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avestin View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: After Dinner (Japan)
    Posted: March 08 2008 at 21:04
AFTER DINNER
 
vocalist) in 1981; broaching upon a loose collective cohesion. Their backgrounds (though however different) brought them together during times of recording and live performances. Coming from many different walks of life some of the musical backgrounds embraced by the band were: new wave, traditional Japanese music, contemporary music and avant-garde rock.

The next cycle was prudently spent cementing their aptitude upon the unsuspecting international scene. Their first glint of fame came from the German nation radio, where their first single (EP) received circulated plays. After releasing their first mini-album “Glass Tube”, 1983, (which saw both domestic and aboard distribution) they beguiled the European and American “free music scenes” with their grace. The following years till 1988 saw two international releases (one studio, one live) both find there home on the prominent Recommend Records (UK). In-between albums the band occupied themselves with musical festivals such as: France’s Mimi festival and ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art); also commencing their first international touring schedule.

It was not until 1989 After Dinner was to release their crowing achievement “Paradise of Replica”. The album is a beautifully crafted slice of Avant chamber pop, compliment effortlessly by Haco’s beautiful vocals (who is sometimes seen as Japans answer to Dagmar Krause). Employing a vast array of instrument and complex arrangements, the band presents a delightful theatrical edge, without the pomp of many other prog-rock bands.

After Dinner soon disbanded in 1990.

2001 saw the much need re-mastering of their second (international) album “Paradise of Replica”; now boasting four new remixed tracks by Terre Thaemlitz, Pascal Plantinga and Joshua McKay from indie-ethno rockers Macha. More re-masters were to follow in 2005, compiling their 1982 single and 1984 mini-album, packaged beautiful as replicas of the original jackets and booklets.

After Dinner’s can be parallel musically to bands like Art Bears and News From Babel, with a little more exaggeration on electronic counterparts. While embracing the Avant-prog world, this Japanese gem is bound to delight all lovers of prog rock.

==Adam (Black Velvet)==
 
 
 
AFTER DINNER — After Dinner / Live Editions
Review by laplace ((I/L)olo Iamnhnia)
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4%20stars 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. ;)

Posted Monday, April 30, 2007, 14:46 EST
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After Dinner was an '80s Japanese art rock band that featured thedelicate and beautiful vocals of Haco (she of but one name). This 1989 album of theirs (originally a RecRec label LP) sees cd reissue in remastered form, and it is a true delight. Haco's vocals are matched by After Dinner's lovely music, avant chamber pop that is somewhat theatrical but always restrained (perhaps surprising given the thoughts of prog-rock overkill evoked by a list of the instrumentation used: harp, cello, flute, clarinet, glockenspiel, tung-saio, hichirki, oboe, piano, keys, tapes, bird sounds -- Haco herself is even credited with "volleyball" on one track!) The welcome reissue of this material (welcome especially to those of us who didn't discover it the first time around) is augmented by four additional tracks provided by an interesting international cast of remixers: Terre Thaemlitz, Ata Tak's Pascal Plantinga, Skist (Samm Bennett and Ito Haruna), and Joshua McKay of indie-ethno rockers Macha. This "Paradise of Remixes" can be considered bonus tracks in the best sense of the term: the original album stands fine without them, but they don't detract. All maintain continuity with what has gone before while updating AD's sound to the contemporary cutting edge of glitches and digital processing (for instance, the timestretching technique used by Thaemlitz to draw out one of Haco's utterances into a *timestopping* moment of vocal perfection), electronic approaches that bring to mind Haco's current work with Sachiko M and Michiyo Yagi avant-electronica trio Hoahio as well as Haco's recent solo disc "Happiness Proof". Well done!

by Aquarius Records
April 4, 2001

 
 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 08 2008 at 21:12
I saw them in the ReR catalog and I was intrigued, but I didn't have enough information about them to consider getting an album.  This looks really good and I think I might grab it.  

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 09 2008 at 17:47

They're on my list, they sound really interesting!

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 09 2008 at 21:55
My favorite band right now. I have a strong craving for avant pop, but I can't find it anywhere but here (well nothing pleasing, that is). I'll agree with Laplace's four star for the debut, but not for the same reasons.

Their just as weird and quirky, but poppier and easier on the ears: Paradise of Replica sounds like a perfect five star masterpiece to me now. But I've only had it for a month or so.  
Over land and under ashes
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Find a fly and eat his eye
But don't believe in me
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 09 2008 at 22:15
As for Avant-pop, but not in the same style at all, Officer - Ossification is one album I like a lot.

Edited by avestin - March 09 2008 at 22:15
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 08 2008 at 10:15
An After-Dinner-bump
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 08 2008 at 10:20
Having listened to Paradise of Replica a few times now, I must say that I really liked it. Good, quirky avant-pop. Not as zany as Wha-Ha-Ha and stuff like that, but more like Art Bears collaborating with Killing Time (that obscure Japanese fusion/avant band). I'll surely give it more listens in the nearest future!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 08 2008 at 15:52
Bj, check out After Dinner's Cymbals at Dawn on my muxtape. Zany enough for you?
Over land and under ashes
In the sunlight, see - it flashes
Find a fly and eat his eye
But don't believe in me
Don't believe in me
Don't believe in me
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 19 2008 at 16:56
After hearing that very track on your muxtape, I just HAD to hear more of this band. I've got Paradise of Replica on for the first time right now. Gorgeous, fascinating stuff. What album is Cymbals at Dawn from, Rocktopus?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 27 2008 at 05:23
Hey Tp. Glad you like them.

You'll find Cymbals at Dawn on a bonus EP on the 2005 re-release of their debut Glass Tube from 1984. make sure you'll get the right version. The album is a little less pop than Paradise of Replica.
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But don't believe in me
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