Originally released way back in 2016 Otoboke Beaver’s Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver was an amphetamine charged slab of punk that overheated its own circuits. Self-described “Japanese girls knock out or pound cake band” their international debut found them arriving in a blaze of sonic fury. It’s an album that’s been reissued on vinyl twice (on white and then remastered on pink vinyl for Record Store Day in 2018) and that remastered version finally gets a CD pressing (and collectors note that a yellow vinyl pressing is also just released).
Overall I’m not too enamoured with remasters. Usually, they’re used as weapons of attrition in the loudness war (sit down Rick Rubin!) and, mastered at ear-splitting volume, they leave little room for the music to breathe. Thankfully that’s not the case with Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver, while you won’t find the music within acting in new and strange ways, the band’s intricate web has been untangled to expose subtle nuances buried deep within the mix.
If you have a penchant for alternative music and you haven’t been holidaying on Mars then you should be familiar with Otoboke Beaver (おとぼけビ～バ～). Avant-garde and genre-breaking (like Frank Zappa jamming with Glassjaw) opening salvo Akimahenka arrives like a rockfall. Chaotic but controlled it topples over the listener with Anata Ga Fall in Love Shita No Ha Watashi Ga Kirai Na Onnanoko snapping hot on its heels.
Dig beneath the sonic fury and you’ll find songs laden with a real groove and this remaster brings the pendulum swing of Sawarantoite right to the fore. Likewise, the vocals come centre stage on Otobokebeaver Daijikenbo and props to the Beaver for singing in their native Kyoto dialect as it’s a language that fits the music really well.
Barely pausing for breath we get the psychedelic, bad LSD nightmare that is Ultra Miracle Super Saiya Psych Festival as the band race along to frantic conclusion in the shape of Suki Suki Darling. Highlights in between include the existentialist Beaver Ni Tsurette and the volatile Aisare Roulette but wherever you look on Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver, you’re confronted with killer tracks.
If, through some strange set of circumstances, you don’t own a copy of Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver then this is the edition to buy. Enjoy.
Tracklist Okoshiyasu!! Otoboke Beaver:
1. Akimahenka
2. Anata Ga Fall in Love Shita No Ha Watashi Ga Kirai Na Onnanoko
3. Sawarantoite
4. Otobokebeaver Daijikenbo
5. Ultra Miracle Super Saiya Psyche Festival
6. Powerfull Busu
7. Beaver Ni Tsuretette
8. Oniisan Anone
9. Otobokebeaver No Theme
10. Aisare Roulette
11. Burikko Bokumetsu
12. Monmon Katto Saizensen ~Koi Ha Inochigake~
13. Suki Suki Darling
