Tatsuya Yoshida / drums, compose (Ruins alone, Koenji Hyakkei, Zeni Geva, etc.) Natsuki Kido / guitar (Bondage Fruit, Salle Gavaux, Kiki Band, etc.) Mitsuru Nasuno / bass  (Altered States, Umbeltipo, Ground Zero, etc.)   Formed in 1998 by Yoshida Tatsuya, Japan’s KOREKYOJINN (alternately spelled Korekyojin) is a progressive-jazz-rock band determined to redefine the polyrhythmic ensemble. The band’s name translates to “This Giant”, a sly pun inspired by THIS HEAT and GENTLE GIANT, two band’s the group draws inspiration from. In Japanese the word “kore” translates as “this”, while “kyojinn” is “giant”. While the style of KOREKYOJINN will be recognizable to fans of Yoshida Tatsuya’s other acts, the band has carved out a sound all its own. The trio dance on razors, are sharp as a tack – and their overwhelming ability jettisons them into the outer limits – where progressive rock and contemporary jazz collide into a breathtaking, futuristic, hard rock funk.   KOREKYOJINN is an All-Star ensemble, comprised of the greatest talent Tokyo’s fervent Avant/Prog rock scene has to offer: Yoshida Tatsuya has proven himself a major force many times over in Japan’s contemporary music scene. He is the founder of RUINS and KOENJIHYAKKEI, a member of ZENI GEVA, Yoshida has performed with ACID MOTHERS GONG, SAMLA MAMAS MANNA, John Zorn’s PAIN KILLER. and has been cited by John Zorn as “[the] indisputable master drummer of the Japanese underground”. In KOREKYOJINN, Kido Natsuki is leader and guitarist of the phenomenal cult prog rock band BONDAGE FRUIT. His “progressive-tango band” SALLE GAVEAU performed at the “Rock in Opposition” Festival in 2007, shocking audiences across Europe. GROUND ZERO’s legendary bassist Nasuno Mitsuru to demonstrate the limitless potential of the “power trio”. Nasuno is renowned for his uncanny abilities in the critically acclaimed band ALTERED STATES and his experimental progressive rock outfit UNBELTIPO.

A real octopus, Tatsuya Yoshida began the drums at the beginning of the 1980s. 25 years later, he has become a truly polyrhythmic monster with syncopated respiration. An initiate in progressive music from high-school days, Tatsuya Yoshida listened to Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Camel and This Heat. Although he cites his main influence as Christian Vander and Magma’s Kobaïan operatic choruses and interlaced phrasing, Tatsuya Yoshida also mines other seams to create a new, complex and concentrated style, incorporating the expressivity of prog rock, the freedom of jazz and the energy of punk.

The foundations of Japanese independent and alternative music were born in the Eighties. Tatsuya Yoshida was already playing in the group YBO2 beside Masashi Kitamura and K.K. Null (Zeni Geva) when, in 1985, he formed a duo, Ruins, with just bass and drums. Four bass players came and went: Hideki Kawamoto, Kazuyoshi Kimoto, Ryuichi Masuda and Hisashi Sasaki. With the departure of his last bassist, Tatsuya Yoshida set out on a quest for a new pretender, but abandoned his mission, unable to find a candidate up to the job. The music Ruins were creating had become so complex that electronic machines were now Tatsuya Yoshida’s ideal partner.

Ruins then became Ruins Alone. Like syrup or strong alcohol, Ruins make music that makes you grimace. Ruins is a lab of the Tatsuya Yoshida stamp, a direct interface between his brain and his drumsticks. You could get 15 rock records out of one Ruins album, just by adding a bit of fizzy water. Each composition could be developed in many different directions. Tatsuya Yoshida plays in numerous groups; he needs to, to sustain sufficient space for his overflowing creativity.

Tatsuya Yoshida has worked with some of the greatest improvisers on the planet, such as John Zorn, Fred Frith or Derek Bailey. Today, above and beyond the Ruins Alone project, Tatsuya Yoshida is the composer and drummer both in Korekyojinn, an instrumental trio that pushes polyrhythmic complexity to its ultimate limits, and the Koenji Hyakkei ensemble, a quasi-orchestral formation that bridges the gap between prog rock and contemporary music. In his time out from music, Yoshida compulsively photographs stones. He travels the world in search of the mineral beauty of monumental statues and the millennial energy of rocks.