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Post by thegl0r on Jul 26, 2015 10:54:02 GMT -5
Here's a rather nice one with some lovely bass action. Quite how the camera person managed to drag the camera away from the lovely Rika, I will never know. Hmm, I wonder what she's doing now? Perhaps she's been talking with Emi...
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Post by tangerinesun on Jul 26, 2015 19:03:32 GMT -5
Here's a rather nice one with some lovely bass action. Quite how the camera person managed to drag the camera away from the lovely Rika, I will never know. Hmm, I wonder what she's doing now? Perhaps she's been talking with Emi... Well, this has completely pre-empted Deerhoof. SUCH a wonderful show and video!!! And zoom lens on that guy's camera. It brings up so many questions. - Where's Rika now?
- Where's Rika's Noise Etudes for Electric Bass Technique DVD?
- Is Rika actually a research project of Osaka University?
- Yako's belt pack — power for her, or RF control for Rika?
- Does Yako do that to her hair, or does her hair just... do that?
- Hoodie inside-out OK, but does a bead necklace back-to-front make a statement?
- Cupping the mic like that, is it to solve a problem or to create a problem?
- Is MxBx responsible in any way for mental disturbances at its shows?
- Relationship between drink and ability to speak in tongues?
- Can Agata possibly know 100% exactly which pedal he's stomping on?
The camera guy is able to get away from Rika by exploiting the Onuki Effect. When Yako comes near enough, she exerts force on the lens. Rika's got no credits I can find, apart from MxBx and related projects. I don't know if she'd mesh with Emi. With Rika, it seems not to be about the entertainment. It's your business if you're entertained by what she does or not.
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Post by tangerinesun on Jul 26, 2015 19:55:05 GMT -5
Melt-Banana: Being ‘stupid’ isn’t so bad when it comes to touringJ-Times Music article from 2013 OctoberIan Martin passes along the suggestion that the side players were stripped because the right kind of drummer was lacking. But I blame the money. It's business economics. Being stupid is too expensive now.
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Post by thegl0r on Jul 26, 2015 22:40:43 GMT -5
Interesting article that one in the J-times. It seems to have been a long running problem for MxBx with finding the right drummer - or with them not finding the right drummer. In previous interviews going back years, Yako has mentioned this problem and I guess it is a logical progression to do away with the rest of the rhythm section, and it does make financial sense...
MxBx are Yako and Agata but I like bass guitars. And Rika fitted in so well. Especially as some of the stuff she was playing felt more typical of guitar thrashing. So it would have been nice for her to get some interesting parts to play and maybe mutate the sound a little. But then it wouldn't have been Melt Banana any-more, and they do work so well together as a two-piece.
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Post by tangerinesun on Jul 27, 2015 2:51:24 GMT -5
MxBx are Yako and Agata but I like bass guitars. And Rika fitted in so well. She was with them for twenty years, give or take! Y&A could just replace each other with electronics. The stage divers would have that much more room to get a running start. At least drummer Dave can work about as much as he wants. If you see a 4-foot 11-inch Japanese bassist with her hair in her eyes like Sadako from RINGU, offer her a job. She looks like this: Field spotter's guide to key identifiersIn 2008 with a blue/rosewood Fender and minus the short fringe on her forehead2011 October 27 with photographer Bill T. Miller, center, and the drummer du jour at T. T. The Bear's in Cambridge, MASupper after the show in 2002 at Penguin House with members of Tail Soup[/i]
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Post by tangerinesun on Jul 27, 2015 2:58:03 GMT -5
Another fantastic concert document.
Melt Banana 2003 July 1, Tampa FL 49:59 Upped 2014 June 28 Keith S
480p standard def and crawling with analog video noise.
SQ is not… too bad. Yako's vocal often missing. There are places where you can only recognize the song by the guitar chords.
For some reason, Florida audiences give MxBx a hot reception. They yell the most inane things, though.
It's the full band (Rika H. and Dave Witte, the unbreakables), so posted here in their honor.
Rika Works It Out.
Yako performs in a rose-colored slip with golden dragons.
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Post by tangerinesun on Jul 29, 2015 4:27:55 GMT -5
Melt Banana at Maryland Deathfest, Baltimore MD 2015 May 24 Three short clips from godless phones. Visually trippy, everything blue and magenta, and Yako painted in laser light. Shot from well back, or extreme stage left, because front and center just is not a secure place to be. MxBx are comfortable working with chaos all around them.
It's the two-person electronically augmented Melt-Banana.
For the duo, everything pre-loaded but guitar and vocal must be a little weird, or boring, or both. They do make it work, though. There's a real lot of fan-shot video on this tour, just look on YouTube.
"Candy Gun" 06:11 Upped on 2015 May 26 by Roger Godinez Dark, from extreme stage left. At times, there's are as many security guards as musicians onstage.
Intro > "Lie Lied Lies" 04:26 Upped 2015 May 25 by RubeNomicon This is for the view. Sound capture is so out-of-field you can hardly hear the drum track, and that's like cannon fire!
