It's at a showcase for Berlin's Pan record label, where I first stumble on Osaka band Goat. As I walk down the concrete steps of Shinsaibashi venue Conpass, I can already hear the music. The gradually increasing reverberations of sound grow ever more tight and mechanical, but it's not until I open the door to the main room that I fully realize the intensity emanating from the stage is coming from four men, each huddled stoically over their equipment.
What unfolds is a sight to behold.
Drummer Tetsushi Nishikawa hammers out machine rhythms, never once deviating from the metric of a straight, brutal pulse. Without the organic timbres of the snare and bass drum, I could have mistakenly attributed the rhythms to a drum machine or sequencer.
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