AFTER DINNER

When I was a lot younger than today, I was first introduced to the RIO subgenre. It was an instant click, and thus I found myself not long afterwards going through long lists and heavy guides to this wonderful subgenre, trying to find a new band to like, to enjoy, to appreciate, as much as these words carry any weight with this subgenre. One of those early finds was an obscure band called After Dinner. Led by a female singer and originating from Japan, they sounded like a Japanese twist on the Art Bears to my young ears.

A few years later, and I still come back to them from time to time, and I still find this connection between them and the Art Bears' sound. But they are more than that, way more than that. They have some free jazz and noise influences, some Gentle Giant ones, and what seems to me like a strange cuteness factor. Let's just say that they are unique.

Paradise of a Replica opens with Haco's amazing voice, accompanied by some strange mixtures of sounds, first building towards a crescendo, and then leading to the song's proper beginning. The rhythm section sounds like coming from an "intro-t?Zen" course, the synths like coming from a nature show. And the vocals? while I don't understand what she sings about, the sounds do carry me over, showing me some beautiful and fantastical worlds. And all throughout, some strange sounds come to visit, reminding us that this band is more than what first meets the eye.

A Walnut opens with some cute sounds and arrangement, like a children's musical box coming to life and singing about the sorrows of life. Then the song changes, and Haco's voice is alone for a few seconds before an almost melodic mixture of sound joins her, and then we get the beginning section on steroids, with an almost rhythmic rhythm section, but only almost. A minute towards the end the song changes again, going slower and softer, without losing its charms, then finishing back on the steroids.

Kitchen Life I is a strange Japanese twist on the Art Bears famous sound, with some added noises. One of those songs that I wished I understood their lyrics. But it has everything one can ask for, from the drama to the melodies, from the arrangements to the changes of pace and shifts of moods. Perfect by all accounts.

Motorcycle is short, a vocalic break from the avant-garde with Haco harmonizing with herself, and a nice piano that comes to her aid for a few seconds. Not that she needs the piano, but?

Kitchen Life II is a variation on the first part, albeit a short one. It almost immediately starts to vary greatly, especially through a different play with the band members' ability to create and use noises.

Ironclad Mermaid is a short piece with even more unique voices and noises that build on the Kitchen Life 2- parter. The musicianship in here is just amazing, and so is their ability to build and maintain moods through the use of strange rhythms. Haco's vocal abilities in here are just amazing, showcasing all of her great and unique talent. Midway through the song it changes completely, going slower and much more avant-garde for a few seconds, before coming back to a combination of this strange new sound with the earlier part of the song. They're a bit melancholic in here, but mostly sounding ironic and cynic.

Dancing Twins is yet another short effort, which mainly reminds us of the country that they come from. This is Japanese music at its best. Sad, melancholic, and right to the point.

KA-NO-PU-SU-NO-HA-KO is the main attraction in this short album, a 7 minute epic beginning traditional Japanese, and then the vocals take the center stage. It's slow, it's dramatic, and it is so dark that one almost shivers. But little by little, as the song progresses, something is beginning to be built. The song grows epic-er with every bar, but it's also getting stranger and odder, like remaining in the known lands is not their cup of tea. The melody is thrown out, the rhythm takes center stage, and then at around the 5 minutes mark the vocals return. Everything is soft, calm, almost like a surrealist lullaby, before the entire song explodes all of a sudden, then coming back to the soft side.

I'll just go Birdwatching is the closing track, and boy it does well in this regard. Strange sounds pave the way for Haco's beautiful voice, later accompanied by some difficult to identify instruments.

And thus the album ends. An amazing effort by an obscure band from Japan. I can't say that this album is essential, but it doesn't mean that it's not an amazing (and not just excellent) addition to a Prog-Rock collection. 4 stars.

Another one of those obscure 80's Avant-prog groups that went mostly unnoticed back then, and have generally remained just as obscure in the following decades. Fronted by the babelicious Haco singer on that orange artwork, After Dinner is a large formation that went to record two albums in that dreadful 80's decade. This one is rather short (<30 mins), even if the most recent reissue gives you almost a half-hour bonus track, but I've not heard them.

Musically, we hovering around an Art Bears meets Von Zamla, but with a heavy Jap twist, so if you can imagine that, than it should definitely intrigue you enough to check it out. However, if you can't imagine this, you'd probably best look elsewhere, because this is as whacky as Wha-Ha-Ha or Slapp Happy. I'll give another angle to figure out this music: imagine an electronic Bi Kyo Ran on acid and experimenting Avant-prog stuff. Outside one track at almost 8 mins, most of the tracks are well below 5 mins duration.

Another one of these "must-be-heard to be believed-in" albums, but I'm not sure most would like to take it home for good. This is typically the kind of album I love to know will be available at my library system whenever I feel like listening to it, but I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it (other than renting it) and having it taking shelf space. Not my cup of tea, but the discovery was quite interesting and someday, in a decade or so, I know I'll rent it again.

Great avant-prog with female vocals from Japan.

This is actually not an easy review for me since I am not an expert on the avant side of prog, nor Japanese one, and also because this would be the first review of this album, but anyway I'll try to write my thoughts in an understandable way.

After Dinner came to be after a friend's recommendation, I remember I got interested because of the fact they had a female singer inside an avant-garde band, so I accepted the recommendation immediately.

