帯化(taika) - "御池塘自治(On Chitou Jichi)"(LP)

2023 album goes analog, epicenter of the underground water vein that expands its roots in a unique direction, the record of zonalization.

When I started listening to the album, the first thing that came to mind was the French black metal Peste Noire “Ballade cuntre lo Anemi francor”.

Of course, ideologically, it is completely different, and the banding is not black metal. But post-punk, folk, traditional folk songs (tribal?), and more. The sound is a combination of post-punk, folk, and traditional folk music (tribal?), mixed with lo-fi, raw performance and high-fidelity recording, and integrated into a sound that is almost anarchist in its strong ideology.

In the past, 3LA sent mysterious trash jackets and “rocks” to Obika, and although Obika's music sold well in those days, I think there was more than a little “gimmicky” aspect to it. In other words, people thought, “This band sounds interesting,” or “The interview sounds like a pain in the ass, so let's give them a listen. However, that direction was only a grasp.

The stance of the band has clearly changed in their third album “Miike Tang Jichi”, and it seems that they are now trying to win the competition without using gimmicks (though the members may deny such a statement). The way the music, ensemble, and sound are constructed is even more distinctive than in the previous album.

The title of the album hints at this, but the way in which the band depicts its post-rock stance in contemporary Japan, where eroticism, DIY ideology, and underground speculation intersect, while avoiding a frontal statement, is something no big-name artist would be able to do.

The way the band depicts the post-rock attitude of contemporary Japan at the crossroads of DIY ideology and underground speculation, while avoiding a frontal statement, is something no great master could do. It is like a mirror of modern society, and that mirror is ridiculously distorted.

Here is a different kind of rock music that pulls you into a squishy, different space. It might be bad if you listen to it when you are depressed. But the feeling that seriousness and silliness coexist in the same place is quite fanny.

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Obi, Poster specification lyric sheet is included. In addition to the DL code for “On Chitou Jichi,” a remix of Taika's “Kourakubiyori” by Yo, an up-and-coming dub techno artist who belongs to Zouenkeikaku, an independent label organized by Taika, is also included.