Why? Well there is their whole mythical history(more on that later) but mainly it's the Rallizes sound. Fuck me what a sound they created. Firstly there's swathes of reverbed distortion followed by waves of feedback then sheets of echoing guitar noise, repetitive bass lines and occasionally drums and cymbals surface from this sonic maelstrom along with er..some vocals. This mesmerising psychedelia is taken to the point of blissful obliteration. Les Rallizes records are all strangely lo/no fi, recorded live and perhaps deliberately mixed in a hazy shapeshifting style, unless that was purely accidental. The Dead C would love to sound this (badly)good. There's something kind of sweet though about Les Rallizes hypnotic disorientation.
Most of Les Rallizes Denudes records are bootlegs which usually contain the same handful of songs recorded over and over again. There are quite a few of these boots and many more on the interweb. So much so that it wasn't until the other day that I discovered one of my old cds was exactly the same as a download from sevral years ago with a different name and cover etc. Sucker! Be careful. I'm not even sure Les Rallizes ever released an official record. I'm sure main man Takeshi Mizutani has deliberately handed over tapes to certain people but anyway......its all part of the mystique/cult building.
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| same as record on left |
Les Rallizes Denudes began sometime in 1967 and intermittently existed till around 199? There was something like just 1 track available on a compilation in the group's lifetime. Sometime in the 90s though a bunch of their records and a video turned up. Suddenly a secret influence on all the great 80s and 90s Japanese bands like High Rise, Marble Sheep, White Heaven, Fushitsusha, Musica Transonic was exposed. The darkness kings were pushed into the light. The records, cds, tapes and boxed sets kept coming after that and they continue to. The only other cult band I can compare them to is LA's late 70s innovative synth punks The Screamers who were infamous but never had a proper record deal/release in their lifetime but are now massive cult stars (What 'bout Cleveland bands from the early-mid seventies? I haven't forgotten them. I've actually edited out a few hundred words on them which I will use on a post specifically about Ohio.).
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| Start Here |
Les Rallizes started out playing with some kind of radical theatre troupe but the thesps couldn't handle the volume or intensity. Les Rallizes moved on, got a mirror ball and some strobe lights. Mizutani was into all things French - philosophy, theory, symbolism, surrealism, avant guarde etc. They wore black. They recorded in a studio in 1968, hated the results so never recorded in the studio again. Les Rallizes Denudes was a nonsensical name which meant nothing. On March 31 1970 bass player Moriyasu Wakabayashi was involved in the Yodo-Go plane hijacking. The rest of the band went into hiding after this. The CIA and the Japanese Feds kept a very tight watch on Mizutani, which ended up getting the better of him and his band's profile was never the same again. This incident mirrors similar rock/crime incidents throughout the world at the time. The Rolling Stones/Hells Angels, The Beach Boys/Manson Family and in Germany Amon Duul/The Badder Mienhoff Terrorist Gang. Les Rallizes Denudes played very sporadically from then on with different members and sometimes two guitars but usually as a 3 piece.Most shows were probably recorded and bootlegged.
Anyway in 2007 Julian Cope dedicated a whole book to the pre PSF Psych/JapNoise/Boredoms Underground era called Japrocksampler which is full of other 60s and 70s cult acts from Japan. There is a chapter on Les Rallizes which doesn't shed much light on those wilderness years from the hijacking to the breakup so their mysterious aura remains intact. It's not whether Les Rallizes Denudes are the ultimate cult band, they may very well have been the ultimate group using guitar, bass, vocals and drums altogether.
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| December's Black Children. |
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| Sunset Glow Festival 75 |
*All records pictured are recommended.
