Melt Banana

Melt Banana

3+5

Azap

Presenting 3+5, the long-awaited eighth album from Tokyo-based noise-rockers Melt-Banana on their own A-Zap label! The album showcases the duo’s visionary musical approach and extraordinary abilities as performers: Yasuko Onuki’s giddy, hyperactive vocalizing and Ichiro Agata’s glitchy, cyberpunk guitar, delivered at dizzying speed, bathed in aggressive electronic sounds. Their aesthetic approach is exultantly experimental, fusing diverse genres imbued with chaotic energy. As on their previous works, the music on 3+5 is unpredictable, always filled with surprises and excitement. 3+5 synthesizes elements of a variety of extreme musics, hyper-pop, classic punk, vintage metal, and noise. It partakes of Japanese culture overall, especially the subcultures of gaming, anime and underground music. Melt-Banana seek to offer possibilities to musicians who won’t start a band if they can’t find a drummer, young women afraid to express themselves in their own unfiltered and unique voices, bedroom musicians and egg punks seeking to blend electronic noise with live instrumentation. 3+5 provides a fresh experience and perhaps inspiration for all. While Melt-Banana hasn’t explicitly explained the meaning behind the album’s title, 3+5, prime numbers symbolize mathematical integrity and independence, which could represent the band’s uniqueness and freedom. Why “3+5” and not “1 + 7”? One is left to ponder. “A band who have justifiably been championed across the world, Tokyo’s Melt-Banana have been responsible for some of the most complex punk rock ever made...” —Olli Siebelt, BBC

Melt Banana

Return Of 13 Hedgehogs (MxBx Singles 2000-2009)

Azap

In advance of two North American tours, including appearances at Maryland Deathfest in May and Wisconsin’s Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival (curated by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and the National’s Aaron Dessner), Melt-Banana delivers their second compilation of singles and tracks from split releases. Originally released between 2000 and 2009, the collection includes covers of “Tintarella Di Luna,” by Italian singer Mina, Toots & the Maytals’ “Monkey Man,” DEVO’s “Uncontrollable Urge” and The Damned’s “Love Song.”  TOUR DATES:Tour A5/6 – Phoenix, AZ5/8 – ABQ, NM5/9 – Norman, OK5/11 – St. Louis, MO5/12 – Milwaukee, WI5/13 – Grand Rapids, MI5/14 – Pontiac, MI5/15 – Columbus, OH5/16 – Buffalo, NY5/17 – Toronto, CAN5/19 – Providence, RI5/20 – Boston, MA5/22 – Philly, PA5/23 – Brooklyn, NY5/24 – Baltimore, MD5/25 – Carborro, NC5/26 – Jacksonville, FL5/28 – Orlando, FL5/29 – Miami, FL5/30 – Tampa, FL6/1 – Atlanta, GA6/2 – Birmingham, AL6/4 – Baton Rouge, LA6/5 – Houston, TX6/6–  Dallas, TX6/7 – Austin, TX6/10 – Tucson, AZ6/11 – Fullerton, CA6/12 – Santa Cruz, CA6/13 – Sacramento, CATour B7/2 – Portland, OR7/3 – Seattle,...

