Melt Banana - Classic or Dud?

So Melt Banana is great. Really really great. And they're nice people, too.

They are one of the best live bands I've ever seen--tighter than a mosquito's tweeter, and aggressive in a _joyful_ way that few bands can pull off. Plus, they're really fun to watch. And their T-shirts are totally ace.

Yes on the textures, obviously. I get basically the same agenda from both, though: gleeful stop-start spurts of chaotic scree, dropping into recognizable grooves every so often, then just as quickly dissolving into bash and clatter. And then they both have Mike Patton guest. Hmm ... if only Patton could introduce them and get a Fishtank project going ...

Anyway, I think what I'm thinking is that Melt-Banana tugs the rock template in sort of the same logistical directions that Kid 606 digs electronics.

Nitsuh, you answered your own question! ;-)

And I did say they were nice folk.

I've never been to a Knitting Factory show where there has been lots of movement. The Philadelphia crowds are always more fun and exciting. Having said that, Mondays show had the crowd going crazy the whole time. They did 3 encores, and people were still chanting for more.

They were great last night, but better six weeks ago. I told my friend (who'd never seen them before) "they've been on tour for six weeks straight, so they seem a little low-energy." She turned and boggled at me. They did rev up all the way for the encore, though, inc. "My Generation." And I think my friend may be going to see them again in Montclair, NJ tonight.

Well, if you're going to go and compare things to the average enthusiasm of a Knitting Factory show, sure, things got intense. Bigger pit than at the Low show, even! But compared to what I was expecting for a MB show...

Uk please also thx

Saw 'em tonight at Dante's in Portland--as always "RRAGG" was the third song they played--I somehow think that's kind of hilarious. (Maybe it's because they also like looking at the crowd right after it to see who's never seen them before, because they're the people who have expressions on their faces like "did they just do that?") They also pulled out a cover of Devo's "Uncontrollable Urge." If there's a guitarist who uses pedals more expressively these days than Agata, I don't know who it would be. And I am very sure there's not a better English-language lyricist whose native language isn't English than Yasuko Onuki.

They're touring over there soon.

london date, 28th may 2014: https://babayaga.ticketabc.com/events/baba-yagas-hut-pr-20/

Played Supersonic in 2012, I think? Set of two halves, first set was in the style which has ended up being 'new' Melt-Banana, and second set was the full band 'old' Melt-Banana.

Forget that, must have been an earlier year than that because they played in the pool.

2014
20/05 Colchester Arts Centre
21/05 Leeds Brudenell Social Club
22/05 Glasgow Mono
23/05 Newcastle Cluny 2
24/05 Manchester Fat Out Festival
25/05 Birmingham Rainbow Warehouse
27/05 Sheffield Queens Social Club
28/05 London Heaven
29/05 Norwich Arts Centre
30/05 Bristol Fleece
31/05 Cambridge Portland Arms
01/06 Southampton Joiners
02/06 Brighton Green Door Store

(from facebook)

Finished listening to the album. It might be the best one I've heard yet (still need 3 or 4 of the early albums) but definitely the most consistent I've heard, quite a bit heavier I'd say. Really brilliant.

Bought a ticket to their upcoming show. It will be my second time.

Does anyone sit and read the lyrics? Really difficult to follow.

"Candy Gun" showed up in my Spotify discover playlist, thank you for introducing me, Spotify.

that may be my least favorite song on fetch but it's still great!

Woot!

Saw melt Banana at the garage with DJ scotch egg. Always meant to catch then again. That was 2005 but tonight is the night.

They are doing their own merch. They scare me, slightly.

are they still playing as a duo?

xp I also saw Melt-Banana at the Garage in 2005 but it was the other night with Narcosis/I'm Being Good/Bullet Union. I saw them a few years ago as a duo around the time Fetch came out. Think that was the 3rd time I saw them? Was thinking of going to see them in Brighton on this tour but timing wasn't good.

it's so hot my banana definitely feels like it's melting today

xp to self in fact this is documented upthread back in 2005

just the two of them, yes. agata with the facemask and guitar and yasuko doing everything else via midi(?) and that controller thing she uses (one-handed) that looks like a playstation portable.

they were loud and bright and pixel perfect again last night but something didn't click for me and i was paying less attention to what they were doing than to how they were doing it. and the obvious hard work they've put in and all the practice (neither put a beat wrong) just detracted somehow. the 300 other people there seemed to be really into it though.

they were on the merch desk until the support band finished and then spent the interval sorting out their own gear. a minute after they finished agata was back on the desk and yasuko was breaking her stuff down. made me wonder whether the entire tour was just the two of them doing everything on their own (and how lonely that would be).

(it's a Numark Orbit - https://www.facebook.com/NumarkOrbit/posts/638933552825050 )

new album 3+5 out in August! first for over 10 years. I wasn't going to bother seeing them on this tour because I saw them in 2022, and Prolapse are playing the same night, argh

oh thank god, our long (inter)national nightmare is over

fetch was _so fucking good_

Oh hell yes. I'm seeing them next month, super pumped

Cell-Scape is still my fav, but I always have time for them

100% agree re:Fetch. album still blows me away

wait there was one after Bambi's Dilemma? omfg I am so old, I bought the Bambi LP from them at a show

wish they were on Bandcamp!

ohmygod they're coming back to Hull so happy

oh fuck they are playing Portland TOMORROW, Hawthorne Theater, no way can I go

This is great news

i on the other hand can totally go, thanks for the heads up sleeve :)

<3

I'm seeing the Denver show in less than a week. Incredibly stoked!

they still got it!

