To me, Zelda is not a video-game franchise. Zelda was one of the best band to emerge from the Tokyo punk scene of the late 70's.

The band formed in 1979 after the members discovered punk and new-wave through the 'Blow Up Tokyo Rockers' shows at the S-Ken Studio (the early epicenter of japanese punk). They were close to the band Lizard and its leader Momoyo who produced the first EP released in 1980 on Junk Connection.

The band showed a big potential from early on and even with only female members around 15-16 years old (this was quite a novelty at the time) a major company quickly signed them. Zelda became one of the most successful band of the 'indie boom' of the 80's.


You can tell by listening to their first two records that their music is rooted in punk and new-wave. But despite the young age of the members, it's far from being a plain worship of the Tokyo Rockers sound. The general feeling is brighter and every song benefits from a strong melodic pop sense ('Mirage Lover' from their 1982 album makes a great single).

Yet, it would be reductive to say it's pop music as Zelda doesn't seem to care about boundaries. Their second LP 'Carnaval' (1983) already shows their ability to experiment and try new things. Somehow the first track has a light dub flavor while 'Watashi No Orchestra' directly takes inspiration from Guernica, the neo-retro pop unit which revealed Jun Togawa to the world...

What makes the Zelda sound coherent is Sayoko's vocals. She may be the best singer of the japanese new-wave, able to cover a wide range of emotions. She also gives the diaphanous and dreamy edge which makes Zelda a perfect listen to escape reality.


I could go on for hours about why Zelda is so great but 1°) my english is not so good, 2°) you will get bored. Instead, i'll let you make your own opinion about this wonderful band :

I downloaded this album about a year or two ago and was utterly confused. My initial interest in this album was because of two names alone, Merzbow and Hanatarash. From such big names in noise one would mostly likely assume that any album containing those two people would converge into a symphony of mass experimentation and utter chaos, this is true in the case of this album, but the result is much different from what one would expect.

There is absolutely no genre barrier within this album created by visual artist Ukawa Naohiro, perhaps best known for his work as a video director and album artist for groups such as Boredoms and Supercar. Strangely enough, it is perhaps the visuals he has made for other groups that best describe his own work as a musician. Quirky, often humorous, yet with a sense of unique, offbeat surrealism that is purely his own.

At times this is a pop album, highlighting songs such as "unexplored depths of memory decay / owner is Uri Geller," which feature MEG, well-known for her association with producer Yasutaka Nakata (capsule, Perfume). Songs like "drowned while photosynthesis experiment" are pop in the sense that Denki Groove may be considered pop, showcasing an experimental electronic slant which helps diverge from the norm of pop music, yet is still wholly so at the core for it's appreciation of catchy and hummable melodies.

The 7th song, "Strings of Life," plays out like a John Cage tribute piece set in a hostile and hellish environment, where the slowly minimalist rounds of strings seem to slowly attack each other, practically playing out the song's own title and at the end, fading away as if life's rounds have been fulfilled and the memories of past regret and pain all collide within your mind at one single, brutal moment, you eventually reach peace and it is finally time to pass off into a new world. And then there's a hardcore song right after featuring Japanese group, Abraham Cross. Need I say much more? This album is very diverse! (and by the way, the Merzbow track is insane!)


I can safely say that there is nothing I have ever heard like this album, it is truly a unique piece of music and is sure to satisfy anyone even briefly as it covers such a myriad of genres. Why UKAWANIMATION! hasn't gotten more praise in music circles? Perhaps the world just isn't ready.

Tracklist:
1. UKAWANIMATION! Feat. Hagiwara Keniti Tennis Ishino x <500> Dedicated to the camera (Camera)
2. UKAWANIMATION! feat. DAZZ Y DJ NOBU<千葉八街のリアルアンダーグラウンド落花生栽培> Dedicated to 落花生 (Peanut)
3. UKAWANIMATION! feat. MERZBOW<羽毛に纏わる水滴無限循環> Dedicated to アヒル (Duck)
4. UKAWANIMATION! feat. JONTE x TOBY<開いた身体は白い列島> Dedicated to ウナギ (Eel)
5. UKAWANIMATION! feat. ALTZ<溺れながらの光合成実験> Dedicated to 酸素 (Oxygen)
6. UKAWANIMATION! feat. HANATARASH<偏西風の次第♯1>
7. UKAWANIMATION! feat. STRINGRAPHY Dedicated to弦 ( String )
8. UKAWANIMATION! feat. ABRAHAM CROSS<盗まれた平衡感覚> Dedicated 飼い主のいない猫 ( Stray Cat )
9. UKAWANIMATION! feat. HANATARASH<貿易風の次第♯2>
10. UKAWANIMATION! feat. MEG x iLL<秘境の奥の虫歯の記憶/持ち主はユリ・ゲラー> Dedicated to スプーン (Spoon)
11. UKAWANIMATION! feat. 田中フミヤ<57杯目のブラッディー・メアリー> Dedicated to ウォッカ ( Vodka )


-Garrett

Sorry for the lack of updates, awhile ago I promised myself that I would try and post daily to keep up interest for those who actually do read this blog (or would daily posts be a bit too excessive?) and I've seemed to have failed to keep up that promise. I've been quite busy these past few weeks playing in friend's bands and going to Anime Expo (fanboyed tHe fUcK oUt at AKB48). But enough about my personal life, I've had some stuff uploaded on Mediafire for awhile that I just haven't bothered to post here yet. Here's one of them:

This is Denki Groove's 10th album (if one is to disregard the remix albums of Flash Papa and A) and is the successor to their album, A. This album came out in 2000, 3 years after A had been released. Relative to the year it was released, it plays off like some kind of drug-induced, futuristic dance album, at times often humorous, sometimes even nostalgic of the past, often posing as something mechanical or robotic, but also laced with the pop sensibilities that Denki Groove has always possessed underneath their strange exterior. Personally, I think this is a great follow-up to A, it builds off of everything else they've done up to this point into a much fuller and realized sound. Although this album does derive off of their dance music influences a lot more, I think it's hardly something to be turned off from (if you don't like that kind of thing), the album possesses a certain stream-of-consciousness attitude that is completely warped and unlike anything you would expect from the influences that Denki Groove wears.