Reviewing Melt Banana’s Fetch

By Brett Callwood

Oct 10, 2013 at 11:10 am

Audio By Carbonatix

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Anybody familiar with Japanese noise rock band Melt Banana’s work up to this point will know that, when these guys put out a new record, it’s near-impossible to know what to expect. The mind-fuckery, the glorious unpredictability, is what makes the band so exciting. They blur genre boundaries with childlike abandon, melding the oft-Neanderthalic nature of grindcore and hardcore with ridiculous time changes and cutesy electronic noises. Just when you think you’ve got a grip on the hyper-fast “Candy Gun” on Fetch (A-Zap), with Yasuko Onuki’s chirping vocals, just when you know where it’s going, “The Hive” blasts in and throws it all to shit.
Give up. Don’t even try to figure it out. Just allow the band to take you wherever the fuck it wants to go. Let them drive, because they’re really great drivers. It’s not just that Melt Banana sound like nobody else (and they really do), but the fact that they’ve found new ways to use both melody and aggression that is so impressive. Melt Banana is at the Crofoot on October 28.