Kawaguchi Masami's New Rock Syndicate

The new decade begins with a groovy explosion of sound and colors: Ladies and Gentlemen, here comes The New Rock Syndicate. Band leader Kawaguchi Masami is a veteran of the Tokyo underground scene, being former Miminokoto, Broomdusters and LSD March member, both seminal projects in the development of a certain way to make rock, looking back at the tradition with a new approach, open to psychedelia, noise and free improvisation. As it happens, Masami's activities soon became the object of a passionate cult among music lovers and record collectors. The Psychedelic Sounds of the New Rock Syndicate is the definitive statement of Masami as songwriter and ferocious guitar player, finding in Kikuchi Akira (bass), Kiyasu (drums) and Hasegawa Yohei (guitar on Dazzling Light and (Theme From) New Rock Syndicate) the perfect partners in crime for this unbelievable new studio work. The album opens with an almost sabbattesque anthem where a heavy riffage is accompanied by lamentous vocals; second piece (Affected Dance) is a deconstructed blues jam, with a touch of narcoleptic magic and simply beautiful. Side b is where the miracle actually happens: every single track is a banger, a compendium of 50 years of rock music compressed in 18 minutes of fire on wax. Songs like Repetition or Tottemo have been rotating non stop here since when we got the master recording. Every other word is useless: a monument