Battle of the Bands-type competitions outside of middle and high schools seem to exist for one reason and one reason only: to give inexperienced bands something to put on their one sheets. However, amidst the inevitable mediocrity, occasionally an act stands out and blows everybody out of the water. Five years ago at the Emergenza showcase at the Velvet Lounge, that act was Aphrodizia, the brainchild of Yoko K. Her cooing voice soared across music that alternated between electronic bleeps and outright rock and roll energy.

Since then, Yoko K. has done a variety of different projects with other collaborators and on her own. She is currently the Artist in Residence at the Strathmore and just released her second album, Heaven’s Library, a celestial mix of electronica and jazz with the lightest touch of rock music. We talked to Yoko about the Artist in Residence program at the Strathmore and the inspiration behind the name of her new album.

Find her online: http://www.aphrodizia.net

Buy her music: Heaven’s Library is available at http://aphrodizia.bandcamp.com

See her next: October 26th at the Strathmore Mansion. $12, 7:30 p.m.

When did you move to D.C.?

It was about eight years ago. I’m originally from Japan.

What drew you here?

At first it was school. I actually went to one of the universities here to study.

But, since you’ve been here for eight years, why did you decide to stay?

I actually had not planned on staying. I thought I would finish my school here and move to New York or San Francisco. I don’t know, somewhere. But somehow, I ended up staying. I think it’s mostly the people I met: friends, fellow musicians, artists. I honestly didn’t expect there was a vibrant scene in D.C., but turned out, it was quite interesting and I stayed a year and another year and I started to do things and I had friends and somehow I just ended up staying in D.C. It was not planned, but it happened.

I actually remember a collaboration you did about two years ago with a visual artist/dancer for the Sonic Circuits Festival. Can you tell me more about that?

I do a lot of those things. It was with a visual artist/media artist named Ayo Okuseinde. He created a suit that has touch sensors so when people touch and tug me, it was supposed to trigger some audio sensors and Ayo had a suit and when people touched Ayo it was supposed to trigger video signals. Some technical things didn’t work out in that show. But we performed in different venues together like the Embassy of Finland and we did something for the UNICEF Water Project a few years ago.

And now you’re one of the Artists in Residence at the Strathmore.

Yes. It was actually my friend who encouraged me to audition for this program. The audition happens every year around this time, so about a year ago, I sent my application and my CD and they called me back. So, I went for an audition and they called me back. So I went for an interview and they called me back. I fortunately became one of the artists in residence this year.

Congratulations! How long does the residency last?

It’s a one-year program but each of the artists is assigned a particular month and October is actually my month. I have done two concerts so far and an educational workshop. Next week on the 26th, I have my last concert at Strathmore Mansion. And, the residency continues, so almost every month we get together for a workshop on a variety of topics that we get to learn and we will participate in the concerts of other artists in residence. Sometimes we collaborate and we develop friendship, network, we develop some skills, so it’s actually a quite interesting program.

Is there anything new in particular that you’ve learned from these workshops with the other artists?

Yes. So far, it was focused on for musicians to have a sustainable career. So, it was more focused on the business side of what we do. So, it’s really good because we tend to stay in a studio and just work on music and do performance. I think it’s the same for all artists that sometimes it’s a challenge to have a balance in life, so, it’s good that the Strathmore program is supplementing that side of our work. Also, supposedly, I am the first electronic musician as an Artist in Residence there so, it was very interesting and I was a little, not afraid but I was, I think, conscious of trying to be a bridge between my work, which is laptop and synthesizer and drum machine and technology and the institution which is known more for classical music, jazz, folk. Their program is becoming a lot more diverse nowadays, but I guess I’m consciously trying to be a bridge between those two worlds.

I’ve seen you perform under the name Aphrodizia about five years ago. When did you start using your name, Yoko K., in your performances rather than Aphrodizia?

Aphrodizia is kind of an ongoing project, but it is more of an ensemble so when I perform with a particular group of musicians — Nicola on flute and saxophone, Lucan on violin and Tom on percussion — so the four of us together as a band, an ensemble, is Aphrodizia. And maybe two, three years ago, I started to perform more as a solo project of me focusing a little more heavily on the electronic part.

Is Heaven’s Library your first solo album?

This is the second solo album. The first album I did was back in 2006 and that was my first album. It was called 012906. So this is the second album I’ve done on behalf of Yoko K.

How do you think this new album is different?

It took me five years to complete this second one, so I hope there’s some kind of improvement from five years ago. But this was the album where I focused on developing my skills as a sound engineer, first and foremost. When I did my first album, it was fun and nice but part of me said that I wasn’t quite there from the point of view of engineering and producing, I wasn’t satisfied with the level of skills I had back then. So, I wanted to hide a little bit and learn on my own until I get to the point that I can really create the sound that I want. This album is a little bit more instrumental and focused on the mixing and engineering side of the sound. And this album will be licensed to one of the airline companies and they will probably create a channel on their long flight, so I conceptualized the album in the way that it’s a journey. So, from the first track to the last one, ten tracks, it just flows seamlessly from the beginning to the end. I also focused on putting songs that’s more of a soothing side of my music. So, people tend to describe my music as soothing and I actually don’t like when I hear that and I have things that aren’t very soothing. But this album, I consciously focused on making the whole album a very soothing journey. From the airplane, I think people like to relax. It’s a long flight, it’s very stressful so I wanted to create something that’s like a dream. So, that’s this album.

Did the CD title, Heaven’s Library, come from a place of knowing that people would be listening to this album in the sky?

Heaven’s Library‘s name came from something else. Last year, I had a good friend of mine who passed away. It was kind of quick because he was very healthy and he was still young, but he passed away and I was sad. He was sort of a cultural anthropologist and he had this very interesting demeanor about himself. So, I thought, well, technically, I’m Zen Buddhist so I don’t know “heaven,” but I suppose in “heaven,” I see that there’s a library up in heaven. And it’s not a record store or a live music house. Somehow, it’s a library and there’s a little room in this heaven’s library that they have a collection of music. And I see that the friend who passed away somehow is doing librarian stuff at that library in heaven somehow. I don’t know.

So, I wanted to create something so that my friend, or anyone else that passed away would be able to hear in the afterlife and people won’t get bored afterwards. It’s also partly my regret that I wasn’t releasing any new music for years and years. When he passed, I think he was looking forward to hearing my new work and I didn’t release that and I just thought I should be releasing more work because life is finite and limited. So, all of those kinds of thoughts came to me and I called it Heaven’s Library.