Post post post post post Rock (The Retail Sectors); Post post post post post Punk (Yaporigami). This was the amusing proposition that greeted me in the handwritten liner notes of this split EP out of Kyoto. I like it – one can only imagine what an earth post post etc. anything sounds like. In this big old wonderful post-modern world with blurry boundaries, it could quite likely be anything or everything.
As it happens, The Retail Sectors (Kentaro Togawa) peddles a fine type of guitar-driven, Steve Reich influenced melodic motifs. “The Dread’ starts off all stately and meditative before the Slint-esque build-up of bass and drums kicks out the jams. “The Distress’ inhabits similar territory without the prog overtones, more of a slow-burning Trans-Am influence. “The Decadence’ is the perfect bookend to Kentaro’ outing on this EP, melding the previous two songs into a Spaghetti Western end-credits score.
The Yaporigami (Yu Miyashita) tracks are a blend of overdriven drums, distorted keys and mentalist breaks compressed into three-minute pop dities. If you’ve heard the Venetian Snares version of the Coronation Street (Abomination Street) tune from “Chocolate Wheelchair’, you’ll understand where I’m coming from, and if you haven’t I’m sure you have an inkling by now.
No liner notes or further explanations clarified my understanding of said EP. Initially I thought that the two artists were collaborating and the last three tracks were remixes of the other three. A quick dredge on the net set me straight. I’m not averse to being misinformed, some of the greatest impressions of music have come from the way my brain assimilates the information, not the information itself.
Oliver Laing