Intro > "Lie Lied Lies" (Again) 04:28 Upped on 2015 May 25 by 44R0N This time from the back of the pack. You can hear, but not see. Oh well.
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Post by tangerinesun on Aug 1, 2015 13:49:39 GMT -5
Return of the Hedgehogs NA Tour, now passed into history. Supporting in Oakland, CA were: Torche = recently more alt-rock with the fuzz all the way up, they have a crushing sludge attack Hot Nerds = Electronic experimental noise-rock, disappointing Pattern Breaker = Stoner nerd death metal jams… skipped all but the last 10 minutes and glad of it Because it's Oakland, there is a cheap vegan soul food restaurant nearby. Right, Oakland! ☮ ✎ ☁︎ ◎ ☸ ❀ ? ❤︎ ☆ ♫ UPDATED, NOW WITH 100% MORE REALITY! ☮ ✎ ☁︎ ◎ ☸ ❀ ? ❤︎ ☆ ♫ If it's fanboi critical highlights, you're needing... this guy already did that a month ago. I'll just add that Torche started slow and wrung everyone completely out, like 45 minutes in a G-force trainer. This is 1.5G, OK? Now let's try 2G... 2.5G... still breathing alright? How's your vision? Good, let's continue. Now, I was late to dinner because I left no slack for emergencies, and then an emergency magically appeared. Still *plenty* of time before the opening acts and the vanishment of the band goods. I was getting continual text messages from a friend, though. - Hurry up, yr missing out
- Srsly, get here ASAP
- OK relax its over
The contingency was, a vegan soul-food menu lured Melt-Banana to the dining table next to ours, where they supped, updated some social media, and scooted in relative peace. My partner in noise was far too cool to molest them while they were trying to eat, but did wish them an excellent show as they left. This alone gave a moment of wall-eyed paranoia to the most under-appreciated rock band in all Japan. What I would have done if I had to contain myself for half an hour... I just don't know. Knocking back strawberry-ginger tea and chicken-fried seitan steaks with MxBx — still on the bucket list. They had a narrow escape, but I caught up with them at the merchandise table. Person to person, they were really humble and accommodating, like a couple of shopkeepers. I couldn't make myself not shake Agata-san by the hand, which shocked him, but I didn't press for the Facebook selfie photo. They had just done one of those, very well I should say, and it felt too much like asking the tiger to jump through the circus hoop. Again. They do everything themselves. Everything. No band, sure, but also no crew. No translator, no navigator, no merch girl, no sound tech, no roadie. The house engineer helped them set their backline, such as it is, on milk crates. They plugged nearly all of it in on hands and knees. After the hall emptied, I'm pretty sure they came back to break it down and load it into their chartered hovercraft. The set was... just great, same as always. They have a fixed flow of show built on a nice Japanese Apple laptop, and that's it, there are relatively few available branches on that tree. Although the tracks are expertly crafted to turn your brains to glowing gas, there is something visceral that's just not there. When Torche's drummer stepped on the pedal, it was like a punch over the heart. MxBx do not have that experience caught in a bottle as of last night. No matter, it is still super-exciting to see these guys perform, because they are body-and-soul into it, and obviously in communication with their audience. Yako seems to love whipping crowds into a savage frenzy, so Return of the Hedgehogs, Part B ended on a high note for her. She was wearing the hugest smile, with plenty of reason. The reason? The anarchist hardcore came for blood. I've never personally seen a rougher pit. When MxBx took the stage... then people without shirts or perhaps wearing INSTANT A**HOLE painted on denim started driving into the crowd, going 3-to-5 in a wedge at a brisk trot, like Visigoths on Romans. I felt extremely sorry for the gray-haired barnacles on the lip of the stage. First-generation fans, normally they would have been safe from the surge, but they were completely wiped out along with the rest. I crawled to safety. I've got bruises all over. I watched the melee from stage left, and I learned to keep my arms up, and most of my attention on the floor, or suffer the random hit from a charging baby rhino. So, I've still had a much better look at Melt-Banana on YouTube then I may ever do in life. But I've never *felt* any band more than that, and I got a really nice T-shirt. =========== Then, on the ride away from the battlefield, I tried to explain thrash to an Afghani cab driver who didn't know about fighting as partying. I failed to make any sense of it for him. In exchange for my effort, he played me his favorite Indian vocal pop and a lot of chanting in Arabic from the Quran. Did it make me feel peaceful, was what he wanted to know.
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Post by tangerinesun on Aug 3, 2015 4:21:11 GMT -5
Photo freelancer Debi Del Grande shot substantially the same show for the L.A. Record, a music pub she photo-edits. I wouldn't pay too much attention to the copywriting, but the pictures are nice. L.A. Record – Return of Hedgehogs at the RoxyThis was the following evening, August 3rd at the Roxy Theater in Hollywood. The Roxy show was added late, it never got on their published schedule. Clear that the Roxy did better than Metro at keeping this show safe and sane. There are women at the front, who aren't six feet tall and do not weigh 190lb. Not even running back and forth, just standing on one spot watching. Amazing.
