The following article was published in a Charlottesville local music blog called Nailgun Media. After reading it, I felt compelled to republish it via Monkeyclaus so it could reach a larger audience. This article opens a portal and offers great historical context for recent obsessions with the Boredoms and the Flower Travellin’ Band, among other fine Japanese bands. For additional context, regarding contemporary Japanese psyche music, check out the Monkeyclaus live recordings of z0o0o0m and Acid Mother’s Temple.

Words by James Ford

“So this isn’t exactly Charlottesville-related, but I thought I’d take the time to mention how thoroughly I’m enjoying Julian Cope’s new book Japrocksampler: How the Post-War Japanese Blew Thier Minds on Rock’n’Roll.

Cope was the lead-singer of the British post-punk band The Teardrop Explodes, but today is perhaps better known for doing stuff like collaborating with Sunn 0))), being a weirdo shamanistic noiserock elder-statesman, and also for writing the legendary 1995 book Krautrocksampler, which was hugely responsible for a lot of the renewed interest in all those awesome experimental Germans from the early 70’s.

Japrocksampler is the logical follow-up, a survey of the underground trends, popular musical mistranslations, and eccentric figures who came to inspire the current crop of Japanese heavy-psychers like The Boredoms, Keiji Haino, Acid Mothers Temple, Boris, High Rise, Ghost, etc. He essentially traces Japanese experimental rock from it’s roots in avant-garde folk and theatre performances in the 60’s, but also contextualizes everything really well by talking a lot about Japanese history and popular culture, as well as taking interesting diversions to discuss things like Group Sounds (which was essentially the Japanese equivalent of the British-invasion bands of the mid-60’s).

I bought the book almost solely because of my total infatuation with Les Rallizes Denudés (who get their own chapter; now I finally understand their name!), but I’ve been completely sucked in and fascinated by the rest of the book as well. I got this thing in the mail yesterday afternoon, and have already plowed through a significant chunk of it between my two jobs. I never much cared for Julian Cope’s own music, but he really is an exceptional author; the book is intensely well-researched, but his writing style is drastically informal and subjective. He sort of alternates between ridiculous, ranting hyperbole and exceptionally dry wit, all interspersed with a remarkable condensation and re-interpretation of some fascinating facts; it reminds me of Alan Moore’s prose, except much less self-conscious and fueled entirely by the Id.

Plus the book is just really incredibly well-designed as an object. It’s a small hardcover (with no dust jacket, and oil-resistant full-bleed cover printing), just small enough to fit in my large jacket pocket. The paper smells amazing, the layout is impeccable, and the cover features a kick-ass photo of the long-haired freaks from Flower Travellin’ Band cruising down the highway on their motorcycles, totally naked. As an object alone, it will take your coffee-table to another plane of reality.

Unfortunately, this book’s a little hard to find; I’ve been looking for one for six months, and finally Aquarius Records got some back in stock. If you’re interested, start looking now before you kick yourself for it later. I was too young and missed the boat on the original Krautrocksampler, so if anyone has any leads on where to find a copy I’d love to know about it — I’m not really looking to drop $150 on eBay right now.

If this all sounds intriguing but you have no idea what I’m talking about, ask me about it some time and I’ll burn you a copy of Les Rallizes’ incredible double-album “le 12 mars 1977 a Tachikawa,” which is a document of incredible sonic heavyness; it’s got huge sheets of feedback and oceans of distortion over simple Motown-basslines (literally) for 12-to-25 minutes at a time. It sounds like an amazing, somehow heavier Spacemen 3 or Jesus & Mary Chain bootleg from 10 years too early, or like the furthest outlier of what you might have imagined the early Velvet Underground material sounded like, before you actually heard it and found out it was just some guys on heroin playing the blues. It’s seriously awesome.”

thanks james!!!

now check out these insane video clips….

FLOWER TRAVELLIN’ BAND

LES RALLIZES DENUDES

enjoy!

Matthew Clark 2008

Horsefang is epic instrumental Metal from Charlottesville, VA. “The ‘Fang” recorded their first EP at Monkeyclaus last year. It is a gnarly Metal ripper from start to finish. This past weekend they began to lay down the tracks for their follow up release. The raw tracks from this first session are entirely mammoth and crushing. Drummer Jarrod Hood’s new DDrums “Bonham style” acrylic kit makes all the difference. Also the co-engineering of Bruce Falkinburg with studio stalwart Abel Okugawa. The tone crafting of the new Horsefang sound is brilliant. Articulate and monstrous drums meld with bigger bass tones and fiercer guitars, still with an element of warmth and breath. The new songs are more expansive, while still complex, mathy and galloping forward. Horsefang is a sound worth submitting to; a face melting brand of fantasy Metal fit for children and adults. We love it! They will be in the studio, especially on weekends, for the next months. We can’t wait to debut their new sounds on our site and sell their new masterpiece. Check out the debut Horsefang album in our digital download store.

