Band-Maid find another gear

During their experimental interlude in 2018 and early 2019, some fans openly wondered whether the band were “going soft”.  They need not have worried.

“Reincarnation” (輪廻 “Rinne”) (Nov. 2019)

"This is like being punched and hugged at the same time."  For anyone thinking they were getting too poppy, this was a bracing slap in the face.  Just for good measure they threw the conventional structural formula for songwriting out the window.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ9dbEVgZcA

 

 

“Blooming” (Dec. 2019)

This has a more conventional structure than “Rinne” but is even more of a showcase for the band’s virtuosity.  Saiki adds some rapid-fire rapping to a solid vocal performance, Kanami keeps up a frenetic yet melodic running lead and adds a short, savage solo, and Akane underpins it all with syncopated rhythms and fills.  But it’s more than a technical tour-de-force—it’s catchy, with the compelling groove of the greatest classic rock songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUt_JBMocKM

 

Breaking boundaries: What is rock, anyway?

The great, classic bands have an unmistakable "trademark" sound.  The Doors, the Stones, the Pretenders etc.:  One measure and you know who you are listening to.  By early 2018, Band-Maid had firmly established their own trademark sound.  It had echoes of those three and other, heavier bands like Guns 'N Roses and even Metallica, with a jazzy, funky underlay unique to Band-Maid.  Now they began to experiment with more sounds and structures from outside mainstream rock.  

 We can say at this point that Band-Maid transcend genre.  Their compositions defy the typical categorizations that imprison so many Western artists. Here are a few examples in that evolution:

“Turn Me On” (Live, 2018)

Start with the raw rock vibe of “Take Me Higher”, add thunderous funk riffs on the bass, throw in some poppy backing vocals and a short, fiery metal guitar solo, and this is what you get. As always, Akane slays it on the drums, constantly playing with the rhythm, and adding those crazy fills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ibUQ-V-Z4

 

 

“Glory” (2018)

This is a short song, yet covers a lot of ground musically, experimenting with rhythm and tempo changes, vocals syncopated with the instruments, and as usual with Band-Maid, lots of excursions by the bass and drums that somehow work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAMiLTiXPpU

 

 

“Bubble” (Jan. 2019)

Another surprise:  A groovy song with the vocals hopscotching among multiple styles (even toying with something close to rapping), and as always, imaginative bass and drum lines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_PWQtc7zVw

The teenager taking on the classical music establishment--and winning

 

When Alma Deutscher was 12, she gave a widely reported interview in which she went after the classical music establishment in the most direct way possible, accusing it of abandoning what is most important in music: beauty.  With that, she triggered a civil war within that estabishment. One might not expect anyone to care what a 12-year-old girl has to say, but a lot of serious people in classical music seem to be terrified of her.  And no wonder. 

 

At the age of seven, she completed a short opera.  At nine, she wrote a violin concerto.  Both have since been performed multiple times in major venues.  At the age of ten, she completed her first full-length opera, “Cinderella”, which premiered in Vienna in 2016 under the auspices of Zubin Mehta, and had its U.S. premiere a year later.  Deutscher premiered her first piano concerto when she was 12.  She made her Carnegie Hall debut when she was 14, in a concert dedicated to her own compositions.

 

On the occasion of her Carnegie Hall debut, she doubled down: “It has often been suggested to me . . . that as a modern composer I need to integrate more harshness, experimental noises, and unresolved dissonance into my compositions, in order to reflect the modern world. [But] there is enough ugliness in the world as it is, and I’ve never understood why I should add more ugliness to it with ugly music.” The New York critics boycotted the performance, and by all accounts, deprived themselves of a rapturous experience. Some of them continue to try and take her down.

 

She continues to advocate for melody and beauty at every opportunity, not least through her music itself.  So far it is working: Her concerts are selling out around the world, top conductors and performers are lining up to work with her, and the Salzburg State Theatre has commissioned her to write an opera.  Many of the critics and academics are fuming, but long-time classical audiences as well as new, young fans, love what they are hearing.

