Bondage Fruits's "Bondage Fruit I"

I just watched The Nomi Song documentary so be prepared: I'm impossibly depressed, which either will equal me being unusually lenient or unusually harsh. Let's see what happens.

Artist: Bondage Fruit (Japan)

Album: Bondage Fruit I (1994)

Starts off with Holy Roller. I expected some up beat tune about roller blading for some reason. Seems I'm getting tribal drumming and a stabbing guitar riff, with some Middle Eastern folk wood winds.

Enter the strange chanting.
Okay, I admit, this is something that is getting my spirits up. This is nearly orgasmic. Bondage Fruit, it's like you knew I was having a crappy day and gave me this.

I can imagine a normal person would not understand this. Hell, I don't understand it. All I know is that this is one of the best things I've heard in a while. Never heard anything like it before.

The second track is Arabia no Zou, and again I have never heard anything come close. It's on the same level of weirdness as After Dinner, I'd say. That's a fucking accomplishment.

It kind of feels like I shouldn't like this, but I absolutely adore it. Everything just hits a good note with me, even though I'm still not sure what I'm listening to. I love chaotic music.

Kodomo no Torokko has the same strange chants and gibberish as the last two. So far, it has all been consistently amazing and consistently weird.

I looked up a little about them, and apparently they are a Zeuhl avant-garde band. Meaning they're obscure as fuck.

Something feels new to this blog... Oh my, it seems that each of these songs are different from each other? My Lord, this feels like a breakthrough on KaimukuListenToMe. Fan-fucking-tastic.

My overall thoughts: Kodomo no Torokko is a brilliant 8 minute epic. Not a dull moment.

Rigo starts off just as incredibly strange as the others, but I guess I wasn't expecting anything different.

It's short but it's quirky and intriguing.

Octopus-Command is the ultimate in chaos. Beautiful, beautiful chaos. It's just plain insane. I especially love the guitar/xylophone solo with the frantic gibberish at around 4:30.

Listening to this, my brain is trying to focus on one aspect of it, but I get confused and it all starts to blend together as one noise. That's how it feels to me, and that's exactly what I like about it.

After that is Hikou Suru Ko. I honestly don't know if I have heard them speak any kind of language yet, it all is strange chants.

This song is a bit more contemporary as the others. It's not quite as jarring or "What the hell am I listening to".

Oh wait, oh wait! Around 4:30 there is a real language! I'm pretty unsure what language it is, though.

Kakuu no Sakana is even more contemporary as Hikou Suru Ko. In a way, it's more off putting than the others, just because of how normal it is in comparison.

Regardless, it's a lovely song.

Kinzoku no Taiji begins very loud, and it only seems louder after listening to the last track. It's a real contrast.

This one has almost skat like vocals, and guitars that almost sound violin-esque at times.

I don't think I like this one as much as the others. Dare I say, perhaps it is too over-the-top. I know, I never thought I would say that. It's quite painful; not as easy to listen to as the others. You know, considering a lot of it is random notes.

Kinzoku no Taiji gets points for being unique, though.

The last track is T-Rex. Already I know that I'm going to be getting their three other albums. I hear they're still around, but they haven't released since 2004? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Similar to Kinzoku, T-Rex is a lot of jumbled notes, although halfway through I begin to really appreciate it.

However, I still feel the first half of the album is better overall.

5 out of 5.

I knew from the beginning this would get me. Fascinating, unique, original, raw art. I think I can guarantee no other band sounds even close to Bondage Fruit. I loved listening to every second of this album.

As promised, I am now providing download links.

Download

I'd recommend anyone who wants a truly different band to try this out. Even if you don't like it, you'll remember it. It leaves an impression.

Bellaphon's "Firefly"

Artist: Bellaphon (Japan)
Album: Firefly

The album beings with Jade, a very guitar heavy, breezy sounding instrumental. It’s pretty light hearted and happy, but it’s definitely not cheesy. I still have no idea what kind of band Bellaphon are, though. This song has a lot of different musical elements in it. Let’s just see what’s on the next track, I guess.
Oh, and yes, I do like it.

The second track is Le Petite Prince. Wow, what a precious title. I couldn’t think of something more sweet and cute than that.
It’s very dreamy sounding. In a way it reminds me of some of the music on my old N-64 games I used to play. Like, it has a somewhat midi feel to it, but not exactly.

Alright. This band continues to confuse me. This is definitely more rock oriented than the purely electronic Le Petite Prince. It has a Spanish sounding guitar, electric guitar, various synths, piano… Very eclectic. Yes, that’s the perfect word for Mistral, the third track. It’s most certainly fun to listen to such an eclectic song.
I absolutely adore it. And I mean adore. Pure adoration.
If I didn’t mention before, all the tracks have been instrumentals. I’m getting the feeling the other five tracks won’t be featuring vocals either.

You confuse me yet again, Bellaphon. Belle du Jour is a minute long, classical piano piece. It’s very beautiful, a part of me wants it to be longer.
But we must press onward.

The first thing I notice about Vent du Midi is the length: it’s almost 10 minutes long (!). And oh dear god, am I confused! What kind of band are they? What would I classify this as when they’re jumping all over the place!
Okay, I love this. I love this so much. Every song is so unique, and my confusion feels wonderful. They’re very diverse and I think that they’re wide range of genres is impressive, to say the least. Vent du Midi, like the others, is fantastic. At 4:30 it even features woodwinds. Fucking woodwinds. I have to say that it gets amazing after that point. I think this is going to become a favorite of mine. I just have no complaints at all.
And if you’re wondering, yes, I did listen to all 9 minutes 45 seconds without any other distractions.

