Rockbites: Japan’s Mad Capsule Markets release US/UK LP

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Japan’s Mad Capsule Markets release US/UK LP
16 October 2001

Perhaps Japan’s most American band, The Mad Capsule Markets last month offered a full length CD domestically in the US and the UK through Ryko/Palm. Titled Osc-Dis (Oscillator In Distortion), it is their 10th LP and turns the tables on their usual release pattern: Osc-Dis is available in Japan only as an American import.
    The frenetically extreme trio of Kyono (vocals), Takeshi Ueda (bass, programming, vocals), and Motokatsu Miyagami (drums, programming) got together in high school 11 years ago. They met at a Tokyo club while playing in different bands and discovered a common interest in US industrial and thrash music. The rest is a history that includes great success at home but a rough time trying to break through in the UK and US.
    On the new album’s 12 tracks, TMCM step out of their mold a bit with some bouncy punk reminiscent of The Ramones or Green Day, and bop all over the musical map with stylistic references to such bands as Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Primus, Rage Against The Machine, Pitchshifter, and Death—all the while infusing the proceedings with bright and aggressive electronics.
    The great thing about TMCM is their uncanny ability to blend so many diverse ingredients into fully cohesive and very musical songs, as though each—though clearly chimerical and faithful to the DiY eithic—shines like a slickly produced single following a well defined genre. Well, a genre that didn’t quite exist before the song did. A bit surreal and thoroughly entertaining.
    In parallel with the US/UK release of Osc-Dis, TMCM’s current Japanese release is 010, out since mid July and available for the rest of the world only as an expensive import. One other TMCM album was briefly available domestically in the US, 1997’s Digidogheadlock. You can get an Alec Empire remix of their song Crash Pow, which appears on that LP, on Invisible Records’s 2001 collection Dr. Speedlove Presents, Vol. 2.
    For a super high energy, head spinning trip through American heavy rock as seen through Japanese eyes, here’s your album. Four bites out of five.

Rockbites ratings  5: life changing, 4: stunning, 3: captivating, 2: amusing, 1: annoying.

| The Mad Capsule Markets | | interview on NT2099 Entertainment | | discography | | top of page |

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