Still digesting my breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs and Eggo. Therefore, I figure that I should have a pick-me-up for a lazy Sunday.
Well then, how about a round of Afrirampo? It's been a few years since I put up the first article about this duo of guitarist Oni and drummer Pikachu and that was for one of their final entries before breaking up for a little while. This time around, though, I'm going to their early material. In fact, I'm going right to what seems like to be their theme song since it is called "Afrirampo" from their first album "A" released in 2003.
I think part of it is because the video has been up on YouTube at a low resolution, but there is something about it and the song that gives me those nostalgia vibes of the early days of music videos circa the late 1970s. As for "Afrirampo", it's a mixture of aidoru enthusiasm and thrashing rock that reminds me of The Ramones, and from what I hear about their concerts (if commenter Mark Wilson is still reading "Kayo Kyoku Plus", he can chime in once more), I think Oni and Pikachu were perhaps holding back a bit in the video. Not sure if I would have survived being at one of their outings.
As I mentioned in the first article for "Miracle Lucky Girls"（ミラクルラッキーガールズ）, Afrirampo got back together in 2016 following a hiatus of around six years. However, during that time, drummer Pikachu cut her stage name to PIKA☆ and has also been participating as a guitarist known as Moon Mama（ムーン♀ママ）. As PIKA☆, she released an album titled "Taki no Sumika" (Dragon's Lair) in December 2014.
The title track, written and composed by the artist, has already burrowed into my brain right from that opening onomatopoeia "Ooh, ooh, ooh....ahhh...ehhh", and what follows in the trippy music video is something that straddles the line between dream and kinda-sorta nightmare (well, if you're not a fan of eating raw eggs and slime). It's nothing like the Afrirampo rock...more on the side of alternative pop/rock that has some spiritual elements in it.
Super write-up, as usual!
ReplyDeleteThe video was fairly representative. They could be a lot more restrained, but occasionally...well, look at youtube video "AFRIRAMPO - LIVE AT UPSET THE RHYTHM".
And that Pika CD is very pleasing, because: Pika!
Oni and Pika are still innovating like crazy, particularly with "twitcasting" and various pandemic media.
Their Afriverse album you mentioned in original post turned out to be very good.
Someday you might encounter Oni's album Sunwave Heart. Folky, completely outside my normal interest, and AWESOME. The woman is a force of nature.
I re-wrote the note I made on your last posting and made it into an extended blog post:
http://markacorn.blogspot.com/2019/01/magical-encounter-with-afrirampo.html
Really liked this follow-up post you made.
M
Hi, Mark! Good to hear from you again. Hope you are doing well right now.
DeleteThanks for the compliment and the tips. I figure that it had been a long while since that first Afrirampo article so it was time to talk about them again. Judging from reading your article, Pikachu and Oni just seem to be total bundles of joy.