Melt Banana

Fetch

Azap

***Back in print on "JADE BLUE" vinyl!! Received a 7.8 rating from Pitchfork. From the whip-like crack of Yako’s signature staccato vocals and impossible-to-memorize lyrics to the relentless overdrive tempo of their one-of-a-kind prog-core, Melt-Banana have long resided in a cybertopia of their own devising where the limits of technology and human capability are old-world concerns as quaint and cumbersome as bartering with a blacksmith. The demos for Fetch, their first studio album since the severely fried pop-punk of 2007’s Bambi’s Dilemma, were completed in March 2011, but the Fukushima earthquake changed everything, including their ability to concentrate on recording. Which stopped completely. Once they felt ready to return to their music, they decided to approach the songs on a sound-by-sound basis, choosing each tone with meticulous attention to detail, affirming their personal connections, being themselves naturally and openly. Fetch scrapes glam shimmers off punk’s outermost fringes and forges them into a rather intensely technical Deanscape packed with fantastical hybrids. Agata’s guitar riffs, seemingly composed in tandem with skipping CD players, are more bad-ass than ever, bright and fractured like the soundtrack for a CC-Hennix-scored biker flick. The album is juiced with electronics and post-rock production, tempering what could easily be a tiresome and predictable frenzy, yielding unexpected associations: Kate Bush climaxing on Walter White’s blue meth; demos of late-period Wire playing metal run through Wasp synthesizers and Autotune; unripe wild lychees keeping time on an Ankgor Wat tin roof during a monsoon. They’ve been performing live...

Melt Banana

2011 Boom Box T-shirt - Med

Azap

***Sweet black Tees. Printed on both front and back. Limited quantity available.

Melt Banana

2011 Boom Box T-shirt - Sm

Azap

***Sweet black Tees. Printed on both front and back. Limited quantity available.

Melt Banana

Lite Live: Ver.0.0

Azap

These days, Melt-Banana performs some of their shows under the name Melt-Banana Lite, and this album is a live recording of the new configuration. Melt-Banana Lite is not the usual Melt-Banana: there are drums and vocals, but no guitars--instead samplers and synth. It is different, but at the same time, one definitely feels Melt-Banana when one listens to it. It is like watching the ocean when diving, not when standing and watching from the land. Melt-Banana Lite shows another face of Melt-Banana, with more flexible, concentrated, and free minds. They have stepped forward, attempting to discover new possibilities for their music. Yako said to me, "There are as many things to do as there are interesting things, but the important thing is to figure out what I really want to do now. Life is short and we don't have enough time to get everything done, you know." Where are they heading? Find out at their upcoming tour. Yes, Melt-Banana is touring the States from late October through December, and they perform as Melt-Banana Lite as a part of their set. So check out their shows, see where the band is heading and discover what is in their minds now. --R. Fujimaki   TOUR DATES - 2009 AMERICAN TOUR 10/29 * Visalia, CA @ Cellar Door 10/30 * San Francisco, CA @ Slim's 11/1 * San Diego, CA @ Casbah 11/3 * Tucson, AZ @ Plush 11/4 * Phoenix, AZ @ Hollywood Alley 11/6 * Denton, TX @ Haileys 11/7...

Melt Banana

Bambi’s Dilemma

Azap

On their sixth full-length studio release Melt Banana exercise a hitherto undetected area of their musical musculature: the “rock” region. Summing up an entire album, and one as diverse as Bambi’s Dilemma, with such a pedestrian qualifier is risky business, agreed, but it seems to fit like never before. The band, of course, refuses to accommodate any such pigeonholing: “Maybe it is rock, but maybe not. We just make whatever we want. We just follow our own instincts!”  The truth is MxBx makes music as they please, relying solely on their own maverick talent to get them where they need to be.  Bambi’s Dilemma’s eighteen tracks careen from extreme, fast-blast attacks to more serene moments (usually reserved for non-album releases) to the band’s revolutionary new, guitar and bass-less “Theremin-core.” 