 

 

“Trio Movement for Violin, Viola and Piano”, 2014

Alma writes music that sounds fresh and new and yet makes you feel you have heard it all your life.  This is adapted from her then work-in-progress, “Cinderella”, which would premiere in 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hBnJT4W9cQ

“Waltz of the Sirens” (2019)

I posted this a year ago, in a piece about prodigies, but honestly, Alma is beyond that. This is the work of a mature composer, and one of the most ingenious things I’ve ever heard.  It is also a playful dig at postmodern classical music. Her spoken introduction is delightful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0xMpLXQNvM

 

 

What’s an original melody?  Alma shows her chops as a lecturer, and dispels some misconceptions about writing music (July, 2022)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VUooLGLnJY

Does it matter if you can do it live?

 

One of the great pleasures in following a musical artist is watching them evolve over time.  Perhaps no artist exemplified that better than the Beatles, who covered more ground and pioneered more new ideas than any other rock artist in history.  Unfortunately, they stopped live touring in 1966, at the peak of their popularity.  They quit in part because they hated trying to play over the screaming of their fans. Another reason they never came back to live shows is that their compositions became so complex and layered that they were not possible to replicate live. Most important, they were no longer getting along, and live performances rarely work if the band-members are not in tune with each other.

 

Band-Maid may be one of the greatest live bands ever.  They do it all with minimal backing tracks or special effects, and they sound as good or better live than they do in the studio.  A few of the elite rock bands of the 60’s and early 70’s had that, but not many others, then or now.  It’s not just the synergy among the members, but their musicianship: Band-Maid are great songwriters, and are simply better on their instruments than most of the aforementioned elite bands (including the Beatles).  They also work with some of the best mixers and sound technicians in the business.  Here is one of their earliest singles, followed by a live performance of the same song three years later.

 

 

Real Existence (Music Video, 2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TkHpvaO09c

 

 

Real Existence (Live, Zepp Tokyo, 2018)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qQnKILR5u0

 

 

 

 

 

Is the best rock group of our time this "girl-band"?

 

If your answer is "no", who do you think is better? 

Unlike many Japanese bands, Band-Maid were not assembled by a studio.  Their founder had worked in a studio-based "idol" group, but was personally a fan of hard rock and metal.  She had also worked in a "maid-cafe" where the shtick is that the waitresses dress as maids.  So she came up with the obvious idea of a band dressed as maids who would shock people with loud, technical, hard-rocking music.  Unlike most dreamers with a crazy idea, she actually pulled it off.  She managed to recruit three of the best musicians to come out of Japan’s elite music academies, and the four of them then recruited a lead singer with a bigger vocal sound to match the instrumentation.

 

“The Non-Fiction Days” (April 2016)

They did not write this, but their studio writers clearly understood that the band needed harder-driving, tougher songs.  As always, Akane does magic on the transitions with fast, complex drum fills.  A straightforward, thumping bass line drives the song.  Unusual interlude with some chanted vocals and another short, punchy solo by Kanami.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItYN-ri1NPs

 

“Dice” (March 2018)  Erasing genres

Take the raw energy of punk rock, add extra half-measures, tempo changes, mini-solos a bar long…few rock artists have ever done it like this. If nothing else, the song is worth listening to for the hand-off between the bass solo and the lead guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpAYnVJX9CY

 

“Take Me Higher” (Live, 2018) Like the Rolling Stones, but better?

(This deserves headphones, because the mix is amazing, especially for a live performance.)

Starts off like a long-lost Rolling Stones song, complete with the dirty riff and distorted rhythm guitar, and then really takes off.  Strong punk vibe, hints of Guns ‘n Roses, and an incongruously jazzy bass line.  The call-and-response on the instrumental break is to die for.  Besides the female vocal, the biggest difference between this band and the Stones is that Band-Maid are better on their instruments.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z7mf96vcxlgkui0/BAND-MAID___05.%20Take_me_higher%21%21_Live.mp4?dl=0

Band-Maid (2): No two songs are alike

Band-Maid mural by Peter Kim

Band Maid are:

Miku Kobato – Rhythm guitar, backing vocal, band founder

Kanami Tono – Lead guitar, primary composer and arranger

MISA – Bass

Akane Hirose – Drums

Saiki Atsumi – Lead vocals

 

The most striking thing about Band-Maid is the variety and quality of their catalogue.  Most of the songs are composed by Kanami, with MISA writing the bass lines and Miku writing the lyrics. They draw heavily from folk, jazz and funk, as well as from their classical training.  The songs are intricately composed without tripping over themselves.  They are never repetitive--even within a song, the choruses always contain variations that keep things fresh.  Here are three of their early songs showcasing some of that range.

