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Entrevista a Himeko Katagiri
Underground musician

A small introduction

Hello Himeko Katagiri. First of all thank you for your time! I am very thankful that you accepted my interview offer <3.

This is an interview with user-made questions form Wired-7 users. I also added some questions.
There are A LOT of questions so please answer the questions you want. Also, there are weird questions, please remember that all questions are optional, do not feel forced to answer them if you don't want to.

This is going to be posted on a static section of Wired-7 so a lot of readers are going to find us using search engines and other users won't even know what are they reading lol.

Q: Could you introduce yourself?

A: Hi, I am Himeko Katagiri. I make music and run the label Tsundere Violence. I also produce under a ton of different names. Also, thank you for inviting me to the interview, this my first time doing one with user-submitted questions~~

Q: Could you tell us what are your main music genres and a small explanation for freshmen?

A: I make a lot of different genres but my main genres would be lolicore, breakcore, noise, speedcore; that sort of thing. I also make stuff like grindcore, black metal, ambient, field recordings, instrumental trap, and so on.
Breakcore is "breaks hardcore", its extreme dance music focused on breaks and crazy percussion. Speedcore is really fast hardcore/gabber. Noise is noise. Lolicore is like all of those combined then (usually) smashed with all kinds of anime and J-pop samples. Lolicore is also up for interpretation, there isn't really a set sound, more a set vibe, but its always electronic and is usaully dance-orientated (even if its really loud and chaotic)!

Q: And the last introductory question. Himeko Katagiri owns a network music label named Tsundere Violence. Could you introduce Tsundere Violence label and a bit of it's history?

A: Tsundere Violence is a label for lolicore, breakcore, speedcore, noise, metal, ambient, grindcore, IDM, jungle, and all kinds of stuff. Its a free web-label and I made it in early 2012, I started producing lolicore in 2011 (but have made music prior to that).
When I was coming into the scene I saw that it was dying, a lot of the 1st wave people had quit, vanished, or stopped making lolicore. I was networking with other second wave artists and that's how I met RaevLoli. RaevLoli and I made Lolicore Artists Association, a Facebook group for 2nd wave lolicore artists to convene together. We went allover last.fm, YouTube, and Soundcloud gathering everyone up. We needed a label, so I made Tsundere Violence.
Tsundere Violence served as the forefront for second wave lolicore, it actually saved the genre from dying. Then the 2nd wave artists inspired the 3rd wave artists. So yeah, Tsundere Violence is pretty major in the story of lolicore, lolicore would be dead without it.

Let's start the interview.

This is an user-made interview so there are a lot of tricky, weird and off-topic questions. Answer them as you please.


No.266:
Q: Is it difficult to make an lolicore/speedcore/noise song?

A: Well it really depends. I will answer each genre seperately.
Lolicore is a cool genre because even objectively "bad" music can make good lolicore. It really is up to your personal tastes and preferences. You can either just distort a Touhou song like ShitDevilMansion, or you can do some crazy Reizoko CJ level stuff, or do something in between. Lolicore can have as much work put into it as you want to put into it. I personally put a lot of work into my tracks and I only use one-shots. Every tiny cut and drum sound you hear in my music was manually placed. Its not hard for me because I've been doing this for 10 years, but there is a lot of work involved. Typically my Himeko Katagiri songs take anywhere from a day to a few weeks to complete. Basically, lolicore can have a lot of work put into it, or no work put into it. If its hard is up to you.
Speedcore is a weird genre to make, I personally get bored making it so I go really technical with it. Speedcore is usually a simple genre but it can be tricky sometimes to make it sound really good.
Its a common misconception that noise is easy to make. Noise is easy to make, but good noise takes skill. If you want to make good noise just experiment, have fun, and put in the effort. Noise is all about the textures, progression (unless its HNW), and keeping the music interesting (unless its HNW). There's also no wrong way to make noise, noise can be made with anything, and there isn't any set techniques.

Q: How do you make these songs (the process)?

I mean, first you think about a melody and then make it, or you hear something and suddenly you hear "the music inside", or maybe you start adding tracks until you get something...
This is kind of hard to answer since it varies so much based on what I'm making. If its a technical breakcore song or a remix I usually just start making it with zero plans. If its lolicore it depends. Some of my lolicore I just dive right in with no planned direction. If its a sample heavy lolicore song, like me adding percussion over an anime OP, then its the song I sampled that inspired it. If its something where I'm composing a melody, I either come up with the melody through improv or I compose it the oldschool way (sheet music) then render it as a MIDI.
In all cases though I never plan out my music much, its much more fun to do it in the moment and it comes out a lot better that way. This might sound psychotic, but I tap into a dream-state when I make music. I am able to work from my subconcious, before music I drew a lot, and this is how my drawings are done. I then applied this to music, it was a tough transition at first but now I've mastered it.

No.267:
Q: Are drugs associated with this music genres? / Are drugs common in the concerts of this music genres?
Q: Do you think drugs can help you to "feel" the music?

