Yuko Araki – V

Today, Tokyo-based noise artist Yuko Araki announces V, the sixth installment in her numbered album series, out January 22 via American Dreams.

“I have always been interested in the idea that noise can become more musical,” says Araki. On V, that idea takes shape in high-wire coruscations of noise, with compositions that carve out space between club music, post-industrial electronics, and extreme music. Araki draws on years spent immersed in the city’s noise and extreme music scenes, channeling their rawness into tightly constructed, rhythmically charged compositions. “With V, I feel I’ve pushed this tension between noise and structure further than before. I think of it as a noise album, but I’m interested to see how different listeners interpret and experience it.”

Lead single “Decoded Void” emerged from ideas Araki developed while supporting SUMAC in Tokyo in 2025, bringing her affinity for heavy, abrasive sounds to the fore.

“I’ve always been drawn to heavy, abrasive sounds, and I think that side of my taste comes through particularly clearly here. I feel like I managed to bring those elements together in a way that feels right to me.” The track arrives alongside a music video by Jackson Kaki, a longtime collaborator on Araki’s previous projects and live performances. Drawing on references from Japanese art and literature, Kaki’s dark 3DCG animation builds a distinct visual world around the track.

Written amid a 100-date tour across Japan, the UK, continental Europe, Indonesia, and China, V carries the intensity of Araki’s performances while remaining rooted in the sounds of her adopted hometown. Her approach channels the ferocity of acts like Hanatarash (the noise band founded by Boredoms’ Yamantaka Eye), but distills it through composition, rhythm, structure, and musicality. Ideas that first surfaced on her earlier releases IV and Zenjitsutan now push her music into darker territory.

Araki began by composing and designing sounds on a laptop. Then, she forced her sounds through her Eurorack systems, crushed them, and rebuilt them into piercing textures that walk the line between dancefloor propulsion and outright chaos.V represents Araki’s work at its sharpest edge, bringing together the ferocity of her live performances and thoroughness of her compositions, resulting in her most aggressive, intense, heaviest record to date.

Following the album announcement, Araki will play two shows in Tokyo this fall, beginning October 31 at UFO Club, followed by a November 13 performance at Forestlimit. In spring 2027, she’ll head to the UK and Europe for a run of live dates, with more shows to be announced.

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