Za Gaijin

The Japanese band AZIAN Z's first album is the most surprising object : they do live in France and are signed on one of the most important alternative French labels (Jarring effects) rather turned towards electro dub music but this record surely is pumped up with the extreme eccentricity so typical of the Levant side of the world. If Asian Z's porn pop concept does perfectly fit their live performances (high energy, dancers and Karaoke animation) these 15 tracks nonetheless stand out by their original freshness on the international pop scene, simple but powerful, you might say. One bass, one guitar, keyboards, one beat box and voilà the coolest simple tunes, catchy, ultra-melodic, no flourish and a rough but particularly efficient production. Takeshi's Japanese singing is as puzzling as surprising and leads the listener to turn to the terrific enclosed leaflet where the texts appears in their original alphabet and in phonetics (sing along folk !), in English and in a beautiful French translation. A total respect of the original porno-poetic lyrics is maintained (often about disenchanted love and the bitterness of life but from a point of view that will certainly surprise all occidental listeners). Wonderful artwork and complex imaging top the unique universe of this amazingly catchy record. Exotic, perverse, insidious?