RULE one: Japanese bands do brilliant, brilliant things with guitars: this is just fact.
From the mind-blowing chaos of Melt-Banana to the heavy psych stylings of Acid Mothers Temple and Bo Ningen, down through the garage-rawk of Guitar Wolf and the dreamy, trippy-hippy psych of Ghost, new and deeper appreciations of how to wield and axe and a genre and bend it into new and grinsome and potent shapes are always gonna happen.
Put your hands together then for TEKE::TEKE, the Montreal-based Japanese garage-psych septet who’ve signed to Kill Rock Stars (whose alumni of course include Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill).
They’ve announced themselves as a groovy and fun new talent with a brace of tracks that you can hear down below. Fans of Pizzicato Five and The 5.6.7.8’s will I think, be especially bright-eyed at these guys.
The first of the groovy twosome released is a cracking and twangsome cover of Japanese instrumental guitar hero Takeshi Terauchi’s “Chidori”: a cracking slice of psych-scifi-surf groove to cut a rug to. Dick Dale will be looking down from above in approval.
That monster comes paired with a radio edit of single “Kala Kala” (‘Clattering’) from the album which Kill Rock Stars will bring to us come spring; riffin’ and hipswingin’ with cinematic panache, it sounds like it comes to you direct from some ultra-cool Finders Keepers compilation or the deepest depths of David Holmes’ record collection. Wowza.
TEKE::TEKE formed in 2018 for a one-off instrumental tribute show to Terauchi, but the vibe and the chemistry were good and they decided to forge a path; when actress, visual artist and vocalist Maya Kuroki joined they really set sail.
The band say of signing to Kill Rock Stars: “We are deeply honored to be joining the great Kill Rock Stars family, a label we’ve long admired which shares our community-oriented values and artistic vision.
“Not to mention the incredible roster that was pretty much the soundtrack to our lives, featuring artists we humbly look up to. Exciting things to come.”
Slim Moon, president and founder of Kill Rock Stars said of the latest addition to his roster: “I learned about TEKE::TEKE from Mi’ens, who are another Canadian band on our roster.
“I love every single thing about them, and I believe they will be embraced by fans of all ages, cos the magic of the music and their personalities are just impossible to deny.
“They are perfect ambassadors for what Kill Rock Stars is all about as we head into our fourth decade.”
Follow TEKE::TEKE on Instagram, Facebook and at their website.
