385
Ningen

These guys are as flat as doormats: you can almost glimpse the word "Welcome" imprinted on their foreheads..

Try to imagine.. or actually no, don't try anything, click directly here: it's just over three minutes but should be enough to provide a (however vague) idea of the authentic cerebral explosion boiling in the battered skulls of these avant-funk-noise-pop-prog-jazz-rockers of the Rising Sun, devotees of the animistic cult of the Sacred Demon of Claypool.

There are only three of them but they actually seem like eight, given the inextricable tangle of sounds, edges, puffs, screams, and trifles they pour into the ears of the bewildered listeners; one might suppose that the Baphomet-Claypool, while waiting to come out for an encore during a cover-jam in the volcanic land of Mazinga Z based on the chamber repertoire of the Stormtroopers Of Death, unknowingly (it happens..) generated offspring: because the fiery young bassist, who only lacks the hawk mustache, disarticulates the four strings exactly as Uncle Les would, but subjected to six consecutive months of Fukushima radiation (remaining miraculously unscathed).

The beauty is that when they seem to completely lose control of this hypervitaminized smoothie, lost among unprecedented accelerations, vocals switching from the purest j-pop to the burliest crust-grind, throwing everything amidst a barren series of pianistic amenities and frenetic instrumental breaks of daring craftsmanship, they miraculously manage to seize everything by the hair, daringly closing the circle of what is in fact one of the most melted, multi-graded, therefore fun albums heard in this glimpse of the year 385.

And then, let's be honest, how can you not love an album with titles like these:

1. 人間
2. サーチアンドデストロイ
3. 極端な人達
4. 恋がわからない
5. 物欲ソサイエティー
6. 音楽
7. 美しい葛藤
8. 真っ赤に燃えている太陽が落ちるのを見ていた。
9. バンザイ
10. 精神を破壊する価値
11. FREEDOM