Melt-Banana is by far one of the most unique bands I’ve ever heard. Melt-Banana is a Japanese noise-rock outfit consisting of two members, Yasuko Onuki (aka Yako) on vocals and Ichirou Agata on guitar. For drums, they either find a member to tour with them or use pre-recorded drum parts. Melt-Banana beautifully mix noise-rock, grindcore, electronics, and poppy song structures to make for a musical experience not for the faint of heart. That being said, “Fetch” is a personal contender for album of the year.
As my roommate put it, Melt-Banana sounds like an angry version of the Teen Titans theme song. Agata’s masterfully concocted guitar parts scream behind Yako’s high, intense vocals. The kind of vocals you would normally hear in a J-Pop type of song.
I’m gonna digress for a bit to talk about Agata’s guitar work. The magnitude of creativity put in to each guitar part is insanely high and shows both Agata’s skill and experimental creativity. Agata even made a highly acclaimed solo album that showcases his creativity as a noise-rock guitar player. When asked how he finds inspiration for his music, Agata said that he uses the feeling of euphoria when beating something difficult in a video game (using Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater as an example).
The opening track to this album, “Candy Gun,” is about the most radio-friendly thing Melt-Banana has released. The song starts of with a beautiful guitar soundscape, sounding almost like a shoegazing track. The track then explodes into a drum beat with an assortment of synthesizers in the back ground. Agata then re-enters the song with a quick, almost poppy guitar riff. Yako’s vocals enter the scene and the album hits its full stride.
The rest of the tracks are noisy, wild, and all-out fun. I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun listening to an album the first time.
Grade 8.5/10
Tracks to check out: Candy Gun and Infection Defective. Both start out with noisy guitar soundscapes masterfully composed by Agata
Ryan and Jon Do Music 