Beatniks's "Exitentialism"

Artist: Beatniks (Japan)
Album: Exitentialism (1997)

The first track is Le Sang de Poete, which is just a synth-y instrumental opening with someone saying “le sang de poete” over and over. Let’s see how the next track is. Like I said in the last post, if this band isn’t good, I’m going to lose my mind. After Barbee Boys, I really need something uplifting.

No Way Out. That’s a very uplifting title... Maybe uplifting wasn’t the right word choice on my part.
But, this raises my spirits. I have no complaints so far, I really love the sound of it all. There’s a lot of layers and it blends together very well. The instruments are good, the vocalist is really great and it’s very pleasing to listen to. Okay, so the “great vocals” is debatable, but hell, I adore it.
In short, I love this song. See, Barbee Boys? This is how you make interesting music!

Track three is Ark Diamant, and it is a bit darker, and definitely not lacking the excellence of No Way Out. Again, I love everything about it, especially the drums. For some reason, they really catch me.
Another amazing track, hopefully the rest of the album will follow this trend. Maybe Beatniks will join Apryl Fool as the second five star album on this blog? Let’s wait and see, I suppose.
It seems that these songs are going to be ones I’ll like more and more as I listen to them. Don’t ask how I can tell, but I just can. And considering how much I love this already, I wonder how I’ll feel in a month.

Now and Then starts out much slower than the previous three tracks. I mean, with a title like that, what would you expect?
I want to compare this to some other artist, it’s one the tip of my tongue, but… hell, I can’t think of it!... Something about the vocalist sounds so much like someone.
Oh well, I’ll never come up with a name.

The fifth track of the album is Loopy. I wonder if it will be druggy or off-putting or something to that degree?
So far, it definitely is off-putting. I’m not sure if I fully understand it. It sounds like a bunch of sounds scrambled together in one mass. Was that a goose I heard? Yeah, yeah, I wouldn’t want to listen to this at night. It’s really odd.

Following that slightly disturbing track is Une Femme N’est Pas un Homme.
…. David Sylvian! That’s who the vocalist (kind of) sounds like! I don’t know why I didn’t realize it on Now and Then, but oh well.
Well, this is definitely more light hearted than Loopy, although it still feels a little bit sinister, haha.

Mirroris immediately catches my attention. The high-pitched plucking on the guitar sounds really neat, if not painful.
What I like about all these songs is that not one section of the song is entirely the same as the other sections. It’s very easy to just sit down and listen to the album like I’m doing because of that. I don’t feel like I’m getting bored with any of it, actually.

Track eight, Le Robinet is delightfully bouncy sounding.
As I said before, this band uses so many layers, so listening to it is a unique experience. It’s not like many other bands, but at the same time, it’s not unbelievably fucked up (I’m looking at you, After Dinner and Aunt Sally).

Awww, the ninth (out of ten) track. I feel kind of sad now that there’s not much more left.
Ahhh.. Well, it’s called L’toile de Mer. It’s very odd, I’m not entirely sure if it’s up beat or very dark. While it’s not my favorite of the tracks on the album, I still enjoy listening to it.
The chorus is quite fun, though. But then immediately afterwards, it’s pretty depressing sounding. Hmm.

Okay, the last track, Inevitable. Again, not my favorite of the album, but it’s still great.

4 and ½ out of 5.
I know, not quite 5, but I round up when I tag, so this will be tagged as a 5 out of 5. Congratulations, Beatniks! Join Apryl Fool, I’ll make you a pedestal or something like that.
Although I absolutely adore this album, and everything is really amazing, I felt that 4 ½ was more fitting for some reason. I can’t really tell you why, just listen to the album yourself. Which I recommend you do! It’s really excellent.

Looks like we have Bellaphon coming up. Please dazzle me like Beatniks have.

Edit: I looked up some info: Apparently Beatniks were a band formed by Yukihiro Takahashi (YMO) a nd Keiichi Suzuki (Moonriders), which makes a lot of sense. It really sounds like it on second listen.