I once saw Melt Banana play in a transvestite bar called the Blue Flamingo in Austin, Texas. The club where they were supposed to play (EMOS) had double booked, so they had to move next door. The club was the size a large kitchen. They set up in the corner of the bar (no stage, just the corner). I got up on a side ledge, with my head pressed up against the ceiling. Let me tell you a little somethin' somethin'......I've seen lots and lots of shows, and that particular show was the most motherfucking incredibly beautiful sonic assault on your senses I've ever experienced. The perfect hybrid of fuck-you punk rock, teeth melting noise, and on-time syncopation. And it was obvious that every person there, who could get in, realized how incredible that event was.

So Melt Banana is great. Really really great. And they're nice people, too.

― Gage-o

big shout-outs and much love to the Blue Flamingo. dungeons and drag bars, people. dungeons and drag bars.

-

i'm just gonna c&p my review of their live show from the "reunion bands" thread because i didn't get around to writing it up until just now

i don't think melt-banana broke up either... they've been touring, they just haven't released a record in 11 years. they're releasing a new one this year. i never saw them live before. they were pretty amazing to watch to be honest. it wasn't all older hipsters like at the deerhoof concert. or at least i don't think so, i look at 40 year olds these days and think they're young. it was pretty great because of how yasuko is using technology. she and agata showed up there and just fucking killed. their last album was their best one yet, but that was over a decade ago... and with them being a duo i wasn't sure how they'd be able to play their songs live. i figured it'd be a lot of playing to backing tracks.

and what they did wound up being way cooler than that. yasuko had her phone out and she was using it to change up the bass and drum patterns on the fly. it's the first time i've ever seen technology used to create something that doesn't sound like singing to a backing track like on _top of the pops_ or some dude sitting behind a laptop. they were full-band songs performed by a duo but had the freedom of interpretation that i'm only used to hearing from rock groups - the songs _didn't_ sound exactly like the albums at all. it was felt like she was using the rhythms to kind of conduct the mosh pit. there was a mosh pit, too! they're a noise-rock duo of people in their like 50s and people were out there moshing. i was out there moshing, even though i regretted it. i'd rather hear melt-banana play "uncontrollable urge" than hear DEVO play "uncontrollable urge". devo are cool and all but i've never seen them and never really wanted to.

turns out yasuko is a guest vocalist on an album by a group called _squid pisser_, on the title track. it sounds great! yasuko sounds amazing!

tbf they've been doing that for ages, their last album was a duo as well, I saw them in 2014 for that and it was the same set up

Been trying to think back and they were doing it in 2010 as well, although I think it was more band structured rather than random squalls.

tbf they've been doing that for ages, their last album was a duo as well, I saw them in 2014 for that and it was the same set up

― Colonel Poo

i'm not necessarily always on the cutting edge, haha, 22 years ago being in the Blue Flamingo would have made me really uncomfortable for reasons i wouldn't have been quite able to articulate

they still had a backing band on the 2010 tour, I saw them then as well

pigeons on my eyes

Theirs remains one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. There was this palpable ENERGY winding through the crowd that felt like you could've easily been swallowed up by the sea of bodies and would've been utterly menacing if the overall vibes hadn't been super-positive. It was like being in a venue-wide mosh pit comprised entirely of your family and loved ones.

“Backing band” is a bit impersonal; Rika was their bassist for about 20 years before she left, or was dismissed, I don’t actually know what happened there. I hope it wasn’t a Janet Weiss-style shitcanning.

I saw them on that 2010 tour as well, and then again a few years later as a duo, and yeah they were better as a full band to me. I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them again. I am looking forward to the new album, though.

Saw 'em last night and can confirm it was awesome. Most energetic & punk live experience I've had in years. Never had the chance to see them as a fully-live unit but I also don't feel like I missed out on something. Maybe I did! But I'm more than satisfied with what I got--it was magic

Was that in Baltimore? Haven’t been to that place and wasn’t able to make it up there

Philly was last night, Baltimore is tonight. Which I was gonna get tix for but it was sold out by the time I got to it. :(

I have to decide between Melt-Banana and Prolapse, they are playing the same night. I was going to see Prolapse but then the new album announcement... Also I can just walk down the sea front instead of getting a train to London, I think Melt-Banana might win this one

correct choice imho

but I just played Psychotic Now by Prolapse and now I don't know anything any more. I might have to flip a coin

Digging the new one 3+5 a lot!

Me too

fantastic gig last night - i haven’t seen them for… over a decade, and it’s a riot, these exploding violent toy boxes of songs, full of paradoxes - intricate assaults, threatening fun etc. sweat was dripping off the ceilings so heavily it was like rain.

qujaku were a really fantastic support as well. doomy and v heavy, occasionally two drummers, a touch of goth and grinding sludge interspersed with mangled explosions of guitar and screaming.

best gig of the year without question.

tho, per CP, Prolapse were a lot of rather chaotic fun the night before.

Digging the new one 3+5 a lot!

I wasn't told about this gig and the my friend was sending me pictures from it. My fault I guess lol

unfortunate! i feel qujaku would be up your street tho i hesitate to say this as psychedelic doomy swans influenced rock is probably something on which you’ve probably got strong opinions. anyway i am also enjoying their 2018 album tho the live experience was x10. i particularly liked the last track they played which had a sort of Peter Gunn flavour to it.

on first listen new album is excellent, welcome back after a decade