A: I'm straight edge lol -- that means I don't do drugs, drink, or smoke.
I've never done drugs before and do not condone their use. As for drugs and lolicore, it does exist, but its definetly not everyone. Its about what you would see in any music scene; straight edge people, people who use drugs heavily, and people who just do it recreationally. Lolicore shows are still very uncommon, and majority of them are in Japan, and its apparently a lot harder to get drugs there. I don't do drugs so I can't say anything about their effects. As for drug references in lolicore, Lolishit has some albums with that theme, but most lolicore doesn't really mention drug use.

No.268 & No.272:
Q: What artists influenced you in your career?
And an user ask specifically about how Venetian Snares influenced you in your career.

A: Venetian Snares!!! By chance they see this, I LOVE YOU!!!
Yeah Venetian Snares is a major influence for me, they were the first breakcore artist I ever heard. First song I heard by them was off of Meathole, I think it might've been Szycag, and I remember it totally blew me away and thats when I knew I wanted to do breakcore. Another big influential artist for me is Karsten Pflum. My only Himeko song that sounds inspired by him is the first half of Slaphead Lolita (a reference to Pflum's Slaphead Faun), but Pflum is who made me want to make music. The moment I heard their song Blfonk II, I knew I wanted to make music. I grew up listening to a lot of IDM stuff like Aphex Twin, Four Tet, Boards Of Canada; so I already had an interest in music, but Karsten Pflum and Venetian Snares are the artists who made me really want to make music.
For lolicore, that all started with nhk!? by Goreshit. That was the very first lolicore song I ever heard and it changed my life. I was immediately absolutely OBSESSED with lolicore the moment I heard that song. I knew I wanted to make lolicore and listen to as much of it as possible. Lolicore is the best genre ever made. Lolicore for me, and especially Goreshit's stuff, has this awesome heartwarming vibe to it. I get this hearwarming vibe from anime, and I get it from music, so when you combine the two it feels so amazing to listen to. Sound wise, I would say ONOMATOPEEE inspired my lolicore the most, their stuff is noisy and insane, and thats the kind of lolicore I like to make. Some other inspirations of mine are Datach'i, Hrvatski, and Shitmat.
My noise stuff has been largely inspired by JAPSHITFUN and Violent Onsen Geisha. My noise live acts are inspired by Masonna and Hanatarash. I'm also a huge fan of Namasu Yoshihide, but they haven't directly inspired my work to a great amount, but their passion definitely.
My early grindcore was heavily inspired by artists like Rorikiller, but now its more inspired by bands/artists like The Gerogerigegege and Japanese scum grind bands.

No.270:
Q: How much do you get paid for a live session? How much money do you have in your bank account?
Q: How many times do you had sex this month? Did you had easy sex for being the DJ?

A: I don't get paid much for live shows, I think the most was like $40? I don't do this for the money though, I would play for free. I don't have money I'm a hikikomori.
A: Lolicore artists don't have sex unless you're one of the few who are married (yes, some lolicore artists have wives and even families). I've only played a few shows, never had a girl approach me in that kind of way. Also I'm Christian, I wouldn't have sex with someone without being married to them.

No.271:
Q: What was the breakcore, speedcore,lolicore... song that made you think "I want to create this"?

A: I already answered this in the other question lol. (No.268 & No.272)

No.274:
Q: What do you think about music piracy?
Q: What is your opinion on music streaming platforms like Spotify? What do you think that this platforms try to encompass* everything?
*The user means having all music saved online by companies, like you no longer own it, you only have the right to stream it.

A: I am actually against music piracy. I'm a collector so I take pride in actually purchasing the albums. I'm fine with other people pirating though, especially if they don't have the money to buy it. I just personally don't pirate.
Streaming services like Spotify are weird, I literally only made a Spotify account just to listen to Viper. I'm a collector, so I think its way better to actually own the music than just streaming it. I don't know enough about the streaming platforms to answer the rest of the question, but I do have a gripe with Spotify and streaming services.
I hate it when people think any kind of service contains everything, like when people think Spotify has every song ever made, think Crunchyroll has every anime ever made, stuff like this is just ignorant. Also, there's always the fear of censorship on such a platform. I've seen YouTube now marking songs as highly offensive for literally no reason or for just swearing, so thats a very slippery slope artists and fans should stay far away from.

Q: Can you make music (and this kind of music) without knowing the basics of music?

A: You can make music without knowing anything, even good music. But the more you learn how music works, how your DAW works, sound design, tricks, and so on, your music will get way better. You can make music knowing nothing, but the more you learn the better you can capture what you want to make.
Also you get more experienced every song you make, so if you're new just keep working on improving, you'll get there.

No.275:
Q: What is your favourite genre of porn?
Q: Conspiracy theory you believe?
Q:Have you been diagnosed with any mental disorder? What kind of schizophrenia?
Q: What do you wish people knew about your work?

