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Guitar Vader - From Dusk Guitar Vader just keep on releasing catchy Japanese Rock and Roll, and at this rate are destined to be the greatest underground band in Japan, if not the world. Their latest long player, From Dusk, carries on the tradition of toe-tapping happy songs that range from the whimsical Yawarakai to the wall of noise of Baby-T and Sun.
Guitar Vader hail from Tokyo and consist of the hugely talented Miki (guitars and vocals, and who also drew the pictures for the sleeve artwork) and Ujuan (bass and vocals). On this record they are assisted by Taichi Ohira on various keyboard duties and who also produced the record. Guitar Vader are probably best known in the West for contributing a couple of songs to the highly rated Sega Dreamcast game Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio in the US) about a bunch of system-fighting Tokyo skater kids.
There is something unique about the Guitar Vader sound - a combination of Miki's distinctive vocals, the quirky melodies, the raw production and the surreal lyrics - many attempted in heavily accented English. Although they are clearly influenced by a lot of Western artists, their own take on rock music is very Japanese: effortlessly cool and slightly skewed. Imagine Talking Heads if they came from Kawasaki rather than Rhode Island and you'll start seeing what I mean...
From Dusk starts with a slight change of pace for Guitar Vader, opening with Perfect Bird. It's a slow burning track featuring a low slung bassline from Ujuan and Fender Rhodes noodling from Taichi before crashing into a distorted guitar chorus from Miki. The second track is back on familiar territory with the vintage Guitar Vader pop of Cutting! Evil Smile which bounces along like an over excited puppy. From here on, Miki stomps on the distortion pedal and the rest of the album hurtles along throwing out catchy riffs and sing-along choruses like there's no tomorrow. They take a slight diversion for the drum-machine driven Yawarakai and the bizarre lo-fi sampling of Shimanagashi before hitting rock overdrive again, with Ujuan taking on the vocals like a Japanese Billy Corgan.
As many of their earlier cassette releases on Berry Records are no longer available, From Dusk is a perfect introduction into the world of Guitar Vader. I hope that worldwide distribution is sorted out soon, but in the meantime you can order Guitar Vader releases from HMV in Japan (English Guitar Vader ordering page here) Berry Records have thoughtfully included all of Guitar Vader's tracks so far in Realplayer format at mp3.com, so if you have a broadband connection or don't care about the telephone bill, prepare to spend a couple of hours in heaven.
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