catalogue

HALF JAPANESE

WHY NOT? (FIRE RECORDS)

HALF JAPANESE - WHY NOT? 121157
format:
1 LPD
release:
19.01.2018
label:
FIRE RECORDS
item ID:
121157
barcode:
0809236146816
Half Japanese have returned to peel further layers from their onion. They have a new album that's a square further on in their unpredictable musical snakes and ladders board.

'Why Not?' is a magical thing - it's Springsteen's 'Born To Run' recorded in a cupboard, it's an ode to love, it's a Wire song with two duelling guitarists being Zappa on helium, it's Parquet Courts in a tantrum, it's The Crickets contorted into ? and The Mysterians, it's everywhere and nowhere, baby, it's where it's at.

On 'Why Not?' nuances are mused, situations explained, questions asked. Outside, zombies and demons roam and everyday aliens emerge from spaceships: it's a technicolor film transcribed by Jad Fair and friends John Sluggett, Gilles-Vincent Rieder, Mick Hobbs and Jason Willett, their faces at the cracked window of their subterranean habitat looking out at the real world.

They're on a high from their last release: "After all these years, his wiry voice still hits every song with a shock that's equal parts joy buzzer and defibrillator, each barely in-key bleat alternating between laughable and life-affirming," said Pitchfork of their last opus 'Hear The Lion Roar'.
 
  • Tracklisting
  • 1.1. THE FUTURE IS OURS
  • 1.2. THE FACE
  • 1.3. WHY NOT?
  • 1.4. AMAZING
  • 1.5. DEMONS OF DOOM
  • 1.6. A WORD TO THE WISE
  • 1.7. BRING ON THE NIGHT
  • 1.8. ZOMBIE ISLAND MASSACRE
  • 1.9. BETTER DAYS
  • 1.10. SPACESHIP TO MARS
  • 1.11. WHY'D THEY DO IT?
  • 1.12. MAGIC
  • 1.13. FALLING