A: Your mom, lolis did 9/11, I don't have mental problems, how much work and love goes into it.

And a question like No.266 way:
Q: What's the biggest challenge when creating your music?

A: That's sort of hard to answer, I typically just roll with it and don't have many, if any, issues.
I guess the biggest challenges can be when you're doing something you haven't done before. Like there was a transitional phase when I was learning how to do hip-hop and trap beats. And I'm finding it challenging to use Vocaloid, I have Yuki Kaai but barely use her since I suck at Vocaloid. But then other new things just come naturally, like my first black metal album (privately released since kvlt) came out far better than I expected.

No.276:
Q: Would you like to be famous on the music world?

A: I'm already really well known in the world of lolicore. I don't want to be famous or anything, I just want to be known and liked enough to do tours and stuff, I'm actually planning my first tour now (WEST COAST FALL). Thats the most famous I would want to be though, I don't want to be a household name or anything like that, I just want to play more shows.

No.278:
Q: Do you think that the genres that you work with should continue being a niche or you would prefer them to appeal to "shitty normalfag masses"?

A: ALL GENRES SHOULD STAY UNDERGROUND. I actually hate Bandcamp and all music journalism sites and YouTube channels because they just whore out cool genres for capital gain. The masses and normies shouldn't even know the genres exist.

No.280:
Q: What's the song that you consider your masterpiece?
The user ask about one song, but I think choosing can be very difficult. I mean, you can answer as you want for example with a top 3 or with a song you made recently and you are proud of it.

A: This is way too hard to answer, I have so many songs that span so many genres. Although its nearly undanceable (it is danceable but people struggle when I play it), うしろゆびさされ組core has the most amount of work put into it out of all my songs.
That song seriously had soooooooooo many tracks in it, there's a ton of technical stuff going on too where I sliced the effects, and that took a ton of work. Some of the drum hits in it are even original, I wore binaural mics and threw hangers at a snare drum at various positions to create a "3D" effect.
That song is already a few years old though, I can do this stuff a lot more intricate (and easier) now, it still takes forever though. I can spend an hour on a song and only get one or two seconds of breaks made. Ok, thats enough rambling though for a question I didn't even actually answer.



Some extra questions:
Q: What song are you listening right now?

A: Right now I'm listening to Milkcow Blues by Violent Onsen Geisha off their album Que Sera, Sera (Things Go From Bad To Worse). This is one of my favorite experimental/noise albums ever made. Also pro-tip, Violent Onsen Geisha's albums are designed to be listened to in whole, not seperate songs, you only get the full effect of their music when you play a whole album start to finish.

Q: Do you tell people that you make this music? If you do, what do they think when they hear it?

It depends if I talk about my music, and actually music in general. If its online and it comes up, I will gladly talk about it. If its in perosn, I never mention it, especially if its someone I work with. One of my coworkers in the past knew I liked black metal and another knew I liked SUnn O))) since I always wore a Sunn O))) hoodie before I got in trouble for it. I only like to talk about music with people who I know love music too, if they're just a casual listener they just lie and say they listen to everything. I never show people my music and never mention that I make it.

Q: What is the music genre that you like most between the common music genres?

I don't know what is labeled as a common genre or not, or how vague this is. Just looking at it in the most umbrella terms, I do listen to a lot of pop, jazz, rap, rock, and even country. But most of the stuff I listen to isn't super well known or the most popular/normal things of the general genres. Most mainstream artists I enjoy are Kenny G and Bjork.

Q: What is your opinion on singing voice sensitizers like Vocaloid's ones (Hatsune Miku, Megurine Luka, Kagamine Rin and Len)? Do you think in a future they will surpass human singers?

Vocaloid stuff is cool, especially stuff like Nobukazu Takemura, Miku and Eifonen, Hatsune Kaidan, and those MIKU HOP Vocaloid net-rap compilations. As mentioned before, I have the Vocaloid Yuki Kaai but I haven't used her much. There's also some Vocaloid stuff on Tsundere Violence (TV960, TV1450, TV837, TV1055, TV1087, TV1063, TV1082, TV845, there's some more stuff too).

Q: If you drive, Do you listen to your own songs while driving? (lol) Do you recommend any album to listen while driving? (your's or not your's).

For diving music stuff like Autechre, Aphex Twin, µ-Ziq, Dave Monolith, Automatic Tasty, i-fls, all that stuff is great, especially if its overcast, rainy, or dusk. I love dusk, its my favorite time of day, and its really nice being in the car at that time listing to IDM and braindance stuff.
I play all kinds of stuff in the car, but the kind of stuff I listed is the best for driving. Also, its really dry where I live, and when you go more inland (I live near the coast) it gets to where its just miles of yellow hillsides. When I'm out there stuff like Zoviet France's "country ambient" album, The Decriminalisation Of Country Music, is really nice. Also for brisk mornings, stuff like Ulrich Schnauss and Four Tet is really nice. Jungle, house, and drum'n'bass is nice for night.