The Gerogerigegege - (1994) Hotel Ultra CD

 Kubitsuri Tapes ‎– 59-001

One of the twisted giants of Japan's noise scene, Juntaro Yamanouchi's Gerogerigegege has been working out his particular obsessions with a flood of releases since his debut in 1985. In Japanese, Gerogerigegege is onomatopoeia for simultaneously vomiting and expelling diarrhea, and the sound of Yamanouchi's work often sounds like this played on instruments or as if it's meant to induce such behavior in the unprepared listener. Gerogerigegege's releases usually fall into two categories: noise and senzuri. Noise work is relying on feedback, processing, and distortion, sometimes using pop culture as a source, sometimes not. Senzuri work is pieces that include the sounds of a man masturbating -- all exaggerated moans and groans that last interminably. Even stranger, Yamanouchi has been able to reproduce both styles live, with the latter using Gero-30, a man who loves to masturbate in front of people -- leading to some notorious concerts in the Japanese underground scene. It's also one of the reasons his work has made it to the West -- it's everything one could hope for in a Japanese noise band, something so strange and transgressive that it demands attention.

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"another quite interesting release that has nothing ultra about it nor anything to do with a hotel. basically 2 tracks, "original hotel ultra" and "gay hotel ultra" that make absolutely no sense. at almost any given point, there is the sound of a saxophone in the back ground playing nothing in particular. a recording of a gay porno movie is playing (the police officer pulling over the speeding leatherboy type scenario) during the 1st track, along with some moaning and screaming and lots of japanese 70's funk and pop music playing in the background. the reoccuring sounds of various amounts and types of static also show up throughout both songs. some whipping sounds come in as well. fairly interesting production throughout that leaves a rather disorienting feeling to the listener. the 2nd track starts off fairly quietly and gets back into the same groove as the first track, sans the gay porn. the sounds of the sax and the static return along with some more melodramatic classical music that fades out into some electronic fidgetiness that breaks into some super funky santana type funk jam. this lasts for a bit before we are left with nothing more than just the electronic tones, static and that damn saxophone. the sounds of airplanes, a large crowd singing inside of an arena, and a man giving some sort of a speech also bleed in and out of the songs as it progresses. more talking and some piano playing in the background get thrown into the mix. i guess the fact that i do not understand any japanese keeps me from finding the hidden gem that might possibly lie in this mix somewhere. cover and back art are both dark green and red cartoon drawings that are hard to make out. definately an interesting piece, but not a great starting place."