 

“Choose Me” (June 2017) Band-Maid sing love songs, but they never whine.  This song is a hard-rocking, throw-down challenge to some dude to stop dithering and make a damn choice.  The instrumental performance, as always, is on point, with the lead guitar doing a non-stop counterpoint to the vocals.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZIJ2vFxu9Y

 

 

“Daydreaming” (May 2017) Band-Maid are that rare hard-rock band that know how to dial it back and make it sound good.  Every nuance, from the thick, soulful bass line to the subtle, constantly changing drum fills, contributes to the emotional buildup.  Saiki’s husky tone and Miku’s bell-like harmonies create a sense of wistful yearning. The short, anguished guitar solo serves the song without overwhelming it.   All five members of the band do exactly what they need to do, no more, no less.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCaeUkrItyY

 

 

“Start Over” (July, 2018) Band-Maid had begun experimenting with more softer-edged, more progressive writing, and some fans saw the title of this song and the jazzy feel as indicating a change in direction.  With this video, their look changed slightly, and Akane’s little hat disappeared, further fueling speculation that they were switching gears.  That, and other inside jokes, are reminiscent of the Easter eggs the Beatles planted to make people wonder what they were up to.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL5sRrSECQ0

 

 

Band-Maid: Rebooting Rock and Roll (Part 1)

 

Some of the pioneering female rock bands made it a point to be transgressive.  The Slits.  The Cramps.  7-Year Bitch.  Bikini Kill.  Hole.  Get the message?  Band-Maid are more sly about it.  Who could be afraid of a girl band wearing maid uniforms?  Well, one of their albums is called "World Domination", and they play hard rock with lots of attitude.  It's a shot in the arm for an art form frequently said, at least by Western critics, to be dying.

 

Band-Maid have released over 135 songs to date, in a wide range of styles, without anything close to a dud.  If you listen somewhat chronologically, you witness a band evolving right in front of you, from danceable pop-punk songs toward their now trademark fusion of hard rock, jazz and funk.  They have also released an all-acoustic album which is one of the most gorgeous things I’ve heard in decades.

 

Band-Maid's fans include a lot of musicians, who often compare them to the Beatles for their creativity, versatility and attention to production detail. Despite zero coverage from Western media, their 16-city October tour of the U.S. sold out in two days in May, with tickets now fetching four and five times the original price on the resale market.  Their U.S. promoter, LiveNation, clearly messed up, or they would have taken into account Band-Maid's passionate online fan base.

 

Why all the excitement? See for yourself:

 

“Alone”, Feb. 2016  This was the first song and MV the band wrote, arranged and directed without outside input.  It is also where their trademark sound really crystallized, including a short, wild guitar solo that leaves you wanting more.  Since then they've had full artistic control over their work.  Consider this their declaration of autonomy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axF56i4spio

 

“Yolo”, Oct 2016  This song foreshadowed a lot of what was to come a few years later, in its experimentation with mismatched time signatures, odd harmonies and unexpected transitions.  They would come back to these ideas in later albums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKZbzcUdY1g

 

“Thrill”, Nov. 2014  Their first professional music video and the one that introduced them to Western fans.  They were debating whether to disband, when this video went viral on social media (they initially had no idea what was going on when their Facebook page blew up).  It is also the last video with them all in maid outfits. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uds7g3M-4lQ

 

 

 

I am extending International Women's Week to the rest of the year

Women everywhere just suffered an incomprehensible insult at the hands of the U.S. government, which has declared that under our Constitution, people who can get pregnant are not entitled to full autonomy.  The country that once led the world in advancing human dignity is now leading the retreat.  This decision may not not technically apply in other countries, but make no mistake that it gives cover everywhere to those who think equality and dignity are not for everyone.  