Following that is another long song, Evros. It’s 45 seconds shorter than Vent du Midi, but let’s see if I’ll like it enough to sit through all of it like I did with the last track.
For some reason it reminds me a tiny bit of Final Fantasy. Am I a nerd for even saying that? That along with my Nintendo 64 comment earlier, yes, I am.
I would think that a fan of the old 90s midi music would love this. And, as a fan of 90s midi music, I love this.
Evros is very guitar heavy, at least from the 4 minutes I’ve heard so far. Now it’s slowing a bit and reminding me a lot of Final Fantasy now (I promise I’ll stop soon). It gains speed again at the 5 minute mark, although it definitely isn’t a fast song. Oh, and I love the keyboard solo at around 5:30. Oh, yes I do.
I don’t normally say this, but this band is very, very talented. I would love to see them working on a song, and to see them write to see how they work.

The seventh track is Firefly. I’m very curious what they’ll do with this song, it seems so unpredictable.
!!
Okay, I see. Firefly is the longest so far at almost 13 minutes. Now I see why this album only has eight tracks. Considering that Art of Life, a 28 minute song, is a favorite of mine, I’m not really bothered by such long tracks provided that they stay interesting throughout all of it. Here’s to hoping Firefly can satisfy that.
So far, 2 minutes, 30 seconds in, it’s very keyboard heavy. I’m looking forward to the rest of this song. Wow, that’s something you don’t hear a lot of this blog…
Really, I just have so much respect to any band that can create songs this long. It takes a lot of creativity and talent, especially to create interesting material that length.
At 5 minutes, 30 seconds, it takes a dramatic turn with very slow keyboards, guitar and birds chirping.
At 8:30, it turns to lounge music!... I really do adore this, it’s so unpredictable and original. I’m sorry that I don’t have much to say, I’ve just been listening intently this whole time.

The last track is the 7 minute Labyrinth. It seems so small in comparison, doesn’t it? Well, it feels much more explosive than the others, if that makes sense. Which is great to end an album on, in my opinion.
This is so predictable of me, but it’s superb. Dare I say, at 2:15, it’s orgasmic. Crude, I know, but that’s the only way I feel I can describe it. It’s a breath-taking way to end the album, it really brings it to a final and complete close, leaving me feeling very happy that I took the time to listen.
Let’s end this review, you must be tired of me raving about this like some fanboy. Fangirl, actually.


Do I even need to say it?

5 out of 5.
Excellent, fantastic, amaing, fascinating, unique and original. I know it might not be everyone’s “thing”, but it’s exactly all those adjectives above to me. I would recommend that anyone and everyone give it a try, even just once. I love this record, and I enjoyed every last second of it.
Considering that I have never heard of this band before listening, I’ll say that they’re underappreciated. Call me an idiot if they’re actually very popular and I just didn’t know.

Edit: The genre is progressive rock, which explains the long track lengths. I have no idea why I was having such trouble classifying it.

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.

Apryl Fool's "Apryl Fool"

Artist: Apryl Fool (Japan)
Album: Apryl Fool (1968)

The first track of the album, Tomorrow's Child, sounds like The Blues Brothers or something!... Until the singing, that is. I'm surprised to hear such a western sound. I'm pretty sure it's a Japanese band, at least. Needless to say, I adore it. Very 60s, very mellow, very good. If the rest of this album is as excellent as this, we could have the first 5 out of 5 on Kamiuku Listen to Me!! Ohh, wouldn't that be special!

The second track is Another Time, and it has the same druggy sound as the last track. Just with more lounge-music qualities (that makes no sense). Again, Another Time is a gem. The vocalist is a real treat, too. Literally, his voice sounds creamy and delicious. Don't question me.

April Blues begins with... a cough. Probably them choking on all the marijuana used for making this record (It really is that druggy.) I absolutely adore the blues elements of this band so far, it's all very pleasing to the ears. Everything about it is great.

Lost Mother Land Pt. 1 already seems much less carefree than the last three tracks. The vocals (I think those are vocals???) sound like buzzing... I'm fascinated. The song is long (7 minutes), so I'll keep my opinions short: It is an intriguing, unique piece of art that only the extremely eccentric will truly appreciate.

Following that dark track is something very light and breezy, Tanger. When I can hear his vocals clearly, I can definitely hear his accent. For a while, I thought maybe they weren't Japanese after all!... Regardless, the western influence is very apparent.
I probably sound like a broken record, but this is another amazing song. Everything melds together so well, creating a very memorable, creative sound.

Track six is Pledging my Time. I really can't imagine how high they were when they were recording this. I can just picture billowing smoke as I listen to it. If I did pot (which I don't), I can't even imagine how perfect this music would be.

I'm becoming more and more sad as the album's end comes closer... Sunday is the seventh track out of ten. And hey, look at that! I think this is the first track that features Japanese lyrics!
This is definitely the most contemporary of their songs and probably the least interesting. But of course it's still good.

Honky Tonk Jam s a great follow up to such a solemn song. It's very fun. I really can't resist moving my whole body to it, my foot was tapping by the first note. I only wish it was longer.

Here we are... The end to the album, Lost Mother Land Pt. 2. It's very peculiar just like Part 1. I wish I could understand the narration (It's in Japanese), but either way, it's a good end to an amazing album.

Do I even need to say it?

5 out of 5

Truly an under-appreciated work of blues and psychedelic rock, I enjoyed every second of it. I can't say I have any complaints. Dare I say, it's nearly perfect. Surely Apryl Fool is a new favorite of mine, and I'm definitely going to search for more from this band. I suggest you do, too.