lsd march
Important Records have been doing an exemplary job of bringing the best in contemporary Japanese rock music to a wider audience of late - not just in the usual Acid Mothers/Kawabata Makoto vein, but with this week's one-two punch of Suishou No Fune and LSD March releases. Constellation Of Tragedy is, as its title suggests, not the most upbeat of albums, with the magical opener 'Aka I Yoru' making for an especially mournful way to start things off. It's simple combination of what sounds like a broken music box, gently strummed guitar and amplifier hiss serves as a humble backdrop for Shinsuke Michishita's world-weary voice. From here the album gradually builds itself (via the beautifully recorded, yet oddly cobbled together pop stylings of 'Musuu No Taiyo' and 'Kimi Wa Tengoku' up to a moment of unexpectedly bombastic psych-rock in the form of 'Moeru Pyramid' a primitive fuzz blast of bluesy guitar solos and hazy late '60s riffing that flails and flounders its way into the closing harmonium drone piece 'Kanashii Seiza'. Awesome(boomkat)
CONSTELLATION OF TRAGEDY
(manand)