[.ca] Back To The Mono Kero

ex-girl ... amazing live, but great recorded, too.:
ex-Girl have a masterful grip on their own peculiar blend of punk rock, girl harmonies, new wave, 1970s sci-fi, and noise pop. This inspired trio of Japanese women have learned to play their instruments since their debut release, and Back to the Mono Kero proves that they've recently perfected the art of composing their strange style of songs - with some help from producer Hoppy Kamiyama. "Solid States Kerok'n'Roll" is a bouncy yet hard-rockin' wonder of the classic retro-retro variety, the 2001 version of one of those 1982 retro-1960s songs... or maybe Nena Hagen swirling around with Les Claypool in the blender at a B-52's beach party. The dubiously-titled "Cucumber Surrender" and the irresistable "Gween Kong-Zee" hit the same rich vein of golden Pop Rock nuggets. The girls lighten up for the beautifully droning "Crime of the Century," which builds a spatial atmosphere of repetitive melodies, then breaks into noise moments and crunchy guitars in a Sonic Youth moment. And oh man, "Zero Gravity" aims for the stratosphere while plunging its feet through the ground and into the magma under the earth's core -- thanks primarily to Fuzuki's relentlessly kick\oing\c percussion. If you already know and love ex-Girl, you're undoubtedly hoping for some shouting and silliness along with the clear advancement of their musical skills: have no fear! The goofiness and from-the-gut originality are still in place on Back to Mono Kero, layered among the dense walls of guitar noise and mad samples. Tunes like the jaw-dropping first track, "Waving Scientist," the girl vocal fest of "Sasuke," and their cover of the classic New Wave crossover tune "Pop Musik" show off just how brilliantly ex-Girl can balance happily familiar elements with truly strange ones.

eX-girl:
This CD does not stop till the CD is over - just a great CD if you do not own it - maybe you should -

Pop Muzik? Nay.:
John Zorn takes Cibbo Matto under his wing, and viola! Yeah, it's really that good. Hard rock, glam rock, noise rock, space rock, prog rock, acid jazz, punk, and so on, and so on. Mike Patton only wishes he could be this feminine. I'd like to say that's it's three Japanese transsexuals from Finnland, but I could be wrong. I'd still like to say it, though. It's three Japanese transsexuals from Finnland. There. Gonna TELL ON ME, now? Huh?? This is music that doesn't take itself seriously in the most offensively amusing way.

Live show set the bar VERY high:
I saw eX-Girl in concert this Spring and boy howdy did they rock! And put on a goofy, techno, spacey stage show that in addition to being all those things was also very cool. After that show, I was ready to jump on the next bandwagon to Kero Kero with the trio. This CD didn't quite hit the mark for me. There are some very stellar moments but they are not consistent throughout. Also, it seems that they've drifted more towards a harder, edgier, punkier, alien spacewoman synth sound than they have on this albumn. My rating is heavy handed with 2 stars, but would have had 3 if the quality was consistently good, or 4 even if it was consistently good as the best tracks. Individual tracks are great, together as an album, not-so-much.

Great Japanese Band:
When I first heard this, I was completely blown away by how original that eX-Girl was. Their vocals at times are almost operatic to at times screeching riot grrl. Together with some sweet noise rock instrumentals, this is a great album. One of the best sounds to come outside of America.

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