one year passes...
So, I’ve been fascinated by this band for the last year or so. I don't know a damn thing about them, really, and band info’s kinda hard to come by on the English-speaking internets. A NY-based indie label called Mesh-Key Records released a few of their albums domestically a while back, to basically no fanfare, but that site is the only half-decent resource I've found.
Basically what you get is a somewhat mainstreamed version of a whole bunch of big-in-Japan psych guitar styles. Formed in '89, the early records are blown-out and heavy, from what little I’ve heard of ‘em. Traces of Rallizes/K. Makoto/High Rise style speed & distortion going head-to-head w/ classic rock songwriting. Catchy riffs and occasional pop hooks help 'em stand apart from the pack (or render them second-tier sellouts, depending on where you stand w/ regard to that kinda thing).
As they've aged, they've become more poppy and experimental. I’ve got several post 2000 albums, and they cover a LOT of ground: epic Krautrock jams to aching Big-Star harmonies. Stomping Nuggets garage to treacly J-pop ballads. Abstract noise freakouts to folk forgeries. With stops along the way for Brazilian Tropicalia. And creepy robot disco. And whatever else seems to fit.
It's head-bending, but also relatively slick and sometimes even kinda radio-friendly (in an alternate-universe sense, anyway). Could use a few more epic guitar/noise solos here and there, which the early records seem to have had in spades, but the musicianship's so goddam great overall that it hardly matters. Drumming’s especially remarkable.
Anyway, they're writing and playing some of the best and most interesting guitar pop I've heard in ages. Retro, but catchy, varied and astoundingly well-played. Can't imagine they'd ever manage to score much American radio time, but I'm kinda surprised that they remain so totally invisible in the States.
Any fans on the ILX?
― french for cane break (Pye Poudre), Monday, 22 January 2007 22:30 (seventeen years ago) link
What was the show like?
I mean, I've heard good things about those NY shows from a number of folks over the past couple years, but I missed 'em.
I'd give almost anything to see YYT, but given the almost total lack of awareness of the band in the U.S., I wonder whether they'll tour again. Maybe they're trying to lay the groundwork for something, and then again, maybe it was a once-off.
― french for cane break (Pye Poudre), Monday, 22 January 2007 23:13 (seventeen years ago) link
Cool. I'd wondered about that. Fed it through babelfish, and got "swingingly empire". Which I thought might mean Go-Go Empire, given the 60s fetish. Shake Empire sounds a bit better.
― french for cane break (Pye Poudre), Monday, 22 January 2007 23:21 (seventeen years ago) link
two years pass...
DFA are releasing what I think is a new album from these guys (not 100% sure, though, finding reliable English discographies for Japanese bands is always a nightmare) and a non-limited version of the remix 12" on DFAbroad from earlier this year. Excited!
― More Butty In Your Pants (Telephone thing), Thursday, 27 August 2009 15:08 (fourteen years ago) link
And a question: I've only got the Mesh-Key releases (Sweet Spot and the live album with the really long name, NA.MA.SHI.BI.RE.Iforgettherest). What else should I seek out?
― More Butty In Your Pants (Telephone thing), Thursday, 27 August 2009 15:11 (fourteen years ago) link
If there's anything else to be found at all easily or affordably outwith Japan, then I'd love to know too. I have both of those CDs as well and they're awesome.
― krakow, Thursday, 27 August 2009 21:39 (fourteen years ago) link
one month passes...
Hey, that's me up there (as Pye Poudre) talking about this band almost three years ago. Hi old me.
Anyway, just picked up the DFA 12", which is excellent, much better than the remix 12" Mesh-Key put out a few years back (though more earthbound). Folks who like Sweet Spot oughtta check out the pop-oriented, roughly contemporary albums No Memai/No Shibire and III -- the latter's my favorite YYT record. Haven't heard Hollow Me, the 2007 album that Dekinai's drawn from. If yr into the heavier, freakier rock stuff, the early records are the way to go: 3x3x3 and Me No Car. Only way I know to get this stuff is to look for people selling on Gemm, Discogs, eBay, etc.
six years pass...
five months pass...