Thrills in Tokyo !

By integrating Levi Strauss’ concept of ‘bricolage’ (Tristes Tropiques, 1955) into hip-hop, the early duet comprised of Alan Folkroe and Ghammehuche cast the first stone of what will soon become the surrealistic castle randomly named Satanicpornocultshop in 1997.

The first Satanicpornocultshop album voluptuously titled ‘Nirvana or Lunch ?’ released on their own label NuNuLaxNulan in 1998, was followed by a series of participations in various compilations: Trip Trap, LD&K, Subject, etc. Art of confusion already prevailing in their work, their third opus ‘Baltimore 72’ (1999) was released before their second one ‘Belle Excentrique’ (2000). Since then, the gangrenous music of Satanicpornocultshop kept spreading over sick developped countries by using the saturated communication networks and mastering the art of satire and remixes.

Second act of Satanicpornocultshop story opens with the sudden and symbolic death of Alan Folkroe in 2001. As Ghammehuche could not be left alone with his steep schizophrenia and creative delirium, fellow members boarded the demonic vessel within a few months: Meu-Meu and his dubious performance style, *es the mixing master with nerves of steel, Vinylman turntable-ing with attitude and Ugh overusing electronics and puking MC skills. All together, they slownly moved Satanicpornocultshop from distorted and perverted collage territories to accumulation of sound layers pierced by one single beat, futuristic hiphop and eroticization of sounds, ‘erotronica’.

The holdall of Dada is conveniently used by music critics, but the main players still think that the more accurate word of ‘bricolage’ defined best their work. Satanicpornocultshop influences and productions are not limited to music and sounds, they are boiling over the borders of art, spilling over ideas and images with a unique and grandiose disrespect.

In the end of 2001, Satanicporncultshop are invited to perform at the peak time glory of the Batofar club in Paris, first collaboration is opened with the label Sonore with their participartion on the ‘Batofar Cherche Tokyo’ CD compilation. The first Tour de France is organized for Satanicpornocultshop, mesmerizing an incredulous audience with absurd performances. The next year 2002, their fourth and glossily produced album ‘Ugh Yoing’ is released on NuNuLaxNulan.

Lisa from the band La Bossa, hidden voice from Satanicpornocultshop, joined the gang officially in 2003 for the release of their fifth album ‘Anorexia Gas Balloon’ on Sonore. International listeners are getting aware of Satanicpornocultshop phenomenom, ‘Anorexia Gas Balloon’ get reviews and airplay in Japan, Europe, US and Canada. The very same year, their killing cover of The Velvet Underground’s ‘Candy Says’ appears onto the UK Wire magazine compilation Wire Tapper 10 and they participate to the ‘Music for Babies’ project from D*I*R*T*Y website in France.

A year long strenuous work is necessary to release their rich and complex ‘Zap Meemees’ 6th album on Sonore in 2005. Like a twin, a lighter, pop and instantaneous 7th album ‘Orochi Under the Straight Edge Leaves’ bloomed on the Polish Vivo label the same year. What other band could release a pop album on an indus/gothic Polish label? A Satanicpornocultshop tour de force!

They do their first European tour (Netherlands, Denmark, Czech Republic, Italy and France) in the end of 2005 with a climax on Prague’s Alternativa festival in front of 800 enthousiastic and frenetic people. At the end of this successful tour Meu-Meu split the band leaving Lisa, *es, Vinylman and Ugh with a sore note.

2006 is definitely opening the third act of Satanicpornocultshop. First they participate to the thematic Italian fashion magazine Uovo providing a track for their ‘Pink’ compilation. Then the album ‘Zap Meemees’ is nominated in the Research of the electronic music Qwartz Awards in France. Two new members join the band : MC Frosen Pine with his unique mimic rhyme style, and the magic organist Nakagawa aka Liftman.

(To be continued…)

© 2006 text : Franck Stofer, photo : Albane Laure

Download Satanicpornocultshop Music on: iTunes, Beatport, Juno Download

Kentaro!! surprised everyone at Yokohama Dance Collection R 2008, by walking away with the French Embassy Prize for Young Choreographers. He also snapped up both the Audience Award and the Nextage Special Award in the Toyota Choreography Award 2008. All died hair, skateboarder clothes and false nonchalance, Kentaro!! is a young dancer blurring the edges in the Tokyo contemporary dance world. “Direct expressivity” or “crude spirituality”; the critics are still struggling to define this new phenomenon. Totally imbibed in urban electro culture, Kentaro!! hasn’t put a step wrong over the last few months, dancing in all the right places.

