Saturday, November 21, 2009

Genkaku Mime - Genkaku Mime EP (1986)


GENKAKU MIME (幻覚マイム)
Genkaku Mime EP (1986)
TRACKLISTING

Side A
Genkaku Mime
GUARD


Side B
SONIA
DONE DANCE


幽太郎 [Yuutaro] (vocals, guitar)
BIN (bass)
TAKA (drums)

Released: 1986

Label: Taiou Records
Catalogue number: LEO-004

Lenght: 11:53
Bitrate: 320 kbps

Let's get the re-launch of this blog going ...with a bang!

This is Genkaku Mime's description-defyingly great debut EP, released in 1986 on the Taiou label (yes, the very same Taiou label that put out Buck-Tick's first single and debut album).


Definitely an essential disc in my book - I recall getting this more or less on a whim and having my mind profoundly blown when I first set it spinning on the turntable. What a great record! Quite difficult (if not borderline impossible) to describe though. Hard and fast, dark and atmospheric, melodic and funny ...I guess it fits under the umbrella-genre of post-punk, although the band seemed to categorize themselves as "New Wave Punk". Which actually is pretty befitting, although it could mean just about anything.

Nitpicking aside, I think you'll find this a real pleasure for the ears. Both musicmanship and songwriting impress, the band navigating themselves with ease through the weird squiggles and bends of each song. In particular the tight-as-fuck rhythm-section of BIN and TAKA is worth noting, although the idiosyncratic vocalization and guitarplaying of
幽太郎 inevitably steals much of the spotlight. Just check out the title tracks surprisingly catchy refrain for instance, complete with whinnying and braying that almost (I said almost) puts AUTO-MOD's Genet to shame.

Other highlights include ...well, most everything on the record. The melodic break in DONE DANCE, the tweaked out verses of GUARD, the floating passive-agressive mood and repetitive riffage of SONIA and so on, and so on...

Apart from this record and some appearances on various omnibus-albums, Genkaku Mime released a 12" on the famous Trans Records label (run by the late Masashi Kitamura of YBO² fame) before calling it quits.

In closing, I hope you'll all enjoy and that hopefully it's something to begin to make up for the excessive amount of time some of you've been waiting to slake your thirst for aural Jap-weirdness.

Download
Mediafire / Divshare / Depositfiles

4 comments:

nattliga_toner said...

There seems to be some problems with Sharebees upload and/or Rapidshare & Megaupload's download functions ...if the problem doesn't resolve until tomorrow, I'll look into different filesharing options.

In the meantime, the file is still downloadable through zShare & Deposit Files.

nattliga_toner said...

Problem has been resolved, all links working now.

Anna said...

You had me at "New Wave Punk". I've got to download this.

Thanks a lot, I'm really happy to see the blog is being updated again.

nattliga_toner said...

Thanks Anna!

If you enjoyed this EP, I'm intending to post their 12" a little bit later on.

Also, if the term "New Wave Punk" sounds appealing you'd might be interested in stuff by Asylum and Allergy, both to be forthcoming.