Beta-Lactam Ring Rec. Green Milk From The Planet Orange :
City Calls Revolution (JAP,2005)***°'
Citizens of European cities live a very active live, but Japanese compared to them, might live a speeded up life ? Anyhow, almost each Japanese psychedelic group is energetically speeded up. There is often used a musical compensation with jamming and noise which is their own drugged up effect for the genre psychedelica. And above all, the music almost always is recorded in one jam in one take, with the now-or-never compactness, and a let loose of all reserved energy. Of course this Japanese band has this element too, but I have the impression the ideas are also well prepared and with a compromise between thought over composition or composition techniques and jammed improvisation.
Green Milk From the planet Orange consist of Dead K, “agitation” and Gibson guitar, A, drums, Korg and vocals, T, fender bass and whistle.
Dead K and A left their Grindcore/alternative rock band and formed some other bands and projects looking for new ways of expression. In 2001 they started a few tryout jams under the name GMFTPO, which seemed to be successful and rewarding, at first as a more spacey jazzrock band. This is their second album for BLR Records, trying to prepare a place for a new era for a renewed field of progressive rock.
With a few moments of Fender Rhodes like keyboard sounds and amplified guitar the music on “Concrete City Breakdown” builds up slowly and moody for a nice 4 minutes. A good quiet foundation for the… completely freaked out over-the-top energy jam, with some varied rhythmic changes. The vocals which then come in shortly are more like screams and are at times punk-like. The bass is way too loud, a bit overloading, but that might be done deliberately to give it some stoned live bluespsychjam effect to it. The drumming is very fast and skilled and has many details of change. The electric guitars are freaking out as towards the gates of hell and its many side chambers, showing many ideas and various changes. At some point a distorted speaker’s voice gives the improvisational jamming part a break, and leads now the composition and improvisation, which once more builds up, in speed and energy, until the voice is at the point of being about to scream, and the instrumental part itself takes the lead over once more. The electric guitar shows some echoed stretched tensions. Then the earlier bluespsych mode returns once more which concludes the composition naturally. For 20 minutes this track didn’t feel too long at all.
The second track, "OMGS” also has many rhythmic changes, and a very aggressive approach, which is somewhat in between Ruins and White Heat, as a kind of Post-punk avant-psych, with its own specific freak element to it. This combination is slightly chaotic in a positive sense within all its structure. Also here this kind of “unique moment” typical for a successful live concert showing its going over-the-top energy.
“Demagog” has the same kind of aggressive post-punk/rock vocals again. It follows some collage of rock, Middle Eastern and bluespsych melodies with incredible fast Ruins like rhythms, with heavy bass drive. At some point the drums are as fast as a combination of jazzrock, RIO and darkmetal and psychedelica all at the same time. The electric guitars then freak out again in a very speeded up post-70’s hardrock & then progressive rock way, then as fast as Ramones was live, then like hard bluespsych, but never losing its freaky craft energy. Wow ! Just imagine Ruins with much more freaky elements.
The last track, “A Day in the Planet Orange” (38’07” minutes) starts, like the first track, with a spacey, cosmic intro, with ambient guitars and moody cymbal drums. This builds up slightly off key with a kind of triphop-psych singing, with calm drums, bass and guitar. Then the electric guitar starts to improvise in a fine bluespsych way, building up the energy further. The rhythms go faster and the jam gets this unique over-the-top energy once more. The electric guitar becomes amazing too, stimulated by the drums and also pushed by the varying-with-the-rhythm bass. Very naturally the piece then evolves (I’m counting over 20 minutes into the track now) to a new quiet moment and a variation of the introduction part, which starts to pulsate until it’s transformed to a psychedelic mindblowing effect on rhythms.. These sounds dissolve into the evolution and a new calm voice whispered part comes out of this once more. A telephone rings… A voice answers in Japanese.. This becomes filmic and almost too real.. The telephone rings again.. Scream ! Stop it ! Another outburst of reactive aggression (just like in the beginning of the album) ! This, in steps, falls apart in a renewed freaky jam part, which is structured in more fast rhythms and fast melodic changes, to step down once more with a break to a last and controlled post-psychrock evolution improvisation, with some accompanying voice, which is the earlier used song verse part. Then unexpectedly the voice evolves to drive a lonely part, with the ambient guitars, which also started this track.
This is what I call a good structured and convincing long track !
Like in fact every composition of Green Milk From The Planet Orange the band really is very succesfull in creating a new in between genre between jamming, psychedelia, improvisation, and structural avant-Rock In Oppostion.
I had to listen twice before getting a grip on it all. But I am convinced the band succeeded to add something extra to the existing scenes and evolutions.
Beta-Lactam Ring Rec. Green Milk From The Planet Orange :
You Take me to the world (JAP,2006)****
This album is much more an improvisation, starting with some more free elements, while slowly opening up, which includes emotionally orgasmic becoming mad vocals in Japanese, and bass/drums mostly, on the first and shortest track. The second track, “Away” starts with mumbling Japanese vocals and distant sounds, very far-out and very ‘far way’. This calm breathing tension last for over 7 minutes, until the rock instruments start to appear more clearly (guitar, bass, drums), making a slowly moody improvisation (which includes vocals), before falling back on, what becomes a chorus, this strange world of mumbling and distant echoing sounds, until the band comes in a second time with renewed energy, and this time much faster drumming, tensions, and the liberation of the Gibson guitar, adding also some heavy fuzz distortion to the jam, ending with a last section in a more jazzy approach. Even though this track was over 24 minutes it would not have been disturbing if this would have been much longer, because it gave the effect as if this was only a slow beginning..
