Devastating rhythm and irresistible groove are what O-ne is all about. You'd expect a band comprising of just a drummer, Akemi, and a bassist, Neita, to get back to tribal basics, but where so many have buried themselves in such raw experimentation, O-ne are shooting skyward.
Last year they were finding their feet, with Neita unsure of how to juggle her vocal duties with her bass and FX pedals. But one thing was certain, they had massive potential.
At Shibuya's Cyclone last month, they showed that all the work in the rehearsal room has paid off brilliantly. Neita was oozing confidence, jumping about with a big grin on her face, wrestling speedy twisted solos out of her bass in between her stop-start, high-pitched vocal attack. Akemi flailed at her kit like an electrified octopus, banging the hell out of it but also finding time to rustle up alien noises on her huge FX pad and howl backing vocals like a banshee warning of apocalyptic doom.
It was tight, it was aggressive, it was strangely hypnotic and it wasn't just a noise: O-ne have tunes and you can dance to them, though it might help if you have the energy of a long-distance runner.
At gunpoint I'd compare O-ne's sound to the tribal punk of The Slits, the experimental grooves of Metal-Box era PiL and the brutish rhythm of The Boredoms, Japan's most famous noise terrorists. But I'd still only be halfway there.
Like a lot of excellent Japanese underground bands, the girls don't have a record deal, just one self-produced three-track CD. But they've got a string of mouthwatering gigs planned for the next few months, so pass on this preview to your record company A&R pal, if you can wake the lazy git from deep slumber, that is.
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