Chin Music Press - Adventures in Publishing

La-ppisch

Music Fridays

ANIMAL II (1989)

La-ppisch was one of the most exciting bands to watch in the late 80s. Their live shows were raucous, sweaty and loud. La-ppisch fused the renegade attitudes of punk music with artful musicality culled from a wide range of music styles and appealed to a surprisingly big audience.

During the height of their career, the band worked with Todd Rundgren (popular songwriter and producer of many artists such as XTC, Patti Smith and Meat Loaf) and became the first Japanese band to play a gig at the famed New York club CBGB.

As the Japanese economy went into decline in the 90s, however, the band's popularity waned. The media favored brainless J-pop that was cheery and soft, and La-ppisch's edgy sound was quickly drowned out and its musical legacy forgotten. The band has been largely inactive since 2003.

Animal II (1989) is La-ppisch's third release. It came out at a time when the group was finding a wider audience and playing larger venues. It's a mini-album, but a perfect introduction to the band, as it features both live takes of popular songs and adventurous studio recordings that showcase their satirical humor.

In the live takes of "Hard Life" and "Animal Beat," the band aggressively incites the crowd, exposing and ridiculing the claustrophobic, conformist lifestyles of mainstream society. La-ppisch here sounds as hard-edged and radical as the Clash or the Pistols, although the shrieking girls in the background are a bit surreal.

Similarly, in the studio-recorded tongue-in-cheek epic "Megane no Nippon" ("the bespectacled Japan"), Japan gets destroyed in a coup détat. Mid-song, the vocalist Magumi breaks into incisive rapping about the neurosis of modern life:

Puraibashi wa hakai shiatta
    (having violated each other's privacy)
Fukou wo tanoshimu juuketsu shita mega
    (the bloodshot eyes enjoying the misery of others)
Mawari bakari ishiki shinagara
    (thinking only of what they might say:)
"We are the world, We are the world"

La-ppisch should be credited for having made punk music accessible and being the first in Japan to successfully fuse rock, punk, mods/new wave and, most importantly, ska, which was then an almost nonexistent genre there. While The Blue Hearts (punk rock) and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (ska) became the torchbearers of their respective genres and major influences for the bands to follow, La-ppisch became a bit of an anti-role model. Like the prodigal uncle in your family who's a black sheep but secretly admired by the cool kids, La-ppisch's music influenced select odd-ball indy music artists. In a tribute album released by an obscure label in 2000, bands such as Minor League, Polysics and Gelugugu recorded cover songs.

The Keyboardist Gen Ueda broke off from the group in 2000, to concentrate on his career as a solo artist and composer. His work with Chitose Hajime in her hit song "Wadatsumi no Ki" has made him a big name in the industry. The other songwriter and guitarist Kyoichi Sugimoto and Magumi both pursue solo careers today.

web sites:

Gen Ueda: http://www.xplasma.com/gen/
Magumi and Kyoichi Sugimoto (still under La-ppisch banner): http://www.dbmusic.jp/la-ppisch/

Akira Morita >> December 09, 2005

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