Yona-Kit was a

math rock Math rock is a style of Alternative rock, alternative and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush (band), Rush. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including irregular stopping and starting), cou ...

quartet active in 1994.

Background

A U.S.-Japanese collaboration, the group consisted of

KK Null , known by his stage name KK Null, is a Japanese experimental multi-instrumentalist active since the early 1980s. He began as a guitarist but learned how to compose, sing, play drums, and create electronic music. He also studied Butoh dance at M ...

(electric guitar and vocals), Jim O'Rourke (electric guitar), Darin Gray (electric bass guitar), and Thymme Jones (drum set). All but Null were contemporaneously members of the group Brise-Glace, which featured a similar sound to Yona-Kit but were somewhat less aggressive and more experimental. Yona-Kit released one album, ''Yona-Kit'' (1994) on

Skin Graft Records Skin Graft Records (officially capitalized SKiN GRAFT Records) is an independent record label specializing in no wave and noise rock, originally based in Chicago, Illinois. The label is largely responsible for spawning "now wave" genre, an updat ...

. The album was recorded by

Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in June 1994. The album's cover photography, featuring gigantic stuffed animals of various sorts, as well as bizarre lyrics (dealing with such subjects as dancing sumo wrestlers), lend a whimsical character to music that is often fairly brutal and complex.

Yasuko Onuki Yasuko Onuki (often known simply as Yako, Yasuko or Yasuko O.) is the singer from Japanese band Melt-Banana Melt-Banana is a Japanese noise rock band that is known for playing extremely fast noise rock and hardcore punk mixed with experiment ...

, the singer for the Japanese band

Melt-Banana Melt-Banana is a Japanese noise rock band that is known for playing extremely fast noise rock and hardcore punk mixed with experimental, electronica and pop-based song structures. Since forming in 1992 the band has released ten albums and toure ...

, contributes vocals for one song on the album, "Franken-Bitch." Math rock groups American experimental musical groups {{Japan-band-stub