Tipographica

[Morpheus]

Starting my weekend off right with one of my favorite underappreciated Japanese bands.

[Bake 1]

Fantastic band! ...Unbeltipo w/ Imahori (who I think have 3 releases) sometimes does a good job of providing a Tipographica fix.

[Lieto]

Yea! LOVE these guys God Says I Can't Dance is my favorite

[aplodon]

Great band!
But their CDs seems to be almost impossible to find.

[Morpheus]

Great band!
But their CDs seems to be almost impossible to find.

Yeah, I am always on the lookout for the first, anything on God Mountain is supe rare. God Says I Can't Dance is easy enough to find though you may have to pay import prices, I think here is an Italian label edition still in print.

[TheH]

Great band!
But their CDs seems to be almost impossible to find.

Their debut is hard to get hold of, the other ones are easy to find, just demanding serious $$$.

[aplodon]

... demanding serious $$$.

Yeah, what I should have said is: Their CDs seem to be almost impossible to find at a reasonable price.

[Scrotum Scissor]

One of the most intricate bands ever in operation. The musicianship is beyond this world, truly mesmerizing. And ALL of it is great, but some of it is spectacular. They pretty much redefined the concept of "compositional complexity" in rock, let alone progressive rock music. I've got all of their stuff, 'though the debut only as a copied CD.

Underappreciated? Yes, perhaps - NOWADAYS; but take a look at what currently passes with many listeners. It's no surprise, really. Tipographica were actually quite well known with many groups of listeners during the early-to-mid 90s.

[Zeuhlmate]

Great band - great albums.
VERY inspired by Zappa, and have this unmistakably japanese kamikaze energy too - and had one of the only guitarist who were audibly influenced by Zappas guitarstyle.
His later 'band' Unbeltipo (mentioned by Bake1) is definetely also worthwhile!

[Zeuhlmate]

[chalkpie]

I own "God Says". Its been a while I admit - time to hit 'er.

[chalkpie]

PS - you probably won't here a DJ play this at your uncle's 80th surprise BDay party.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Their debut is hard to get hold of, the other ones are easy to find, just demanding serious $$$.

Hm, still not exactly "easy", I'd say. The Man Who Does Not Nod in particular is a bitch to come by now. God Says I Can't Dance was reissued by Mellow some 10-12 years back and AFAIK sold out rather effectively, meaning that there was still some interest in them.

But the first one IS the most difficult to get, and it always was. Yet I can still remember it rating high on several polls on release, including in Expose Mag, IIRC. This would really be a treasure for someone like AltrOck to reissue today, although I guess the poor demand wouldn't warrant it.

[Joe F.]

Great band.

I bought them all when they were first released. Just need to go to my "T" section to find them. Not difficult at all.

The first remains my favorite.

[Udi Koomran]

I know a few people who dismiss them as Zappa rip-offs - I beg to differ

[Morpheus]

They are clearly influenced by Zappa, but I think they take it in their own direction. They are to Zappa what Koenjihyakkei are to Magma

[Zeuhlmate]

They are to Zappa what Koenjihyakkei are to Magma

or Anekdoten to KC

[zombywoof]

PS - you probably won't here a DJ play this at your uncle's 80th surprise BDay party.

Unless your uncle's family hires Lieto and I to DJ.

[Morpheus]

In addition to Unbeltipo, I am also fond of Tsuneo's two albums with Tatsuya Yoshida.
Mostly improvised pieces shaped by overdubs and studio manipulations.

[chalkpie]

Inspired by the new Koenji album, I busted out God Says... for the first time in a while. Un-fuckin-real. Its so insane, so dense, and so great. Honestly there are many moments that are not dissonant at all, but even the tonal stuff is so rhythmically challenging that it makes your cabesa spin. Twice. Also, the guitar player rattles off an FZ-inspired solo in the second tune that is sooo FZ its scary. The tone is there (like his SG years) and the rhythmic approach how he phrases in odd tuplets, etc is pretty much nailed perfectly. Also of note is the production (crystal clear), especially the drum sound. Horns sound sick too - nice and phat - and very in-tune which makes them sound fantastic. What else is there to say? This is a major achievement in recorded music, at least from where I'm sitting. In order to pull of the writing, rehearsing, and recording of music on this caliber, you'd best have your shit together in about a million different ways.

Pretty miraculous.

[Steve F.]

Agreed. They were.

I think (think. maybe.) I like the previous one, The Man Who Does Not Nod, a tiny bit more, if only because it's live and still so so so impressive.

Pretty miraculous.

[Mascodagama]

One of my favourite bands ever - though even after many years I still don't have, and probably will never get, the first CD.

I think drummer Akira Sotoyama deserves a special shout out. Tipographica is rhythmically some of the most messed up shit ever put to wax, but somehow he makes it groove overtime.

Got a couple of Unbeltipo albums too, and they are pretty cool, but not quite the same level I feel.

[aith01]

God Says I Can't Dance is the only one I've got currently, but it's great! Some really challenging stuff at times, but like you guys say, at other times it really grooves!

I need to revisit it, after I've finished listening to this new Koenjihyakkei album a few dozen more times.