GUNJOGACRAYON

This "Gunjogacrayon" (in Japan, re-released under the moniker of "2nd Album" via Disk Union) was firstly released in 1987, 7 years after their debut EP released. This 7-year interval should not be so short for them to alter their music style I feel. Not simply avantgarde this creation is, but pretty experimental and a bit like Krautrock, especially upon their complex polyrhythm and weird sound effects (listen to "Tekuru" or "Naguno" and you will get immersed in their mysterious psychedelia). Their is not enough heavy riffs nor deep inflation (we can a little hear some trace in the middle part of "Wadesu" or so), but flexible and slightly cataleptic footstep quakes mainly by the drums / percussion launcher.

Yuji's meaningless words with irritating tones and rhythmic senses could season their creation with Zeuhlish experimentalism. Mind you, we can hear no alteration upon their pleasure in playing everything, with such a quirky brilliancy of their messy soundscape (No toughness nor fuss can be found for example in "Reruto" or "Gadete", simple grooves). And their highlight "Ushimashi" can be considered as another Krautrock sample, filled with fuzzy electricity, bubbling circus, and loose jamming ... 17 minute is not so long for us, definitely. The last "Sesaitoburu" is a classic addictive one under noisy bubble bobble.

Not recommend as an authentic avantgarde-progressive but we can easily find weird experimentalism of Japanese psychedelic Krautrock in their second work.

Not showy or colourful but fruitful and tasty - for GUNJOGACRAYON's debut EP this phrase should be so fit, shouldn't it?

What an interesting and impressive style - around 1980 in Japan was such a musical style I'm very surpirised and amazed indeed. GUNJOGACRAYON is a four-piece (in the beginning five-piece) outfit formed around the violent guitarist Tadashi KUMIHARA and free-form keyboard player Fumio OHMORI (having already left).

Their unique musical style is they have a steady rhythm section (a bassist Takashi MAEDA and a drummer Atsushi MIYAKAWA) on the basis, the aggressive melodymakers as above mentioned, and the avantgarde and eccentric stage performance and voices by Yuji SONODA, called as a MOVER. Here is a wonderful balance and harmony between the two strict pacesetters and the three crazy pacebreakers - oh no joke! It's so difficult for me to explain this balance itself, but you will not feel uncomfortable with listening to their sounds through this album.

Tadashi's guitar solo is always aggressive, heavy, bloody, gaudy, and hatefully flexible. And Fumio's keyboard is hopping, chaotic, fuzzy, and hastily agile as a squirrel. Exactly at a quick thought they have no relation to the word "strict" or "steady", but I consider the really avantgarde gang should calculate this balance by nature. Therefore such a mysterious combination can be sometimes ambient, sometimes danceable, and sometimes freaky.

Furthermore, whatever their substyle should be, you can feel the same atmosphere in them. In this EP they played with stoner, heavily slash, march-like, ambient, or funky style - you can be immersed in their comfortable mismatch as if their ensemble be completely musically correct.

Anyway, Ryuichi "Professor" SAKAMOTO love Tadashi's guitar play and he voluntarily took charge of dub-mix of the fourth track 35. You can understand easily without my review, that's it!