Melt Banana

Brett Koshkin May 24, 2007 4:00AM

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Four Japanese lunatics escaped from a funny farm and are now touring the United States as a band named Melt Banana. Or at least that's what you might guess the first time you see one of the noise-rock band's ear-splitting shows, where everything is played at breakneck speeds. Melt Banana has been delighting fans — and scaring the crap out of unsuspecting concertgoers — for more than 15 years. The group, fronted by the high-pitched Yasuko Onuki, is touring in support of their latest album, Bambi's Dilemma, on their own A-Zap records.

Maybe the band members are getting older, maybe they just wanted some change from the rapid-fire assault that is the Melt Banana song repertoire, but Bambi's Dilemma actually presents a change in direction for the band. A move toward accessibility, the album features some songs that can be construed as digestible, even reaching almost-pop ground. But fans of the lightning-fast numbers that make up the most of the Melt Banana catalogue shouldn't fret. This venture into structure only holds up for the first half of the album; the second half shows they have no interest in abandoning Ichirou Agata's screeching guitar or layers of effects. The perfect band for fans with attention deficit disorder, Melt Banana promises to give you their all — even if that's sometimes just barking out 30-second, distortion-filled songs.