwardness’ says John. It was this introduction that led John on journeys to Oslo, Istanbul and Paris to experience more of the art and sound from different places.

After a difficult relocation to the U.S. (based on immigration problems), Ichigatsu found itself in Boston. Considered one of the most music-rich cities in the U.S., Boston is a primarily Irish-American city that retains a characteristic New England self-sufficiency that was ‘right’ at the right time for Ichigatsu to begin recording.

‘Ichigatsu began from this wish of mine to collect instruments, collect sounds, and create sound-moods,’ says John. ‘I had been recording so much sound over the years on my laptop, and they were slowly emerging into songs that weren’t easy to place in any category. The best way to describe the Ichigatsu is the love affair between east and west.’

It is the paradox of eastern and western musical traditions that reflect the way in which Ichigatsu’s songs evolve. In the most recently recorded Ichigatsu work, many of the tracks were recorded in hotel rooms in different cities in the U.S., U.K. and France. ‘I was able to visit a college friend in Paris, and found myself in a small room at the top of a house in Versailles, the same room I’d visited in about ten years ago. When I opened the tiny window one morning, I heard church bells, birds and auto engines, and I knew I was in the right place to write new music.’

Ichigatsu has worked with experimental film-maker and musician Fil Ieropoulos – a London-based Thessaloniki-born artist who is part of the Greek duo Chromata. John’s work has been used in performance art pieces in Ireland and the U.K. Ichigatsu continues to write and perform music and paint in the Allston section of Boston, affectionately known by the locals as ‘Rock City.’