Available at Amazon Japan
| Katsurei - Paradaise K |
| As
I said a few reviews ago, there's a whole lotta junk out there in
Japanese rock history. Crate digging is a minefield, all the more so
due to the higher prices inherent to…well, just about everything in
Tokyo. There's a lot of positive reviews here on this site, but for
every good album, there's (no lie) 10-15 albums that didn't pass muster. The thing that keeps guys like me going in the face of all this pablum is the chance of finding bands like Katsurei. Formed in 1983 as a speedy punk/new wave band, they gradually slowed down and got more contemplative and warped. By the time they recorded their debut EP, Paradaise K (sic,) they had changed quite a bit: this 1986 release find the four piece somewhere between the moody, angular post punk of bands like Three Imaginary Boys era Cure and the less confrontational end of the Tokyo Rockers scene. In more straightforward terms, Paradaise K sounds like the Television/Blankey Jet City collaboration that never happened, and it's a fine thing indeed. Katsurei (which means, er, circumcision) might not have had the cachet of those bands, but they were far from also-rans: Paradaise K is excellent. Guitarist/mainman Koji Shishido has a lazy but arrogant voice that seriously recalls Blankey Jet City vocalist Kenichi Asai, albeit a full seven years before. His band plays with a spiky, mid tempo swagger that owes a serious debt to Friction, the aforementioned Television, and countless other 70s art punks. Take a listen to "チュウイングガム" ("Chewing Gum,") a needly rocker that recalls Television at their most deliriously energetic. A spiky, descending riff never quite allows Shishido's icy croon to steal the spotlight, creating a fiery tension that wouldn't be too out of place on Television's outstanding "Blow Up" boot. "ベッド" ("Bed") is a weirdly cool mix of minor chords and queasy, nervous energy, like a hipster trying to look cool after a few too many expressos. The original release of Paradaise K had mixing problems, and P-Vine's deluxe reissue restores the bass that is reportedly missing from the original vinyl. In addition to the sonic improvement, the disc adds over 30 minutes of live and unreleased tracks which show Katsurei as a very different beast: "光り輝く少女" ("Hikari Kagayaku Shoujo," i.e. "Vivid Girl") is considerably more sinister and ambitious. Nightmarish synths have a constant panic attack in the background, like if Pere Ubu's Allen Ravenstine was stuck in a bad trip in the middle of "30 Seconds Over Tokyo." A live version of "Bed" is positively ferocious, but the real gem is "溺れぱなし" ("Obore Panashi," i.e. "Drowning Panashi.") Queasy yet graceful, it recalls nothing if not Les Rallizes Dénudes covering "Venus In Furs," building a diseased but nevertheless muscular tension over its fourteen minutes. Too abrasive to be blissful, but too ecstatic to be truly off-putting, it contains a transcendental power that still peeks through the less than stellar sound quality. It's proof positive that Katsurei weren't merely playing what would work in the scene, but truly were On To Something. That something would only occasionally surface in the ensuing years. In 2006, Shishido resurfaced with a new blog, promising new studio recordings…that could only be purchased at shows. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine, as even Shishido's blog is light on the details. Another mystery to be solved... |