Visitors to Roppongi's SuperDeluxe last Friday arrived to find the basement venue decked out with tatami mats and a polite sign at the door asking them to remove their shoes on the way in. This was the setting for Wails to Whispers, one of the more conceptually ambitious events held during Red Bull Music Academy Tokyo, in which an evening of aural extremity featuring some of Japan's most abrasive underground icons gave way to an all-night ambient slumber party.
Many in the audience were still sitting on the floor as Masonna prepared to take the stage, though thankfully they were on their feet by the time he hurled his microphone stand — and soon after, himself — into the throng. A concentrated burst of sonic and physical violence, this one-man onslaught couldn't have lasted more than 90 seconds, though the crowd's confusion lingered for far longer. "Does he always do that?" one woman asked (short answer: yes).
Would that Violent Onsen Geisha had exercised similar restraint. Hunched over a table strewn with effect boxes and electronic gizmos, noise veteran Masaya Nakahara started promisingly with a scorched-earth techno throb, but the intensity soon dissipated amid a rambling, fumbling set full of missed opportunities. It was an easy act for Melt-Banana to follow, and the electro speedpunk duo triumphed, channeling the kind of buoyant energy you'd expect from an idol-pop group.