Masonna

Born Takushi Yamazaki in Miyazu, Kyoto, in 1966, Maso Yamazaki started Masonna in Osaka in 1987, its name a pun on Madonna combining the Japanese words for “masochist” and “woman.” Releasing chiefly through Alchemy Records — where Yamazaki also managed the Osaka noise store Alchemy Music until its closure — and later Relapse, Alien8, and Blast First, Masonna became known for wild, destructive live sets, sometimes lasting only seconds, that saw Yamazaki damage his own equipment and occasionally injure himself; the project opened Japanese dates for Sonic Youth, Beck, and Slipknot, and was featured on John Peel’s BBC radio program.

Yamazaki formed the noise trio Flying Testicle with Merzbow’s Masami Akita and Zev Asher, releasing Lamerican Sextom (1992) and Space Desia (1993); Akita, Yamazaki, and Zev Asher had first played together, backed by an evolving Osaka lineup, in the freak-rock supergroup Bustmonster (1991–94), which also drew in C.C.C.C.’s Fumio Kosakai, Monde Bruits’s Shohei Iwasaki, and Solmania’s Masahiko Ohno at various points. Yamazaki also recorded with Aube’s Akifumi Nakajima as Kinkakuji and, joined by C.C.C.C.’s Hiroshi Hasegawa, as Gokurakuji.