Category: Japan

Minami Deutsch – Fortune Goodies (2022)

2022 Japan krautrock Minami Deutsch 2 Comments

“Everyone has their own imagination about outer space, and each one us gets to daydream about what exactly floats or exists there. ‘Fortune Goodies’ is Minami Deutsch’s long-awaited 3rd studio album and an encyclopaedia of Krautrock, as band leader Kyotaro Miula describes it. While not all the songs on the record function as straightforward Krautrock this time around, they still manage to capture the spirit and heart of the genre. After relocating from Tokyo to Berlin, Miula’s musical vocabulary has greatly expanded, thus resulting in this ultimate Japanese take on cosmic music in 2022.”

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Minami Deutsch – Minami Deutsch (2015)

2015 Japan krautrock Minami Deutsch 9 Comments

“Their sound is influenced by both their love for Krautrock legends such as Can and Neu!, and the band members being self-professed “repetition freaks” who heavily listen to minimal techno. The music proceeds straightforwardly with the Motorik beat (Hammer beat), devised by Klaus Dinger (Kraftwerk, Neu!), as its central axis. Humorous, yet bizarre Japanese lyrics are whispered over a hard, cold beat that is maniacally repeated, creating a pleasant ambience of electronic pulses drifting in space. Sharp guitar tones reminiscent of Michael Karoli (Can) occasionally explode into fuzz distortion, on the verge of collapse.”

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Dhidalah – No Water (2017)

2017 Dhidalah Japan psychedelic rock 2 Comments

“The history of heavy psychedelic music has been always lead by trios, such as The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer, Ash Ra Tempel, Sleep, Earthless, etc… In 2016, Japan has Dhidalah, a roaring psychedelic doom trio. The group’s name comes from the mythological giant Daidarabotchi, which was believed to create mountains and land with its enormous size, much like Dhidalah’s sound. Give yourself up to their cosmic jam, and feel yourself float around in space. Their sudden, crashing waves of sound will surely turn you to cosmic dust.”

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Kuruucrew – Battle Disco (2008)

2008 Japan Kuruucrew psychedelic rock 2 Comments

“Someone once called them a “Violent Neu!” and that’s not a bad assessment. However, there is nothing vintage about Kuruucrew’s mix of relentless rock assaults and noisy head-banging cacophony. Neu! and other Krautrock bands of the 70’s are often defined by their experimenting with electronics over a steady motorik drum beat. Kuruucrew takes the same trance-inducing repetitive groove of Krautrock’s motorik and modernizes it into a hardcore rock sensation that grinds your head to a pulp. In addition to the stone solid rhythm section, wailing saxophone lines run through effects pedals from saxophonist Akkun (also from Henrytennis) and flagrant guitar massacres from Murata make Kuruucrew worthy carriers of the Japanoise torch. But be careful when getting lost in Kuruucrew’s music, you may snap out of it to find your ears bleeding and your brain washed.”

Tsurubami – Gekkyukekkaichi (2003)

2003 Japan psychedelic rock space rock Tsurubami 2 Comments

“Tsurubami is yet another side project by the prolific Acid Mothers Temple guitarist Makoto Kawabata, with Temple bassist Hiroshi Higashi and drummer Emi Nobuko… Here are squalling guitars, over-driven basses, feedback, and cacophonous noise. In the maelstrom, which is utter and total, shifting overtones and subtleties are rained on the listener with alarming frequency — and they are heard whether the volume is high or low — creating another layer of density to an already impossible textured quilt of color and amplitude.”

Twin Tail – Everything Is Permitted (2008)

2008 Japan post-rock Twin Tail 2 Comments

“Twin Tail is a three piece improvisational, instrumental band. Made up of drums, bass and violin, they bring something of a unique sound to the table. Violinist Yuji Katsui uses the same set of floating, delayed and syrupy effects as sgt’s Mikiko Narui. The sound is so similar as to make one wonder if there isn’t some sort of conspiracy going on amongst post-rock instrumental bands in Japan. It’s obvious from the start that Twin Tail is all about improv and jamming out thorough extended passages. Their songs build (very) slowly, with tempos stretching and breathing along with the intensity of the music. There are really no “songs” or hooks per se. Yuji plays his violin like a screaming, psychedelic guitar more like a blissed-out solo from Jimi Hendrix than any sort of classical piece, while drummer Tatsuya Nakamura and bassist Toshiyuki Terui pound out a trance-like tribal backdrop.”

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