He got bitten young, watching the TV show “Dance Koshien”, Takeshi Kitano presenting a high school street dance competition. Kentaro!! was only 11 but made his decision. He trained endlessly in front of a video of Michael Jackson, imitating moves in front of the telly. At the beginning of the 1990s, hip-hop and breakbeat had only just been introduced into Japan. Kentaro!! found his way to the only studio in Tokyo giving classes in hip hop. Eager to learn, he also took house and lock dance classes; he was 13.

He quickly assimilated the different techniques. During his teens his tastes matured as he mined this American genre, getting to know more New York hip-hop: Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest. He also saw that he had to find his own style. Kentaro!! wasn’t an African American from the projects. He was Japanese and he had to learn how to use his own physique, his build.

Kentaro!! mixes hip-hop with a sort of Japanese spirituality. He adapts rap motifs and moves into the dance without ever losing sight of who he is. Very acute musically, with faultless technique, he projects his body into the mix. Electro, pop rock, hip-hop, he doesn’t simply use the beats as a canvas; his moves are extreme and penetrate the music like a needle on the record.

© 2008 text : Franck Stofer, translation: Jack Sims, photo : Eric Bossick

Although mainly using machines, KEIZOmachine! and Juicy have never had recourse to programming and recreate their rhythms in real time, hitting the keys of their samplers without ever loosing the groove, even when they nonchalantly change places right in the middle of a piece. They also play “real” percussion and discs, interspersing their ethnic hip hop with scratches and incongruous replicas, all perfectly synchronized with simultaneously projected cartoon films. Everything is extremely well-managed, lively, powerful and fun.

 

Hifana is an instrumental hip hop duo formed by KEIZOmachine! and Juicy. In his early twenties the former discovers hip hop music through a video showing New York DJ Clark Kent create a brand new track out of a turntable and two copies of the same record. He then absorbs into mastering turntables but soon grows tired of them after learning all there is to be learnt. Going back to the origins of his fascination with hip hop he becomes aware of a passion for rhythm dating from his childhood and thus starts learning percussions. Juicy's path is almost the exact opposite, having played percussions since a very early age and getting himself into turntables and rhythm machines only later.

They both start as members of Tribal Circus, a percussion unit supporting belly dance numbers. The band often perform during rave parties and develop some kind of a fun house aspect to its show, featuring skateboard tricks, juggling and didgeridoo (hand-made out of bamboo from the neighboring bush). From that time KEIZOmachine! and Juicy start using samplers (hip hop's iconic instrument Akai MPC 2000) to play sounds other than that of their limited collection of percussions, notably Indian tabla. After years of touring the duo faces the rest of the band's refusal to develop the show's absurd and slapstick feeling further on, and trusting that their MPC and turntable skills are enough to put on a show they go their own way and form Hifana.

Hifana comes from Okinawan dialect and means "southern wind", "southern flower". Limited by no other boundary than that of their imagination, they stuff their samplers with even more shamisen and South-East Asian instruments sounds. Unsatisfied with merely mimicrying American and European underground music, this aesthetic is for them the only way to produce a genuine Japanese batch of hip hop.

They first put out a scratch record, a 12" for DJs to use in between two songs or over another tune, filled with musical quotes (gamelan, yodel) and non-sensic skits recorded from movies and television. This record allows them to connect ties with Japanese MCs and producers, but their breakthrough only happens in 1998, rapidly gathering fame with unprecedented shows in hip hop history. Though making a heavy use of machines, KEIZOmachine! and Juicy never program their beats, hitting buttons live to recreate their tracks, not even losing the groove when casually switching seats in the middle of a song. They also play "real" percussions and turntables, adding cartoonish sound effects and lines all in perfect synch to animated films shown during the concert. The whole thing is at the same time extremely controlled and alive, powerful and funny.

© 2006 text: Franck Stofer, photo: Albane Laure