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TSUMANNE (BORING)

Spike Sidor
Shinsei Kamattechan Tsumanne Review Album Cover

SHINSEI KAMATTECHAN

2010 NOISE-ROCK/POP

Tsumanne is the second album, and first on a major label, by Japanese noise rock trio Shinsei Kamattechan. I discovered this band while dozing off after listening to a Melt Banana album. Spotify went onto its usually highly misguided curation of tracks it perceives to be similar and just as quickly I was sprung to attention by the throat-shredding shrieks of Crazy NEET. That’s all it took, I needed to listen to this band. Describing this album in general terms to give the reader an idea of what is to come is difficult in the best way possible. Its noisy and wild, cutesy and melodic, the vocals, featuring both femme and masculine vocalists, are delivered with incredible variety ranging anywhere from J-Pop and saturated angelic tones to driving punk choruses and wretched screams. One part noise-rock and one part shoegaze but smoothed over with indie sensibilities, words don’t do it justice. Open your ears and feel it dodge definition. Shinsei Kamattechan are not trying hard to be different, they just are, and they just are really fucking good.

The fun begins as White Egg opens with a few bass notes and explodes with bright synths swallowing the track in a fluorescent fog that rather than obscuring doses the party in color. Before you can get a grip on your surroundings the next track is immediately transitioned into as the backing vocals come crashing down and we are confronted with driving choppy punked out guitars and raw vocals. A gorgeous chorus peppers the low end of the mix and is a fantastic contrast to the pained shrieks of our restless entertainer. By the end of the track the singer sounds near out of breath and my throat feels hoarse from just listening. The twinkling pianos and phantasmal vocals on Towards the Beautiful Unknown sound like a fun summertime indie song made by My Bloody Valentine worshippers. The layered vocals are belted out with a youthful joy but the highlight is the climax. Dazzling keys punch their way through the mix with a frenetic pace that beckons the audience not to dance but to freak out.

The fifth song, Kuroitamago, opens with glitched out electronic percussion that spends the length of the track politely convulsing at the back of the crowd. The vocals are a new juxtaposition this time between plain vocals and a chorus of an ethereal host with the later providing a soothing caress of the eardrums. We are met with Tsumanne’s version of an interlude with Insects In The Night Sky Forever. Despite crowded production containing all the usual players besides vocals it oozes cool relaxation with its reverb soaked keys The reprieve is short lived as School Commute Low dashes in stumbling. A beautiful and suffocating affair with bizarre vocal treatments that churn and twist as the track descends further and further into madness.

Finally comes fan favorite Crazy NEET feigning normalcy with spacey synths and all the makings of a breezy rock song. The vocals come in untouched and with just a bit of intensity in the delivery, it doesn’t prepare you for the violently screamed chorus that is unbelievably catchy. I cannot say enough about how much I love this screech, it’s utterly unique in its savagery, genuinely emotive, magnificent. It makes you want to eviscerate your vocal chords along with him. Weak In A Sunny Day is the second to last on the listing but should have been the closer with its metronome-like bell strikes and our regular companion of sparkling synths as femme vocals led us to the exit with a slow fade out. The actual closer is twelve minutes in length and it’s a head scratcher, most of it belonging to the logic and enjoyment defying concept of “the hidden track”.  It’s more like three unfinished songs first with a piano ballad, a break with nothingness, thus the hidden track, then a bit of 50/60s rock throwback with a bit of lo-fi punk thrown in until finally finishes off with some psychedelic space rock. I wish these individual vignettes were more developed. As is they stand awkwardly in this hulking chimera of a song.

Tsumanne is not like anything that exists, the diversity while maintaining a consistent, stellar song writing is incredible. Layer upon layer of goodness effortlessly arranged, each piece an integral component to the neon cacophony, yeah the genre is noise-rock, it is the noise of jubilation. 

8-9/10

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