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Post by tangerinesun on Aug 3, 2015 7:08:09 GMT -5
MxBx onstage at Metro (from the venue's Instagram)Last night was really fun. Thanks to [all]. Photo credit: Stacy In the lone shot from the venue's Instagram, you can see two things: - The stage is deliberately set up as a narrow catwalk
- Yako's shoes are about as big as ski boots
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Post by thegl0r on Aug 3, 2015 19:13:40 GMT -5
Return of the Hedgehogs NA Tour, now passed into history... The set was... just great, same as always... Wow, it seems like you had a great time at the Metro, and you'll always have the story about the day you didn't eat soul food with MxBx. Saw the band, got the t-shirt. Nice that you got your ticket signed at the merch table, and tut-tut-tut for the handshake, you lucky devil. The only ticket I've managed to get signed by them was by chasing them around the stage as they were tearing their kit down before loading it into the MxBx-mobile at the end of a very sweaty gig. They did the loading themselves with a little help to get it done quickly, meanwhile the merch table was being stafffed by the venue. Sounds like the anarcho-moshpit was rather lively and that MxBx stirred up a whirlwind.. As any hardcore mosher will tell you, wearing a shirt in the pit turns you into a victim, but at least it doesn't tend to last too long, the shirt soon goes, or you do. God I miss those days, the best I can do now is to be a barnacle. I've always hated the stage-diveing, crowd surfing a-holes and even more so now that I can't move. It certainly looks like Yako was wearing some great boots, I'm so in awe of them. Not ski-boots - rocket boots! My chunkiest boots have soles only 2" high (with 3" heels) but they're not flying boots. For their live sound, I agree that something seems to be missing without a breathing rhythm section, or is it that I'm missing Rika on bass? Yako and Agata still put on an awesome set, leaving many wondering how on earth they manage to produce such an avalanche of sounds. I've heard a fair selection of "What?", "How?", "!!!" at the end of gigs. Surely the sign of something special. I'm so jealous and am hoping that they'll let loose their hedgehogs of roar in the UK sometime soon.
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Post by tangerinesun on Aug 4, 2015 1:34:21 GMT -5
Melt Banana / Oakland Metro / 8/1/2015 (50:26) Upped on 03 August 2015 by JAY THEJOINT
The movie version's been released. Shot from somewhere near the sound booth on its platform over the bar in back.
What you see is a lot of activity, what you don't see is people going down on the concrete or all the gouging and pummeling below shoulder level. Whenever I stand up, today, Monday, I twist and lean a little to the right so the soreness is not so annoying.
My basic bitch with the berserkers is that they poison the event. You simply can't follow what's on stage, that's how you get killed.
When you really need Max Rocketansky he's always out on the road somewhere.
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Post by thegl0r on Dec 1, 2015 16:51:14 GMT -5
Melt Banana have announced a tour of USA and Canada for next spring. They're touring with Napalm Death and the Melvins. So many dates, and all over the place - you lucky people. melt banana us and canada tour spring 2016March 26 Phoenix, AZ The Marquee March 28 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theater March 30 Dallas, TX Trees March 31 Austin, TX The Mohawk April 1 Houston, TX Fitzgerald’s April 2 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jacks April 3 Birmingham, AL Iron City April 4 Pensacola, FL Vinyl Music Hall April 5 Tallahassee, FL Sidebar Theater April 7 Ft. Lauderdale, FL The Culture Room April 8 Orlando, FL The Plaza Live April 9 Tampa, FL The Orpheum April 10 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade April 12 Washington, DC 930 Club April 13 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts April 14 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg April 15 New York, NY Webster Hall April 16 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club April 17 Montreal, QC Club Soda April 19 Toronto, ON The Opera House April 20 Detroit, MI Majestic Theatre April 21 Cleveland, OH Agora Ballroom April 22 Chicago, IL The Metro April 23 Milwaukee, WI The Rave II (Downstairs) April 24 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue April 25 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room April 27 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre April 29 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge May 1 Seattle, WA The Showbox May 2 Vancouver, BC The Venue May 3 Portland, OR Roseland Theater May 5 San Francisco, CA Slim’s May 6 San Francisco, CA Slim’s May 7 Los Angeles, CA The Troubadour May 8 Los Angeles, CA The Troubadour
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Post by tangerinesun on Dec 14, 2015 15:59:38 GMT -5
Melt Banana have announced a tour of USA and Canada for next spring. They're touring with Napalm Death and the Melvins. So many dates, and all over the place - you lucky people… After two consecutive nights, Slim's is going to be a pile of rubble. That is really the old guard coming out. Think of the children!
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Post by thegl0r on Jan 13, 2016 16:52:16 GMT -5
Does this mean that MxBx will be on tour in the UK this year? Surely they won't come over just for just this one show in London. Don't do a Laibach and only come over for just the one show this year, please... raw power festival 2016
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