Kyoko, OOIOO Founder and Former Guitarist, Dead
Kyoko, the mononym guitarist and founding member of Japanese experimental rockers OOIOO, died on Sunday. Her former bandmate, Boredoms drummer Yoshimi P-We, confirmed the news with an Instagram post.
“Kyoko came from same hometown as I am,” she wrote. “We started OOIOO together. She was the first guitar player of OOIOO. She left the band to concentrate to cure her illness but she came to help selling merchandise sometimes to our shows. She started the band with Itoken who was also her longtime partner.” P-We did not specify Kyoko’s illness.
In the Eighties, Kyoko was a member of the Japanese new-wave group Kokushoku Elegy, which translates roughly to “Black Elegy.” That group put out a handful of 12-inch releases. She also recorded with the avant-garde rock group Harpy, who put out four records and, in 1999, a split seven-inch with a group called Dragibus.
During her stint in OOIOO, the singer and guitarist played on its 1997 debut, ∞8∞, and 1999’s Feather Float. She also provided vocals for three songs on the group’s 2000 release, Gold & Green, which featured Kayano as the band’s new guitarist-vocalist. It would be her final recording.
“Kyoko was 183 cm. tall [about six feet],” Yoshimi wrote. “She was on her own pace, optimistic and natural blur. I loved her very much. I do not like to believe she is no longer with us anymore. I love to see her again.”
OOIOO put out their most recent record, Gamel, in 2013, which made Rolling Stone’s list of Great Albums You Didn’t Hear in 2014.