Les Rallizes Dénudés
'77 Live

Some consider them the most underground band ever, not only because they are almost unknown, but also because it is difficult to find music so “underground”, hallucinatory, psychedelic. Perhaps it's no wonder since Les Rallizes Dénudés were born in the '60s (and are among the best of the period), precisely in 1967, a time when there was certainly no shortage of experimenters with burnt-out minds.

It all begins in Japan, where amidst the student riots at Kyoto University, Mizutani Takashi, a singer and guitarist in love with French existentialism, formed the band with other students. They soon started performing live with a theater group called Gendai Gekijo modeled after the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Their concerts were memorable, with strobe lights, mirrors, and volume at maximum. And this is precisely the reason for their separation from the theater group, which abandoned them after asking several times to lower the volume, in vain.

Their music was a breath of fresh air for Japanese rock, and countless bands have been inspired by them and continue to be. It was revolutionary in many ways, especially politically, as the band was very close to the far left, and some members were part of the Red Army, so much so that bassist Wakabayashi was later arrested for attempting to hijack a plane bound for Korea (the Yodo-go incident). All this was reflected in the music: an outcry against the world, alienated and intolerant of the poor ears of the listeners.

Their activity was mainly live; they released very few albums, often on their own, and their legend spread thanks to bootlegs; the first official concert releases only began in the 90s. This double "‘77 Live" is often considered their masterpiece, honestly it’s hard to choose among the many releases, but it still remains a great manifesto of their art. As mentioned, probably the main reference is the Velvet Underground, but also Grateful Dead, Blue Cheers, and all the psychedelic and noisy rabble of the era.

However, Les Rallizes Dénudés (or Hadaka No Rallizes, as they were also called) go even further because they were true sound terrorists both in life and in music. Their music is quite simple to describe: usually slow, with a prominent bassline guiding the "melody," often accompanied by a Sister Ray-like drum, contrasted by a rain of feedback, distortions, walls of noise, over which the cold and distant voice of Mizutani Takashi is superimposed. The always exaggerated volume and live recordings give a very dirty sound, almost lo-fi. All this often recalls groups like Hash Jar Tempo, Bardo Pond, a lot of noise and many Japanese bands that were probably inspired by them, including White Heaven and Mainliner (perhaps more accelerated). In short, the final effect is “amazing” in the psychedelic sense of the term, and powerful too.

The last live gig of the band dates back to 1996, since then they have not been heard from again except for the Japanese tour of Arthur Doyle, where the saxophonist was accompanied by Mizutani Takashi. Countless recordings of their concerts have meanwhile been released by the Univive label, often selling for hundreds of euros. Among these, I recommend "Double Heads Legendary Live: Yaneura Shibuya, Tokyo 1980-1981" which also boasts a cleaner sound (in the sense that it is better recorded!).

Certainly a band to rediscover.