Empeyfree of the Week: BUCK-TICK
BUCK-TICK
It's only recently I've started to really get into the Japanese Goth/Industrial Rock band BUCK-TICK. I heard of them via Pig a few years ago, but never really took the time to peruse their Catalogue due to the relative difficulty in tracking down their music in the West... at least for realistic prices. I've been a Pig fan for a number of years now. Having realised that the reason some of KMFDM's stuff is actually good is largely due to the involvement of Raymond "Pig" Watts in those recordings. Like a younger, more approachable, some might unfairly say less talented Foetus... I had to immediately get excited over everything he'd put out.
SCHAFT - Arbor Vitae (live) (1994)
He worked with some of the guys from BUCK-TICK about fifteen years ago on the Schaft project. Their exploration into the world of western industrial sleeze rock. More down and dirty than the cyberpunk they did with BUCK-TICK, Raymond guested on vocals on the album along with the likes of Julianne Regan (All About Eve), Johnny Stephens (Meat Beat Manifesto), along with remix work from the likes of Coil, Meat Beat Manifesto, Keith LeBlanc, Autechre... The release blew me away as did the 2000 follow-up Schwein, that this time featured Watts as a full collaborator on the project along with his fellow KMFDM conspiritor Sascha Konietzko and BUCK-TICK vocalist Sakurai Atsushi.
SCHWEIN - You're my Disease (2000)
Recently I was looking for new things to listen to and, in my desperation, I turned to the sleezy underworld of illegal bittorrents. Lo and behold there was a full discography torrent of BUCK-TICK and I grabbed the singles from it as an introduction to their full range. Naturally since then I've given into temptation and downloaded the rest. I fucking love these guys. They offer so much. Shoe-staring indie goth... dirty rock songs and industrial techno dance floor beats... often within the scope of one album... or even one song.
It's really hard to pick a particular song to suggest from this band. I've been loving the haunting Jupiter from the 1991 album Kurutta Taiyou, but for My Fuckin' Valentine is catchier. And it's always impressive when a band manages to create a catchy chorus featuring high profanity. However, as an introduction I've decided to make my Empeyfree of the week: Limbo, from the 2003 album Mona Lisa Overdrive. It's driving, catchy and has a sexy chorus... god knows what it's about though. I don't comprehend Japanese, but then I've always been one to prefer style over content ...
Don't worry, I'm not going to be living in sin for long. I've got them on my "to-buy" list. All I need now is a really well paid job that will enrich me enough to afford Japanse imports.