Masonna is the ongoing primary musical project of Yamazaki Takushi, a prominent member of the
Japanoise scene since 1987. The name "Masonna", on some releases, is cited as being an
acronym for either "
Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Auréolé" or "
Mystic Another Selection Of Nurses Naked Anthology". Takushi has also said that the name is a pun on
Madonna. The Masonna experience is characterized by his intense
shrieking and his highly energetic solo performances, which would sometimes last for only five minutes, or until he had broken a vital piece of equipment and/or was physically unable to continue.
Like many artists, Masonna began recording and releasing music entirely on his own, starting with the 1987 cassette All Live Recording at My Room. Several more records followed in the next few years, many in small editions of ten, or even one, which were produced by Masonna on a portable acetate cutter and put out on his vanity label Coquette. In 1993, he had attracted the attention of Jojo Hiroshige, who released a Masonna CD on his label, Alchemy Records. The label was extremely well-known in the Japanese noise scene, and thus exposed Masonna to a wide range of listeners. From here, Masonna proceeded to release records on Ron Lessard's RRRecords, Aube's G.R.O.S.S., and Damion Romero's P-Tapes labels, as well as less frequent releases on his own Coquette. As his work progressed, he began incorporating psychedelic analog synth into his work, and recorded some solely spacy, whooshing electronic releases under the name Space Machine.
Masonna took a hiatus from performing live in 2002 due to health concerns, but returned to playing live in 2005. A new CD is rumored to be in progress.
Selected Discography:
- Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Auréolé (Alchemy Records, 1993)
- Noskl In Ana (Alchemy Records, 1994)
- Noisextra (Pure, 1995)
- Super Compact Disc (Alchemy Records, 1995)
- Ejaculation Generater (Alchemy Records, 1996)
- Inner Mind Mystique (Release Entertainment, 1996)
- Spectrum Ripper (Cold Spring, 1997)
- Frequency L.S.D. (Alien8 Recordings, 1998)
- John Peel Sessions Live (Alchemy Music Store, 1999, limited to 30 copies)
- Vestal Spacy Ritual (Alchemy Records, 1999)