s t e v e

Wow, this is a CD that grabs you by the balls, and never lets go. For those of you who are not familiar with these guys, Koenjihyakkei is the zeuhl-obsessed side-project from Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida. His main source of inspiration is the French group Magma, but Tatsuya takes those influences to the edges of insanity. Add to that the furious bass and synth work from France's other zeuhl masters Eskaton, and the vocal weirdness from Italy's Area, and you're in for some crazed prog rock. The energy level throughout the CD doesn't slow down for a minute, as you ears get blasted by Kobaian-like chanting, sections galore of maniac guitar/synth/bass work, and rhythms that change almost every 4-8 measures. The second track "Becttem Pollt" has got to be one of the best prog rock compositions of the past decade. The instrumental section in the middle is so intense and proggy that you might even have to stop the CD to catch your breath. The one problem that I had with the last Koenjihyakkei album, Viva Koenji!, was that, after the first track, the rest of the music really wasn't that memorable. Well, Nivraym, I'm happy to report, is not only more complex than its predecessor but is catchy from beginning to end. I can't find a weak track here. Overall, if you're into RIO, zeuhl, avant-garde prog you definitely have to check this CD out. review by Steve Hegede — undated —

d o m

Yoshida Tatsuya is somewhere in Japan right now (or maybe the US - you never know about his touring), and you can bet he's got visions of sugarplumb zeuhl demons dancing in his head. And it's worse for him than you might think: when most of us were engrossed in real stereophonic performances of 2112 and Fragile, Yoshida must have been burning to play on the same stage, or in some way act on his own theatric (or at least operatic) instincts, to create rock music that would defy the tradition laid out by a million critics worshipping Chuck Berry and the Stones. And then came punk, and going on 25 years since, all the drama you whiled away in suddenly became uncool and pretentious. And so he and we had a stalemate, right? How do you reconcile rock attitude, punk apathy and prog, well, strangeness? Enter Ruins, your basic drums-n-bass duo, who plays harder than most, and scream better than anyone you know. And not least importantly, has their Magma riffs down. This was not prog, mind you, and it certainly wasn't punk (imagine Paul Simonon trying to play "Graviyaunosch" - yikes!), but it has more indie cred than both put together. I mean, what's more alternative than playing a 5-string bass whilst yodeling in a made up language, based on another made-up language, and recording your 'commercial' album with Steve Albini? I'll just come out and say it: this is not for everyone. But Yoshida has gotten around this pesky gap between the genres by compartmentalizing his music. He has projects that deal exclusively with group improvisation, some that deal with noise, a couple of really good all-instrumental punk-prog bands, and Koenjihyakkei. Koenji is a unique concept for Yoshida, and it may go down as his greatest achievement: the most perfect fusion of symphonic prog, zeuhl, and hardcore punk. Amen. This is Koenji's third album, and for the record, it's even more overtly proggy than the first two. Aki Kubota left the band, and for those of you who thought she was irreplaceable, you're only half right: Oguchi Kenichi easily fulfills her old role as keyboardist, and much of the music seems to have been written to suit his strengths; and new vocalist Sagara Nami certainly has the vocal chops to pull off more than her fair share of theatrics. The biggest losses here are Kubota's compositions, which were always among the band's most colorful, particularly given Yoshida's propensity to dominate the proceedings with the vocalist/writer/drummer trifecta. She will be missed, but even if the direction is slightly changed, the enthusiasm has not. As mentioned, the focus has shifted a tad, with newfound emphasis on keyboard textures, and a whole new bag of solo breaks. The other Koenji albums stood out from the pack for any number of reasons, but particularly in their lack of flashy improv. Kenichi gets in his licks and then some, similar to Ruins' Symphonica, on which he impractically stole the show. In fact, much of this album reminds of Symphonica, also due to a slightly lighter sound than its predecessors. It's no cake walk, but it's not quite the overloaded powderkeg of II either. This suits the synths, as well as the vocal lines, which are ever closer to that hallowed qualifier of lore known as 'almost normal'. Normal is relative of course, and here, it refers mostly to zeuhl heritage, and the occasional dramatic soprano lead. Instrumentally, the band plays fairly close to hard-edged RIO. There is a lot of Zamla (circa Familjesprickor) to this music, with very complex instrumental counterpoint and a kind of playful attitude to experimentation, but the abrasive elements bring it closer to the post-modern of old new-schoolers like Naked City and Shub Niggurath. Overall, more refined, and none-the-cornier for it. Lastly, we should give some mention to the ringleader, Yoshida. For all the hoopla over his connections to zeuhl, and Christian Vander in particular, you can't really say that he sounds a lot like the guy. In fact, if you could name 5 drummers who sound like Christian Vander (good luck), I'm not even sure Yoshida's name would come up. I think this is the key to this music. One of the great things about this stuff is that it seems so gloriously in reaction to the great records of the past rather than in debt to them. Too preoccupied with the euphoria of playing and singing and probably jumping to stumble down the ever-so-beaten path of retread, and yet another example of why a lot of neo-prog is barking up the wrong tree. Ultimately, very recommended. It's fun, challenging, and you'll learn a lot. No wait, that's school. Try, it's fun, challenging, and will kick your ass all the way back to Wednesday. Yes, that sounds right. review by Dominique Leone — 3-22-01 —

j o e

The great behemoth drummer of Japan, Yoshida Tatsuya, is back for another round of hyper-Zeuhl that floats like a butterfly and stings like a pissed-off black mamba. For this incarnation of Koenjihyakkei, Yoshida is joined by four others, among them keyboard whiz Oguichi Kenichi. Things get off to a wicked start with the title track, where by the time you get to the chorus, the polyrhythms are already spinning you around: the straight-time scratch of the guitar, the tribal beats in triplicate, the singing in beats of five. However, I regret to report that as the album continued onward, my interest dipped in a steady linear manner. This is not because of the musicianship, which as you might imagine is more than solid (though the falsettos can grate on a few tracks). It is more because of Yoshida's use of repetition. Most of his pieces as shown here tend to repeat phrases/lyric lines in toto, usually 3 or 4 times in a row without any changes. After a while, I found this got way too predictable. Take the ultimate Zeuhl band Magma (a big influence on Tatsuya), on the other hand, who repeat riffs but use these as a backdrop or graph paper on which to place themes and melodies that undergo a greater sense of dynamics and development. I like that sense of repetition more. That being said, fans of Yoshida's unique drumming, a volcanic mixture of power and precision, probably won't give a shit in the long run. Part of me can empathize with this point of view. This guy is simply amazing to listen to and I marvel at the amount of sheer energy he is able to summon and maintain on each of his recordings. I mean, this guy really might spontaneously combust one day! Still, for people interested in exploring his particular take on the Zeuhl form with more instruments than merely bass and drum and the operatic vocals intact, I am going to stick with Ruins' Symphonica as a first-line recommendation. review by Joe McGlinchey — 1-17-04 —