On March 30, 2008 the mighty Boredoms from Osaka, Japan returned to New York to perform at Terminal 5 in Manhattan, in the round, on a stage in the center of the space surrounded by the crowd. Their last performance in New York was their, now legendary, shamanistic freakout “77 BOA DRUM”, on July 7th 2007. Last nights show sealed the deal for me. They are the best live thing happening right now. The Boredoms are supernatural.

First let’s view the contrasts between this show and their last New York appearance. Last time was a free outdoor concert in a picturesque setting, staged on 7/7/07 at 7 pm with 77 drummers. It was essentially a sun worship ceremony which took place next to the river in Brooklyn, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. The band was also in the center of a circle of mass-audience for that event. This time, four main Boredoms played onstage (attended by a very diligent guitar tuning technician) in a huge indoor venue, vaguely resembling a maximum security prison, on a quite regular, early Spring evening, with tickets priced at $30. Two towering levels of balcony, running 3 of the venues 4 walls, contributed to the prison feel and made the event seem almost futuristic as well. In both situations the Boredoms were completely in control of the vibe from the offset. In both situations the band was able to teleport the audience to other dimensions and tap into the primordial forces of the universe.

The beginning of the show at Terminal 5 had Yamataka Eye, wearing some sort of light bulb mittens and scatting glossolalia towards the roof of the venue while passing his glowing hands through the energy field of some insane modified theremin, which issued forth harsh and beautiful edgy tones. This was followed by some awesomely choppy drum punctuations, more yelling in some alien language, then crescendoed until Eye’s special 7 necked guitar instrument, dubbed Sevena was introduced.

This custom instrument was similar to the one used in last summer’s “drum orgy”, but was actually made of one solid body, like 7 guitars melted together. It was an improvement on an amazing concept, which creates a mammoth and ethereal sound in various odd tunings. This “percussive guitar” is played with thick sticks or else various staffs of different weights and made of different materials. The previously mentioned tuning tech spent the whole night tuning and retuning these guitar necks all night while Eye beat the living hell out of them. It seemed a Sisyphusian task for which this bloke deserved props. By the end of the show, the instrument was in total disarray, after some heavy climaxes, which left many a string broken and flying in every which direction.

Eye’s presence throughout the whole night was epic. He truly is channeling some heavy shit. At one point he did the “rock and roll thing” where he encouraged all in the room to do the overhead clap to a steady beat. It felt like one thousand poly-rhythms at once and I saw him smile a very curious smile. He beamed completely and his face morphed into that of the Buddha. I swear I saw him for about 5 seconds in an incarnation which was more than human. I was further impressed, at the end of the spectacle when i noticed him limping off stage in a foot-boot-cast. Hardcore! Eye, along with the rest of his crew, has tapped into some cosmic space. He seems to be a medium, a messenger. They all are. The Boredoms are deeply spiritual and have a particular affinity for Sun Worship. On this particular night, using their drums, voices, triggers, turntables, synths, percussive guitars, samplers, cowbells etc. as vehicles, they tapped into the night energies, exposed the beauty of dark matter, and reflected the natural element of the human, bouncing their sound vibes off the audience.

The drumming was the part which truly floored me. Compared to the drumming of the “77 BOA DRUM” performance, the beats were more ferocious and fleet-of-foot: unencumbered by the extra weight of the 74 mortals who helped them out last time. There was times where the three drum kits in unison where churning out beats which seemed to me impossible. How could three humans interact so precisely and soulfully with such complicated patterns of poly-rhythms. I found myself screaming the “F” word uncontrollably as a reaction to my disbelief, while dancing, twitching and shaking my head like I was possessed. The rhythms were incredibly danceable, certainly tribal, and often had no frame of reference. I would consider some passages of their two hour set to be “alien rhythms”. Drummers, Yoshimi, Senju and Yojiro all deserve “superhuman performance awards” as well. In his 2004 article about the Boredoms in the Village Voice Jason Gross, with a scholarly approach, dissected the art and origins of Boredoms drumming, “At times, the result evokes Taiko drumming, marching bands, funk, Latin disco, or gamelan and West African drum ensembles: Many Japanese today embrace the religious idea of syncretism, where many different beliefs are accepted at once…” This statement from 4 years back is still relevant, but I feel that the drumming mastery has come even further since. There are more influences mixed in and greater intensity: more improbable beats which work to lube the mind and open the heart.

