Melt-Banana - Fetch

So, like... Here's an album. Normally when I do one of these little "blog things" I listen to my choice album over and over again until I know exactly how I feel about it. In the case of Melt-Banana's new album, Fetch, I can't really do that. At most, I can handle about three listens through this album per day and then anything after that is almost unbearable to me. Similarly, if I listen to the Mars Volta or pop music for more than two hours I get a headache and it starts to make me nauseous. Fetch doesn't quite reach that level but it's still pretty close to that same feeling. 

"Wow, sounds like you hate this album!" is what you might think at this point, but that's not the case either. I actually think Fetch is one of the coolest new albums I've heard in awhile. But, while I really enjoy it, my ears also have a hard time managing the unrelenting sounds of piercing guitar tone, massive drum beats, and a Japanese girl yelling at me in a language I don't understand. On the other hand, those are the same things that make this album so crazy and so fun. The guitars shred, and not in a really technical "behind the back tapping, double hammer-on arpeggiated sweeps" kind of way. I mean, this guitarist is probably doing bad things to his guitar to get such a heavy sound out of such a bright tone. AND THE TONE! The guitar tone on songs like Candy Gun and My Missing Link could probably kill a man if you stuck him in a room and turned the volume to max. The drum beats are so heavy and loud, and the bassist lays down some tasty (loud) grooves through the entirety of the album. But, the thing that makes Melt-Banana is lead singer, Yasuko Onuki, whose high pitched, cartoony vocals stab through songs in a way that's just as unforgiving as the rest of the instrumentation. When it all comes together, Melt-Banana gives listeners a truly intense listening experience.

Please don't get me wrong: I'm not trying to say this is the best album ever and everyone should like it. In fact, I'd be more surprised if I found someone else that could get behind this album with me and agree that it's actually really kickass. It's an adventurous album. I showed this to a friend and he said "This is just not what I think of when I think 'Kane White,'" and I had to agree with him. If you share musical interests with me, then this album will probably be extremely uncharacteristic of what you normally listen to. Don't let that stop you! Maybe you'll love it, maybe you'll hate it. Either way, at least you can say you tried before your ears started to bleed and your brain oozed out of your nose. 

Check out their song "My Missing Link" below (y)