Japanese Television: ‘Space Fruit Vineyard (Remixed)’
Released in April this year, Japanese Television’s debut album ‘Space Fruit Vineyard’ saw the band secure their reputation as one of the foremost psych rock outfits around. Today marks the release of the album’s remix, which sees the band’s work interpreted by various acts including Parachute Girl, The Orielles, and Justin Robertson.
A pulsing jaunt through neo-psychedelic soundscapes, this expansion of the band’s work reminds its audience that Japanese Television are securing their place as a cornerstone of the modern British experimental landscape. Building on their three preceding EPs, and off the back of support from champions of new and alternative music such as Marc Riley, this album, a mix of psychedelia, garage rock, underwater beats and out-of-this-galaxy experiments, sees the band expand their repertoire, with a little help from their friends.
I like it when an album title squares with the songs a band produces: Japan’s ‘Exorcising Ghosts’ comes to mind, as does Air’s ‘Moon Safari’. ‘Space Fruit Vineyard’ does the same. A lot of the songs on this album, remixed as they are, remind me of certain muddy enclaves I’ve stumbled upon between three and four AM during the Sunday of a festival. The album’s eponymous opening track, remixed by Gabe Gurnsey, and ‘Sputnik Swimming’, remixed by Pye Corner, put me in this headspace, building a sonic world through repetitive beats or looped motifs. Variation is the keyword for this album, however. No one outfit has approached their track in the same way.
Just as I thought I was getting to grips with the album’s overarching style, a track amplifying the band’s disparate influences - from Favela Funk or Leopold Stokowski – throws the listener in a new direction. The remix of ‘Bruce Willis’ by Noon Garden sent me to some Southern American spacescape whilst Phillip Joseph’s version of ‘Ghoul Rules’ sent me for a moment to an alternative recording of ‘Speakerboxxx’s’ ‘Dracula’s Wedding’. Like a perpetual stew, new elements are constantly being introduced to this reworking, altering the flavour. On Sen Morimoto’s reworking of ‘Mosquito Dance’, I thought I heard notes of Tame Impala before being blindsided by almost Bowie-esque sax squeaks.
The common thread in the songs I have just mentioned is texture. Each song, though distinct in the instruments they employ and the overall effect for which they strive, can be defined by the synthesis of seemingly at-odds sounds to create a track that is at once distinct within the landscape of the album, whilst building to the album’s overall structure. This is positive. After listening to ‘Space Fruit Vineyard’, I feel confident in my ability to distinguish future Japanese Television tracks amongst the slush of psychedelic-rock experiments populating Spotify playlists today: the artists working on the tracks, from Primitive Ignorant to Gabe Gurnsey, amplify what it is that makes the band unique. Personally, I thought the album sang most when electronic elements were amplified.
Joshua James’ ‘Doppelgänger Disco’ might genuinely end up on my late-late-late-night playlist, seeming to conjure lasers and smoke through the sound alone. The following track, ‘Snake Shake’, as reimagined by The Orielles, does something similar, apparently striving for a Jockstrap-esque sound, though perhaps falling short, failing to reach those dizzying heights. ‘Freddy’s Back’, as presented by Primitive Ignorant, lifts the album back to its previously hypnotic highs, constructing a soundscape which seems to lift either from Arabic music or the ‘Bowser’s Castle’ theme, from Super Mario Bros. It’s a confusing mix.
Overall, this album is a rich addition to the current alternative landscape, which seems to be embracing both electronic sounds and participating in a global psychedelic renaissance. As with many of the albums in this cohort, the tracks suit being played loud, through speakers, rather than through headphones or an iPhone speaker. Hopefully, the band will incorporate these tracks into their live gigs. If they do, they’ll bring the house down.
