Government Alpha

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Has he done many interviews?

From 1999: https://www.angelfire.com/mi/sinkhole/intmsbrgovt.html

From 2005: http://tinrp.free.fr/empty/pages/interviews/interview%20files/govalpha.html

From 2012: http://africanpaper.com/2012/01/28/like-hunting-in-the-wild-interview-with-yasutoshi-yoshida-aka-government-alpha/

From 2017: https://m.soundcloud.com/user-577776576/interview-with-yasutoshi-yoshida

And interviews on paper from 2024: The Vital Organ #2 (about his gear) and Special Interests #16 (about his collages).

These are great!

The 1999 interview with Koji is short but has some funny moments. I wonder what kind of food Yasutoshi was making, and which releases those sounds ended up on.
 

what's the strangest thing you've ever used for making sounds?

sometimes using keychain (makes jangling motion), toaster, blender.

do you actually make food while recording?

sometimes, yes. all improvisation.

Really enjoyed this bit from the African Paper as well. Seems like he struggled to grasp harsh noise at first and was fixated on the elements of industrial until he saw Incapacitants live and it all clicked:

When I listened to Harsh Noise from groups like Hijokaidan and Incapacitants on CD for the first time, I couldn't understand it. For a while, I kept to record more industrial and experimental tracks without harshnoise elements. You can listen them on a 4 cd box set that we released on Pica Disk. A few years later, I had the chance to see an Incapacitants show, and it had a huge impact on me. It was a very powerful show and by no means negative, and after that experience I intended to make much stronger music than before. It should actually be the strongest noise than them, and so I tried to make harshnoise.

I first thought that Harshnoise was just noise and it might be quite easy way to create it. I completely underestimated harshnoise. It was, however, very hard to find my own way into it, and maybe it took three or four years to complete something like a typical Government Alpha style. Now I can say, if i could make harshnoise easily, I would probably quit making it. So, I'm still looking for the way to harshnoise, and maybe it takes forever.

[holy ghost]

Has he done many interviews?

I interviewed him for Untitled a couple of years ago. We did the interview by email but he was an incredibly pleasant and gracious subject.

I'll echo the Swamp Attack CD is great (Scum are also a great project) and the Xerxes 6 CD box set is a really great retrospective

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Been listening to Government Alpha / SCUM "swamp attack" CD several times. Two Japanese acts together on this, perfect blend. Lazer-noise, stutter loops, top-max-distortion, many things I don't always rate among desired elements of noise, but with some projects it just works. And this collaboration is among very best GA collabs.

Government Alpha "Apophenia" CD again more listening and its is not far from material above. I think I wrote in another topic about listening to this CD, comparing it with some late 90's works and coming into conclusion that new stuff has more punch and more energy. If you are looking for something "new", this ain't it, but if you are looking for more good electronic harsh noise fireworks, it delivers!

Difficult to describe how Yoshida tops himself, even though the sounds aren't THAT different from earlier material. But they ARE somehow! I'm listening to Apophenia now, and it truly is superb in so many aspects. I think his recording and mixing skills have really progressed to new heights in recent years.

I need more listens to truly describe how good Apophenia is, but anyone who listens to it will just instantly know. I wrote about the Fecalove collaboration a page or two back and described some of the sounds as 3D or even kaleidoscope in nature, and I get that same feeling here.

The GA and Scum split Swamp Attack is one of my favorite noise releases in the last 5 years. Perfect pairing.

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

The Government Alpha thread over at Scream & Writhe inspired me to purchase a few new things and revisit old things. Not that I need a ton of pressure to order some new GA or pull out an old release.

A couple of weeks back, Hospital had a sale and unearthed old releases from storage, and among them were a few copies of the Government Alpha Force Field tape. I was lucky enough to get a copy.

This is from the "International Misanthropy" series, where each tape came with a little folded insert with a short interview printed on it. One of the coolest tidbits in there is about original intent with the name.

Government Alpha - a name that evokes an elite organization but also something sinister and cold. Why not government omega? Were there other name considerations that were not used?

Yes, I had an idea like you said. I was going to change the band name for each album at first. Like a Government Beta, Government Gamma and Government Delta... then I used an "a" instead of "Alpha." At the time I thought that was an interesting idea, like a proliferating secret agency. However, I was more preoccupied with the production of the sound source than with the name, and forgot about it.

Also, this Force Field tape is an absolute scorcher and competes with some of the 90's material. It goes very hard. The skulls and bones in the design are a cool throwback to classics like Snakes and Ladders and Alphaville. Yoshida talks about his inspiration in using skulls and bones a little in the interview, too.