Where the hell did this band even come from? Rocking the so-uncool-they're-cool image that has served sonic soulmates Polysics so well, 0.8 Byo to Shogeki's music piles up a violent barrage of cheap drum machines, minimalist guitar lines and batty boy-girl vocal interplay that is somehow twice as heavy as it has any right to be. Their latest release, "Batikaru J.M. Yayayado EP" ("Vertical J.M. Yayayard E.P."), is no exception.
J.M. is the name of 0.8 Byo to Shogeki's female "singer and model," a statuesque ice queen who toys with listeners by affecting a cutesy voice before reverting to the deeply pitched and deeply menacing bark with which she usually navigates the EP's claustrophobic bluster.
The other vocalist (and main songwriter), Tadaomi Toyama, isn't much less mental: He loves showing off his nipples/pulling down his trousers in music videos and on stage, his eyes wild with edgy energy. Don't be fooled by his professed love for The Smiths and Joy Division: His is the blunted aggression of Le Shok and Numbers, themselves second- or third-generation synthpunk bands that mixed riffy guitars, distorted vocals and punchy synthetic elements.
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