11/20/2016

Japan bashing

REVIEW: GAGAKIRISE BLACK LONG HAIR NICE WAH PEDAL CD (十代暴動社, 2009)

Woah, it’s a glorious, distorto din of absolute exuberance outta this Tokyo two-piece! Scroll down and see for yourself in the live footage below.

Now, I pretty much picked this up because of the title of the disc (and 'cause the band is Japanese, of course that’s crucial, oh and plus I found a copy for cheap) but had I been paying better attention I’d have known that last year Thrill Jockey put out a 7” single on which Gagakirise collaborated with Eye from the Boredoms, and before that, in 2014, they had a cassette release on the esoteric Ormolycka label; either of those facts indicating that Gagakirise probably has something going on.

I should try to check out those recent releases, since this 20 minute mini-album, which actually came out seven years ago in 2009, is pretty darn rad, with songs that sound something like Lightning Bolt blowing up, a total garage shred explosion of catchy, curly, chaotic riffery, that’s heavy and spazzy, with a very 'sprong-y' guitar sound and hella ummphh - Hella and the Ruins being two other two-pieces one could easily name check to some degree in describing these guys, who have also got a bit of the noisiness (if not the grindiness) of another Japanese band with black long hair, Sete Star Sept.

The first five tracks here are a blast, and then, just when you think it couldn’t get any more nutzoid, a remix from Bong Ra collaborator Maruosa, “Ultimate Fantasy Of Ultimate Fantasy Of Ultimate Fantasy," closes things out with an extra BPM-freaked dose of jumbled, processed craziness. At which point, it’s definitely a press play again (and again) proposition, just to keep the rush going. (-Allan)



1 comment:

  1. Hell yeah, now this is what I'm talking about. I knew from the description I'd like this. Top notch stuff!

    ReplyDelete