Kenji Kishida--guitar, harp & vocals
Yoshimasa Shimizu--bass & bg vocals (left the band after Wakusei II)
Tomomi Hirata--drums, tambourine & bg vocals (left the band after Wakusei
II)
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Kuroihoshi (Black Star) -- (26:34) -- (2002) -- Enoug Ho Records -- CJEH-3008
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The first thing you notice about this powerful trio is their aggression and intensity. They rock! As you listen, though, you start to realize that each song is being approached and handled uniquely. These seemingly spastic arrangements are well thought out and rain down like a storm, churning away, with a guitar attack like a force of nature. WAKUSEI are an inspired band. It’s exciting to consider what a band that rocks this hard and sounds this fresh could become. Yes, that’s THE DOORS’ ‘Love Me Two Times’, but they never rocked it like this! |
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Shiroitori (White Bird) -- (33:21) -- (2002) -- Enoug-Ho Records -- CJEH-3009 1. Maboroshi 2002 (Illusion
2002) |
| Shiroitori shows the depth of WAKUSEI’s material. The arrangements, more controlled now, are also more artful. Tomomi, on drums, is a pounder! You don’t hear Yoshimasa, on bass, so much as you feel him. When Kenji, on lead vocal/guitar, is embroidering a song with trimmings, or setting off fireworks that rain down in shards, it’s the bass holding the reins. Kenji’s vocals are out front, though. He’ll hold a note, recite, rant, scream, go into falsetto, or just sing, and it all works. His message is always delivered. HUSKER DU’s ‘The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill’ is the cover here. | |
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Noise -- (34:03) -- (2003) -- Arrivederci Baby! -- CIA0004CD
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| This U.K. release features six songs from WAKUSEI’s first CD, Kuroihoshi, and four songs from their second, Shiroitori. It’s a well-chosen collection, and does a fine job of showing the range of this very distinctive trio. Completists will want both the original CDs, but anyone else will be happy with Noise. WAKUSEI rock hard, are impressively innovative, and are potentially one of the greatest bands anywhere. Arrivederci Baby! has done us all a service by bringing attention to this fine band. Yes, I get a thank you (for recommending them), and that’s THE DOORS’ ‘Love Me Two Times’. | |
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Drive Faster Than Beauty -- (40:12) -- (2003) -- Universal Music -- UMCK-1164
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| This is a collection of single and EP tracks? It works fine as a new WAKUSEI CD, as well. It continues to expand their music. There are some softer, delicate numbers here, even a ballad, and it’s nice to see. They continue to stir up storms now and then, too. Along with vocals and guitar, Kenji gets credit for synthesizer, but I noticed it on only one cut. No matter what this band does, and their range is growing, it sounds incredibly fresh! It’s rock music, but I haven’t heard it sound this savvy and healthy in a long time. The band is spirited, and Kenji’s vocals are bold and original. Hallelujah! | |
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Sadpunk -- (20:30) -- (2003) -- Universal J -- UMCK-9050
DVD (region 0) |
| WAKUSEI are allowing some of their initial eccentricities to fall away as they grow into a more and more powerful rock band. That, or I’m loving this band so much that their idiosyncrasies are becoming my idea of what a rock band should be. Every song here rocks up a beautiful storm. The live version of ‘White Western Boots’ on the DVD is stunning--a great band, in their prime, kicking hell out of a great song, and rocking into the next without a second thought. The video of ‘Kurutta Taiyou’ puts WAKUSEI out in the desert, and it’s good, but nothing tops that live version of ‘White Western Boots’. | |
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Void -- (26:22) -- (2004) -- Universal Sigma -- UMCK-1178
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| The first three cuts start things off with the hardest rockin’ I’ve heard from WAKUSEI yet, and that’s saying something. Influences are finally beginning to show themselves. The guitar is more controlled and riff-oriented, giving it a slightly more pop feel, but they’re rocking so hard, it’s definitely all rock, until ‘Shayou’ slows things down for a pounding ballad with searing guitar lines that seem to split open the darkening sky. Then we’re back to the hard-rocking, with ‘Blow Up’ and ‘Honey Pie’ recorded live on the “Warped Tour ‘04 Winter”. It all flys by too quickly in a beautiful rockin’ rage. | |
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Wakusei II -- (38:30) -- (2004) -- Universal Sigma -- UMCK-1182
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| Wow! It’s as if WAKUSEI has stepped into mainstream rock, not by disavowing their indie beginnings, but simply by growing too audaciously big and beautiful for their indie roots to hold them any longer. A couple of these songs, most notably ‘Black Flag’, sound like the old WAKUSEI, and ‘Clover’ has a backwards guitar lead, but WAKUSEI are big enough to contain it all now. They’ve given up nothing. Their range just continues to expand along with their confidence. It’s a beautiful thing to see a modern band mature this much, and do it so quickly, and so magnificiently. Long live Wakusei II! | |
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Kenji Kishida--vocal & guitar Takahiko Akiyama--drums |
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My Brand New Planet -- (32:48) -- (2006) -- Murffin Discs -- QACM-30001
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| Kenji Kishida reports his bandmates quit when Universal pulled the plug. Supporting him here are Takahiko Akiyama on drums, Kazuhiro Nakamata on bass, and three guitarists who share the new second guitar spot. The new WAKUSEI returns with an edgier assault, though some songs present a dark romanticism. The bass is as active as Yoshimasa Shimizu’s, but I miss Tomomi Hirata’s pounding drums. Even the last song, which features programming, and is a reworking of the first, remains uniquely WAKUSEI, and Kishida’s vocals lead his new buds with as much passion as always. | |
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Kensuke Iwata--guitar & bg vocal |
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My Way -- (28:37) -- (2007) -- Mini Muff Records -- XQDF-91002
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| Kenji Kishida theoretically ends Wakusei with this CD. At the end of the moody DVD of ‘My Way’, he lays down his guitar. It’s a well done collection, and worthy of the WAKUSEI stamp. Though it leans toward the dark side, there are some spirited rockers, and there are some new sounds, both par for the course. So, though Kenji Kishida is saying goodbye to WAKUSEI, he is still stretching what WAKUSEI is, and even without his original cohorts, he leaves WAKUSEI a powerful and noble idea. We now must go on without WAKUSEI as he has. I will miss them! They were one hell of a mighty rock band! | |
