Melt banana

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Melt banana
Melt-Banana live in Hamburg, 2010
Melt-Banana live in Hamburg, 2010
General information
origin Tokyo , Japan
Genre (s) Noise rock , noise , punk
founding 1992
Website www.melt-banana.net
Founding members
singing
 Yasuko Onuki
guitar
 Ichirou Agata
bass
 Rika Hamamoto (until 2013)
Current occupation
singing
 Yasuko Onuki
guitar
 Ichirou Agata
former members
Drums
 Toshiaki Sudoh (1992-1997)
Drums
 Oshima Watchma (1998-2000)

Melt-Banana is a Japanese noise rock band that was formed in Tokyo in 1992 . The original line-up consisted of Yako (also Yasuko Onuki) (vocals), Agata (guitar), Rika (bass) and Sudoh (drums). Since Sudoh left, Melt-Banana consists of singer YaKo, guitarist Agata, bassist Rinka mm and a changing line-up on drums. The band released their first album, Speak Squeak Creak , produced by Steve Albini in 1994 and since then have released six other studio albums, a live album produced by John Zorn , around 19 split EPs with other groups, and one album with everyone between 1994 and 1999 Released singles.

Soon the band was more popular in the US than in Japan, which resulted in several major US tours (the material for the live album was collected here). The band has also performed a few times in Europe.

The band now has its own label called A-Zap Records, on which all albums were re-released. The exception is the live album MxBx 1998/13000 Miles at Light Velocity , which is distributed by John Zorn's label Tzadik . The guitarist Agata's solo album, Spike , is also distributed on Tzadik .

style

Singer YaKo writes all the lyrics by herself, which gives them a very personal character, which is further emphasized by the unmistakably shrill, choppy and sometimes almost manic singing. All texts are written in the English language.

Guitarist Agata live in Hamburg, 2010

In addition to the incisive vocals, the band's tone is characterized by a very rhythmic bass, fast "stop-and-go-beats" on the drums and also a unique guitar work. Guitarist Agata shines less through his playing technique than through the skillful use of several sequencers for guitar loops and the use of the "Whammy", an effects device that was made famous by Steve Vai and Tom Morello , among others . A bottleneck is also often used.

With their first publication, the Japanese coined the term "Japan-Core", but were also respected in the noise scene. The technique of the recordings became cleaner and more defined from album to album; the arrangements became bigger and deeper.

Discography

Albums

  • September 1994 - Speak Squeak Creak
  • September 1994 - Cactuses Come in Flocks
  • November 1995 - Scratch or Stitch
  • November 1998 - Charlie
  • February 1999 - MxBx 1998/13000 Miles at Light Velocity , (produced by John Zorn )
  • October 2000 - Teeny Shiny
  • June 2003 - Cell-Scape
  • May 2005 - 13 Hedgehogs (collection of already released singles / EPs)
  • 2006 - Melt Banana / Chung Split (10inch with hologram cover)
  • April 2007 - Bambi's Dilemma
  • 2013 - Fetch

Web links

Commons : Melt-Banana  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files