PSYCHE BUGYO

PSYCHE BUGYO were formed as an improvisational psychedelic / avantgarde rock ensemble by Atsushi TSUYAMA (guitar, voices; Omoide Hatoba, Acid Mothers Temple, Seikazoku etc. etc.), Ryota NISHI (keyboards), Keizo SUHARA (bass), and Nani SATOJIMA (drums). They released an original Japanese historical / traditional theatre "Psychedelic Judgeman Comes, He Has The Cherry Blossom On The Shoulder (Psyche Bugyo Goshutsuza!)", in collaboration with Ryoko ONO (saxophone, flute).

Actually I assumed that this album should be a parody or a sham of a Japanese TV drama named "Toyama No Kin-san", where a major / judgeman Kin-san calling himself a playboy punishes bad persons with showing his "cherry blossom" upon his right shoulder. And exactly Atsushi pretended to be Kin-san (and each of the other members played a role upon a Jidai-geki, a Japanese historical drama) in this album.

The masterpiece "Psychedelic Judgeman" should really be a historical theatre, divided into four (almost three plus a bit) different scenes. The first "Prologue" is an aggressively dramatic and simultaneously infernal departure, featuring a parody of Japanesque historical scene of bribery and Atsushi's improvised fuzzy guitar solo, Ryota's violent but dreamy keyboard mad-mud-stream, and Nani & Keizo's scattered but rigidly strict rhythm riffs. Wonder why they could play such a rampant and delightful improvisation. An awesome part indeed.

And the scene's altered dramatically ? slow steady space rock looks like Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon might be mimicked. Atsushi's pleasant and funky voices can get more and more echoic, and we cannot help laughing at his laughter per se (I guess he might enjoy singing the song fully with smile). Strongly understood he's done an homage to Pink Floyd and their Space Rock, with his fuzzy and melancholic guitar solos. On the contrary, in the last scene they again grabbed improvised funky-punky speed psychedelia. Oh, who knows how long they can play improvisation. Ryoko's saxophone can make their psychedelia more and more avantgarde and explosive. The ending "Dai-dan-en" is Atsushi's joke with hearty comments for listeners LOL.

The first track "Ore No Abarenbo Shogun" (in English, my aggressive shogun) is a massive and aggressive stuff, especially with Ryoko's terrifically funky saxophone sounds. Cannot know what the song or the title means (and no need to know), but sounds like Atsushi's aggressive, flexible personality that may give a funky trouble to other members and the audience (sorry). However, not only a comical stuff but also that their splendid technique and enthusiasm can be realized, let me say.

The last track "Son Of Mr. Livingwillow" is a tragic landing upon the muddy ground of another world. Fuzzy guitar, dark bass, heavy drums, and plaintive flute sounds, based upon mellow, dreamy melodies, go towards our brain, maybe persistently mentioning tough living will of a cool man. Suggest this song be a cynical message for this real world, with lots of painful / suffering accidents or disasters alongside. Please do not stand, but cry out loudly for your pain, they might say gently I imagine.

Anyway, for me this album is one of the most impressive creations this year so far. Cannot help recommending this funny fuzzy funky psychedelia, forgive me please.