Totally bananas, but enormous fun and oddly brilliant, this pithy, high-pitched and squeakily energised new release by the experimental, eccentric, eclectic Japanese noise rock band is their first over a decade, since 2013’s Fetch. This duo of frontwoman Yasuko Onuki and guitarist Ichiro Agata have their own universe of sounds and frantic shredding styles, with nods to anime and gaming subcultures of anime and gaming, and interweaving many other genres including disco, electronica, cyberpunk, and metal. Opener Code sounds like the Bagpuss church mice on acid, Puzzle moves at breakneck speed but infuses glam-rock into shoegazey indie guitar. The pace just seems to ramp up at this breathless 24-minute album, from Stopgap to Scar (which at least builds a bit), but perhaps Hex is a particularly sugary, crazed, rockin’ highlight. By the time you hit the ninth track, Seeds, which mercifully begins with a click-track before opening into what sounds like an explosion of shimmering light, you’ll be exhausted, but also amazed. Out on A-ZAP Records.
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