In this era of war and ecological crisis, it is important for shamanistic groups like the Boredoms to exist. Most people are thoroughly disillusioned with institutions. In this scenario, sacred musical events can and should act as bridges between the people and the higher powers. Meaningful ceremony in our culture has been replaced by the ceremony at the end of the reality TV show when one unfortunate contestant is sadly sent home. Artists and musicians are magicians and provide portals for the imagination. The Boredoms are the most adept at bridging this gap. They are now and have been considered hip. The fact that they are channeling spiritual potency legitimizes feelings which are often dismissed. Something is brewing in the Zeitgeist. I recently attended an underground music event in Brooklyn, with hundreds of folks in attendance, mostly college aged. The bands were of the metal, dance punk and avant garde ilks. Before the first band kicked off, we enjoyed a solid hour of Grateful Dead hits. In between each band that night was heavy dub reggae. Before the Boredoms was 30 minutes of Mbira (African Thumb Piano) music through the house PA. I feel something going on. I remember when the Grateful Dead was the kiss of death for cool kids. Ha ha ha ha!

words by Matthew Clark

thanks to Trent Wolbe for the photos…check out his Flickr and homepage for more….

for the nerds… Boredoms U.S.A. • Spring 2008

* 15/Mar/2008 (Sat) : SAN DIEGO, CA Cane's
* 16/Mar/2008 (Sun) : LOS ANGELES, CA Henry Fonda
* 18/Mar/2008 (Tue) : SAN FRANCISCO, CA Fillmore - in the round
* 20/Mar/2008 (Thu) : PORTLAND, OR Crystal Ballroom
* 21/Mar/2008 (Fri) : SEATTLE, WA Neumos
* 25/Mar/2008 (Tue) : MINNEAPOLIS, MN First Avenue - in the round
* 26/Mar/2008 (Wed) : CHICAGO, IL Logan Square - in the round
* 29/Mar/2008 (Sat) : BOSTON, MA Paradise
* 30/Mar/2008 (Sun) : NEW YORK, NY Terminal 5 - in the round
* 02/Apr/2008 (Wed) : PHILADELPHIA, PA Starlight
* 03/Apr/2008 (Thu) : WASHINGTON, DC 9:30 Club

Let it be known that Abel Okugawa is an epic figure in the Monkeyclaus family. He is the chief head honcho engineer of the Monkeyclaus Recording Studio. As an early Monkeyclaus believer, Abel was a key figure in the construction of the studio. He personally wired the entire studio. All the patches. All the everything. Recounting the heroicness of his efforts in manifesting this studio and this webportal is impossible in “blog form.” Howewer, let us not be distracted by his accolades, and let us focus on the output. Abel recorded over a dozen of the titles in our current catalog, all of the Monkeysession Features, and voluminous archived material which will be soon finding its way to the Monkeyclaus site, with our relaunch. In many cases Abel engineered, produced, mixed and mastered the entire project. His eponymous music project has become a relentless vehicle for beat creation and electronic wizardry. Check both Abel Okugawa releases in the store, “816 Mix” and “Magic Cuts”. Also check out Abel playing on the Avon Force and Galactic Core albums, and in the artist community find his work on the Red Flower Lake recordings.

The Blisstrain is and was a tour concept brought to life by Exile on Mainstream Records founder Andreas “Kanzler” Kohl. The Blisstrain Tour, took place from March 9 to March 16 2008, and featured five Exile on Mainstream bands. A Whisper In The Noise (USA), End of Level Boss (UK), Beehoover (GER), We Insist! (FR), and DŸSE (GER) all hit the road together, performing concerts in Germany, Belguim and the Netherlands. “The idea is to bring some EOM bands together and have a celebration which differs a bit from usual indoor festivals. It involves our currently most active bands, who will share a stage and play own sets as well as some collaborations since all these bands know each other well enough now. Also there will be an exhibition involved by Daniel Secker who does most of our artworks.”

