Customer Reviews

Peach Head

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The recent influx of talent from Japan is undeniable in the music world. High profile acts like Pizzicato five and Shonen Knife have done fairly well commerically here in the US, but have given American audiences a somewhat false perception on what the Japanese actually are doing creatively. Natural Calamity, a Japanese duo, are neither lounge-core pop, nor silly girly punk. They are an electronically-influenced guitar based band. Live guitars, basses, analog synths, etc. grace all of the tracks in a completely organic fashion. The vocals on some of the tracks are breathy, sensuous additions that complement the duo's songwriting perfectly. It is the simplistic songwriting and arranging that make this record stick out from other Japanese peers. Natural Calamity take a lot of the piss out todays electronic music and add some bluesy guitar, pulsing bass, and beautiful words to make this not only one of the better albums to come out of Japan in recent years, but also one of the best domestic releases in recent memory.

Natural Calamity has a very nice, mellow answer to Portishead with Peach Head. The melodies are soft and almost sensuous while the vocals give a feeling of floating. The signature track is "As You Know", which has almost a haunting lilt to it (try getting it out of your head after hearing it twice). A terrific disc to pop into the CD, open a bottle of pinot noir and snuggle up!

I bought this album recently, and I'm sad to see that the last review was written nearly ten years ago. This album reinforced the amalgam of downtempo and trip-hop influence from japan in the 1990's to early 2000's, with a sense of solidity that can't be beat. The album fully executes broadcasting it's airy and light aesthetic, almost to a fault. (It's not as experimental or groundbreaking as I would have liked it to be, but it's still worth a listen.) It was well adjusted for the genre at the time and is a good reference point for the downtempo movement.