Tipographica - God Says I Cant Dance
Reviewed: 7/21/24
4/5
Summary: While they may work with irregular rhythms, they are still able to create compelling grooves out of that. And sometimes it's just straight arythmic. A great introduction to the japanese prog scene.
Overall, I consider this the best Tipographica album of the three they released. They were a band in Japan that lasted from 1986 to July 1997. While this album doesn't wear its influences as obviously as their previous debut, It's still able to come up with its own flair to keep things interesting. With their last album, it was more avant - garde jazz, and this album is more in vein with avant - prog. With Tsuneo Imahori on guitar, (among other things on this album) Akira Minakami on keyboards, Naruyoshi Kikuchi on sax, Osamu Matsumoto on trombone, Hiroaki Mizutani on bass, and finally Akira Sotoyama on drums. Also, it was an artist named Seigo Nanana who supplied the fantastic artwork for this album. It perfectly encapsulates exactly what you’re about to get into listening to this. Unfortunately, I cannot find any trace of him on the internet.
The keyboards really carry this album at times, and Akria doesn't hesitate with weird keyboard effects. The horns do great with making more melodic sections, and the drumming is more subtle than I would expect. But this album does wear some patience thin, namely the third track, White Collar Worker VS Black Rubber Man. It has an entire 5 minutes of buildup for a 11 minute song, which is around 40% of the song. But if you can get past the buildup it's worth it.
The first track is Friends. It's among the more accessible songs on this album, with not too much buildup and a payoff that feels kind of happy and not too serious. If you don’t like vague terms, this is an instrumental album so I have to do what I can here. The last couple minutes have a bit of a surprising and juxtaposed ending. Control Tower ‘Says TP-1, Break Down’ is among my favorites, and i would say the best in the first half of this album. It has the right amount of payoff, and enough weird moments with the keyboards weaving with great effect with the horns keeping a melodic structure. Now onto White Collar Worker vs Black Rubber Man. Among the more inaccessible songs on the album, the buildup is a lot of strange keyboard noises, and some horns there too, but not in the melodic sense as before. Eventually they snap out of it and make (what I would say, personally), a great payoff. But since there's so much buildup, it's one of those things you have to decide for yourself.
Time for the middle track. And Then The Last Ship Is Going is a great song, and more akin to the first track, but this time not bothering with (as of recently), rudimentary buildup. It's happy, not serious, and overall great to listen to. Not to mention pretty accessible.
Japanese Room (We Have No ZEN) marks the second half of the album. The band does go back to the buildup/payoff type of song structure, with the buildup requiring patience for at least 4 minutes. It's similar to Blue Collar Worker vs Black Rubber Man in the sense that the buildup takes too long, and is overall moreso a test of patience. The payoff does have Tsuneo’s Zappa influences in the more guitar heavy part of the song. Laughin’ Photograph is where the band does away with the buildup/payoff structure for one last song. It's similar to And The Last Ship Is Going with it being more melodic and doesn't waste too much time getting into enjoyable parts. The sax and bass do a lot of work here. Around the 4:30 mark is when the keyboard takes a bigger stance. Although it does get a bit repetitive at times.
Forest Tipographical II is a great sendoff for the album. It's slower - going than the rest of the album, and the buildup is much more reliant on grooves than something like frantic keyboards. It does have its odd slow and quickening tempo changes, but nothing extreme. It transitions into more playful vibes, for lack of a better description. At around the 5:30 mark they repeat the beginning groove before they give a wild close to the song. The drummer is a particular highlight here, just with how fast he plays out of nowhere, and it's kind of impressive how well it works.
Final Thoughts: While some of the album can be repetitive or too strange for some, its able to pay itself off with grooves and melodies that work within that strangeness. Not to mention the music carries a playful and happy attitude, much like the other japanese prog acts during the time.
Recommended Tracks: Friends, Control Tower Says "TP-1, Break Down", And Then The Last Ship Is Going, Forest Tipographical II.