As far as I know, they only released a couple of studio albums in the 80s and then sadly disbanded, their second effort which is the one that occupies me now, was named "Paradise of Repllica" and contains 9 tracks and a total time of 30 minutes, as you can see it is a pretty short album. Their musical inclination goes from chamber rock, to avant-garde with some electronic instruments.

The first song, the title track, kicks off with Haco's vocals, so since the first moment you will be captivated by her beautiful voice, and then there is a splendid background, made by the synthesizer and in moments with some wind instruments (I presume), the mood is relaxing and beautiful, there are some strange noises as if the musicians were playing with their instruments and exploring which sounds can they produce.

"A Walnut" starts with some chord instrument which I don't name since I don't want to be wrong, so along with that instrument the vocals enter, and some moments later there is a piano and an oboe (hope I am correct). Seconds after the song changes with the entrance of percussion and some other wind instruments, the mood is like being in a forest or trying to unwind something, could be used in a movie.

"Kitchen Life I" in some moments reminds me to Gatto Marte or even Art Bears, I love their use of diverse instruments, and the melodramatic vocals that all of a sudden appear. This may actually be used in a theatrical play, really enjoyable music.

"Motorcycle", a short piece that only shows Haco's beautiful voice and a piano for some seconds. "Kitchen Life II" is another short composition that complements the first with that name, that artistic and theatrical mood prevails.

"Ironclad Mermaid" sound alike to the previous song, though this time they make some other noises that are worth creating to a better and delightful playground, they perfectly combine their string, with the wind instruments, without forgetting the electric ones, so the music composed here is in my opinion outstanding, no matter if it is a short piece.

Then we have another short passage with "Dancing Twins" that sounds like a traditional Japanese song to my ears, though as I state in my first paragraph, I am not an expert on this subject.

"KA-NO-PU-SU-NO-HA-KO" is a long composition reaching more than 7 minutes, starting with again, some Japanese traditional sounds, composed by several instruments, wind, string and percussion ones, then you will listen only to the vocals, it is like a stop and go, then the music starts to build up something new, odd, calm and then nervous and fast, so the mood here can change depending on the context, at minute 5 the vocals return in a slight way, the sounds and noises are also delicately played and all of a sudden it makes an explosion, just in order to return to that calm sound that the song features.

The last song is "I'll just go birdwatching" which starts with some strange sound that could be made by Haco or by another strange instrument, then we will listen only to her voice accompanied by some other instruments, making a weird but awesome atmosphere.

This is a short indeed, but extraordinary album which should be carefully listened, once you dig it, you'll love it, and you will probably play it frequently. For that, Paradise of Replica deserves 4 stars.

Enjoy it!

This After Dinner might be a band that famous was exactly good for an overseas market and the listener in the existence of Avant-Prog of Japan. Haco of Vocal was formed to them as a person at the center in 1981. And, debut EP is announced in 1982. HACO had already shown interest in the synthetic music. And, it was a place of the experiment to which the element of various music was exactly taken for the music character of this band.

The existence of Yasushi Uthunomiya that takes charge of the synthesizer for making the sound of this band might be also large. He was well versed in the situation of machine parts and the recording as the engineer. To show the expression of the idea of HACO and music concretely, they were accompanied by many members. Or, there might have been a replacement of a few members, too.

Avant-Prog of Japan of the 1980's was exactly a dawn. Their music was the especially existence admitted in the world at an early stage. This album is a board of the edit that adds the sound source of live to "Glass Tube" announced in 1984. Element electronic in addition to original melody of Japan. Or, the element with the impression of New Wave and the ethnicity. They are also to the song of HACO and show various faces like the kaleidoscope.

Their activities end in 1988. However, their music won support from Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, and Robert Wyatt. And, support as recognized as a standing matter by the government- controlled station in Germany was collected. The evaluation is still popular among the performance that they did high.

A revelation, borne of diverse influences.

This release compiles work from different eras. Certain tracks are repeated but vary between performances; After Dinner seem to have a loose semi-improv ethic which colours even their shortest pieces - in any event, the track lengths are mostly irrelevant as this CD holds far more ideas than titled songs.

Early on we can hear parallels with Art Bears, given a playful spin that can seem sweet at times (a feeling mostly missing from great swathes of avant-progressive rock) and grotesque at others. Because Haco's vocals define the songs both in a melodic and a rhythmic way, the instrumentation often drops into minimal improvisation of strange varieties - sometimes electronically based but other songs are driven almost entirely by percussion, or else by asian traditional instruments - you'll hear a lot of zithering and drones. At one moment the listener can be reminded of Kabuki by a brilliantly-placed stringed sliding twang, and seldom can a solitary note bring such a smile to your lips.

Other songs are less abstract; the Sepiature tracks and "Cymbals at Dawn" fall somewhere alongside the mature, psychedelic Beatles compositions and show innocent touches of shibuya-kei (for the unacquainted, imagine a warped, arguably cuter version of ye-ye chanson.)

Any personal complaints about this album will be aimed at its distinct disjointedness, as about half of the record could be categorised as "avant-pop" - this out-Björks Björk by several degrees - while the other is actually rather quiet and experimentally cold (although there are exceptions - "Dessert" being based around a very warm interplay between what this reviewer assumes to be dulcimer, drones, tambla and some sort of whispering kazoo instrument.) So "Live Editions" is primarily recommended to distinguishing listeners of the improvised avant-garde - and pop music. ;)