review of umez night

my friend, Will, reviewed the so i buried show held on 26th June. it's nice, please read the one below. thank you, Will.

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Music Review

by Will Huckerby (Soundofkwerk)

On the night of Tuesday, 26th June, Powerlunches on Kingland Road, Dalston, hosted 3 bands from the avant-garde Japanese music label, So I Buried. Although there is clearly potential for a review of all three bands, I must admit that pavement side conversation, peppered with excited anticipation of what we would experience on descending into the black sound box basement of Powerlunches, managed to keep me on the ground floor and outside of the venue for quite a while.

As the anticipation, and the amount of time we'd spent outside the venue peaked, we had a sudden thought: are we missing the music? The answer, yes! This was the catalyst for descending into the subterranean vault of noise. On entering, a warm wave of fuzz expanded to fill the room, akin to the peach coloured clouds we've been experiencing of late; dense, yet warm and colourful. We had entered the world of UMEZ.

Consisting of two members, Koichi and Sachiko, there is an interesting balance in the band: noise and pop; male and female; plucked, looped, spasmodic thrashing guitar and steady throbbing warm bass. UMEZ concoct a fresh, interesting and emotional sound, stemming from clear yet contrasting elements of Japanese music culture, and the notion of hearing a band that skilfully and tastefully dances to both tunes, so to speak, had me excited and curious for days beforehand.

And I really felt them when they were playing. UMEZ have unpicked these two well established genres and rewoven them into a heart warming ball of coloured noise that ascends, floats, soars and then sweeps down and around into a searing cloud of friendly distorted fuzz.

Two of their tracks in particular, reached out to touch me. Sadly the names escape me, although the feeling is still palpable. The first I'd like to mention is the one that grabbed me the most. I closed my eyes and felt as if my heart was expanding to fill my chest. They combine a sweet picked guitar melody that is looped and layered, with a warm and charmingly simple bass, moving at a reflective pace, then they unite towards the crescendo. I must be wary of exaggeration, I realise, but I felt as if I was flying for a moment.

The second track that stood out and asked to be noticed is a cover of a J-Pop song. A playful amalgam of saccharine pop melodies, but with the sugar being tempered by the vigorous waves of noise from the guitar and a Korg MS2000. Sweet without being sickening, romantic without being sentimental, it touches the heart without suffocating the mind.

All in all, I'd strongly recommend that you see them. Keep an eye on activities at So I Buried records for future events.