AFRIRAMPO WILL EAT YOUR CHILDREN
I've been looking for a way to post here at Robots on a more regular basis and it just occurred to me: I'll use this as a place to report on concerts I've seen. How's that sound? Okey doke?
I'll get retroactive in a bit, but having just seen AFRIRAMPO at Tonic, I have to tell you that you MUST catch them if they come through your town.
Two four-foot-and-change Japanese women, dressed like strippers with Blade Runner makeup take the stage somewhat hesitantly. The drummer has a full kit and a headphone mic. The guitarist has set up a mic stand. This is their stage. They say "hello" in broken English. Then they proceed to grab your balls and twist.
It's intelligent thrash music, grinding power guitar of the Megadeth variety but with almost endless inventiveness. I stopped counting new hooks after about six hundred. Suffice it to say, if they took the time to fully explore every hot lick that emerged in the hour they played, they'd have five box sets worth of material.
The percussion is vibrant and violent and kinetic as fuck. Actually, the whole show was kinetic; body parts, hair and instruments blurred into trails.
The vocals are occasional Japanese; but mostly chirps, yelps, sexy growls and crotch-lifting screams that could compete with anything Mike Patton ever dished out.
Twisted reverb and echo effects dished out from foot pedals produced trip effects that caused me to seriously question the reality of what I was hearing.
Each song was capped with a demure "Thank You," almost Wesley Willis-esquely.
At one high point, the band collapsed to the floor and stayed down for about a minute. After the last song, they dropped instruments, jumped off the stage and plowed right through the audience. No encores.
Afterwards, there was a sense of having been part of a storm. I expected to find them out on the street dismantling cars with psychic energy. They were strange beings from another planet with the power to ROCK! In some weird universe where Tom Waits is Batman and Bjork is Wonder Woman, Afrirampo are the Wonder Twins.
After the show, I went to buy a CD and pretty much EVERYBODY went to buy a CD. They're that kind of band.
Did I mention that they were cute as buttons? Did I mention that the guitarist is named Oni (Japanese for "demon") and the drummer is named Pikachu? Though the drummer was particularly stunning, I want to marry both of these women. If necessary, I will move to a country where this is legal.
Unfortunately (and you probably saw this coming), most of this really doesn't translate to the same intensity on tape. The music is still pretty cool but without the visuals and the unpredictability of what might happen next, so much is lost. To that I say: SEE THEM LIVE NO MATTER WHAT YOU THINK OF THE CLIP HERE. You WILL dig it. On tour now! Check the links below to see if they're coming to your town.
The disc and the booklet are all in Japanese, so I have no idea what the name of this is. But try it. It's as good a place to start as any.
Visit the English or Japanese Afrirampo sites.
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SFB: When you were young did you always feel that you would play music?
AFRIRAMPO: When we were in mother's pussy.
Read this interview with the Afrirampettes and DL another cool song!
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Scroll down to listen to a live set with Afrirampo on WMFU.