| Ippu Do - Real |
| Beware the dreaded compilation. As The Kids in the Hall once said, compilations are for housewives and little girls. Rather glib, but there is a grain of truth in there: boiling a band's work down to its singles only works if the band is a singles band to begin with. My first exposure to Ippu Do was the compilation Lunatic Menu, a relatively slick package that was released after the band had only three proper albums under its belt. There's nothing on the cover art to indicate that it's a compilation, and on top of that, it turns out that many tracks were remixed or even re-recorded to polish 'em up. So, after one or two lukewarm plays, I filed it under the "decent, but nothing spectacular" part of my brain and moved on. Fast forward a couple of months: Ippu Do, along with one of the band's leaders, Masami Tsuchiya, keeps coming up in interviews. Seems strange for a good, if unremarkable synthpop band. So when my weekly crate digging uncovered the band's first two actual LPs, I took the leap. Fortunately. While the band's debut, Normal (under the name Ippppu Do) is a solid new wave effort with more guitars than synths, it's their sophomore effort, Real, that cements (or at least initiates) the band's reputation. An absolutely outstanding blend of new wave aesthetics, pop leanings, Neu! style motorik (in 1980!) and rock energy, it's a gross understatement to say it still sounds fresh today. It really could be touted as a "new" album by a new group of retro-minded analog synth heads, taking the building blocks of the then-burgeoning synthpop aesthetic and distilling it to the point that it seems to encompass virtually every signifier of its age, while packing plenty more in besides. Why it's not splattered all over the blogosphere is anyone's guess (although the lack of a CD reissue, outside of its inclusion in a cringingly expensive box set, might go some way towards explaining that one.) Released a mere few months after their debut, Real doubtless got a boost from a change in locale: Berlin's famed Das Hansa Tonstudio, famous as the studio in which David Bowie's legendary Berlin period took place. Like Bowie, Ippu Do took some obvious cues from their environment. The opening track carries the unsubtle title "German Road," and any casual fan of vintage Krautrock will get it immediately: over a 4/4 groove straight out of the Neu! catalog and Ralf and Florian keyboards, a heavily synthesized Tsuchiya chants "German road...autobahn," effortlessly encapsulating both bands. It's easy to cry plagiarism, but Ippu Do are just getting started. Carbon copying can't account for "Broken Dummies," a thoroughly bizarre mixture of skinny tie New Wave quirk, surf, Krautrock, video game music, reggae, B52s style wobble, and whatever else the band could get the tape to hold. It's a ridiculously busy mess, but all the more glorious for it, taking the typically stone faced seriousness of German rock and goofing it up considerably. It glides seamlessly into "Lonely Pilot," a somewhat more compact tune that takes 50s twang and splashes a thick coat of analog synth paranoia, culminating in a soaring riff that sounds like Cluster gone pop. The truly remarkable first side closes with the thick, spooky "Mysterious Night," a dark reggae workout that sounds like Oingo Boingo at its most sinister (the version on Lunatic Menu was, unfortunately, one of the remixed tracks. The newer track strips away much of the original's haunted atmosphere in favor of a much less interesting radio friendly sheen.) That's just the first side. The second side, while not being as freakishly challenging, is still solid. "Heidelburg Symphony" is again in the Neu! meets Kraftwerk mold, but with more pop, less groove. The band tips their hand (not that we couldn't tell anyway) by actually naming a track "Neu!," although ironically it's the most straightforward pop song on the album. "Funk #9 (A Present For Disco People)" is straight up 80s pop funk with a lighter gloss of weirdness, a nice touch in the middle of an album that, in 1980, must have seemed like it was coming from Mars. After Real, Ippu Do would shoot for UK stardom, taking on members of Sandii and the Sunsetz and releasing Radio Fantasy. The move from more traditional rock instruments towards electronics continued, and by 1981, Ippu Do were pure synthpop. Members of UK art rockers Japan joined for 1983s Night Mirage, a favor Tsuchiya repaid by appearing on that band's live Oil On Canvas LP (most recently, he's been spotted in Vitamin Q with Jpop singer Anza and Sadistic Mika Band mastermind Kasuhiko Kato.) Ippu Do, and Tsuchiya, have retained a strong following in their native country, which makes the lack of CD issues all the more confusing. Here's hoping somebody at Epic Japan gets the ball rolling and gives these seminal albums the attention they deserve. |