8-9-08 The Gerogerigegege – ONETWOTHREEFOUR!

Well, Shanoah, I might have a response to your observations on patriotism tomorrow. But it’s a little too late for that kind of heavy stuff tonight.

I turn my eyes instead across the Pacific to the ancient islands of Japan. Mysterious, mystical, weird.  The nation that gave us Zen lunatics, Yoko Ono, Excel Saga and game shows where the contestants injure themselves while wearing fish costumes and seem thrilled for it. And now we have something else to blame thank Japan for: a band with the wonderfully Dadaist name of The Gerogerigegege.

I first heard about The Gerogerigegege on WFMU’s Do or DIY show by Vicki Bennett, aka People Like Us. She usually plays her own music, assembled from samples of other people’s music, but she does play the music of other musicians, as well. I heard The Gerogerigegege on Thursday’s show. To give you some idea of what Bennett’s music is like, The Gerogerigegege sounded only slightly out of place on her show.

If I’m reading this right, this is the A side – the entire A side – of The Gerogerigegege’s 1992 album Senzuri Monkey Metal Action: 19 songs with the collective name of A (untranslated Japanese) Prime Cut and a collective length of five and a-half minutes, or an average “song” length of just over 20 seconds. That’s got the Ramones beat hands down.

Courtesy of miserkatulle.