Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on January 2010
Yolz in the Sky. Photo by James Hadfield
Kansai used to have a reputation for producing bands who were always willing to push things a bit further and harder than their too-cool Kanto brethren. Then the ghastly Flumpool came along and… sorry, I’m going to have to stop there before I try to bosh myself unconscious with my computer keyboard. Thank Christ we’ve got bands like Yolz in the Sky to redress the balance. The Osaka four-piece kicked off a short tour to promote second album Ionization at O-Nest last night, offering a welcome reminder that Kansai rock bands aren’t all pissy little pretty boys. Just, you know, the successful ones.
Deracine. Photo by James Hadfield
First on were Deracine. Though they’re based in Tokyo, the trio achieves a sympathetic resonance of sorts with the tortured sounds of the Osaka spaz-electro underground. They combine nominally hardcore drumming, bass and scrappy vocals with a table-full of effects pedals, samplers and cheap keyboards to create a sound that’s something like kids running around a broken fairground smashing all the windows. It’s the kind of thing you can enjoy mightily while hoping it won’t go on for too long. And, mercifully, it doesn’t.
Next up, Mass of the Fermenting Dregs have taken to playing Lightning Bolt over the PA before taking to the stage, which—let’s be honest—is practically setting themselves up for a fall. The band make their major label debut next month, and they no longer feel the need to play every show like it was going to be their last. Starting with a new track that doesn’t quite cohere, their set initially threatens to be a quick going-through-the-motions job, but they hit their stride with the thundering “Aoi, Koi, Daidai-iro no Hi,” and from there it’s all easy grins and head-banging.
Bands often use their move to a major as an opportunity to ditch every quality that made them interesting in the first place, but the new songs that MOTFD play tonight (and at their Liquidroom gig last month) haven’t compromised on intensity. More worrying is that they just aren’t that catchy: the group’s flirtation with more intricate song structures is commendable, but not if it comes at the expense of decent hooks. Still, for the time being, they remain an immensely likable live act.
Mass of the Fermenting Dregs. Photo by James Hadfield
Yolz aren’t about to be upstaged, mind you. It’s been a while since I last saw this lot, and—crumbs—I’d forgotten quite how good they are. The Osakans do a sort of tightly-reined aggression, with Keith Levine-style guitar strafing a bass/drum motorik that slowly sucks the audience into its thrall. The only other Japanese band I can think of who achieve a comparable effect is Kuruucrew, but Yolz have the trump card in singer Takanobu Hagiwara, all Ian Curtis/Brown dance moves and Melt-Banana-style yelping. He’s one of the few performers on the Japanese indie underground with the stage presence of a genuine rock star—but, as his humble expression of thanks to the audience at the end of the set proves, none of the arrogance.
