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Tracklist |
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01 - WATCH YOUR STEP
02 - 太陽がいっぱい (Taiyou ga Ippai)
03 - 憂鬱な水曜日 (Yuutsu na Suiyoubi)
04 - Hey God, shit down please
05 - ぶらさがれ (Burasagare)
06 - glory's lunch
07 - job!
08 - バスケットボール (Basketball)
09 - Good day sunshine
10 - CITY GIRL |
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Review |
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Six albums in, and Bugy Craxone's just now releasing their self-titled album. Does this portend another new beginning for the quartet? With 2002's This is New Sunrise and Northern Hymns the Bugies dramatically reworked their tried-and-true melodic alternative rock style into straightforward garage rock, continuing even further down the road with their follow-up Sorry, I Will Scream Here. As exciting as another full-scale makeover would be for the band, it's not in the cards on Bugy Craxone. Nevertheless, their eponymous recording still takes significant strides past Sorry, effectively reconciling their older style with garage elements while even bringing some post-punk into the fold.
Yes, that's right, post-punk. "Watch Your Step" charges up with a riff that rings true of would-be second coming of post-punkers Marion, then keeps the sound heavily rhythm-centric with hand claps and shout-back vocals. The song's infectious energy steers it clear of any and all mopiness of post-punk and almost sends it into female-fronted Sparta Locals territory. And speaking of Sparta Locals, guitarists Oikawa Tsukasa and Suzuki Yukiko pull double-duty over their previous works with tight dual guitar lines that still manage to channel the band's garage rock rawness, sometimes paying noisy tribute to bloodthirsty butchers, other times laying down pulsing riffs reminiscent of Tom Verlaine's famous "Marquee Moon" ("Basketball"). Forget female fronted bands like The Brilliant Green or even fra-foa where members yield to the vocalist to provide the melody. The guitar parts here stay even with the vocals until the bitter end.
One trend that has continued through Bugy Craxone's latest album is the slow transformation of Suzuki's vocals. The band's earliest recordings feature an emotional, crooning voice, but little of that era's style remains; Suzuki has now found a comfortable median between Detroit7's Nabana and her old chanteuse self. It's almost all grit on Bugy Craxone, and while sweeter sections graced with slight vibrato crop up on occasion ("glory's lunch"), even these give way to empowered shouts. However, the guitar work frequently compensates for the rougher vocals, swooping in periodically to augment the melody. The product isn't as sugary as Yuganda Ao or blanket, but the band's new bittersweet concoction has a much more memorable taste.
If there is any weakness to be found on Bugy Craxone, it's once again the lack of overall variety in material. The album sticks to nearly the same dynamic level throughout and songs like "Basketball" border on over-repetition with short phrasing. Still, the album rocks fast and hard during its compact 30-minute running time, almost rendering these minor complaints moot. A few English transgressions emerge periodically, some of these being humorously forgivable such as Suzuki's line "I wanna be monkey" in the opener (the later Pixies reference in the lyrics makes it all better) or the fourth track's bizarre title (possibly a mis-transliteration of "sit?"). Others, especially the shouted English on "Gooday Sunshine" are inescapably awkward for westernized ears.
Bugy Craxone's first albums were crammed full of melody and emotion, but could have used more spunk and personality, and while later releases came through energetically, they lacked the old material's melodic punch. The band has finally united these two halves in their self-titled while taking a significant leap forward in maturity of songwriting and instrumentation. Now that Bugy Craxone has found their new sunrise, one can only hope more suprises are in store with the inevitable midday sun. |
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