People in-the-loop of the technical Japanese acts on John Zorn's Tzadik label are most likely well-aware of Korekyojinn, a prog-centric trio fronted by Ruins drummer/leader Yoshida Tatsuya. For those less conscious (including myself), the group's sixth full-length effort Tundra was recently provided U.S. distribution by 'now-wave' term-coiners Skin Graft. Korekyojinn, while not sharing the greatest commonality with the label's most recognizable American acts, remain a well-placed inclusion in the catalog.
Tundra stands as 55 minutes of unyielding virtuosity, presenting every backflip, cartwheel, and pole vault with an almost mechanized rigor. Analogies to rollercoasters are a given, but the vivaciously melodic "Swan Dive" pays no mind to preparation, immediately accelerating downward at an unfathomable velocity . The eight-minute behemoth shape-shifts speedily from tempo to tempo, signature to signature. How do these miniatures connect? It's difficult to gauge, and there's high probability that they don't.
The name Kore-kyojinn translates to "this giant," a fusion of two groups imagined to be influences, as the trio derive from the experiments of This Heat and the progressive blueprint set by Gentle Giant. Akin to Ruins, Korekyojinn aren't the most serious of bands. Their almost academic interplay is a product of their kinetic might. This becomes most evident on the brief "Zebra Crossing", where the band unequivocally enters surf-mode.
With an average track length spanning six-to-seven minutes, Tundra is quite fatigue-inducing, and saves its reserved detours for the closing half: the sinister "Xenon" falls into humming guitar chords and cymbal pitter-patter, and "Abandoned" seductively opens with the jazziest passage of the nine. This exhaustion ceases to spoil the album, though, as the stamina present here is bound to trigger any listener's inner-spazz. Korekyojinn's exuberant syncopation will keep heads tilted and bobbing from start to finish.
[Buy Tundra from Magaibutsu Limited/Skin Graft Records]
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