Melt Banana

13 Hedgehogs (mxbx Singles 1994 - 1999)

Azap

• 56 tracks from 13 different singles and splits • Highly sought after and long unavailable tracks • Huge fan base world-wide from near constant touring  HEDGEHOG 7-INCH 1. Stick out 2. So unfilial Rule 3. Mind thief 4. Screw, loose 5. Scrubber 6. Pierced eye SPLIT 7-INCH WITH GOD IS MY CO-PILOT 7. Ketchup-Mess 8. First Defy 9. Iguana in Trouble IT’S IN THE PILLCASE7-INCH 10. It’s in the pillcase 11. Rush & Warp 12. Picnic in Panic SPLIT 7-INCH SINGLE WITH DISCORDANCE AXIS 13. Buddhism Core 14. Hangnail (Let it go) 15. No one wants next one 16. Sicklist on Fire 17. One Dimensional 18. not D, but M, also S SPLIT 7-INCH WITH PENCILNECK 19. Mind thief (live) 20. P-POP-SLOP (live) SPLIT 7-INCH SINGLE WITH TARGET SHOPPERS 21. Making fuss, fuss, fuss 22. Turtle vs. Bunny (Who won?) 23. Pig to dog 24. Bird-like Monkey in cave, singing in drops SPLIT 10-INCH WITH STILLUPPSTEYPA 25. Bad gut missed fist. 26. ItÕs not my fault. 27. Neck on me. 28. Stop the cook-cu test. 29. No doubt. 30. Scooped brain in a cup. 31. Capital 1060. 32. How to parlare. 33. I say, “Shoot!” 34. Minus-minus-to one. 35. Call me please-6824. 36. Popsy teeth in red. 37. Blackout screen. 38. to be continued? UNTITLED (PIANO ONE) 7-INCH 39. $10 a pile (ax version) 40. Disposable weathercock (helpful 80 points version) SPLIT 7-INCH WITH PLAINFIELD 41. y-axis 42. aquatic bee ELEVENTH 7-INCH 43. Wedge! 44. Seesaw Semiology 45....

Melt Banana

Cell-Scape

Azap

***BACK IN PRINT ON NEW METALLIC RED VINYL! A band who have justifiably been championed across the world, Tokyo’s Melt-Banana have been responsible for some of the most complex punk rock ever made … that far outshines ninety-nine percent of most other bands out there. The band once described their live show as “Shooting machine gun and laser beam, chaos in order.” And I think that pretty much sums them up. — Olli Siebelt, BBC  No wave without the self-conscious pretension, avant garde composition compressed into one-minute-or-less bursts, urgency, intricate destruction, pure glorious abandon. Melt-Banana play the same way that Repulsion, Naked City, The Ruins, or The Boredoms all make you want to scream and dance and kill your neighbors. This is not music that we are conditioned to accept. This is you delirious with joy scraping your five senses off the floor. —Matthew Moyer, Ink19  Melt-Banana are in a league of their own. There are other extreme hardcore bands out there who are experimental and unique but Melt-Banana are more than that. They area giants amongst infants. Masters amongst pupils. Kings amongst serfs. Nobody can do what they do and nobody can adequately use words to describe them. —Jeb, Crass Menagerie  

Melt Banana

Speak Squeak Creak

Azap

***Produced by Melt-Banana and K. K. Null of Zeni Geva, engineered by Steve Albini, recorded in a Chicago basement, June 1994, the 24-track 30-minute Speak Squeak Creak was originally released in '94 by Null's Nux Organization label, was sporadically available throughout the decade, and is now reissued by the band's own label - on vinyl for the first time.   The band for this recording consisted of Yasuko, Agata, Rika mm' and Sudoh. They have long been admired by everyone - from the highest brows within the ranks of the avant garde such as John Zorn and Mike Patton, to shorts-draggin' munters who need to carry their wallets on a leash - for their riotous cacophony in which free jazz, math-rock, speed-metal, and grindcore all enjoy equal opportunity employment.   Vocalist/principal songwriter Yasuko regards Speak Squeak Creak as the band's "base camp. Everything started from this album. Pop with rhythm and noise," but what she really means is "a cross between God Is My Co-Pilot, Napalm Death, and Love Sculpture's version of Khatchaturian's Sabre Dance."    "...Melt-Banana whiplashes through 25 blistering, ear-shattering, no wave-inspired songs, most of which wiz by at less than two minutes....[The] music lurches and flows even as it sizzles in a difficult and corrosive avant-stew..." -Option  "...This Japanese quartet takes all the scrabbling, atonal dissonance of deconstructionist rock and no wave (DNA, God Is My Co-Pilot, Dawson, Big Flame) and imbues it with the hysteria and acceleration of hardcore and speed-metal..."...

