Labels: altinvillageandmine
Review by: Katie Kennedy
I first came across Japanther summer 2006. In hindsight I’m not too sure what my opinion of them was like back then; I had a track or two on a mixtape I was given and there was quite a lot of talk over their records and tour that was to come, but I seemed to miss out on their live shows and picking up any of their records until now. So fast forward two years, back in the UK and I’ve clearly had a Japanther by-pass. None the wiser about their music, except that they consist of two guys who keep to a lo-fi style consisting of a drummer and bass/tape loops – oh, and that my housemate has a Japanther patch on the back of her hoody- I managed to get three quarters the way through the first side of this split (a very confused few minutes, it must be said) until I realised that this record really isn’t supposed to be played at 45rpm. Quietly relieved my scepticism had a chance to be proved wrong (or in fact worryingly alarmed that it took me so long to realise that it was at the wrong speed, maybe?), I have a bash at side A again.
Is there any need for sirens over a stripped down drum beat? Well, I guess I should’ve paid more attention to the opening song name by Japanther; “riot”. In a way it’s ironic, as this song makes me want to do anything but riot. You want a riot? Well you’ll need a little more than samples of sirens over a the drumming. Instead of listening to their “infectious, bouncy beats” (not my words), go drink a bottle of vodka and listen to DK’s “Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death” and then tell me what a fucking riot feels like. The next three tracks go on with little drive, and are pretty hard to differentiate from one another. There were keyboards and definitely some monotonous, distorted vocals that would maybe appeal to some over enthused art school graduate. Possibly… Lo-fi has never been so dry.
The Good Good come up next. Brace yourself, though; it’s not a fun ride. I initially thought their stab at this split 7″ consisted of two songs, but nah it’s just the one. Wait, my needle’s already at the end of the record, what the hell happened there? Asked what I thought of their track “Look Hello” only moments after hearing it, all I could remember about it was tuneless flutes and a bassline that wasn’t too dissimilar to The Knack’s “My Sharona”. More distorted yelps, keyboards, (and I’m pretty sure I heard a cowbell) later and the record’s finally drawn to a close. I have no idea what their other releases are like, but I do know that I’ve still got “My Sharona” stuck in my head and I’ve absolutely no intention of getting a hold of any of their other stuff.
Going by this split, Japanther, by far the more promising of the two, are definitely not in for the long haul, especially not on this fucking dour summer’s day. I can’t help but be irked by their estranged attempt at what nowadays seems a pretty fashionable and quirky (there, I said it) style of music. I’m still undecided whether I actually know what “noise punk” is; it reeks to me of art school kids that tried jumping onto a bandwagon but completely messed up and ended up landing on the curb. I guess I should mention The Good Good again, yeah? Well the press note describe them as a “crazygang” and Japanther being “very hip dance punk” who are a bit on the “hysterical side”. I have no idea what either of these terms mean and I’m at an absolute loss to how either could be applied to the five tracks on this 7″. I guess they’re definitely more punchy than plain “uninspiring” or “gash”, which is about as much as I can muster up right now. If you’re able to enlighten me, answers on a postcard to…