A Japanese legend has it that the sun goddess Amaterasu 天照 once left the world in darkness by hiding in a cave. After vain supplications, a wise god tied together six large bows to the ground to vibrate the strings like a harp, while others marked the rhythm, danced and sang with a bamboo branch in their hands. Curious, the goddess came out of her cave
and the light could glow on the world again.
Self-proclaimed “repetition freaks”, the Japanese band Minami Deutsch strikes the chords of our souls with their hypnotic and cosmic signature inspired by German motorik rhythm, to bring light back to our dark world. Spotted early on by members of the legendary band Kikagaku Moyo/幾何学模様 at a party in Tokyo, Minami Deutsch returns with its third album, Fortune Goodies, on the renowned Guruguru Brain label (SUNDAYS & CYBELE, Mong Tong/夢東, Khana Bierbood/คณะเบียร์บูด). Whereas the first two albums Minami Deutsch and With Dim Light were humbly recorded in a few days in their rehearsal room in a minimalist fashion without too many resources, Fortune Goodies is undoubtedly the most accomplished wasabi sauerkraut offering from these Japanese spacemen.
After settling in Berlin to absorb German culture and the Berlin life of the lost era of the heroes of the Zodiak Free Arts Lab, it is clear that guitarist Kyotaro Miula has expanded his musical horizons. If “rhythm and bass are the most important elements” according to him, “Your Pulse” introduces us to minimalist, organic and propulsive lands where the sound of the cavernous bass and the motorized drums manage to create wonders on the guitar, in the confined
space of the four beats. “Interpreters of Forest” is a gentle acoustic guitar ballad, closer to traditional Japanese sounds than psychedelia, while “The Border” echoes the more new age, meditative, childlike whistles of a UFO miraculously encountered in the starry sky. The band, which is currently on tour in Europe, invites us to dance generously and freely, to help us see the light of the sun goddess coming out of our caves.