In solidarity with women, this blog is going to focus for the rest of the year on female artists, composers and band leaders.  It’s not much, just a small gesture, but it's what I can do here.  As in so many other fields, women are proving they are as good as, or better, than men, at all the stuff men once arrogated to themselves.  Women are now leading the way in music and musical expression all over the world, so why not acknowledge that in a music blog?

 

If you want to check out my prior posts about great musicians who also happen to be women, here are some links: 

Women in rock:

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2021/03/international-womens-week.html

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2021/03/international-womens-week-2.html

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2021/03/international-womens-week-3.html

 

A political commentary:

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2021/03/international-womens-week-postscript.html

 

Rock pioneers:

http://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2020/07/girls-rock-1-pioneers-leslie-gore-suzi.html

Some of the greatest voices ever:

http://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2020/06/ah-anna.html

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2020/06/greatest-voices-1-ella-fitzgerald-first.html

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2020/07/tina-turner-force-of-nature.html

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2021/11/greatest-voices-5-floor-jansen.html

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2021/11/greatest-voices-6-more-floor.html

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2021/11/greatest-voices-7-floor-unchained.html

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2021/12/greatest-voices-8-how-floor-jansen.html

 

Jazz innovators:

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2021/10/jazz-greats-4-hiromi.html

https://zapatosjam.blogspot.com/2021/11/jazz-and-fusion-greats-senri.html

 

 

When the cover is better than the original (8): “The Sound of Silence”

 

Disturbed:  “The Sound of Silence”  (Simon and Garfunkel)

 

This song has been covered hundreds of times.  It is so iconic, for its musical, social and political significance, that it feels almost sacrilegious to suggest one of those covers is better. I think this one is.  The singer, David Draiman, had formal training as a Jewish Cantor, but found his calling as the lead writer and singer with the heavy metal band Disturbed.  Covering “The Sound of Silence” was a major departure from their usual style, but it became one of the group’s biggest hits. It’s not just his voice—it’s the entire arrangement which gives me the shivers.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

 

 

The two most important reasons to watch this video: Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan

 

 

 

(If you’re not into reading my intros, just skip to the video, but don't miss it—it’s one of the best things on youtube.)

 

Albert King was one of the legendary Three Kings of blues (Albert, B.B. and Freddie).  He was self-taught, and did not read music.  He played a right-handed guitar left-handed and upside down.  He was not as commercially famous as B.B., but was probably the more agile and fluid player, and was also a great vocal stylist. His unorthodox playing style gave his chording and progressions a unique sound (clear parallels to Jimi Hendrix, who also played his guitar “backwards”.) 

 

Stevie Ray Vaughan was born and raised in Texas, and he and his brother Jimmy became major figures in the world of blues and southern rock.  Stevie Ray considered his greatest influences to be King and Hendrix.  He emerged as of the greatest electric guitarists of all time, a master of both emotion-drenched blues and ferocious, technical shredding.  He achieved a level of commercial success that eluded most of the great Black musicians, and unlike others in the industry, he worked to redress that injustice:  he devoted considerable effort to bringing the older generation of Black musicians to a broader audience, often inviting them to play as guest stars in his own concerts.  At a time when Black musicians were abandoning the blues, Stevie Ray was seen by many as the force almost single-handedly keeping the blues alive.

 

I was fortunate enough to see both King and SRV live—King in a tiny venue in Mountain View, CA. which held perhaps 150 people, and SRV twice in local stadium-sized venues.  They remain among the most treasured memories I have of live music performances.

 

Here is a 1983 recording of the two of them together.  King was 60 at the time, SRV only 29.  They had become great friends, and Albert often referred to Stevie Ray as his son.  This could  have been remembered as a hand-off of sorts, a passing of the torch, but Stevie Ray died before Albert, killed in a helicopter crash just after playing at a music festival in 1990.

