Minami Deutsch – 7th Level Music

Review: Minami Deutsch – Fortune Goodies

I’ve been waiting for a new album from Japanese kraut-rockers Minami Deutsch for a while. They were too good to fade away without at least one more record of their intoxicating music. Thankfully, Fortune Goodies came along last October and gave us a nice record for sitting back and contemplating our higher selves.

Starting with “Your Pulse,” the album gets off to a thumping start by mixing electronic and physical beats with breath sounds to simulate the rising, enjoyable tension in you as the song grows. You might feel “Still Foggy” by the next track. It blends repetitive bass notes with what sounds like clinking glasses, shuffling papers, and other subtle, odd noises that bring to mind going to work after staying up too late. “Grumpy Joa” is so fun and peppy that you really can’t be grumpy during it.

The guitars on “Pueblo” fire up a sense of adventure and a few nods to Carlos Santana. “Interpreters of Forest” slides like a lazy cat into psychedelia, and the title track (appropriately the longest on the record) is nearly eight minutes of toe-tapping, trippy delights. They pump up the fuzz a bit on “Whereabouts,” which has a bit of a 1960s garage rock touch. It’s also one of multiple tracks in which lead singer and guitarist Kyotaro Miula adds an interesting vocal effect that makes it sound like his voice is coming out of an old radio. It’s a neat touch that adds to the otherworldly sounds they create.

“Steller Waffle” is wonderfully weird with its percolator beats and synths. “Floating Fountain” is just as relaxing and meditative as you hope it will be with a title like that, and the final track, “The Border,” is even more elevating. It might cause astral projection if listened to at the right volume and in the right space.

I’m glad Minami Deutsch is back, and hope to see them tour the U.S. again soon. A live show of this new material would be transcendent.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Minami Deutsch – With Dim Light (2018)

“They’re a Japanese band that plays krautrock,” is essentially the first description I read of Minami Deutsch after I heard they were going to play the 2019 Levitation Music Festival. I was immediately intrigued by this notion and decided to look up some music by the band. I heard a couple tracks from their 2018 album With Dim Light and was intrigued further. Their blend of krautrock rhythms and Japanese psychedelic music was a neat combination. Seeing them live at Levitation 2019 was the deal-sealer. They put on one my favorite performances of the festival weekend and I knew I had to hear With Dim Light in its entirety. I learned they are far more than “a Japanese band that plays krautrock.”

Keita Ise‘s opening bass line on “Concrete Ocean” is an unexpected, but more-than-welcome post-punk element that drips into a wicked drum lick and guitars by Kyotaro Miula and Taku Idemoto that incorporate jazz and surf elements. “Tangled Yarn” adds some shoegaze to their 1960’s psychedelia, with Miula’s vocals being reverbed almost to the back of the room and his guitar echoing off the walls to hit you from every angle.

“Tunnel” was the first Minami Deutsch song I ever heard and was the cause of my desire to find more. The instant urgency of the guitar and beat hook you from the outset. It’s like the anticipation before a chase that breaks into a wild scene running through a dark city street, a foggy nightclub, a backroom mahjong game, a modern art gallery, and an aquarium. “I’ve Seen a U.F.O.” has some of Ise’s fuzziest bass alongside slightly muted drums. Miula’s vocals are barely perceptible, preferring to highlight the bass, drums, and guitars instead of the other way around.

The slow, acoustic start to “Bitter Moon” is a wild contrast to the psychedelic freakout of the previous track, but it’s more of a slow drift at the end of a race than an abrupt stomping of the brake. The closer, “Don’t Wanna Go Back,” has a cool, bouncy guitar riff all the way through it while Ise roots the track with an unstoppable groove and the high-hat / snare work is as crisp as an oyster cracker.

With Dim Light is more than krautrock. It’s krautrock, shoegaze, psychedelia, surf rock, and even bits of garage rock. It’s also worth your time. I hope they release more music soon.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: The KVB – Submersion

Submersion is a great name for this EP from The KVB (Kat Day and Nicholas Wood). Listening to it is like indulging in a night of psychedelic shoegaze music and then sinking into a warm pool, or lying down on a comfortable bed, or finding a comfy couch in the back of a nightclub.

