Les Rallizes Dénudés - ‘France’ Demos
Take It Acid Is Records LSD69009 LP
Produced by: N/A
Engineered by: N/A
Mixed by: N/A
Mastered by: Uncredited
Music: 8
Sound: 5
The story of Les Rallizes Dénudés fascinates but must be told cautiously; there are more myths about the elusive Japanese band than concrete facts. What we do know is that in the late 60s, the politically far-left and musically groundbreaking group formed at Doshisha University in Kyoto. While Californian folk-rock and British Invasion material influenced other post-war Japanese musicians, Les Rallizes Dénudés veered towards more daring acts like the Velvet Underground. The group’s mysterious frontman Takashi Mizutani is a noted Francophile, though “Rallizes” is a made-up word; the band name translates to “The Naked Rallizes,” whatever that means (Wikipedia suggests that “rallizes” might be a corruption of “valise,” or suitcase). In 1970, their early bass player Moriaki Wakabayashi participated in the notorious Yodo-go incident, when members of the Japanese Communist League Red Army Faction defected to North Korea by hijacking a plane with samurai swords. According to legend, Wakabayashi’s wanted status frightened Mizutani, who might’ve thought the government would soon hunt him down (it’s also plausible that he just thrives off of mystique). With a repertoire of roughly a dozen original songs, over the years Les Rallizes Dénudés constantly altered lineups, with Mizutani the only constant member. The group dissolved in 1996; rumor is that the enigmatic frontman engaged in a bitter fight with quasi-protege-turned-archnemesis Keiji Haino. Takashi Mizutani hasn’t made a verifiable public appearance since 1997, when he performed with saxophonist Arthur Doyle and drummer Saba Toyozumi. Mizutani’s current whereabouts and health remain highly speculated. (Some say that Les Rallizes Dénudés is a “fake” band, though information from reliable sources such as Makoto Kubota disprove that theory.) To this day, Les Rallizes Dénudés’ psychedelic noise rock is often imitated but never matched, an utterly magical sound contrasting dense experimentalism with melodic accessibility to entrance listeners like little else.
The Rallizes discography is a mess; there are countless bootlegs of varying quality, including some so frequently reissued that they might as well be official. Mizutani supposedly signed off on the Univive and Rivista Inc. releases, though there’s no way to certainly know. They entered the studio a few times, though never released a proper studio record. Their only work released before 1991 is one side of the 1973 split live double album Oz Days Live. Despite their recent popularity in online music communities, the band’s underground nature makes their recordings feel like secrets waiting to be unearthed. With rough sound quality that suggests they survived an apocalypse, these records are relics of a tight subculture that to replicate in the internet age seems unfathomable.
‘France’ Demos, supposedly recorded in Tokyo in 1983, is clearly a bootleg. With only three songs, it’s not the greatest entry into their vast (mostly unofficial) catalog, but still possesses its own virtues. As usual, piercing shrieks of guitar feedback and distant-sounding drums complement Mizutani’s unintelligible (forget the language barrier—distortion obscures his voice) vocals. During intense passages, the bass is the only distinctly audible, grounding element. The six-minute “Strung Out Deeper Than The Night” is relatively simple, with more conventional guitar solos and less structural abstraction. ‘France’ Demos’ rendition of “The Last One,” a Rallizes standard, exceeds 20 minutes, with beautifully abrasive sheets of improvised guitar feedback transporting listeners into an alternate space. The static, spellbinding spaciness of “An Awful Eternity (Cruel Love)” fills up this LP’s second side, with carefully considered, repetitive guitar lines slightly predictive of math rock. For those new to Les Rallizes Dénudés, ‘France’ Demos is too short to be a starting point—the highly acclaimed ’77 Live is the best overview of their sound and appeal. This record has its own beauty, but it’s best appreciated with some background context.
There are at least a couple vinyl bootlegs of ‘France’ Demos, including this recent pressing from the Italian Take It Acid Is label. Supposedly limited to 500 copies, this black vinyl edition appears to be cut, plated, and pressed by the usually mediocre (more information in the next review) Takt Direct or one of their associated plants. Sonically, there’s not much to lose here, as the recording is already heavily compressed and lo-fi. The somewhat flimsy jacket is minimally designed, but for the less than $20 cost is acceptable (this quality is probably standard for Rallizes bootlegs).