Together, the Exile on Mainstream bands and staff, operate much like a huge family of oddballs and kindred spirits. The label is known for releasing “heavy music”, much of which is steeped in traditions of Metal or Doom, but the diversity of the catalog is also a trademark of the label. Blisstrain is the perfect evidence of this multi-faceted approach. A Whisper In The Noise constructs beautiful melodies, relying as heavily on voice as orchestral sounds to evoke a somber and mysterious world. End of Level Boss is a shit-kicking riff machine with heavy prog influence, particularly of the Voivod ilk. Beehoover is a duo of bass and drums and vocals, who explore Doom, Jazz, Krautrock, and other Avant Rock modalities within their stripped down configuration. We Insist! is a fascinating and unique French rock unit led by Etienne Gaillochet, as drummer and main vocalist. With a horn section, singing drummer, and odd time changes, We Insist! is completely one of a kind. DŸSE is a two headed monster, a guitar and drum and vocal duo who rage thru their sets with the intensity of Lightning Bolt, with their own East German vibe. The Blisstrain tour featured many onstage collaborations and cross pollinations of these fine bands.

The full Exile On Mainstream catalog will be available thru the Monkeyclaus digital download store. Currently Monkeyclaus has all but a few titles in the store. The rest are somewhere in a cargo plane over the Atlantic? Coming soon. And keep your eyes open for Blisstrain 2009.

text by Matthew Clark

Listen now to Jennifer Gentle - Live at the Tea Bazaar [9:02m] • Play in Popup
Listen now to Dodos - Live at the Tea Bazaar [42:34m] • Play in Popup
Listen now to Richmond Flowers Five - Live at Tea Bazaar [23:57m] • Play in Popup

The Italian psyche-pop group Jennifer Gentle, along with the Dodos, and the Richmond Flowers Five played an intimate show at Charlottesville’s Tea Bazaar, on August 25th 2007. The eclectic palate of sound was most enjoyable and made for a diverse and pleasurable experience. The confluence of musical minds from Northern Italy, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, on a balmy late summer Virginia night, was a perfect prescription for the late summer blues.

Richmond Flowers Five is guitarist Joseph Zehner with Jeff Melkerson on drums “The name includes Melkerson’s characteristic mix of the historic and absurd. Richmond Flowers was the Alabama Attorney General that supported the Civil Rights movement in the ’60s.” This was heavy, unaffected, low guitar strumming with heavy handed drumming and no vocals whatsoever. The performance was meditative and sophisticated, in contrast with several past Melkerson freakout moments that have taken place in the Tea Bazaar. (The other wily avatars of the Melkerson rock beast.) Bravo!

The Dodos are an groovy Californian duo. They brought a beautifully effected guitar-scape-crystal wash of color. A new weird Americana, pop psyche potion, guided by cosmic rhythms, and polished with ethereal shoe-gaze vocals. Catch the Dodos as they continue traversing the nation, on the road with Jennifer Gentle, and later with Akron / Family. Their recent release, “Beware of the Maniacs” is a killer record.

After a lengthy soundcheck, trying to wrap their heads around the Tea Bazaar’s tiny minimal PA system, and arranged carefully on the small tatami stage, Jennifer Gentle proceeded to charm the room with their homespun blend of carnival music and acid-pop. One could tell the band was a bit less than totally comfortable as the set began, but grooved their way into the zone. After the show I told lead singer and songwriter, Marco Fasolo, how much I enjoyed the show and he told me he didn’t have such a good time himself. When I inquired about why, he told me he had such a hard time hearing himself sing. I said the singing was spot on and although he didn’t enjoy the show I was glad for the chance to see them. He smiled and told me that for him, not being able to hear himself sing was like, “F*cking with 25 condoms on…” Whoa, who else says things like that! This band gets more likable by the minute. If this was an bad night for them, a good night must be pure magic. Enjoy this taste of Jennifer Gentle’s sound, and for further investigations try to catch them live somewhere or check out their fantastic new record “The Midnight Room” recently out on the Sub Pop imprint. According to a Sub Pop press release, “Marco (Fasolo) wrote, performed and produced the entire new album alone in his Ectoplasmic Studio, a rambling old house lost in the foggy plains of Northern Italy, infamous for its previous owner’s suicide by rifle.”

It was intriguing to hear the fruits of Marco’s imagination manifest with a live band. Beach Boys-esque three part harmonies came to life, punctuated by playful trap kit playing, mind melded guitar, bass and keys…..and the occasional kazoo howl. Marco’s unique, high register vocals wove convoluted tales of myriad subject matter, disguised in a pantheon of styles, flavors and moods. The experience was the sum of many influences from rock history, swirling in a good dose of Italian psychedelia (ala Fellini or Morricone), and all the weird vibes of the fun house at the carnival. Overall very cool and original music and a very talented live band.

Enjoy these recordings! Peace!

Words by Matthew Clark Live recording by Simon Jolly