 

This video is almost an hour long, but if you love blues or rock, it is a one-of-a kind artifact of a vanishing musical era.  It’s like the Rosetta Stone for electric blues, or all-you-can-eat lobster, take your pick.  If you have not seen it before, I promise you it’s worth every minute.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqekVZH3B_Q

The epic duet that never happened

 

Nightwish have been blessed with two of the greatest voices of all time—Tarja Turunen, their co-founder and original vocalist, and Floor Jansen, their current vocalist.  Unfortunately, while the two have performed together in other settings, they never shared the stage as part of Nightwish.  Until now.

 

This video was produced by weaving together footage from Tarja’s last performance with Nightwish in 2005, and Floor’s epic debut at Wacken Open Air in 2013.  The editing is a bit of wizardry—you feel as though this actually happened and you were there.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f27vgpcTpOw

 

Note: Nightwish are currently touring North America, probably for the last time as a band. If there are tickets left in your area, do whatever you have to do in order to go see them.

More than covers: Channeling Janis Joplin and Stevie Ray Vaughan

Some covers are simple imitations.  These add new ideas while capturing the fire and spirit of the originals.  Here are two spectacular young bands keeping the music alive.

 

Asterism: “Scuttle Buttin’” (Stevie Ray Vaughan)

 

The first time I ever heard SRV, I was hooked after one bar.  I was helping a friend with some refinishing on his house, and he had music blasting as we worked.  At one point, a guitar chord rang out, with a tone unlike anything I had ever heard--reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix, but fatter and more resonant.  A few bars into the song, I asked who the hell this was, and my friend told me it was a guy named Stevie Ray Vaughan.  I immediately went and bought his albums, and made sure to see him the next two times he came anywhere within driving distance.

 

SRV played blues, but was also a great songwriter and a blindingly fast, technical guitar virtuoso.  He broke into the mainstream, a rarity for blues musicians, and used his drawing power to bring long overdue exposure to many of the old musicians who had been neglected and mistreated by the commercial music industry. Soon after the second time I saw him, as he was departing a music festival where he had just played, SRV was killed in a helicopter crash, leaving gigantic hole in the world of blues and rock. Like his hero, Hendrix, he had an outsized influence on musicians to follow, despite a career cut tragically short.

 

Asterism are a young power trio who may just be the most talented threesome since Cream.  Here they are, covering SRV’s iconic instrumental, “Scuttle Buttin.’” They keep the core structure of the piece, but add in some crazy hammer runs on the guitar and big bass and drum solos.  This is from their only tour of the US to date (they were still too young to drink in the establishments where they played).  They played four dates in Texas, SRV’s home state, and did this piece at each stop, as a tribute to him.  It is encouraging to know young musicians still know and love the work of the greats.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtB_VrYLRaM

 

 

Liliac: “Piece of my Heart” (Janis Joplin)  Written by Ragovoy and Berns, and first recorded in 1967 by Erma Franklin (Aretha’s older sister).  The version that blew up is Joplin’s 1968 recording with Big Brother and the Holding Company.

 

Janis Joplin.  No filters. No security. No post-production polishing. No bullshit.  What you saw was just what you got.  She broke a lot of barriers--a woman, making it as a headliner in an overwhelmingly sexist business; a white person who did the blues without stealing anything, because she lived the blues, as much as any Black artist. A singer without a singer’s voice, whose raw, broken sound remains iconic.

 

Liliac are, in my opinion, the only young, up and coming American rock and roll band that really bring it.  They are five siblings (three brothers, two sisters), children of a Romanian immigrant who works in the L.A. music industry mixing hip-hop records (you cannot make this stuff up).  He gave them instruments to keep them busy as kids, and things just took off.

 

They started gaining nationwide attention while the youngest was eight and needed help to reach his keyboards.  Their taste runs not to hip-hop, but to blues, hard rock and heavy metal.  Call them a modern day metal Partridge family. Their breakout came when Melody (yes, her real name), the third sibling, developed into a vocal monster with a voice that has been compared to Ronnie James Dio and, yes, Janis Joplin. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz-EuUMD338