If Tokyo's live houses have provided little in the way of new musical inspiration recently, the provinces have picked up the slack with a vengeance. Sapporo's burgeoning hip-hop scene has produced new rap heroes the Blue Herb, while Kyoto, with DJs 1945 and Nobukazu Takemura, is becoming the home of experimental turntablism. For a dose of guitar heroics, one need only head south to Fukuoka. Sheena Ringo is probably the best known Kyushu export, but with their new album, "School Girl, Distortional Addict," Number Girl has lobbed a sonic volley.
Number Girl is loud: ear-splitting, head-ringing loudness. "See us once and your ear's life will be shortened by 10 years," says songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Shutoku Mukai with the kind of cheeriness that only a 25-year-old, yet untouched by physical decay, can muster.
Beneath the roar, drummer Ahito Inazawa and bassist Kentaro Nakao lay down a tight, throbbing rhythmic matrix that allows Mukai and lead guitarist Hisako Tabuchi to play musical tag. If Nakao's basslines recall Southern California hardcore, than Tabuchi and Mukai's guitar play pays tribute to 1980s American indie rock. "Pixie Du," the second cut on their new album, gives the game away. Like Husker Du, Number Girl songs have a ferocious, desperate energy. Like the Pixies, they are, in Mukai's words, "hysterical pop."