Melt Banana

Charlie

Azap

***BACK IN PRINT!!!  Another all-out spazztak of scream-and-careen mathified skree core from Tokyo’s most tightly wound springs. Fourteen tracks of mind altering, brain boggling, and spine crushing shrapnel punk with vocals that hit your head like high-pitched knives and music that bores through your flesh like some kind of new super drill. Sure they look nice enough, but don’t get your ears too close, these yaros bite. Like getting stabbed in the face and bragging about the conquest later. Embarking right this second on a trans-continental tour that will bring them perilously close to each and every one of you. Our advice, go see them you obviously haven’t been using those ears for any good purpose anyhow. Guest appearances from MR. BUNGLE, the THREE DOCTORS BAND, THE WINTERMITTENS, and members of DIESELHED. Posters and promotional match books are yours for the asking, go ahead, ask...

Melt Banana

2016 Tour T-shirt

Azap

FROM THE VAULTS!!! Please specify size in order notes - Large only while supplies last.

Melt Banana

Teeny Shiny

Azap

***BLUE / GRAY MILKY VINYL, LIMITED TO JUST THIS PRESSING!!!Melt-Banana describe their third self-released album as "pop and nice," a claim to which numerous incredulous subscribers to the band's mailing list have replied, "No pop!" and "Extreme, please!" This angular Pythagorean-core HC quartet supposes that the words "pop" and "nice" have slightly different nuances those outside their native Japan are failing to see; perhaps they mean "pop" not in the Celine Dion sense, but in the Andy Warhol sense, "nice" not as in smashing a bunch of garbage together and expecting fans to swallow it out of habit, but as in well-crafted, hairball mania. Even as the band acknowledges that Teeny Shiny is punk, noisy, screeching, and fast, they steadfastly maintain that it is pop and nice for them. Though a mad scientist from 2788 has given vocalist / lyricist Yako a heart the size of a lion's (engorged with futuristic steroids) and her voice goes spitting and whizzing above it all as 5,000 volts surge through her skinny torso; and given that the mad scientist has screwed with guitarist Agata's brain so that his guitar-playing resembles a synth and two turntables; and taking into account the Melt-Banana rhythm section's ability to keep up with a machine gun demonstration without breaking a sweat - conditions that all apply to Teeny Shiny, fictionalized or not - they're not backing down from the assertion that their new album is pop and nice. Sometimes you just gotta trust people....

Melt Banana

Cactuses Come In Flocks

Azap

*** An album from the morning hours of the Melt-Banana history, the second release on Melt-Banana's label was originally released in 1994 on cassette by Scottish label Chocolate Monk. More than half the extant copies were lost between the Chocolate Monk dubbing deck and the nearest post office, thanks in no small part to the bar located between the two; consequently, Cactuses Come in [the] Flocks has been heard by an extremely random sampling of extremely patient tape traders and hardly anyone else. The first half of Cactuses is a live recording from a 1992 improv festival that took place in a small room at Tokyo University; the second half is made up of four-track recordings created in mid-1994. As many voices from across the literacy rainbow are quick to point out, Melt-Banana is nothing if not a force to be reckoned with. Because they have unlocked the secrets of prime-number hardcore and gorged themselves on influences ranging from the Damned to Patty Waters, Jim O'Rourke to Merzbow, and Gertrude Stein to Mr. Bungle, they appeal to a fairly wide range of freaks and lovers of high-decibel controlled chaos. Compared to every kind of animal on every kind of drug imaginable, Melt-Banana and their weird blend of mystical awareness, hysterical screech, and moderately robotic attention to detail are magnets for believers in ampheto-core, avant garde appreciators, and no wave loyalists