Last Friday, my friend Lance and I witnessed the heavenly glory of Japanese psych greats OOIOO at the Chop Suey in Seattle. I hadn't been to that venue since I saw the Melvins there (when it was called the Breakroom WAAAAY back in '99) so it was a treat to go back and check out the scene. Chop Suey seems to be doing well, I'm happy to report.
Don't know where to begin with describing OOIOO to those who haven't been fortunate enough to hear them yet. They began in the 1996 as something of a lark. Yoshimi P-we, the drummer, trumpeter and screamer of the legendary Boredoms, told a reporter from SWITCH magazine that she had formed a new band. She was joking, but an interview was set up and she spontaneously invited a few friends of hers to go along for a photo shoot to pose as her "band."
Afterwards, they decided it would be fun to actually turn the fictitious band into a real one, despite the fact that only Yoshimi and the drummer had had any previous experience as musicians. The guitarist and bass player had never even played before! Suffice it to say, they got better. Several tours and albums down the line, OOIOO has turned into one of Japan's leading experimental psychedelic bands.
Like the Boredoms. Hanadensha and other Japanese psych bands of their generation, OOIOO has gradually mutated from shrill mechanical squall to organic earth worshippers. But-if the term "earth worship" inevitably equates in your mind with navel gazing hippy jam bands like {{*shudder*}} Phish, then you couldn't be further off the mark with what OOIOO and their contemporaries are all about.
OOIOO is organic, but organic like a hurricane or the rushing torrent of a waterfall. This is nature in all it's sometimes frightening majesty, not a safe, flower covered pleasure park for bourgeois daytrippers. It's a sound difficult to describe, like fractured 70's afrobeat played through Link Wray's broken speakers. Tribal, yet futuristic...very much a music symbolizing the phenomenon of modern Japan.
Their performance was very tight. I've seldom seen a group of individuals more integrated towards a common musical goal. They even dressed alike! However, unlike the retro contrivance of the many uniformed neo-garage bands littering the landscape, they seemed more like robed priestesses than trendy fashion victims.
Their current album TAIGA, shows how far they've come since their inception. You should buy it. NOW!
If you are fortunate to live in one of the cities on their tragically short US tour, then drop whatever you're doing, change your plans and go see them.
