Yura Yura Teikoku!!

Raw electrifying riffs, intense melodic bass loops, flashy sonic sounds, deep electronic beats and beguiling pop tunes; the reincarnation of the dying modern youth, an elegy to the boogying guitars of a zombified Sonics, cracked on Suicide and devouring the flesh of Can; this is Yura Yura Teikoku (ゆらゆら帝国)!!

It took 16 year for this Tokyo underground three-piece set, formed in 1989, to finally meet some attention overseas. With the success of their 2005 album Sweet Spot (for Mesh-Key records), the band ventured to New York for a few minor concerts proving the American audience that they could beat the carcass of any dead rock star legend with their electric riffing strains and psychedelic refrains. However what they [the audience] were listening to they had no idea. Sometimes the Japanese group seemed to fall into a noise oriented post-rock constant of some sort of nipponic Sonic Youth. Other times the electronics soared higher reaching the voltaic sound of Stereolab. In further occasions the psychedelism of krautrock filled in; but in all, reminiscences of a later Link Wray and art-punk Television (sometimes even high beats of Led Zeppelin) drew their power in the background. 

But on their creation, Yura Yura Teikoku had a very different composition. Their early stage performances -long hair, no shirt, shaking heads – evoke a nostalgic feeling for an old 70’s Japanese garage show where Shinki Chen would happily allow himself to trash some psychedelic melodic lo-fi garage punk-rock [in another dimension]. Consisting of three guitars and one drum case, the Japanese band transpired hefty vibes of unpretentious garage rock (their more experimental works would only come a few years later). Characterized by the heavy plodding drums of Onsen Shimoda, the dissonant screaming lo-fi voice of guitarist/vocalist Shintaro Sakamoto (坂本 慎太郎) and biting dancing riffs, the sound that arises is raw and stinging. 

With time however the songs would become more poppy and structured (even though the raw roots would always remain in their sound). The last album with Onsen Shimoda, Are you Ra? (1996), already lights the path the band would follow in the future period. However only with the entrance of drummer Ichiro Shibata (柴田 一郎) would the group take a more defined route to their music. In 1997 the band’s arrangement changed to a fixed three set with Shintaro Sakamoto on vocals and guitar, Chiyo Kamekawa (亀川 千代) as bassist and Ichiro Shibata on the drums. The first albums recorded under this configuration resulted in an epic trilogy for the Midi label (3x3x3, Me no Car, Yura Yura Teikoku III). Here the recordings seem to have found consistency in jamming psychedelic pop tunes, catchy and danceable sonorous flows; a psychedelic triumph. 

Now evolved to a pop dream of slack sweaters and tight jeans, the Japanese trio opened the doors to greater experimental desire. After the groovy Yura Yura Teikoku III, the band released two new albums (Yura Yura Teikoku No Shibire and Yura Yura Treikoku No Memai) in the same year. This time the recording counted with the collaboration of other “guest” musicians who joined the sessions to take the trio sound even further; keyboards, organs and beat synthesizers were added to the psychedelic rocking trend making it flow on even more progressive sources. The sound is not comparable to the previous releases as it approaches much more than before the boundaries of electronic ambiance. A feature that seems to cling and is taken along into their last two albums (Sweet Spot and Kudo Deso).

Trying to choose a single album against all others is an aching task. To pick a record from their first heavy rocking years with Onsen Shimoda, from the epic psychedelic garage pop trilogy, or from the awesome electronic pop “faces” (No Shibire and No Memai), the gritty live performance of Na.Ma.Shi.Bi.Re.Na.Ma.Me.Ma.I, or the last fiery recordings of their career would just be the same as choosing a mental state, a mood over other and that's sacrilegious; YYT’s sound behaves like a mutant monster, altering shapes and currents of melodic programs; of acid rushing the blood tunnels tripping from a soft cradle of Japanese pop to a dancing cube of red neon guitars; a pop-punk garage rockin’ revival (however I will post a nice compilation from the years of 1998-2004, so that a taste can be given). 

PS. Sion Sono's Love Exposure, hollow me!! 

official website

Download pt.1
Download pt.2