The title track opens the EP with shimmering synths and simple guitar strums as Day and Wood’s vocals almost chant to us from behind a wall of mist. The synth bass builds and Wood’s guitar lights up the room like a mirror ball. “Outlands” has a great synth-bass groove throughout it that gets your toes tapping and torso writhing.

The alternate version of “Into Life” (from their 2018 album Only Now Forever) is a sultry, breathy make-out track you’ll want to permanently keep on a playlist for such activity. The next two tracks, “Above Us” and “On My Skin,” are also from the same album but remixed by The Holydrug Couple and Miniami Deutsch, respectively. The Holydrug Couple’s mix is, at you might expect, full of trippy synths and heavy reverb on the vocals. Minami Deutsch’s, also as you might expect, turns the song into a krautrock dance track that brings to might sun breaking through gray clouds.

Submerse yourself into this EP. You’ll be better off for it.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 30 live shows of 2019: #’s 25 – 21

Here we are at the top 25 best live shows I saw this year. Let’s get to it.

#25 Bebel Gilberto – Birchmere – Alexandria, VA – June 22nd

This was a lovely acoustic, intimate set with Bebel Gilberto and her guitarist in a small venue. Her voice was delightful, as always, and there was a funny moment when she had a wardrobe malfunction and her guitarist had to fix her top onstage.

#24 ORB – Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL – August 24th

I hadn’t seen ORB for a couple years, so it was good to catch up with them and see them as a four-piece for the first time. They hadn’t lost any of their heavy power and crushing riffs.

#23 Prettiest Eyes – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL – October 11th

The energy expelled during a Prettiest Eyes set could power a tank. They’re frantic and manic, but still a tight machine that can stop on a dime. We were eager to see them again after catching them last year at Levitation France, and we were bouncing during the whole set (in each venue).

#22 The KVB – Levitation Austin – November 10th

I was eager to see the KVB at Levitation Austin this year after not being able to catch a show they played in Chicago a month earlier. They put on a good set that was everything I wanted – synth wave, krautrock, and shoegaze. It was also their first time playing in Austin, so that made the show extra special for all involved.

#21 Minami Deutsch – Levitation Austin – November 07th

Speaking of Levitation Austin, another great set we saw there (on the coldest night of the festival, no less) was from Minami Deutsch – a Japanese krautrock band. It was a flow of rock grooves, precise beats, and hypnotic drone. I became an instant fan and later chatted with lead guitarist, Kyo, about chicken shawarma wraps.

Who made the top 20? Come back tomorrow to find out.

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation Austin 2019 recap – Day One

It was our fifth year attending Levitation Austin since 2013. The festival had been moved to the autumn from the spring this year, so I was interested to see if the change on the calendar would affect the size of the crowds at some of the venues.

The four-day festival started for us at Barracuda – the club where we would end up spending most of the next four nights. Nearly all the bands we wanted to see were playing there over the course of the festival, and the first show there was sold out. First up were Hoover iii from Los Angeles, who played a good set of psychedelia mixed with some shoegaze elements.

Next were a band I was really keen on seeing – Minami Deutsch. A Japanese band that makes krautrock? I’m there. They put on my favorite set of the night. We later met lead singer / guitarist, Kyotaro Miula, outside Barracuda at a food truck where we all complained about the unseasonably cold weather (for Austin, at least) and I convinced him to try the chicken shawarma wrap.

Another California band, Jjuujjuu, was next. I hadn’t seen them since a trip to Arizona years ago when they were part of the Desert Daze tour. They still sound great with their heavy psychedelic tunes.

Coming all the way from Melbourne, Australia were Stonefield, who were good to hear after I arrived too late to catch them in Chicago with ORB and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard a few months ago.

Austin’s own Holy Wave soon followed, and they put on a good set of stoner psych to a happy hometown crowd.

The night ended with Kikagaku Moyo, the second Japanese band of the night. I stayed for the first half of their set and then had to call it quits due to being exhausted from a long day of travel and the cold weather at the outdoor stage that was almost to the point of chilling me to the bone. Regardless, what I heard was good. Anything involving sitar shredding is fine by me.

It was a cold, but good start to the festival. The next day would bring confetti, Hell’s house band, more sitar shredding, and warnings against falling asleep.

Keep your mind open.

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