![]() Now, after decades of intrigue - and almost three years since Mizutani’s death - Les Rallizes Dénudés are getting the archival treatment. The power of that story drove a huge renaissance.” “There was just this fantasy of some incredibly abrasive, mysterious group that created this wall of impenetrable noise. ![]() ![]() “The Rallizes are like that, except there was no record to buy,” Novak said. Through bootleg live recordings with rumbling rhythms and ear-shredding sheets of guitar feedback, which have been pored over and cataloged by fans, the Rallizes have come to symbolize both the sonic extremes of rock and the ways that online communities can nurture and amplify even the most obscure corners of global culture.ĭavid Novak, an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the author of “Japanoise: Music at the Edge of Circulation,” describes the band’s influence by referring to an oft-misquoted remark by Brian Eno that relatively few people bought the Velvet Underground’s albums at the time, but each of them (seemingly) formed a band. Les Rallizes Dénudés - known to insiders and acolytes as the Rallizes (pronounced “rallies”) for short - have long held a peculiar place in the annals of underground music as a group more heard about than actually heard, its reputation resting more on legend than fact. “I never thought this could touch foreigners’ hearts so deeply,” Kubota said in a recent interview from his home in Tokyo. Yet decades later, younger musicians now press Kubota for any information about the band, and fans around the world who likely cannot understand Mizutani’s cryptic Japanese lyrics declare on social media that his music has changed their lives. Led by the enigmatic Takashi Mizutani, the band emerged in the late-’60s haze of psychedelia and radical student politics with a scorchingly loud sound, though it ceased performing in 1996 and the handful of raw recordings the group released went out of print long ago. Makoto Kubota is still amazed by the continuing appeal of his old band, Les Rallizes Dénudés.Īn accomplished producer and bandleader in Japan, Kubota spent just a few years in the early 1970s playing with the Rallizes, which by the usual measures of rock success barely made a blip. ![]() To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |