GRAVIYAUNOSCH

"Graviyaunosch." "Graviyaunosch." Yeah. This album is a great step if you liked "Burning Stone" or "Hydero," since it's got the same bassist as those albums. Following "Burning Stone," its sound is more reminiscent of the rough and tumble "Stonehenge" era, but with the dextrous and melodic bass work of Masuda. The production is minimal, and this is by choice, where earlier it was perhaps by necessity. The net result is that, compared to the lusher sound world of "Burning Stone," the listener is overwhelmed by the colossal effort of just two people playing this elemental music without the use of overdubbing (or barely any, anyway). The title track is this album's epic, and it's a fast, loud, and insistent one punctuated by the duo's contrasting high and low vocal attack. The next five songs are simpler, sometimes not more than a single melody line or riff repeated, but they still carry a power. I actually admire yoshida for putting songs that some might say are "unfinished" on albums like this, because it gives a window on the creative process of some great and complex music. What really makes this album, though, are the last three tracks, all recorded live and with extensive use of effects on each instrument and on the vocals. "Acid Blue" is a riff in odd time underpinned by 4/4 drumming, followed by an awesome soaring rock guitar solo, except on the bass of course. This longer version of Stonehenge's "Big Head" is more definitive than the original, with scarily distorted vocals that sound like a whipping wind slowly destroying a short wave radio that's transmitting Yoshida's voice, while Masuda's big, live bass sound ascends yet again into the stratosphere for a gorgeous and etherial rendition and extension of the midsection's beautiful melody. Yoshida goes from drumkit to a marimba-ish, gamelan-like counterpoint for this section, and sings in a spine tingling operatic falsetto. I don't think I need to say any moe about that track. The finale, "B.U.G.", also originally released on Stonehenge, continues the brutal feel of the previous song, with mischevious and refreshingly wide open bass and drum trade offs. They really break the 5/4 (?) section down to its basics here and reassemble it in a sometimes hilarious fashion. I love this album.

Music for madmen who love to jump!

A ferocious maniacal onslaught of caffeine driven punk and stop start zeuhl with twittering mad man scat singing - and wam bam thank you mam, you've got Ruins pegged down!

Mjeah, well maybe not entirely - I forgot to tell you about the strange avant guarde tendencies of this band often appearing like insanely paced rhythm segments galloping over the prairie like a Japanese cowboy with a samurai sword up their backside.

Tatsuya Yoshida needs no introduction, at least one should think so, since he has been a huge part of the modern progressive rock scene in Japan - punishing toms and unsuspecting high hats in bands like Koenjihyakkei, Seikazoku, Korekyojinn, Musica Transonic and an endless string of unpronounceable bands that I could be typing until tomorrow comes - either way, what you need to know about Tatsuya is that he is one beast behind the drum-kit. He can play with the best of them - poly-rhythmic, loud, fast, jazzy, rocking, off kilter, hazily and everything in between. I'll wager my front lawn that you won't be able to find any sort of music that he can't back up in some rhythmic manner. With Ruins his playing reminds me a lot of a speeding Christian Vander but also to a slighter extent of Bill Bruford - and here I am specifically thinking Larks' Tongues in Aspic. That spastic frenetic all over the kit type thing. Just remember that his style remains utterly unique - even if I use some form of reference points: this guy sounds like he never sleeps, runs in crazy sprints wherever he has to go, eats with his eyeballs and well, he genuinely just feels like a thunderstorm in a room. I'd like to think that he has been drinking coffee ever since he was born...

Ryuichi Masuda completes this duo with some zany vocal attributes, oh well Tatsuya brings those too, and some truly ingenious bass work. Whilst being an incredible funky and low down boogie boy of a bass player - keeping things nice and heavy, - he sometimes goes utterly berserk on his instrument now utilising it as a means of transportation - taking you out in the perimeter where guitars and synthesiser normally only venture.

Together these guys manage to conjure up a power ball of sound that sounds like a sped up sanitarium thrown into a tiny phonebooth - wildly tumbling down a mountainside. Basses ablazing, drums pelting away like there was no tomorrow - and two guys mimicking a pair of drunk punk peacocks.

This is music that exudes power, anarchy, fire, fun and a level of nonchalance that quite openly flips the bird to their home country with thousands of years of cultural heritage up its sleeve. 3.5 stars.

Graviyaunosch is a bit of a return to the deliberately messy Stonehenge, but with the more polished production of Burning Stone, although much more minimal in terms of effects but better sound quality overall. The title track is the highlight of the whole album, a fast audio assault, before a reel of five shorter tracks which are quite stop-start and aggressive. Not much stands out particularly but I did seem to enjoy the final part of the section Knaftt more than anything else. There's a bit of a change after this, with the last three tracks all recorded live, and two of them re- imaginings of previously released tracks. Acid Blue is a 100mph jam, with an odd-timed riff breaking it up in the middle. The Big Head remake is notable for the extreme distortion of its vocals, and lengthening of the mid-section into a marimba-based melody which breaks it up very nicely. The B.U.G. remake is also a major improvement with some of the added effects.

In all, probably prefer Burning Stone, however this is a reasonable follow up, just not enough new tracks to add to a highlight reel.