Melt-Banana is one of those bands that has managed to defy simple categorization for their entire careers, and while you could throw them in with some noise rock, experimental rock, or punk, each of their albums has attempted so many different things that this ends up being an oversimplification. I first heard about the Japanese group around the time that Cell-Scape released in 2003 and opted to go back a bit further in their discography by ordering a CD copy of Scratch or Stitch. I was met with some of the shrillest vocals I had heard in my life as well as spastic and unrelenting music that was super noisy and seemed to change on a dime. It took some time to get used to and as I got further into extreme music grew on me significantly. As the years progressed Melt-Banana would shed some of their rawer, feral energy in favor of bouncier melodies and electronic experimentation, but there was still an edge and the sudden transitions made each album a wild ride. Since 2013’s Fetch Melt-Banana has been a duo, naturally paring down to Yasuko Onuki and Ichiro Agata, which has led to even more programming and experimentation. They’ve still been touring regularly, but this year’s release of 3+5 ends one of the longest stretches between albums and all it will take is one listen to confirm the duo are just as fluid as ever. There are some similarities to Fetch, but 3+5 still feels fresh and keeps Melt-Banana in a league of their own.
Opener “Code” makes it clear that Melt-Banana hasn’t lost any of their speed or sense of experimentation, as the first forty seconds or so spend time exploring glitchy electronics and noisy bursts of guitar that have a more fluid and freeform feel before exploding into a flurry of fast paced instrumentation. The way this song expands and contracts over its three-minute run reminds me just how fun and exciting this group is to listen to, as they go from massive walls of sound to mid-tempo and bouncier sections where the guitars seem to dance over the recording. Agata has spoken quite a bit about the influence of video games on his music, and the way that “Code”, “Puzzle”, and Whisperer” ebb and flow recall the same rhythmic build-ups of a player getting into a groove on a tough boss or other encounter. There are quite a few dreamlike melodies from both the guitars and electronics that often make it feel like you’re soaring through the clouds, but this doesn’t mean that some of that metallic edge and noisier sheen has been lost either. “Case D” and “Flipside” are perfect examples of this, as the former moves at warp speed and brings in some dense and industrial sounding programmed drums while the latter lets the distortion take over and feels like earlier Melt-Banana crossed with Lightning Bolt. Some of the bright spots from Fetch have been retained, but the increased emphasis on programming and what Agata does with both the electronics and guitar push 3+5 into completely new territory. It’s a good deal shorter than its predecessor at a brisk twenty-four minutes, but so many ideas are crammed into that span of time and every song has something to hook the listener. It may not be quite as unhinged and abrasive as earlier albums in the band’s discography, but the way that bursts of noise and more aggressive riffing fuse with the bouncier tempos and shimmering melodies make for material I won’t want to stop listening to any time soon.
Onuki’s vocals have always been the deciding factor between whether Melt-Banana clicked with listeners or not, and one of the easiest ways to do that for new listeners is to hit play on Scratch or Stitch and see if the opening section of “Plot in a Pot” makes you curious or drives you insane. Her performances aren’t quite as outright abrasive these days, but the shrillness of the pitch still may catch newcomers off guard. But for those that have found this aspect to be one of the highlights of Melt-Banana’s music, 3+5 doesn’t disappoint. Onuki hits hard and fast with each verse, especially on tracks like “Flipside” where the tempo stays at warp speed for their entirety. There’s quite a bit of variety as well, as you get sections where the vocals are layered so that Onuki harmonizes with herself, and closer “Seeds” goes for a more subdued style that’s somewhere between spoken word and singing. It does sound like there’s not enough separation between the instrumentals and vocals, as though the noisy electronics are going to swallow them up, but this doesn’t ultimately take away from the experience.
There are similar elements that tie all Melt-Banana albums together in some way, but their discography is a varied and unpredictable one. 3+5 is no different, sometimes channeling some punk and noise rock, while other times capturing the whimsical feel of J-Pop and brighter, bouncier rhythms of video game soundtracks and electronica. Those are just a few of the styles though, as there are so many cool details crammed into this whirlwind of an album. For this duo to still be innovating and pushing themselves in this way thirty years in says a lot, and while I’ll still need additional time I can see this album remaining up there with Cell-Scape or Fetch. 3+5 is available from A-Zap Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg