In the past few years, 10 has become one of Asia’s weirdest and most influential experimental bands. Together and as solo performers Itta, originally from Korea, and Marqido, who hails from Japan, have performed in clubs, performance spaces and festivals throughout Asia and Europe. Although they sometimes list Beijing as their new “home” town, they are the ultimate musical vagabonds, with no permanent address except their Internet address, appearing and performing for a few days in any city before packing up and moving on to the next show.
They first met at a party and performance for international indie musicians and were so impressed by each other’s performances that they decided to form a duo. Since the band was formed on October 10th, they chose the name “10”. The numerological good fortune was strengthened by the fact “1” looks like the first letter in Itta’s name while “0” the last letter in Marqido’s name. They went on to marry on October 10th 2010 with a wedding and performance at the 10000 club in Korea!
10 is best known for the playfulness of their instrumentation and their willingness to consider anything as fodder for improvised shows. They also have the very Asian fascination with exploring different textures in their sounds and juxtapositioning unexpected textures in their music. Marqido devoted his life to the study of sound and texture and uses his computer to create offbeat psychedelic rhythms. He is interested in unleashing unpredictable musical ideas and harnessing them to the rhythms. Itta, whose main instruments include organ, piano, accordion, drums, keyboards, and a mini‐synthesizer, layers strange melodies and and sudden changes on top, creating perfomances that are at once wildy experimental and yet also often sweetly pop.
Update: (((10))) is formerly known as 10. They changed their name after the sudden large earthquake in Japan in March of 2011, in memory of the lost.
