Most people who are into making tunes show the most unpleasant side of their personalities when reminded of obvious musical references in their work. Fujiya & Miyagi’s forefathers are Can – and good on the Brightonians for not freezing whenever their German counterparts are being name-dropped; they love the band. Such sympathetic behaviour makes being a music journalist an easier job as interview sessions are likely to take place in more friendly settings.
So what a shame the chances of an interview for Under the Radar have become quite slim as their new longplayer Ventriloquizzing is a lot more boring than almost anything Krautrock coming from east of the river Rhine. The album starts quite promising with a rhythm section that could indeed be Can at their peak. Combined with David Best’s quiet Wire-like staccato singing, this title song would do a nice job as a soundtrack to a documentary on marching British ground troops.
Most other tracks share this pumping, seemingly pitched down monotonous groove accompanied by a half whispering David Best and dark and depressing sounding synths. The release date of Ventriloquizzing matches the cold and frequent downpours here in New Zealand quite well, but you wonder how this could have been be pushed as a sunny record up in Europe. The season doesn’t seem to be quite right for it.
Ventriloquizzing is by no means a complete failure, but you wish these English boys with their Japanese sounding band name manage to add a bit more sparkle in their songs next time they ask for our attention. Life looks a lot harder than it is on this LP.
